Techniques: Bucktail

[DarkSkies]

(previously posted)
Winter fishing thread...

Confidence in what you are throwing....
For the new guys - finding a "Go To" Profile and presentation that works for you....


I thought I would offer this to any other new fisherman/woman out there who is learning to fish with artificials...one who is still primarily fishing bait....because of lack of confidence and success, with artificials.....

Again,, with the disclaimer that what works for me, may not always work for you folks....so this suggestion is intended to help you find something that works exactly for you....

You will see a lot of discussion on "Go To" lures, plugs, etc etc.,....
For me, that doesn't work because of my obsessiveness. I feel that different conditions can be such that a slightly different plug or presentation can give me an edge sometimes....

other times this does not hold true. As long as you can get your offering to within a foot or so of feeding fish and can mimic the forage/bait movement, you should get action.....











Then why is a Go-To lure or plug so important for the new guys????
One word....Confidence.....

My suggestions....
1. Find a lure or profile (could be metal, wood, plastic, rubber, bucktail, etc) that works for you and you seem to be successful on.

2. When you are out there, and the conditions permit it, throw your "Go to" as your first offering. If that is the right profile for the forage that is there, you will catch....

3. But sometimes it will not be...and some people would say you would be stupid for throwing it....ex throwing metal when it's purely a plug bite and they won't touch anything else, not even rubber....so there is some thinking required on your part here, to implement these suggestions...



4. By throwing something you have extreme confidence in, you will telegraph that confidence through your entire retrieve,.... be more alert, and paying more attention, so there is less likelihood you will lose a fish by being unprepared for the strike......


5. If there is no activity on that after 5 or 10 minutes, try something else.

Ex - when I was a child, my Dad taught me how to bowl, by "following through" - he explained that no matter how well I thought my throw would be, it would never optimal unless I saw my hand following through, and continuing in a perfect swing, to mimic what "should" get me a strike or at least 9 pins in the first frame....

so, in essence, he taught me to pay attention to form, visualize myself being successful, and that visualization WOULD make me successful.....it did work, and when I did poorly he would always point out how I failed to "follow through"....
Looking back on that early advice, I remember that he was absolutely right....










** John...I had a really good in-depth post on when and where and how to fish bucktails....will post it when I get a chance......
Anyone else wants to add to this thread...feel free....thanks.....

[DarkSkies]

^ (Previously posted)

Bucktails......

Last year (2012) it was a goal to get keeper bass every month of the year from land and do it without leaving NJ....I did,, but July and August were extremely tough for me....managed a few keepers in July but very difficult as most fish were gone. I was picking away at needle in a haystack fish...

August... have to check my logs for exact number but I think I managed to scratch only one or two legal bass. One of them took hours of casting and moving from spot to spot.... I remember spending about 12 hours of fishing over a 2 night period. Even with the time and tide in my favor I could not find one....

The one thing that finally saved me was a 1/2 oz bucktail with grub....white......

.,my experience with bucktails is you have to tailor them to the
1.depth of the water
2.the current
3. Stage of tide

Where you are fishing -
There are times when you defiinitely need 2 oz in deeper water, rough surf, or the fast current of a full or new moon.,...but that also depends on tide stages...
There will be times during a new moon tide, which I feel can be stronger at certain times of the year, when I am throwing a 2 oz, but then at the end of the tide I will be throwing 1/2 oz....

When I fish inlets, rivers. or strong rips - at minimum I have 3 different sizes with me to adjust for changes in current flow.
You should get in the habit of doing that too....with bucktails the best place for me to be is bouncing just off the bottom. When fish are stacked up it is less critical but there aren't a lot of weeks when you have that.

The best bites I find on bucktails in NJ generally last from 1-2 hours at a time and are definitely stage of tide dependent.
Migrating forage will sometimes extend that bite to a little longer, but as you fish more you will see a definite feeding window.











** Important points -
A If the tide lessens and you are dragging on the bottom because your bucktail or jig is too heavy you're not presenting effectively.
B. If the jig or bucktail is too light, and you are not bouncing the bottom or close to it, you could be missing all the fish that are sitting on the bottom half and never know it....
C. Even with all our advice, the only thing that will make it work for you is to buy cheap, practice, don't be afraid to lose a few. You need to undertsand what it takes to get hung up and lose rigs, before you can learn the gentle finesse of keeping them just off the bottom

D. Bucktails and bouncing bottom, IMO are not as popular in NJ as they are in LI, RI and MA. I have friends who bucktail or jig from land and consistently outcatch everyone else in cold water. or when the water is so hot it feels like bathwater (bass are sluggish at both these extreme temps)



Learning to use them will bring you rewards as one night you will find the fish you didn't think was there, you will land that fish, being the only one on the beach, and let out a Caveman yell of triumph.... ...it will be sweet....but you have to lose some rigs to get to that point...JMO

Hope that helps.....

[baitstealer]

Great advice guys thank you very much!

[J Barbosa]

In the past when I purchased bucktails the first thing I would look at is the hook.

I want a good strong hook that won't break on me and I want to be able to sharpen it once it dulls. I also want a reasonable hook size and thickness.

To me this means a Mustad 34185 forged jig hook.

[jigfreak]

^^^^^ That mustad is a bare hook. Are you pouring your own bucktails? I keep jumping back and forth to favorite hooks. One week I like owner, another week it's dai-ichi. I was using kalins for a while, but they can straighten out when the bass are over 30 lbs. I think you're on the right track if you're targeting bigger bass on bucktails.
You don't want a whimpy hook, It also depends on how you play the fish. Too many internet surf jockeys post a pic of straightened hooks. It wasn't the fish it was that they had their drag locked down too tight.

[J Barbosa]

^^^^^ That mustad is a bare hook. Are you pouring your own bucktails? I keep jumping back and forth to favorite hooks. One week I like owner, another week it's dai-ichi. I was using kalins for a while, but they can straighten out when the bass are over 30 lbs. I think you're on the right track if you're targeting bigger bass on bucktails.
You don't want a whimpy hook, It also depends on how you play the fish. Too many internet surf jockeys post a pic of straightened hooks. It wasn't the fish it was that they had their drag locked down too tight.

You're absolutely correct jigfreak, the Mustad 34185 is a bare hook. Its also the hook that you will find on most of the better commercially tied bucktails out there.

The Mustad 34185 is not offset however it does have a 60 degree bend in the hook shank. You will find most jig hooks have either a 60 or 90 degree bend in them depending on the mold and jig head style. A 60 degree bend is usually used for jigs that have the eye towards the front of the jig while a 90 degree bend is towards the middle of the jig.

I have started pouring and tying my own bucktails; I needed something to do with the hollow hair found at the bottom 1/3 of the bucktails. It has very little use in fly or teaser tying as it is very bulky but it turns out those hairs make great bucktails.

I agree with you on the Kalins, they are fine if you are targeting weakfish but anything other than that and you risk loosing nice sized fish.

[J Barbosa]

Mustad 34185 on Smiling Bill style jig heads...just add bucktail.

I have the range to go up or down a size but the ones above are my preferences.