TACKLE TIPS
Several ideas to improve your fishing adventures are on my agenda this month. The standard grouper/snapper fishing rig in Florida is the sliding egg sinker rigged above the hook. While being very popular I would like to suggest an alternative rig. I rig my grouper/snapper rigs with the sinker at the bottom of the line secured by a split shot. A dropper loop is then tied to the leader with a swivel at the end of the loop. A leader with the hook is attached to the swivel.
There are several reasons I prefer this rig. The first reason is that I feel having the lead at the bottom of the line makes the rig more sensitive to the fish bite. When the line to the hook goes through the egg sinker in the standard rig there can be some slack in the line. It may take a second or two for the fish to take the slack out of the line before one detects the bite. With the sinker at the bottom of the fishing line any bite or nibble vibration is instantly detected by the angler.
Need more or less weight? No need to retie the rig, just open the split shot and slide the new weight on and secure the split shot. Many times it is the sinker that gets hung up on the bottom. With the sinker secured by a split shot just a short tug will release the sinker and the hook portion of the rig will easily come up. No need to retie the entire rig.
There are various systems designed to store trolling lures, from the simple narrow spool to wind the leader onto, to the elaborate and expensive boxes. Why not make your own trolling lure container. Get a five gallon bucket and a length of 3” pvc tubing Cut the pvc tubing to lengths that are equal to the height of the bucket. Drill several 1/4 “ holes in the bottom of the bucket. Insert the pvc tubes in the bucket. Now drop in your lures. When done fishing you can rinse the lures with fresh water which will drain out the holes you drilled into the bottom of the bucket.
Bait well pumps constantly are breaking down. In our retail store we do a tidy business with the replacement cartridges for these popular pumps. We have been recommending to our customers that they replace these baitwell pumps with a washdown pump. These units while costing a few dollars more last a lot longer. The wash down pumps also move more water per hour keeping your bait alive. If rigged with a “Y” valve then you can also have a salt water washdown system.
Spools of leader material lying around on the boat always seem to be disorganized. Plano makes a case that holds several spools of leader. The position for each spool has a small hole molded in to pull out the desired amount of the leader making your selection quick and easy. Plano manufacturers two sizes, one model accommodates spools 1’ wide and the other model accommodates spools 1.875” wide.Top of Form
During October I was fishing mangrove snapper at the skyway rock piles with my brother and my daughter. He had brought along some gummy bears to eat and decided to try one as bait. Sure enough he caught several mangrove snappers on the gummy bears. By the way, red seemed to work best.
Hopefully these tips or variations of them can make your fishing trips more enjoyable.