Setting the Hook

I showed up early one night to pick my boys up from an adult education class on bass fishing and I got in on some instruction that amazed me. My boys were learning to set the hook on a fish. I never really thought about the physics involved, and I so I sat and watched my boys learning to set the hook. I learned a lot - perhaps you will as well. He happened to have my youngest son at the front of the class holding a bass rod and reel. At the back of the class was another student, a man, holding a piece of ordinary cardboard. The instructor had gently place the point of the hook on the top of the cardboard and then told my son to set the hook. He did what I thought was a pretty good hook set.

Amazingly, the hook barely penetrated the cardboard. The barb of the hook was not even close to being engaged! He had my son set the hook several times, and each time the point of the hook barely penetrated. This, he said, is why lots of people loose fish. He had my attention!

My older son took the rod, having learned a bit from his brother’s efforts, and he began setting hooks into cardboard. He did a little better, but still did not properly hook up to the cardboard.

Then the instructor took the rod and began explaining a few things. They were things I inherently knew to be true, but that I had never put together to understand the mechanics of setting a hook. Line stretches. Some line stretches more than others, but stretching is a simple fact. With perhaps the exception of some of the woven Dacron lines or “Spiderwire” type lines, they all stretch. Rod tips bend and give. Again, some give more than others, but they all give. A fast taper rod, one that has a heavy backbone and an extremely flexible tip, is particularly susceptible to poor hook sets if not used properly. Hooks are generally dull. They may seem sharp to you, but unless you have just sharpened them, they are in fact dull. And finally, fish mouths are harder inside than you think. There are a few species that have what we term paper mouths (the seatrout family is an example); but, most fish mouths have a hard, bony interior. They have to! Fish eat other fish, and the fins from eaten fish will stick and poke the inside of the mouth of the eating fish. Their mouths are built to deflect and fend off those fin sticks. Think about it: a fishhook is no different than an eaten fish’s fins inside an eating fish’s mouth. (Someone remind PETA of that when they claim that fish feel pain!)Given the line stretch (the longer the line between rod tip and hook, the more the stretch), the relative bending capacity of the rod to absorb the shock of a hook set, and the type of hook, there are an almost infinite number of variables that can be applied to determine the pressure required to bury the barb of a hook in the fish’s mouth. Unless you are fishing with extremely light tackle and line for very small fish, there is no such thing as setting the hook too hard. The drag on the reel (assuming it is properly set), and the ability of the rod to absorb the shock prevents the line from breaking. You can not set the hook too hard in most cases!The instructor went to the front of the room and was able to totally penetrate the cardboard with his hook set. He really came back hard with the rod with a quick set. Slow hook sets simply do not work, and most people are afraid to really set a hook. That was his simple story, proven to all of us in that room.To this day, my boys know how to set a hook and their bite-to-catch ratio is probably higher than mine. I know that with today’s circle hooks, a hook set is almost unnecessary. But not everyone fishes with circle hooks. I also know that someone will read this and end up breaking a rod because the reel drag was set wrong. I will tell you this, however. I have never been able to break a properly set up rod or line while setting a hook, regardless of how hard I tried. My opinion is that in most cases, you can’t set the hook hard enough! There is no too hard!

Beginner Dolphin Trolling

Owning a boat, maybe for the first time, and deciding to head offshore, maybe for the first time, a number of readers ask about getting into dolphin fishing. That’s dolphin fish, mahi mahi, not dolphin porpoise! I have answered some specifics, but now it is time to lay out some basics on fishing for these prolific, blue water acrobats. The first thing to remember is that dolphin, for the most part, are found in blue water. Along the southern Atlantic coast, that usually means the Gulfstream. For all but Florida anglers, that means a small boat is out of luck. The Gulfstream begins moving away from the North American continent around the northern part of Florida. From Jacksonville, the run to the stream is sometimes 80 miles.

But, because the stream meanders in and out, and sometimes warm water currents off the stream can move close, dolphin can be found as close in as ten miles during the summer months. There won’t be a lot of them, but they can be caught. You just need to pay attention to the fishing reports.

In South Florida and the Florida Keys, the stream runs from three to five miles off the beach, and I have actually caught dolphin over the edge of the reef in forty feet of water or less. Again, it isn’t the norm, but it does happen.

So, take account of where you are and plan accordingly.

Watch and read the fishing reports in your area and see when and where the dolphin are being caught. Dolphin can be caught year round, but in general, the hot season is from about April all the way through to the first cold weather.

Dolphin will stay in the warm waters of the Gulfstream when the surrounding water is cold. So, winter time means getting right in the stream to fish. In warm and hot weather, the waters surrounding the stream heat up and dolphin will wander in closer to the reef in search of food.

Dolphin are voracious eaters. They are virtual feeding machines. Although I have had some days when I could not get a school that was swimming under my boat to bite, in general, they live to eat. The lifespan of a dolphin is only five years, and in that time they reach weights of fifty pounds or more.

As far as a favorite food, the flying fish has to be close to the top of the list. Great schools of flying fish will leap into the air, gliding the wind currents for several hundred yards to escape a predator fish. They are all over the Gulfstream, and dolphin, among other fish, love them.

Dolphin also feed on ballyhoo, another baitfish common in the area, and on the small fish and crustaceans that live in and around floating Sargasso weed. This weed comes into the Gulfstream from the great Sargasso Sea, a sea within a sea, in the tropical Atlantic. It is home to a variety of sea life, and Dolphin will usually be found patrolling an area of weeds.

The Sargasso weeds are free floating. They provide not only food, but shade from the sun (yes, fish need to stay out of the sun just like us!). The weeds tend to be found in long lines that have been formed by current wave action. Some of these weed lines can be a hundred yards wide and stretch for several miles. Others are a few yards wide and only a hundred yards long. Whatever the size, remember that dolphin like them and feed under them.

Dolphin fishing is more fun on light tackle. By light, I mean no bigger than thirty pound IGFA class tackle. I actually prefer twenty pound tackle, because the vast majority of dolphin you will catch are under twenty pounds. The occasional big bull dolphin can still be caught on this light tackle; you will simply have to run him down and fight him!

Conventional trolling rods and reels work well, but medium to heavy spinning tackle will work equally as well. Just make sure the reel holds several hundred yards of line.

I use twenty to thirty pound test monofilament line on my dolphin reels. But, remember, I am specifically targeting dolphin. Charter boats will usually be trolling fifty or even eighty pound line. The beauty of trolling the Gulfstream is that you never know what you will find. So, charter boats – wanting to make sure their paying customers don’t miss a big tuna or wahoo because the line is too light – will use the heavier tackle.

Winter Fishing

In my neck of the woods, the winter has been a mild one. Winter fishing has been off the charts. When the wind normally howls before and after a cold front, fishing success drops like a rock. So we try to fish ahead of the front as the pressure drops. But this winter – at least so far – the fronts have been few and far between along the southern Atlantic coast. Consequently, we have been able to fish in light winds and moderate temperatures, something the fish really like! We went this past week into the marsh and estuaries of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) on the Georgia coast. While the Georgia coast is only about 100 miles long as the crow flies, it has well over 500 miles of fishable shoreline in and around all the creeks, rivers and barrier islands. Georgia is home to over one-third of the total salt marsh estuary on the Atlantic coast. And the best part of all of that is – there are lots of fish and comparatively not many fishermen! During 2011 there were 61,000 resident and non-resident saltwater licenses sold in Georgia. To put this number in perspective, Florida has more resident and non-resident saltwater licenses sold than ALL coastal states combined, both Atlantic and Pacific. I heard, “Get to the fishing!!” OK, here is what we did. We had a high, outgoing tide in the morning leading up to dead low around noon time. For me, this is an ideal situation. I like to fish the last of the outgoing down to low and then the first of the incoming tide. In Georgia, this is particularly important. The tides can run as much as 8 or 9 feet difference between high and low tide. The fish that are in the creeks and up on the marsh flats at high tide are more concentrated and easier to locate in low water. When you have tides like these, it is easy to get caught up in a creek when the water is dropping. Some creeks will literally have no water in them at low tide. You can be in 8 feet of water at high tide and think you are fine, only to realize that half way through the tide you can’t get out of that creek!

I avoid that mistake by lots of exploring. Oh yes, I have been caught – several times in fact – but over time I have investigated all the areas I usually fish. I go at low tide and find the creeks that I can enter at dead low tide. If I can get into them, then I can get out of them were I fishing there on an outgoing tide!

We always look for bait. It’s not the bait we buy at the tackle shop, it’s the bait we see in the area we plan to fish.

As we idled up to our chosen creek I stopped the boat and shut the engine down. All eyes were on the water at the mouth of the creek. We looked for activity, for movement, for any sign of something alive in the water. A school of small baitfish at the mouth of the creek means we have activity. And, activity usually means fish.

So many times in the past when we fished a creek where we did not see bait, we did not find fish. It didn’t take a brain surgeon to see that the creeks with no bait also have no fish!

A small school of glass minnows “showered” as what appeared to be a flounder struck at them. That was the key we were looking for, so I dropped the trolling motor and began to move into the creek.

Entering a small creek with an engine running, even at idle speed, will do a couple of things. That engine stirs the mud bottom as it churns. But, more importantly, it scares the fish. Some would argue that the fish are used to engines. But, in a shallow, narrow creek, the fish have nowhere to hide, and you will see them darting and running ahead of the boat.

I always use the trolling motor to get back into a small creek. Don’t have a trolling motor? Use a pole and pole your way back into the creek. Noise in the boat – dropping something, slamming a lid, running an engine – is the worst enemy of a fisherman. Total silence is the key. I even find myself whispering or at least talking very quietly when I am back in a creek like this.

After reach the hole or bend I plan to fish, I ease a pole into the mud or pitch a small anchor up into the marsh to hold the boat against the tide. I avoid dropping an anchor where I plan to fish. In larger creeks I may just use the trolling motor, but here in this small creek, I need to be stationary.

With the boat sitting still (and quiet!) we wait. The tendency is to immediately get a bait in the water. But, you need to let everything settle down and get the fish used to this huge object floating over them and next to them. So, I grab a cup of coffee and sit for about fifteen minutes. My party does not understand, but a few fish tales and stories pass the time.

Every noise makes a difference when fishing shallow water in a tight space. Even the splash of your bait hitting the water can spook fish. So, when we cast, we cast softly and try to get as quiet a water entry as we possibly can. Often we use just a hook and a ">live shrimp because it makes so little noise when it hits the water. But, lighter jig heads can also enter the water quietly.

I cast a ¼ ounce jig head with a live shrimp up ahead of the bend we fished. I let it sink into the bend and then worked it up and down one time. The bite was simply a feeling of pressure on my line – a little “tick” followed by a feeling of being hung on the bottom. I set the hook, and a nice two pound seatrout came to the surface shaking its head. I handed to rod off and grabbed another rod to cast. Another cast, another trout. This went on until the tide stopped running.

I told my anglers the fish would quit until the tide started coming back in, and true to form, they did. As much as one teenager fished, he caught nothing during the slack tide.

But as the tide began to come in and the current picked up, the fished turned on and we began catching them again. Only on this incoming tide, we began catching redfish – spot-tail bass. An occasional trout came in but mostly it was reds.

We quit fishing after about 2 hours of incoming tide. It was a toss up as to why we quit – we were running out of bait at the same time we were getting fewer hits. The water had risen enough to let the fish get back onto the shallow flats at the same time we ran low on shrimp. So, we pulled the small anchor out of the grass, dropped the trolling motor, and headed out of the creek – once again without running the engine.

I fish this creek about once every two weeks – no more. I always troll or pole into it and out of it, and I never run my engine there. It has been good to me over the years, so I really protect it as much as I can. I know of no one else that even thinks about fishing in this creek – it’s small and out of the way. And the people I take there to fish are never from the local area – usually not even from Georgia!

Take care of your fish and they will take care of you!

Mangrove Snapper

Lots of people travel to the Florida Keys for a Florida Keys fishing vacation. Some bring their own boat while others opt to rent one when they arrive. However they arrive, they all want one thing – to catch fish and mainly to catch mangrove snapper.

Offshore fishing requires some substantial tackle investments and a relatively large boat. So what can an angler that wants a successfully fishing trip do in a small boat? They can catch fish – and do it with ease.

I have always said, and I still believe that fishing guides are not successful because they know how to fish. Rather they succeed because they know where to fish. Most of us have a working knowledge of the tackle and equipment. We can cast, and bait hooks, and tie leaders. We are even somewhat versed in fighting a fish once its hooked. Where we need help is finding the fish to catch.

On the Florida Keys, I have a sure fire method to find fish and make even your first trip out a roaring success. You can and will catch mangrove snapper if you will follow this simple method, and the only thing extra you need is a good NOAA chart of the upper and lower keys.

Depending on where you plan to launch, there are numerous small mangrove islands that dot Florida Bay. Take your map and follow me as I take you through the paces of finding fish.

First of all remember – they call these fish mangrove snapper for a reason. They do stay in and around the mangroves. And while these mangroves are home mainly to the small to medium size fish, even the larger sizes can be found there. Look on your map for Bahia Honda. The state park there has a launch ramp and we will run north into Florida Bay from the ramp about 3 miles. Look for Friend Key, Teakettle Key, Sandfly Key and Hardup Key. Take note of the water depth around these keys. The tidal currents run around these keys, and although the map does not reveal it, the water will be deeper on one side of these little islands than on the other. Generally a flat will show on one side and not the other. On a high tide, you can idle up to the edge of the mangroves on the deep side of the island (deep is a relative term here – we’re talking about water two feet deep. What the map does not show is that the mangroves are undercut and the water depth drops off from about two feet to sometimes over eight feet under the mangroves.Move slowly and quietly and look for fish movement. Not many anglers get this close because the shallow water flat surrounding these islands hides this deeper water. When you stop the boat look for movement in the water under the mangroves. Nine times out of ten, you will locate a school of hungry mangrove snapper. Live shrimp on a bare hook with no weight is the bait of choice. But we have also caught them using a small red and white nylon jig with a small piece of cut bait on the hook. With the boat anchored a good casting distance from the mangroves, cast right up next to the limbs and let the bait drift down. With a jig, work it up and down more than in a line back to the boat. For more mangrove islands that will hold these snapper look at the Budd Keys north of Cudjoe Key. There is a deep undercut around the western most key, and fish are almost always there.

These are excellent locations, easy to reach and I can almost guarantee that fish will be there. I have fished every one of these locations and been very successful.

While you are catching snapper, don’t be surprised to find a jewfish or two (goliath grouper) in and around the mangrove roots. Juvenile fish up to about 60 pounds along with small nurse sharks are common in these holes. If you catch one, release it. They are currently totally protected from any type of harvest. One more thing – they call these fish snappers for a reason as well. You will see what I mean when you catch your first one. Very sharp teeth with upper and lower canines can really hurt if your finger happens to get in the way. Mangrove snapper are my personal favorite fish to eat. They have a light, sweet, flaky meat that is great broiled, baked or fried. Try it broiled with butter and let me know what you think!

Mangrove snapper on the Florida Keys - no wonder the guides seem to have it so easy! And, oh yes - I do have other good spots (Can't give away all of them now, can I?).

Night Flounder Gigging

In most states, gigging is a legal method for taking flounder or fluke. Usually done at night, it is more for the adventurous angler, but any of you can do this and come home with some great table fare!

Gigging is a nighttime activity, which is the major reason it becomes an angling method for the more adventurous among us. It involves either wading from shore or floating in a small boat over the shallow areas where flounder congregate. It requires relatively clear and shallow water, a good, heavy duty gig head, a high candlepower light source, and just a little schooling on what to look for on the bottom.

Flounder will settle on the bottom, back-flap their fins, and essentially cover themselves with the surrounding sand. The only visible part, short of a slight outline of their body, is their two eyes sticking up just above the sand.

The process is rather straightforward. Find an area where flounder gather at night, and light up the bottom. As you wade or float over the bottom, look for a pair of red glowing eyes sticking up from the sand. Be careful to identify two things, (1) which direction is the fish pointing, and (2) how far apart are the eyes. 

Most states have size limits on flounder and it will pay you to remember how far apart the eyes need to be for a flounder to be long enough to be legal.

Once you locate a pair of eyes and determine which end of the fish is the business end, it becomes a matter of driving the gig home just behind the eyes. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

Now for a few words of caution! I prefer a single pronged gig head. That is, it has but one long tang with a good barb. The tang itself is about a half-inch in diameter. This is not a thin wire frog gig. When you drive the gig home, make sure you pin the fish to the bottom until he stops kicking. Only then should you lift him out of the water. The lifting process also requires a bit of caution. Don’t pull the gig straight back toward you, rather try to lift it out of the water as if you were trying to scoop something off the bottom with a shovel. This prevents the gig from backing out of the fish from the water pressure exerted on the side of the fish.

My particular methods for night gigging involve either wading or floating a small boat, as I said. If I am wading, I like to take a ten-foot long, two-inch dowel, on which I hang a gasoline lantern. I place the lantern on one end of the pole, a balancing weight on the other, and wrap a soft towel around the middles of the pole. I then balance the lantern and counter weight on my shoulder, so that they will remain stationary as I walk.

I shield the side of the lantern that faces me so as not to blind myself. Then I wade slowly in the area I plan to fish. The long pole and counterbalance serve to stabilize themselves when I thrust the gig, allowing me to use both hands when required.

One word of caution is appropriate here. Don’t let the lantern touch the water! That hot surface will literally cause the glass to explode when it hits the water. A little practice prior to embarkation is definitely in order.

When I gig from a boat, I use lighting that may be foreign to many of you. I have modified a metal car top carrier bar and fitted it with four sealed beam headlamps, the same kind we use on an automobile. They are mounted so they point straight up if the bar were mounted across the roof of an auto. The connections have all been waterproofed, and the wiring to the lamps is of six gauge, insulated copper.

I take the headlamp arraignment and drop it over the bow with a line attached to each side. I then draw the bar so that it is about one quarter of the way back from the bow and strapped across the bottom of the boat. If you picture this properly, you know that the headlamps are now pointed at the sea bottom.  Once securely strapped in place, I connect the wiring to one of the three auto batteries in the boat.

Bingo! The bottom directly under the boat is lit up like a ballpark. The angle of the light to the front of the boat allows any eyes that are protruding from the bottom to be seen as I stand on the bow of the boat.

Now, all it takes is someone helping you pole the boat, or run an electric trolling motor!

One more word of caution: If you see a pair of eyes that are four or more inches apart, be prepared for a ride! Eyes that wide mean a double-digit doormat, and they are not the easiest thing to handle, especially on the end of a gig! And if you are wading and see these eyes, I would strongly suggest handing the gig to someone who is not carrying the lantern! Otherwise, you can kiss a perfectly good gasoline lantern goodbye!

How about you? Have you ever caught fish using a non-traditional method? Tell us about it on our Reader Submission Page, or on our Saltwater Fishing Forum!

Effects of Water Temperature

The Change

Water temperature plays such an important part in fishing that every angler needs to pay attention and react to even subtle variances. Fish are no different than a lot of animals when it comes to heat and cold. They want to stay comfortable. Consequently, even a small change or “break” will cause fish to move from one location to another.

Offshore

Fishing offshore presents particular problems. Temperatures can and do change from the surface to the bottom. I have fished in water that was 80°F on the surface and below 60°F on the bottom. What appeared to be ideal water was virtually void of fish – at least those that were in a feeding mood. Be aware of temperatures at varying depths and be prepared to react.

With surface temperatures, fish will often move along temperature breaks where warm and cold water meet. These breaks draw baitfish and feeding fish are close behind.

Inshore

Inshore waters are not as susceptible to temperature breaks, but they do exhibit changes according to the weather. Summer water temperatures as high as 90°F absolutely turn the fish off. Winter temperatures below 50°F do the same. Sometimes in summer, daytime fishing can be fruitless when the water is that hot.

Thermoclines

Pay attention to the NOAA weather maps online. Surface water temperatures are plotted and when cold thermoclines invade a coastline during the summer as they often do, you can see where you need to be fishing. Remember – find the breaks.

Finding the Fish

Look for surface temperature breaks offshore. Pelagics like mahi mahi, king mackerel, wahoo and tuna will run these breaks. Look for median bottom temperatures in deeper water. The fish will be in a comfort zone. If it’s too hot or too cold, they will move to that comfort zone.

Inshore, stay with morning and evening fishing in the hot summer, and rely on mid-day fishing in the winter. Stay away from the extremes of hot and cold. There are numerous warm water discharges from power plants on almost every coast. Winter fishing around this warm water can be excellent. Conversely, summer fishing there can be the pits.

Remember – look for the comfort zones and you will find the fish.

Safe to Fish Offshore

When Is It Safe to Fish Offshore I have received a number of questions recently about offshore fishing in small boats. My first reaction to the questions was “don’t do it!” But then I had to stop and think about just what a small boat is and what it is not. There is no standard definition of what a small boat is. Under 25 feet? Under 20 feet? Under 18 feet? Everyone’s perspective is different. To me a “small” boat is any boat under 25 feet in length. To the USCG it may be any vessel under 100 feet. Whatever your definition, a small boat should be thought of as a basic inshore fishing vessel.

Most small boats are built with a very small dead rise (the angle of the hull in the water) and short gunnels (the side of the boat). They are designed for inshore fishing. Bay boats are the first to come to mind when I think of an inshore boat. They are built for bay fishing – and yet on every trip I make I see them as far as 30 miles out into the Atlantic. Inshore boats are almost always powered by a single engine.

These are the boats that are designed to take big water and large waves. They range from 20 feet and up, and they have a significant dead rise, often over 20 degrees. That dead rise gives them the ability to cut into a wave rather than pounding on top of it. And, because they cut into a wave, their bow needs to be, and is, big and deep.

Offshore boats are powered by one or more engines, with the larger ones always having at least two engines. Face it; thirty miles or more out into the Atlantic or Gulf is no place to break down and have no power to get home.

I spoke of bay boats earlier as inshore or small boats. These bay boats are now coming out in lengths up to and over 24 feet. Many people call them, and I have even written about them being called “compromise” boats. No true offshore boat can be used inshore very easily and no true inshore boat can be used offshore. Comes the bay boat – a boat trying to be the best of both worlds. It is has a shallow enough draft to fish inshore and yet has a larger dead rise and somewhat bigger bow that lets it get offshore. But ask the manufacturer about whether you should take that bay boat very far offshore and you are liable to get a big “no!” Should you purchase a bay boat, you will find yourself doing what I and a number of other anglers I know did. We would venture offshore on a good day when the winds were light. As time went on, we would try a day when the wind was a little heavier. They would be rough, pounding days, but we always bragged on the seaworthiness of our boat , and took it out anyway.

We did this, and so might you, until that one day that the weather kicked up so bad that we were caught twenty miles off the beach in five to eight foot seas, wondering if we would make it back in. We headed northwest back toward the inlet as the wind howled right down our throat. Every wave was a challenge, and many of them broke over the bow. It was a day that had all three of us wearing life jackets for the ride back in. It took us almost four hours to reach the inlet, and the inlet was a frothy torrent. The tide was heading in against the wind, and the waves were deep and steep. It took all the skill I could muster to safely navigate the inlet.

That was the last time I took that boat offshore. It was sold within six months, and I no longer take a bay boat – any bay boat - out of the inlet on a windy day. If the weather says anything greater than 2-4 foot seas, I fish inshore. With over fifty years on the water operating a variety of power boats, this captain learned his lesson.

Want to fish inshore? Get an inshore boat! Want to fish offshore? Get an offshore boat! Can’t afford two boats? Do what my son and I did. One of us kept an offshore boat and one of us kept an inshore boat. Since we fish together all the time, it works out just fine! The compromise was not in the boat, but in who owns which boat!

Night Fishing Tips

Tony's dad dropped us off at the docks. It was about 6:30 PM and the charter boat sailed for a night fishing trip at 7PM. The boat was docked at the old Pier 5 charter boat basin in Miami, and to both Tony's and my surprise we had received parental permission to be on this big boat without adult supervision! I found out years later that his dad and mine had called ahead to the charter captain to make sure he watched out for us. I think they even slipped the captain some extra money when they picked us up after the trip. At any rate, this was my first experience at night fishing, and it would be followed by many more over the next few years.

Night fishing can be very easy and a lot of fun, or it can be a perfectly miserable experience. The difference comes in how you prepare for the trip. I have fished more times at night than I can count, and I learned quite a few tricks to make it easy and successful.

First of all, pick a night when the weather forecast is good. It is tough enough moving and finding things in the dark - bad weather just makes it worse, and a whole lot more dangerous.

Second, make sure your boat and engine are in good working order. Breaking down in the daylight is bad enough; you don't want this to happen at night. Trust this voice of experience on this!

Next, go through your boat inch by inch, making sure everything is in its place and secure. Go through each tackle box you plan to take and locate every item you think you may need. This may sound silly, but you need to study the inside of your boat and your tackle boxes. You need to have a visual knowledge of where everything is located. You will be tested on this during the fishing trip, so study ahead in order to pass! There are not many things as frustrating as trying to locate that pair of pliers, or those 8/0 hooks in the dark.

Speaking of in the dark, make sure you have several light sources. My current boat has indirect lighting all the way around underneath the gunnels. Have additional flashlights and a good high candle power beam stored dry and safe. Bring extra batteries, too.

Pre-tie enough leaders and terminal rigs to last you the entire trip. They don't go bad, so tying a few too many just means a few more for the next trip.

Probably most important, if you plan to anchor and bottom fish, is to get out before the sun goes down and get set up. Few things are more difficult than anchoring a boat properly over a ledge or reef in the dark.

As far as fishing methods go, I have two that work very well.

Night fishing becomes a matter of either smell or movement. That means fish must sense either wounded prey moving or they must sense the smell of food. So my two methods involve setting out a good chum line, fishing cut or strip bait in the chum, and fishing a live bait either freelined just outside the chum slick or on the bottom.

Fish frenzy brings on fish frenzy, so if you anchored in a known good area, the better the chum slick gets, the more the fish are attracted. Many fish are predominantly night feeders, like some of the snapper family. Others feed because of the frenzy. Whatever their reason for feeding, they are far more cooperative at night. You will find that the larger of the species will more readily bite at night. They become less wary, and can't see line or leader.

In the areas I have fished, yellowtail snapper, grouper, mangrove (or gray) snapper, mutton snapper, and an occasional king mackerel will be the predominant catch. Of course sharks are always looking for a free meal, and at night you are likely to encounter the larger versions of the that species as well.

Take along a first aid kit. I know we all have one on the boat, but double check yours before you go. Sometimes it's hard to tell the seriousness of a cut or puncture at night. Be prepared for anything.

Night fishing is wonderful if you approach it right. It is just a matter of being prepared.

Oh, about that first trip that Tony and I went on. We caught a few nice snapper. The old timers on the stern caught a boatload! Remember, it was a party boat. The stern was already taken by grown-ups, and the current would not let us get our baits into the chum slick directly behind the boat.

I learn something every time I fish. I wonder if that captain would have put us on the stern if he knew ahead of time that he would be in for a good tip......

Acres of Bait

Sometimes I think we take our bait for granted. Lately, the bait store always seems to have live bait, and schools of bait have been abundant off the Northeast Florida coast.

Cigar minnows, goggle eyes, and Spanish sardines seem to be on every piece of live bottom or artificial reef. In the past, we had to sometimes look for baitfish as we headed offshore. But this year has spoiled a number of us. The only time we worry about bait is when we can't find it!

Inshore, shrimp and mud minnows have been abundant at local tackle shops. Only on a particularly nice weekend, do they run out of live bait. Again, past summers saw some days where local shops were void of live bait.

Shrimp and mud minnows are caught and sold to the shops by local inshore bait fishermen. Offshore, the bait we use is the bait we can catch. We use Sabiki rigs, ten small mylar jigs on one line, to catch the live bait - the cigar minnows, sardines, and goggle eyes. When we think we have enough bait in our live well, the rule of thumb is to catch that many more. Nothing is worse than running out of live bait when a good bite is one.

For our kingfish bait, we use cast nets and find pogies (menhaden shad) along the outside of the breakers on the beach. Once again, when we think we have enough, we catch more. Pogies join the other bait on the list as being particularly abundant this year.

The shear size of the bait schools we encountered was overwhelming. Flipping on the surface and stacked all the way to the bottom seventy feet down, schools of cigar minnows and sardines often covered as much as an acre of water.

The past two years did not provide the amount of bait we have seen this year. One fisheries biologist I spoke with said that they were off years. On the other had, he indicated that this year is actually better than average regarding the amount of available bait.

What this translates to is essentially more fish. Bottom fish and pelagics alike will move with the bait. After all, they have to eat. A large number of sailfish and dolphin (Mahi Mahi) have been caught in water as close in as four miles and as shallow as fifty feet. These fish normally are found closer to the Gulfstream some forty to fifty miles offshore.

It has been a banner year for fishing. Let's hope it continues! Tell us your fishing experiences and reports on the Saltwater Fishing Forum.

Flounder on Artificials

James Brooks with a nice flounder. Note the lure that he caught it on.

Photo by Ron Brooks It would appear that a flounder, lying on the bottom waiting for food, would not be a very aggressive fish, one wiling to reach out and grab a lure. I spend most of my time looking for flounder with live bait, but I was surprised at their aggressiveness when presented with an artificial bait like a grub.

We were looking for redfish in the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). My son had an upcoming redfish tournament and he was looking for fish. The tide was moving out and we had headed back into a small oyster bar laden creek. We had caught fish in this creek before, and the bait that was moving told us we would probably find fish.

We started out using topwater lures; popping plugs and mullet imitations. We also had a rod rigged with a jig head and plastic grub combination. We like the Bass Assassin saltwater series grubs.

The color we started with was called Electric Chicken, a swim tail grub with pink on the top moving to chartreuse on the bottom. We also used some pure chartreuse, pure pink, and some that were pink and white. All of them were rigged on a quarter ounce jig.

We worked the deep (this is a relative term in a small creek) side of the creek casting our plugs and jigs to the edge of the oyster bars. The water was about three feet deep up against the bar, and the boat was sitting back about forty feet in two feet of water.

As the tide moved out, schools of small baitfish, mostly mullet and glass minnows, made their way out. We used the trolling motor to remain stationary and cast behind the baitfish.

The retrieve was slow, something that let the lure have plenty of action and remain close to the bottom.

The first fish we caught was a seatrout, and while we fought that one, another one almost jumped into the boat chasing a second lure. These fish were not big, but they were hungry and aggressively attacked our baits.

After catching several trout, I saw a small commotion against the bank ahead of the boat. I made the long cast to that commotion and quickly hooked up with a nice flounder. He absolutely inhaled that Electric Chicken grub!

Seeing that the redfish were really not up in this creek (we only caught one in a two hour stretch), we changed out tactics and began pursuing flounder. As I said at the beginning, I usually opt for live bait for flounder. Today we had only artificials.

We began moving to the mouth a various creeks and cuts where they empty out into the ICW. If the water was running out and there was a good flow moving across the bottom, we stopped and made several casts.

Bang, bang, we would hook up tow flounder at a time. They were sitting on the bottom watching the current flow, waiting for a meal to come off the flat or creek mouth., Our grubs became that meal!

As a freshwater bass angler, I use artificials exclusively. Growing up fishing in saltwater with my father, I used natural bait almost exclusively. If we did use a lure, like a bucktail jig, it was tipped with a strip of cut bait or shrimp.

Staying strictly with artificials min saltwater is almost foreign to me, but this trip proved something. Flounder will aggressively attack an artificial lure if it presented in the right place at the right time. And at the coast of live shrimp these days, that, as one famous television personality puts it, “is a good thing.”

I have since emptied the racks of my local tackle shop of Bass Assassin grubs. There are other grubs by other manufacturers like D.O.A., but these that we used worked better for us. I’m not sponsored by any particular bait, but I believe in letting you know what works.

The Bass Assassin lures were longer and softer that any of the others we tried. That meant we could retrieve them slower and still get the swimming action we needed. Other brands were made with a harder consistency – meaning they would stay on the hook for more than one fish – but they had to be retrieved much faster to get any tail swimming action.

It may be that on another day the faster action will be what the fish look for, but today they wanted it slow and on or close to the bottom.

Flounder on artificial baits and lures – it doesn’t get any better than that!

What Makes a Fish Bite?

Anglers the world over have always struggled with that question. I know times when the fish were visible, lots of them, and they would not so much as nibble at even a live bait presented to them. What reason is there for a fish not to bite?

Perhaps the better question would be to ask what makes a fish bite rather than why they won’t bite. Fish are animals and just like all other animals they get hungry. Empty stomachs will drive a fish to feed. But the savvy angler knows that there are other factors that will entice a fish to strike, even when they aren’t hungry.

All kinds of projects and studies have indicated that fish feed more and better in a moving water situation. Tidal water movement and current are major keys to the feeding effort.

You may have experienced this yourself. On an outgoing tide, the fish are biting and you are catching them at a regular rate. Then as if someone turned off a light switch, they stop. If you paid attention you would probably see that the current stopped with a change of tides.

Current, or rather lack of current will turn off a bite. Even offshore, where you may not realize it, the current will make a difference. A slack tide with no current, while really good for getting a bait to the bottom with very little weight, usually means no fish. The fish finder marks fish all over the bottom, but with the exception of small bait stealers, you can’t buy a bite.

Weather conditions definitely affect the feeding habits of fish. As the barometric pressure drops, indicating a storm or low-pressure condition, fish will feed. Storms and low-pressure areas (hurricanes are the ultimate low pressure) mean that the water will be stirred. Fish seem to realize that the dropping pressure, sensed by their lateral lines, means stirred water. They tend to feed ahead of the storm because they will not be able to feed as well in the murky water following the storm.

You can witness this for yourselves ahead of a major thunderstorm. These are low-pressure cells in their own right, and as they approach, the fish will turn on and begin feeding.

After a cold front passes through, high pressure invades the area and the fish seem to get lockjaw. That is probably because they feed heavily as the front and low-pressure center passed through. Now full, they tend to ignore baits presented to them.

In a shallow water setting, water clarity can play a huge part in getting a fish to bite. Long casts from a position well away from the fish are usually required to keep from spooking the fish. As a rule of thumb, if you can clearly see the fish, you will probably have a hard time getting them to bite. Remember, they can see you and your boat as well.

So, if the tide stops running and the fish stop biting, take a break, eat some lunch, and get ready to move to an area that will hold fish on the opposite tide. Learning to move and change with tide and weather conditions will help you put more fish in the boat.

Penn Slammer 460 Spinning Reel

This is one of Penn's top spinning reels with six ball bearings and an all metal housing. The feel of the 460 on my rod is a heavy one. I was a bit perplexed at first because I am used to 9 ounces or less for a reel this size. But the weight proved to be something I could handle. It definitely threw my balance off on the rod I was using. I tried the 460 on a seven foot Hurricane Red Bone, normally reserved for a lighter reel. Perhaps on a Penn Slammer spinning rod the balance would have been better.

The reel performed superbly. I was able to crank off some rather long casts with little effort. The spool allows the line to leave with very little friction.

The 4.6 to 1 ratio is a little slower than I like. It makes me work harder on a fast retrieve lure to obtain the action I want.

One very nice feature is the HT 100 drag. It is as smooth a drag as I have encountered and works without any loping or surging. I was impressed by the way it handled a large redfish on this trip.

The reel has a metal housing, which is why the total weight is more than other reels in these dimensions. But that housing will go a long way toward making this one last for a long time.

What Kind of Leader Do I Need?

Leaders can be the difference between a successful fishing trip and one that ends up in the tank. Yes, in saltwater, they are that important.

But the importance is not so much whether to use one or not (we almost always need one), rather it is what kind of leader to use. Three basic choices are monofilament, fluorocarbon, or steel, or some combination or derivative of these three.

For lots of fish, monofilament leaders will work very well. The idea is to use a leader long enough to provide protection from either the rough mouth of a fish or from the sharp gill plates. Anglers fishing inshore with fifteen pound test line will have that line cut unless a leader with a heavier strength is tied to the hook.

Gill plates on most saltwater fish are extremely sharp, On fish whose teeth are not sharp enough to cut a line, their gill plates are most certainly sharp enough. Used as a defensive mechanism by flaring the jaws, gill plates will cut anything they contact. A good leader helps prevent you from being cut off.

Fluorocarbon, which looks just like monofilament, has a special property that makes it almost invisible to the human eye under water. Whether it is invisible to a fish is another question, the answer to which is – we think so. Fluorocarbon works well in clear water situations and with wary fish. The disappearing quality is the issue on this leader.

Steel leaders are used where the fish being pursued has sharp teeth. Sharks, barracuda, mackerel, and bluefish all have razor sharp teeth that will easily cut monofilament and fluorocarbon. Generally, stainless steel wire is used, sometimes stained brown to reduce reflection. These leaders are popular for trolling, since the movement of the bait through the water masks the leader. I have seen some anglers bottom fishing with wire leaders – heck, I did it myself back in the fifties before monofilament. But for the most part, steel or wire leaders are for trolling.

There are derivatives and combinations for all these leader types. Monofilament can be made with fluorocarbon content, the combination being less expensive than pure fluorocarbon. Wire leaders sometimes come as a plastic coated braid of wire. This version is more flexible and less likely to kink than straight wire leader.

But, whatever your choice of leader, let me make one thing very clear. Even with fluorocarbon, if you have a wad of junk, like snap-swivels, snaps, etc, on the end of your line, the entire leader arrangement will spook wary fish and reduce your catch. I’ve seen some terminal tackle that looks like a clothesline, full of junk.

The best advice I can give for leaders, is first, to simplify. Use only a swivel between your line and the leader, and tie the leader directly to the hook or lure. On light tackle, I would use a blood knot to tie the leader to the line and avoid even the swivel. Yes, I believe it spooks the fish that much.

Second, use a leader long enough to protect your line from a tail kick. If the fish you are catching are two feet in length, make sure your leader is slightly longer than that.

Take care in tying your leader. Smaller fish are easy to catch and the leader can be in almost any array. But, big fish didn’t get big by being stupid. The bigger the fish, you more tricks you need to fool them and make them strike.

Sloppy leaders with extra, unnecessary stuff tied into them will prevent the larger fish from biting. Be smart and take the time to build your terminal rig, including your leader, so that it will be as unseen as possible. You will thank yourself at the end of the day!

Gulf Grouper Fishing

Fall means a change of weather with cooling temperatures, and cooling water temperatures mean fish. While lots of anglers opt for football, the savvy Gulf of Mexico rouper fishing anglers are sharpening their hooks and getting ready to jerk some grouper off the bottom.

From Florida to Texas, anglers from Naples around to Brownsville sharpen the treble hooks on their Mann +30 magnum diving lures, and set GPS numbers in their new GPS units when the cooler weather begins to arrive. They know how to catch grouper, and they are ready for the fun to begin.

Trips from places like Steinhatchee, Florida, can be made with relative ease in a comparatively small boat. This time of year it is not uncommon to find good quantities of gags in water less than thirty feet deep. That means you are less than ten miles out and still in sight of the shore.

As water temperatures moderate, gag and red grouper venture in from deep water to the relatively shallow areas from five to thirty miles offshore. Ledges, wrecks and artificial reefs will all become havens for these bucket mouths. Some anglers like to bottom fish with live bait, and pinfish are preferred over most other baits. Grunts will work, and cigar minnows or Spanish sardines will also work. But pinfish just seem to have that “big grouper” look to them. Grouper fishing on the bottom is pretty standard fare. Live bait on an 8/0 hook sent to the bottom. Anchoring is key in that you don’t want to end up directly over a rock pile. Fish to one side or the other. Be prepared to crank the drag down as tight as it will go to keep the fish from taking you into the rocks. Trolling with deep diving lures becomes an exercise in following a ledge or rock pile. A very good GPS with mapping capability will allow you to traverse the same territory over and over. Some ledges are a few feet long. Others, apparently like a fault line, can run for a half-mile or more. Natural rock outcroppings dot the seabed along the Nature Coast, and the grouper love them. Red and white along with chartreuse fire tiger are good colors for these diving lures.

Gulf grouper can, at twenty inches, legally be two inches shorter than Atlantic grouper. I think that may be because the population is more stable in the Gulf. Whatever the reason, a limit of grouper on every trip is not only possible; it is the norm this time of year.

Fifty-pound tackle, heavy monofilament leaders and a strong back can be the ticket to some good eating. Try marinas and guides in places like Galveston, New Orleans, Biloxi, and Orange Beach. In Florida try the Steinhatchee, Horseshoe Beach, Suwanee or Cedar Key areas for some great grouper fishing. These areas are smaller and the shore waters receive less fishing pressure. You success rate is more likely to be higher from these locations.

Make sure you release undersized fish. A nineteen-inch grouper looks awfully big and, yes, it will feed about four people. But maintaining the resource for future generations is key to all of us being able to fish a lifetime.

Write me when you get back and I’ll give you some grouper recipes that will knock your socks off!

Before You Buy a Casting Rod

Buying a new rod can be an exercise in futility if you don't do your homework before you shop.  Whether you are looking for the best rod or the cheapest rod - and they are not necessarily mutually exclusive - you need to think about how the rod will be used.  Here are some ideas to consider as you search for the rod you need. 

Casting Rods
Designed for a baitcasting level-wind reel, casting rods can range from the six foot freshwater bass variety to eight foot jigging rods and lots of sizes in between.  Casting rods are best for topwater plug applications.  They present a relatively stiff backbone with the spline on the same side as the guides, and fast taper tip that provides a long cast.  Deep jigging rods are the heaviest and are intended to pull a big fish off of bottom structure.

• Top Bait Casting Rods

Popping Rods
These are the most popular casting rods on the market, primarily because they work well with a popping cork.  Popping rods are also built with the spline of the rod on the under side of the guides, and are generally designed for long casts and sharp hook sets.  Guide sizes need to match the reel that you plan to use.  The rod needs to be balanced about three inches above the reel seat for the best performance.

• Top Popping Rods

 

The Versatile Jig

Ask a freshwater bass fisherman what his choice would be if he were limited to fishing with only one lure and his answer would likely be a plastic worm. A saltwater angler when asked the same question would likely say a jig. Arguably the most versatile lure in your tackle box, a jig can be fished in any variety of ways for almost any saltwater fish.

Jigs - from one-eighth of an ounce to as heavy as eight or ten ounces, they span almost every hook size. Literally every angler on the water uses them at some time or another, and for very good reason – they catch fish!

Bucktail Jigs

Named for the hair that comes from the tail of a deer, these jigs are a mainstay in any saltwater angler’s tackle box. The hair moves, expands and contracts in the water in such a way that it imitates a live fish swimming. White hair with a white head and red wrapping is the most popular color scheme, but they come in almost any color combination. Variations of the bucktail include artificial hair, nylon, Mylar, and marabou hair.

Many, many years ago, anglers could order real polar bear hair from the old Herter’s catalog. It really worked well on a jig. I still have several I tied myself put away as collector’s items.

Bucktails are worked like any other underwater lure. Cast to likely spots and normally retrieved with a jerking motion that gives the bait a darting appearance. Some of the bigger bucktails, those in the 3-ounce and larger range, are used exclusively for deep jigging. Tipped with a strip of bait or plastic worm, the jig is dropped to the bottom in water as deep as 180 to 200 feet and then worked along the bottom in an up and down motion – appropriately called “jigging.”

Nylon jigs are used to troll for Spanish mackerel, bluefish, or king mackerel. The nylon “hair” stands up very well to the razor sharp teeth.

Plastics

Many jig anglers use a plain jig head and some type of plastic grub or swim tail (Georgia anglers call them screw tails). Grub fishing is a particular kind of fishing where the jig is usually worked along or close to the bottom in relatively shallow water. The grub tail imitates baitfish or shrimp, and the color variation is once again almost unlimited.

One popular method of grub fishing is to slow troll the grub in tidal creeks and rivers. Seatrout in particular are sought with this trolling scheme. Some grub tails or swim tails come in larger sizes, and are often trolled offshore.

Once again the method for fishing these grub jigs is very similar to that of the bucktail. Put your bait where you think the fish should be and give it some action on the retrieve.

Jig Heads

By far the most popular jig in my collection, the plain jig head provides versatility to the live bait angler. Live shrimp, mud minnows, menhaden, and mullet – the list goes on, and all of them can be fished with a jig head.

I keep four different sizes in my tackle box, including ¼ ounce, 3/8 ounce, ½ ounce, and ¾ ounce – all with a 2/0 or 3/0 hook. I fish all sizes depending on water depth and current conditions. The rule I follow is to use the smallest weight that will get the bait down. Deeper water and heavy current demands the largest jig. Conversely, shallow water allows me to pitch a very light jig head.

The jig head allows me to fish live bait on the bottom or to work it up into the water column. Because the lead head is right there with the bait, I get an instant feel when a fish touches the bait. If I do hang up and break a line, I only need to retie one item, instead of rerigging a hook, swivel and sinker. It’s quick, easy, and most importantly, it catches fish.

Going back to the question at the beginning of this article, I can answer it for myself in only one way. If I had only one lure to choose from, it would be a jig head. Day in and day out, I consider them to be the most important part of my tackle box.

Black Drum Fishing

Every spring – actually late winter and early spring, the black drum make their way into the inlets up and down the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. This is the time of year that the big breeder fish come in to spawn.

Black drum fishing enthusiasts make plans months ahead of time, tuning up their tackle, and their boats. Although the average “big” drum catch is around 40 pounds, these fish can reach weights over 100 pounds, and annually many fish that size are caught.

This is really a relatively simple fishing experience. You don’t really need any special tackle other than a heavy rod and reel with 50 pound test line. Simply put a bait on the bottom and wait.

Each inlet has specific spots that anglers have found over the years that seem to produce more fish. The easiest way to find one of these spots is to get out there on a weekend and look for the gaggle of anchored boats. With channelized inlets, they will generally be anchored along the edge of a channel that is often the deepest water in the inlet. Sometimes they will be just inside the inlet, around an eddy that slows the current a bit.

In non-channelized inlets, they can be found fishing the deep holes on the inside of the sandbars. The breakers are crashing the bar in front of them, and they have baits down in the deeper holes.

Speaking of bait, there are two primary baits that the “experts” use. While anglers usually prefer one or the other, both baits will work equally well. These baits are clams and crabs.

A whole or half blue crab on an 8/0 hook is about as good a bait as you can get. If the crab is small, use the whole crab. If it’s a big crab, cut it in half or even quarter it. Some anglers say that the cut crab works better because it can be found easier with the scent in the water. Some of them will crunch a whole crab to release those scents.

Clams have to be cut out of their shell and tied to the hook. Bread tie twists work here. If the clam is big, you only need one, but smaller clams mean using the meat from several of them.

While these are the primary baits, these fish can be caught on other baits. Sometimes whiting fisherman , fishing with small shrimp will hook into a big drum. I think about the only bait I have not seen work well is cut bait. That said, I will now get a ton of people telling me that cut bait works just fine. Maybe so, but not in my experience.

The technique is simple. Anchor over the fishing spot and put a line or two on the bottom. Set the clicker on the reel, and then sit back, drink a cup of coffee and wait for the bite. It is really a relaxing fishing experience – until that reel goes off!

Fighting a big drum is something akin to fighting a big rock. You have to pump and grind and get them off the bottom. They fight hard, but they also fight slow. You won’t have any long fast runs. You will have a slug fest to get him to the surface.

The fishing is fun, but the fish itself is, in my opinion, not so much fun. There are anglers out there that swear by the meat from these big fish. Many of them ‘pickle” the meat and can it for later meals. In my experience, the meat is extremely fatty and coarse. I had a hard time getting past the smell after I cleaned one – and all it took was one for me.

I do eat smaller drum – those under ten pounds. They are actually quite good. But, the big boys are not even on my radar. I will take someone drum fishing for the experience, but I do everything in my power to convince them to take a picture of it and let it go. Some of those who kept one anyway ended up calling me and telling me I was right.

But – as the saying goes – to each his own. To all you folks out there that love them, I say more power to you! I hope you catch a record fish! To those who don’t want to eat them, I say take care of them and release them to fight again another day!

Making Custom Fishing Rods

Everyone has seen them. Those hand wrapped beauties in the rod holders just begging to be handled. A snakeskin butt wrap glistens in the sun. Custom made rods: who wouldn't give just about anything to have one.

In my early fishing days, a loose thread on a guide wrap getting caught in my line frustrated me so badly I tried to rewrap the guide. After several attempts I actually got pretty good at it. That gave me the urge some years back to build a rod of my own. It was before all of the components were available to make building a rod easy. I literally hand wrapped the first one, with a spool of thread coming through the pages of a heavy book for tension and a rod blank in my lap. I knew nothing about backbones or splines. Had no idea where the guides should be placed or why a wrap should be clockwise in once instance and counterclockwise in another. But wrap one I did, and you know, I actually caught fish on it.

Over the next couple of years I purchased several rod building instruction books and learned the theories and rules behind good rod construction. I built a number of rods for myself back then. Components were reasonably priced and the rod was not that much more expensive than comparable commercially built rods. The difference was the pride factor.

I even began to get some requests to build rods for friends. One Christmas all of the guys chipped in and paid me to build a matched pair of heavy spin rods for the boss. It was time consuming, but fun building them. I figured I might be able to make some money at this!

Let me tell you about work versus fun. Sometimes what you like to do can become a real burden when you suddenly have to do it. Rod building had became a real burden. Everything was manual ( the great wrapping blocks we now use were nonexistent). I was spending five hours building one rod, and selling it for $20 more than the parts. That's $4 an hour folks! It didn't take much of that for me to revert back to "fun" building.

I still mess with building rods every now and then. Its good stress therapy. I even came up with my own snake skin pattern for my butt wraps. But mostly now I simply put my own butt wraps on store bought rods. Even at wholesale discount prices for parts, I can't approach the price for these store rods, and most are really well built.

There are a lot of places to get quality parts for building your own rod. Lots of them are here on the Internet, and I've linked to a number of them for you on the Custom Rod Building Page. Try building one for yourself. Start by rewrapping the guides on an "old but good" rod. Perfect your wrapping skill there and take on a whole rod. Even if you don't want to get that involved, it's really nice to have people look at the butt wrap on your rods and drool!!

Ever made a rod? Still making them? Got a question about rod building? Tell me about it. Email me your experiences and questions.

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