Author: Terry Lacoss
96965
Buccaneer Trail
Title: “
Caption: From
Fishermen are
frequently asked, “If you had one lure to fish with and for a variety of
saltwater game fish, what lure would you choose?”
More than
likely the lure of choice would be a spoon.
Spoons have an erratic swimming action and flash that promotes strikes
from even the wariest of game fish. My
question is, “If you had a choice of fishing with only one live baitfish, what
specie would you choose?”
If you’re targeted
fishing waters includes
The amount of recent rainfalls is a
determining factor where fishermen will more than likely find pogy schools
during the early hours of their fishing day.
While it isn’t unusual during extreme dry conditions to find menhaden
schools in nearby tidal rivers. With
normal rainfall, pogy schools can be located at the mouths of inlets and along
the beaches where tides
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carry plankton rich waters from marshes
into the open ocean.
Gold Coast
fishermen have found that thickly schooled pogies are easy to locate and often
found schooling in there targeted fishing waters. Unlike sharing the locations of quality game
fish, fishermen are more than willing to share the locations of pogy schools
with other fishermen. Be sure and
monitor your VHF marine radio for current locations of menhaden schools.
One of the easiest
methods for locating pogy schools is to call or visit
your local bait & tackle shop the day before and ask for information on
recent pogy schools. Charter boats
captains that fish on a day to day basis also offer a great venue of
information concerning pogy school locations. Once out on the water, look for
diving pelicans, or fishing boats in the distance with cast netters on the bow.
Motor slowly up to
the school of pogies with the wind on your stern and shut your engine off just
outside of cast net range. Pogies will
typically swim into a wind driven current, or tide. An eight to ten-foot cast net with a 3/8th
inch mesh, is more efficient when netting pogies. Be sure and employ a long cast net rope that
allows the net to sink all the way to the bottom. In some cases when pogies are not schooling
on the surface, you will need to locate pogies with your fish finder. Here, pogy schools are typically found
schooling from just under the surface to the bottom.
Once seasoned
fishermen have filled their boat’s live well with pogies, they have the
satisfaction of having on board extremely versatile live baits that are deadly
for many species of
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Small boaters that
compete in
frequently referred to as the “Mosquito Fleet”. However there is nothing small about the
baits they fish with and the giant king mackerel they target. Kingfish tournaments can draw up to 600-boats
where the majority of boats measure less than 25-feet. The attraction for small kingfish boats
relates to big migrations of kingfish along the beaches and inlet mouths. And the availability of the mackerel’s number
one forage food, the nutritious pogy.
“We have
everything that a large kingfish boat has, except everything we have is
smaller”, Bob Johnson said. “We have a
22-gallon live bait well that holds up to 22- pogies, or one pogy for every
gallon of water. A 500 GPH Rule live bait
well pump is secured to the transom of our kingfish boat and easy to replace
when the pump goes bad.”
During the “2009
Nassau Sports Fishing Association’s Tournament of Champions”, Bob Johnson
teamed up with
At
Without saying, one
of the most efficient live bait trolling techniques for
The standard kingfish
leader begins with a 30-pound black barrel swivel,
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haywire
wrapped to a 4-foot section of 31-pound coffee colored,
single strand piano wire. Next, a black VMC #4-4X treble hook is
haywire wrapped to the remaining tag end of the leader wire. Haywire wrap an
eight-inch section of 43-pound coffee colored, single strand piano wire to the
eye of the “Nose” treble hook. Finally a
black VMC #4-4X treble hook is haywire wrapped to the tag end of the “Stinger”
wire adjusting the length so that the stinger hook lays just ahead of the pogy’s
tail.
“During the many
years of running Southern Kingfish Association” events, I have found that the
most popular technique for taking winning king mackerel, is trolling with a
“Double Pogy” kingfish leader,” SKA’s Managing Partner, Jack Holmes said. “The double pogy leader gives kingfish a
larger baitfish presentation to look at and also a better chance of a solid
hookup with multiple hooks.”
The “Double Pogy”
leader is made up the same exact way as a “Single Pogy” leader. However a second section of 43-lb. stinger
wire is haywire wrapped to the eye of the stinger treble hook with a third
black VMC #4-4X treble hook haywire wrapped to the final end of the second
stinger wire. The first and larger pogy
is nose barbed to the first treble hook and a smaller pogy is barbed through
the nose of the second treble hook. The
third treble hook is allowed to lay just ahead of the
tail of the second pogy.
The larger pogy
trolled ahead of the smaller pogy keeps the “Double” pogy leader from tangling
as the larger pogy swims stronger than the smaller one.
Single and double
pogy live bait leaders are deadly when trolled as “Flat Lines” far back in the
trolling spread from 30-80 feet, in the “
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and deep with the aid of downriggers. Kingfish
leaders are typically rigged
to
20-pound class live bait rods with high speed kingfish reels filled with
300-400 yards of twenty pound monofilament line. A 15-20 foot section of 20-30 pound
fluorocarbon shock leader is attached to the main line and the swivel of the
kingfish leader.
Through the years,
king mackerel fishermen steadily improved their techniques for “Pogy”
fishing. And soon found that their
favorite kingfish baits, when rigged properly, were also excellent baits for a
wide variety of “Gold Coast” game fish.
Live bait trolling with pogies frequently attracted game fish strikes
from dolphin, sailfish, tuna, barracuda, cobia, Spanish mackerel amberjack and
the fast swimming wahoo.
“I have chartered
my clients to king mackerel up to 50-pounds,” Captain Terry David Lacoss
said. “However that 93-pound wahoo that
ate a “Double Pogy” live bait leader, was the best that I can remember.”
Like many coastal
and offshore charter and recreational sports fishermen, Terry David has learned
how to become versatile while fishing with pogies, and for a wide variety of
game fish.
“Our first
choice of securing live baits is cast netting pogies,” Captain Terry David
Lacoss said. “Departing from my home
Port of Amelia Island, pogies often school right in the deep waters of the
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wide variety of
live wells are brimming with live pogies,
a successful day of live bait trolling is soon to follow.”
While many live
bait trolling boats target a variety of striking game fish, both live and dead
pogies also afford for excellent bottom baits as well.
Anchoring, or
drifting over your favorite
The terminal pogy
bottom setup begins with a 4-foot section of 80-100 pound fluorocarbon shock
leader attached to the terminal fishing line using back to back uni knots.
Next, a 6-8 ounce egg sinker is threaded onto the terminal fishing line. Finally a 5/0 to 7/0 circle, or kahle hook is
tied to the tag end of the shock leader and the pogy barbed right through the
bottom of the mouth and up through the top of the mouth. This is referred to as a “Knocker” rig where
the weight holds the live or dead pogy, dead on the bottom.
Tarpon fisherman
then set up a chum slick with floating and cut pieces of pogies as they drift
along the beaches with the wind and tides.
Grinding pogies with an on board meat grinder and placing the ground
chum in a
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mesh bag off from the gunnel is also an
excellent chumming tactic. Barbed pogies
are drifted in the chum slick with 20-40 pound tackle using an 8-foot section
of 100-pound fluorocarbon shock leader and a 7/0 circle hook tied to the
business end of the shock leader. Once
again live pogies are barbed through the bottom of the mouth and out through
the top of the mouth and either fished on the surface with the aid of small
floats attached to the terminal fishing line, or allowed to drift just under
the surface without weights or floats.
Targeting pods of
pogies along the beaches is also an excellent and exciting technique for
hooking up to tarpon, cobia, redfish and a wide variety of beach sharks. Here beach fishermen look for schools of
pogies along the beaches that are under siege by game fish. The obvious signs include pogies showering
the surface, or game fish striking pogies in the school. A tried and true angling tactic includes
using a 20-30 pound spinning rod and reel setup with an 8-foot section of
80-pound fluorocarbon shock leader and 7/0 circle, or kahle hook. Once again the pogie is barbed right through the
bottom of the mouth and out through the top of the mouth, then cast into the
middle of the pogy school and allowed to drift down to the bottom where most
strikes occur.
Inlet fishermen
often anchor their boat at the mouths of inlets and fish dead on the bottom
with either live or dead pogies with excellent success as well. Here 30-50 pound class tackle is employed
with a “Fish Finder” threaded onto the main line. Here fishermen can attach a 4-8 ounce pyramid
weight to the fish finder snap, using just enough weight to keep the pogy on
the bottom. An 8-foot section of
80-pound fluorocarbon leader once again is attached to the main line and a 6/0
– 7/0 circle or kahle hook is tied to the
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tag end of the shock leader. Live or dead pogies are barbed through the
bottom of the mouth and out through the top of the mouth and fished dead on the
bottom.
This deadly inlet
pogy technique produces rod bending action for tarpon, redfish, cobia and
sharks. Drifting live pogy with a single
pogy kingfish leader close to the surface will also attract such game fish as
king mackerel and cobia.
Menhaden spawn
during the spring at inlet mouths where fertilized eggs are carried into the
backwater tidal estuaries and bays.
During late summer, small pods of maturing pogies can be seen schooling
over flooded flats and in deep channels in the backwaters. With this in mind, these small pre-adult
pogies become excellent forage foods for redfish, jack crevalle, flounder,
bluefish and sea trout.
Here in the
backwater bays and rivers, drifting a pogy under a “Popping” cork is a deadly
technique for all of the above mentioned species. Terminal fishing tackle includes a 7.8-foot,
20-pound class spinning rod with the reel spooled with 20-pound braided fishing
line. An 8-foot section of 20-pound fluorocarbon shock leader is tied to the
terminal fishing line and a #1 kakahle hook is tied to the tag end of the shock
leader. The popping cork is attached to
the shock leader some 12-18 inches above the hook. Finally the live pogie is barbed through both
nostrils and drifted under the popping cork.
Live pogies can
also be fished successfully on the bottom and close to oysterbars while barbing
the pogie with a 1/8th ounce jig from the bottom of the mouth right
out through the top of the head. Work
the jig and pogie
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combo slowly along the bottom for flounder
and redfish.
Certainly the big
attraction for pogie fishing along
Photo Captions
#1 – (cobia 10 jeff wic best)
Cobia are often caught while fishing with pogies from right on
the surface, or down deep in the water column.
#2 – (flounder jeff hern party) This nice northeast flounder took a
jig and live pogy rig bumped slowly along a rough bottom.
#3- (red 10 ch Jennifer broering big red)
Red drum like this huge “Bull” are often taken while fishing dead on the
bottom of deep rivers and inlets with live, or cut pogies.
#4- (red 10 ch Jennifer broering) Jennifer Broering
fights a bull red at
#5- (red 10 larry rose 11) Larry Rose caught
and released this huge bull red while fishing on the bottom with cut pogies.
#6- ( red 10 larry
rose 14) Captain Terry D Lacoss pictured on left is pictured with Larry Rose’s
giant redfish taken with chunks of cut pogies.
#7- ( shark 10 bio 1) Bonnet Head sharks are fair game when
caught with chunks of smelly pogies.
#8-(shark 10 bio 3) same caption as #7
#9-(shark 10 dusky 6-ft) This 6-fott
dusky shark took a large chunk of menhaden fished dead on the bottom of the St.
Mary’s inlet.
#10- (grouper 10 ch tds4) Fishing
dead on the bottom with a live pogie produced this “Gold Coast” gray grouper.
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#11- (Grouper ch doyle lndis
4) same caption as #11
#12- (grouper 09 td Fight) A variety of “Gold Coast” bottom
feeders will put a deep bend in your saltwater tackle.
#13- (snapper 10 ch td best 1) Huge
red snapper like this one will need to be released, but are excellent sport
while fishing dead on the bottom with live or cut chunks of pogy.
#14- (snapper 10 ch brian hedstrom
best) same caption as #13
#15- (snapper 10 ch td) same
caption as #13
#16- (tarpon danny
Flynn) A live pogie fished dead on the bottom landed this nice St. Mary’s
tarpon for Captain Danny Flynn’s charter guests.
#17- (king 10 f net full of pogies) Jeff Dunbar successfully
loads his 10-foot cast net with fish catching pogies.
#18- (king 10f jeff
net 19) Tossing a large menhaden net is crucial in securing
#19- (king 10 jax alex travis 8) Young saltwater fishermen should learn
the skills of pogie fishing an early age.
#20- (king 10 jax dut pogies) Chumming
with cut chunks of pogies is an excellent chumming technique for tarpon,
sharks, cobia and kingfish.
#21- (king 10 jax bruce chum shrimp boat) same
caption as #20.
#22- (king 10 jax ont fight 4) King
fishermen chase down a speedy kingfish hooked with a double pogy leader.
#23- (king 10 jax jeff bruce 2) Kingfish simply prefer protein
enriched pogies.
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