Duckman's beach report?

[Montauk17]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

Fishing the surf on the Holly Beach side, I don't think we've thrown anything out less than 3 oz and nothing ever moved without a fish causing it. I know we used 4 oz egg sinkers on the new 12' Ugly Stiks, and no adjustments were needed. Our 8 ft poles are usually rigged with 1 oz egg sinkers, but the children were adding 2 oz pyramids from the tackle box.

When we fish outside the cut by the jetties, we sometimes need more than the 1 oz egg sinker that all the boat rods are rigged with. My daughter (in the front of the boat by the anchor line) likes to add 2 oz pyramid sinkers to her rigs for increased casting distance and to be sure any current that comes up doesn't push her baits back to the boat into her brothers' lines. Crab can catch a lot of current. I'm in the back of the boat in these deals, and I think it's an advantage for the current to move my bait along the bottom, so I cast out more to the sides, and the baits slowly drift to more the back with 1/2 to 1 oz egg sinkers.

Thanks for the info....carolina rig or dropshot?

[MathGeek]

Originally Posted by Montauk17

Thanks for the info....carolina rig or dropshot?

Neither really, but closer to a carolina rig. The braid main line is threaded through the egg sinker and tied to a big snap swivel rated at 100-125 lbs. Then we use 3-4 feet of 80 lb mono leader tied to a swivel attached to the big snap swivel. This allows a fish to take the bait and pull line out (drags are loose) without feeling the egg sinker. If extra weight is needed, we attach a pyramid sinker to the big snap swivel. We keep steel leaders on hand if things get sharky. We also have some lighter leaders handy if needed.

In addition to adding weight easily, this set up allows for quick leader changes. I keep 5-10 extra leaders in clear plastic bags. When fish swallow the hook, we just disconnect the leader and put it in the ice chest with the fish. The whole rig is easily recovered by pulling it backwards through the stomach after the fish is filleted. Getting swallowed hooks out frontwards is way too much work. Released fish are released with any hooks they swallowed, as we reckon they have a better chance getting back in quick with a swallowed hook than surviving hook removal.

We tried some drop shot rigs once or twice inside the jetties. It was a mess. Snag city and tangles. The rigs described above work well enough inside the jetties as long as you reel them up a bit right after they hit bottom or use a line counter reel to let them down and keep them just above the bottom. People in the front of the boat (up current) use the heaviest weights and are closest to straight down. People in the back of the boat use lighter weights to get close to the bottom, but the baits are actually a good distance behind the boat in a strong current. It works well enough with some practice, but the bottom still takes a few hooks, leaders, and sinkers.