Thanks for all the kind words and tips above guys. Now that some of basics are out of the way, let’s talk more details...
As Eddie G mentioned, floro leader is a good idea for 2 reasons. 1 it's more resistant to abrasion and this becomes important if you're fishing the sticky stuff and 2, since it's stiffer then mono, the teaser leader tends to stand off your main line better so it's less likely to twist back on to your main line..
As Irish Jigger said, pumping your rod is the biggest no-no of all and probably responsible for the most lost fish and more importantly, most large fish. The reason for this is often times the larger fish will hit the bucktail and any slack in the line or a drop of the tip allows the Fluke to use the weight of the loose or falling bucktail as leverage and spit it. Keep your pole tip high with a constant bend in it and
NO PUMPING!! I can't tell you how many times we've netted a decent fish and as soon it's on the deck and there's some slack in the line the Fluke spits the bucktail hook. You've been warned so don't let his happen to you
As CadiShack suggested, color does matter. Not so sure it does on the bucktail but it certainly does on the gulp. When you first start fishing and you have a few guys on board it's a good idea to fish a variety of colors and see what's working best that day.
While when to set the hook is up for debate, how to set the hook is not... You want to set it with authority. For this reason, when you're jigging the bucktail you should not be doing that with a high tip because if your tip is high already, you have no where to go when it comes time to give that fish the steel... Fish with your pole parallel with the water and when a fish hits, whip your pole tip high and swiftly and keep it there. Dare I say again,
DO NOT LOWER YOUR POLE TIP!! You've been warned twice now, don't make me warn you again
If you feel a hit and set the hook unsuccessfully, don't immediately reel it up to check your bait, leave it down there since these fish will often times come back... If you've seen the Skinner videos these fish will often times follow your bait for long time. In fact, when the waters is clear, I've seen them follow it all the way to the top while reeling it back in..
Short strikes are often an issue when using long 6 inch grubs... The fish will hit the end of the tail and not get to the hook... If you start getting a lot of short strikes try a few things..... Cut and inch of so off the head of the grub so the hook sits closer to the tail, use longer and bigger teaser hooks and some even use stinger hooks.. My buddy Jim the River Rat who taught me how to bucktail was a big believer in stinger hooks, especially on the bucktail. He also had a pretty ingenious way of making them... He'd buy hooks with an eye just large enough to fit over the barb of the main hook, dip the eye of the hook in Plasti Dip
https://www.amazon.com/Plasti-Dip-Pe.../dp/B00I9SK8WK
and thread the barb of the main hook through the plasti dip hook eye... The plasti dip helped keep the stinger hook in place and from falling off the barb of the main hook...
You've all seen reports here where a captain will say "we had to wait out the tide". What they're saying is fishing is tough when there is no tide movement so it only stands to reason, you want to avoid fishing slack tides... You'll also hear them say "we had wind against and the fishing was slow". What this means is although they had tidal movement, the wind was coming from the opposite direction and the wind was strong enough to push the boat opposite of the tide. You want to avoid these conditions too..
If you take one thing from this article this is the most important point . All the tips above don't matter if you don't get bites and conditions trump everything.... If you're new to this, do yourself a favor and take the time to understand wind and tide by reading this
https://www.njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22662. Or, you can just jump on with any one of our sponsors, I can assure you, they figured this out a long time ago..
Feel free to pile on here... It's great to hear others opinions and I'm always up for learning more!!
