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* sports—^ outdoors with Lou Rodia

Herald A Lantern 13 July '83

What’s ‘Right’ Way To Catch Blues?

Blucfish can be easy to catch at times, but there are days when they drive the trolling fraternity bananas It can be fntstrating to know that the |)lues are there, that they are being caught by a .few of the boats working in the area, and yet. for some reason they may be avoiding your baits Always, the question is directed at what we are do

Ing wrong Most of the time, the actual problem is not the ‘wrong’ thing that are causing the problem You can be in the.right spot, usually evidenced by the fact that others are catching fish You can have all of the necessary equipment in the way of rods, reefs, and in some cases, even the right colors, sizes and shapes of lures . Everything seems

proper according to what you know, what you hear on the radio and what you see Still the blues do not bite for you. but do for others

What is wrong' , ' , ' ,

Dollars to donuts, it is some simple little thing For starters, how about leader length'' We hear comments in tackle shops, dockside and on the radio about fishing long leaders How long is long or how short is short’’ These are relative terms To a fisher man used to six-inch leaders ahead of a bucktail on a spinning rod a threefoot leader can be long But fishing a three foot leader behind a trolling weight or a planer would be short WE WERE TAUGHT to rig our leaders in 30-foot lengths We have made up notched plywood boards about 8 inches long from 1 :i inch thick plywood The leaders are rigged with a snap on one end and a swivel on the other We wrap three or four on each ‘board’ for storage We start with 30 feet behind a trolling weight or planer i shovel i Some days, to get the fish to bite we end up with as many as four leaders, one behind the other, to get the lures to work That means we re fishing 120 feet behnd the

planer or weight

The reason - perhaps there is turbulence in the water behind the planer and it takes too feet of space to get the bubbles to disappear so the fish can or will hit Perhaps the planers make noise and scare the fish some days In any event, long leaders can lx* relative and the length can and often does

make a difference

We also hear radio banter about trolling speed Usually one angler

will ask the other how many HPM’s their tachs are reading so they can ad just troller speed Tach speed on one boat may mean a markedly different boat speed on another hull Tach speed is only a guide Tach speed can vary from day to day depending on tide. wind, fish reaction and wave action on the hull The critical question is not how fast your boat is moving through the water It is how fast the lure is moving If you can’t adjust speed any other way, troll close to another boat that is catching fish to see howfast he is moving, then check your tach reading. Vary speed if you are not catching A few more or a few less in RPM’s can and does make a difference WHAT ABOUT lure ac tion’’ Do you make it a point to check each lure's action before you put it back to where you want to troll it'’ Some lures out of the box or off the shelf do not work well and may have to be “tuned" to get them to act properly Lures that should swim may take a critical trolling speed Some are designed to flut ter and take another speed to make them work well Fishing rebels and Clark spoons at the same time can be a problem Some days the right speed for the Rebel is the wrong one to make the Clark Spoon work To check lure action drop the lure out of sight behind the boat off to one side Lower the road tip to the water’s edge and bring the lure back until you can see it. Avoid doing this in the wake and get the lure in calm water off to the side If the lure is working, fish it If not adjust it until it does work Or, put it aside How- about the depth you ae fishing'’ Some days blues are on the surface Other days they are right to the bottom Other days they are somewhere in the water column, between the surface and the bottom Planers come in several sizes, as do trolling weights One boat catching on a planer while you do not can indicate that his planer is fishing the lures at the ■'right'' depth with the right'' leader length and the "right’’ lure for that day and time. Constant changing can often put you on to the “right’’ combination Be flexible, and be prepared to take the time and make the effort It pays • ONE MOKE TIP Often, one hears that the fish are hitting outrigger lines fished “long " Again, long is relative Assuming our 4/0 is filled with 50 lb line one can assume long to literally be as much as a half spool of line behind the boat Sure, that's a long way to reel in a big blue It may take that much to catch one Heaven help you if you get a tangle on a tym with that much line out. To catch fish, you have to pay the price One rule is to let out what you think is a long line, and then DOUBLE the distance between the lure and the boat Try it. It may work REPORTS Fishing con tinues to approach smorgasbord' proportions Blues are No 1 on the

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angler hit parade. Blue catches day and night have been excellent, both in size and in numbers. Blues average between five and 12 lb with some slammers up to 17 lb being reported Party boats and private boats alike are bucktailing and jigging big blues in the day. A few scattered weakfish have been caught along with the daytime bluess. Fluke fishing has been good outside the county’s inlets Delaware Bay has also been productive, with the best activity so far coming from the Delaware side of the Anchorage Bear Shoal has been a hot spot However, look for fluke to move into the area around 9 and 10 buoys in the lower bay Some fluke are hitting a mile or two

northwest of McCrie’s Shoal. Wreck and rough bottom anglers are picking up sea bass, blackfish and occasional blues. Some spike weaks and blues ae being caught by the fluke anglers. Inland waterway fishing has been producing fluke and a few scattered weakfish Ocean City’s Rainbow Channel, Ludlam’s Bay. Paddy's Hole behind Avalon and Grassy Sound at North Wildwood have been hot spots The inland waterway from the West Wildwood drawbridge all the way up to Paddy's Hole has been dotted with hot spots and fluke to three and four pounds Marker 48 and Markers 8 and 9 have been good

Yellowfin Catch Off

TRENTON - New Jersey’s Marine Fisheries Administration said its survey of the 1982 canyon fishing season showed a scarcity of yellowfin tuna, which usually is the dominate species in the catch of offshore fishermen However, the ad ministration said, the absence of the yellowfin was compensated by the abundance of both albacore and big eye tuna, particularly in the northern canyons White Marlin fishing remained good throughout the season in all areas C () O L W A T E It temperatures were blamed for poor fishing during much of June, but by July the temperatures improved and sordid the fishing A total of 6,658 fish were taken from the canyons during that month, but the surface water dropped again during the latter part of July and August and fishing became erratic

During the entire 1982 season. 26 percent of the canyon fishing trips were unsuccessful in taking even one fish, while in 1981, only eight percent were unsuccessful There was a 16 per cent drop in the number of canyon fishing tiips made between 1982 and 1981 The total catches of ca nyon fish in 1982 and 1981 are as follows Yellowfin. 4.378 and 18,200; Bigeye. 1,714 and 1,362, Albacore. 19,065 and 14.636; Bluefm, 107 and 571. Skipjack, 329 and 719. Dolphin, 92 and 354; White Marlin, 2,110 and 2.564. Blue Marlin. 46 and 82. Swordfish. 53 and 86, Make, 109 and 111. Other sharks. 343 and 1HI, Wahoo, 99and 132; Tilefish. Ill and BITS Totals 39.762

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