Beginners - Let's talk about the T&W essentials
How to set up a tutorial thread in this beginners forum:
There are a ton of tutorials out there to help the new guys getting started. Some of the best ones I found have been from Ocean Kayaks. I could use some help putting these up and laying out some new threads here.
What I'm asking you folks for help is in kind of illustrating these threads for the beginners, and labeling it in the title with some reference to beginners, or you could copy exactly the format in the title line above.
All you have to do is:
go to you-tube,
C&P the link,
and put it in the brackets so it shows up here.
Here's a tutorial:
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=7
Simply putting up the you-tube link as shown above and the thread title for "Beginners" would be very helpful.
If you can post up any more than that, that would be awesome as well. :clapping:
Thanks for any help you can give people, as I'm busier now and could really use the assistance. :thumbsup: :HappyWave:
Feel free to post up links as well. Links are decided on a case-by-case basis here.
For the most part, I'm pretty liberal about posting up links here, unless the person putting them up has a financial interest, is trying to spam the site, or is not a contributing member to these forums. Thanks.
Tips for Using and Trolling the T&W
Thanks Albie, Kayak Carl has grown in popularity, and it's easy to see why. He puts a lot of thought into the tubes he makes and how they will present in the water.
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Some people sent me some PMs and e-mails asking about the T&W. I'll preface this by saying there are quite a few guys out there who are amazingly talented at this. They're certifiable maniacs when it comes to T&W fishing. :clapping: That probably happens once you start to use this and see how it produces. It's addictive as hell. :dribble:
Others out there have a lot more experience doing this. To some of them, as mentioned, I have a deep gratitude for their generosity and patience in showing me. :thumbsup: :HappyWave:
I'll try to list here some of the things that have worked for me.....
Remember the techniques I describe below are best suited to trolling shallow areas with structure. If you want to try other areas, such as bridges, etc, you'll have to decide how to modify the techniques accordingly. :fishing:
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Tube and Worm techniques for shallow water with structure:
1. Depth: I'm fishing 5-15' of water, any deeper and it seems they won't hit. (That could have a lot to do with the weight, as mentioned in point #2) This T&W advice is tailored to fishing rocky shoreline and shallow flats with rocky areas.
2. Weight: Weight is anywhere from 3/4 - 1 oz, depending on the tide and area. This is an important factor. You want to be touching bottom at times without hitting it constantly and picking up a lot of weeds. One thing I learned is you have to be flexible enough to know when to change the weight at the different tide stages. If you're fishing low tide, you need to adjust, but you still need to troll structure and rocky shoreline, or points off those areas.
Variations: You would have to adapt differently in deeper water or when fishing different structure like bridges. For example, when fishing bridge areas, you might need 1-3oz in weight to get you down where the bass are holding. This would all depend on stage of tide, moon phase (which determines curent flow and strength), and where the fish are feeding on that particular night.
As for weights, some who have a better handle on it than me fit the weight right in the top body of the tube. This allows the T&W to move more naturally under water and makes it less susceptible to snagging.
If you don't want to do that, I would recommend you place a very short length of 100# leader right before the top swivel, and tie your egg sinker into that 4" length so it's as close to the swivel as possible.
Pics of the ones I use are in this thread:
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...?t=6408&page=5
3. Sandworms: if you think of a T&W as a "sandworm delivery system" you're already thinking better than most anglers. The tube and the action is what brings the fish in, the blood from the sandworm is what seals the deal and provokes the aggressive strikes.
Some people recommend a whole sandworm. I'm on a budget and can't afford to burn through 12 dozen each time out there. Also, bait stealers like porgies will peck at your offering without getting hooked when you have worm pieces dangling everywhere. I use a 1-2" piece, only enough to get the blood scent in the water, and change frequently. If you go 5-10 minutes without a hit, you're doing something wrong trolling, or you need to swap for a fresh worm piece. I generally get 3 baits out of each sandworm.
4. Tube size: different people have different theories on this. What has worked for me is 15-23". A good friend made me up some with #5 circle hooks. The hookup rate with these is great as they are all hooked in the mouth corners.
5. Colors: black and red are great colors. Others have done well using bubblegum color in murky or deeper water. I'm still experimenting and will be trying some smaller ones in bright primary colors with smaller hooks, for porgies.
The problem with smaller tubes is figuring the weight and kayak trolling speed combinations needed to keep them consistently near the bottom. The fish are always there when there is bait around. If you don't keep in contact with the bottom, you would never know that.
6. Trolling speed: Many recommend about 1mph. I don't have electronics right now, so my speed estimates are subjective. I try to keep in contact with the bottom. If the wind or current is pushing me faster than that, I have found it better to troll against either of those so I can better control the speed. In fact, when I really started paying attention to that and the presentation, I started catching more fish.
7. Presentation: A key mistake I made when I first started this was I didn't have the horizontal rod holders. You can get these "Scotty-type" at many kayak shops, or Cabelas. These allow your rod to be used like they do on the boats, with the T&W moving along the structure in a relatively smooth parallel action. Having the rods placed vertically hurts your hookup chances because the T&W will dance up and down too much, and the fish will miss it.
I compensate for this lack of proper holders by holding both rods tightly in a vice-like grip in my hands as I pedal along, kind of like Yosemite Sam. :viking:The rods are held at a right angle to the kayak and in a perfect horizontal direction from the water. I'll have the holders soon. In the meantime, the hits that come while you're holding the rods like this are like a jolt of lightning, and very addictive. :headbang:
The tube n worm: presentation for Dirty Water and windy conditions
Yesterday's report:
"1.We each lost a few other fish on the T&W. I think the murky water may have had something to do with that. Visibility was at most 1-2'. The visibility of the water I usually fish T&W at is at least 6-8'. "
From my limited experience, I would recommend some different tactics trolling the T&W in murky water:
a. Brightly colored tubes - a bright yellow, bubblegum pink, flourescent orange or chartreuse tube may have a catching advantage in murky water.
"2. The wind was a steady 20mph, with sustained gusts of 25mph.
The wind made it a little tough for us as it was wind against tide for most of the morning. That can sometimes be to your advantage, I'll explain in the T&W thread in the kayak forums."
When the wind is blowing WITH the tide and the current is strong, the trolling speed may often be too fast. If you don't bounce bottom occasionally you're not fishing effectively. (Again, this is for shallow water areas, others may have techniques that work better for them).
Your job as a successful T&W fisherman is to figure out how best to present to the fish so they will see and have time to hit it, keeping it in the strike zone the longest.
Sometimes it's better to troll against the tide or wind. Vary your retrieve so you're bouncing bottom.
If the hits are light in murky water, it may be because the fish have trouble keying in on the tube to hit the hook. :learn:
Slow down your presentation or figure out a way to keep the tube in the strike zone longer.
The tube n worm: Advantages of circle hooks
If you're using this method right, you'll know because you'll start to rack up numbers. A lot of them will be small bass. Part of responsible fishing is to try to reduce the mortality rate of released fish.
I really don't take the fish out of the water unless I'm keeping it, and try to handle it as little as possible.
Circle hooks go a long way toward decreasing fish mortality, especially with T&W fishing.
I don't know if others are using these or not. Finchaser made me up a batch, and I have come to love fishing the tubes he made because of the hassle free, clean releases.
During the fall runs, I have seen surf fishermen drop or kick a short bass on the beach, or carelessly toss it into the water, all because they're too lazy to bend down a bit and release it the right way.
Why increase fish mortality if you have the choice not to? :don't know why:
These are baby bass we're talking about, a few extra seconds won't take away from your fishin time that much. :rolleyes:
For this reason, I'm grateful Finchaser hooked me up with the tubes he made. :thumbsup: :HappyWave:
