-
Bucktails
Let's hear it guys and gals...spill all your secrets.
-
-
I searched and went through those threads, there is very little information in there on bucktails.
I thought they are worthy of their own thread 
Ill add to this thread as we go...
-
Sorry John, buckethead pointed out just a few of the good threads here on bucktails.....
there are several more if you do a search using that term.....
As I mentioned in the fishing reports thread, my goal is to make things easy to find here.....and more organized than a site where you have 25 threads on one subject, and not much being said....so I'm gonna merge this with Monty's thread.......
I'm also gonna post some of my own bucktail advice here....
I try not to do that too much lately as I feel maybe folks are tired of my one page posts.....
There is some stuff in here, that might be helpful.....If you go into the surf forum and search "bucktails" in quotes you will find the rest of the threads....
Anyone has anything to add......this is the thread to do it in.......hope you all understand the reasons behind my actions and there are no hard feelings...
...and thanks for reading....
-
(previously posted....)
There is nothing more satisfying to me, than the take of a fish on a plug....I can play those tapes over and over in my head all winter when the noreasters are blowing outside...
But a bucktail can produce fish more consistently than other artificials......at both ends of the season as well, when the fish are very sluggish and most people think they only will take bait.....
...a lot of Jersey guys do not fish bucktails...some do, and those who fish bucktails the right way, and when conditions call for it, are the guys who consistently catch bass.
I think I mentioned I have gotten legal bass every month this year (2012), so far....
but the thing that saved me in the hot summer months., were the smallest plugs, and the bucktail, to mimic the smaller forage that the bass were feeding on during this time.
Rubber also fills in, as mentioned in other threads it's the perfect choice when forage is small.
During July and August, for me, there really were very few bass in the NJ surf, and I covered a lot of ground trying to find them.
My last keeper in August, barely 28", I got from pitching a bucktail and grub, for over 2 hours, no signs of fish or any life anywhere.
-
(previously posted)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...s-Year-and-Why
Presentation and where the fish are....
1. At different times of the season, day, or moon phase, fish will be sitting in different levels of the water column.
2. Your job as a fisherman is to figure out where that is.
3. If you don't present to them where there are sitting you will never know that they are there.
4. In general, (my experience) colder weather, or a cold front, tends to put fish down, where they will sit closer to the bottom.
5. In my experience, this will hold, in general, unless they are feeding actively on bait, at which point they may rise to the surface.
6. There are so many variations for this, that the best thing I can say, is you need to understand the water you are fishing in front of you, and think about moon stage, time of day, current flow (during strong current flow fish at times tend to stay on the bottom or sides where current is less strong), water clarity, water temperature, day vs night time fishing, and some other ones I probably forgot to mention.
7. If you can figure this out, for the place and time you are fishing, it will allow you to work your casts more efficiently.
8. You will only be working on the part of the water column where the fish are most highly concentrated.
9. If you really try to keep disciplined about this, you will see that it will result in more hookups, and more fish.
-
(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.....
-
^ (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.....
Posting Permissions
- You may not post new threads
- You may not post replies
- You may not post attachments
- You may not edit your posts
-
Forum Rules
Senior Member
Reply With Quote