Hoochy Coochy

Okay, I had a great time fishing whole Squid last Sunday for two nice-sized Lingcod (8 & 11 pound--8lber on a 12" Kingfish I got on the squid ) and a good-sized Vermillion (7-pounds and my first ever), I never got to do much with the Swimbait on my other rod--kept putting it down and reeling in to get it out of the way of the fish on the bait rod. Did get one good pull  which bit the tail off--I hand't read Brian's tip about tugging with a dog and tried a hook set and all I got was a tailless Swimbait. Live and learn or is it fish and learn.

So next trip I want to try Megbaits and Swimbaits more  and I intend to rig Hoochies above them because it seems to be the 'Go To' technique for many of you seasoned fishers of the ocean. So I have a lot of questions having never seen a Hoochy rigged above a lure before in person.

1) 40-pound mono or wire?
2) hook or no hook? If so, what kind of hook and size?
3)  how far above the iron or Swimbait?
4) To those using the Hoochy hook and no hook on the iron--any drawbacks?

I am thinking of taking 40-pound putting a snap on the bottom, 10-inches up a Doouble-Surgeons in a Barrel swivel and another snap on the 2-inch tag end for the Hoochy when rigged. This way I can trade irons or Swimbaits and Hoochys easily. Any comments?

And an iron question:
1) 3.5 oz Megabaits are about all that is left these days since Megabait is going out of business. I have a few in color 18 (thanks Sean for the tip) and 17--put 5/0 Siwash hooks on them. But what are people using for 4-6 oz irons?

Go mono, wire wouldn't work.  When I use a teaser I usually tie the main line directly to the jig and add the dropper loop about 16 inches above the jig, I'm lazy.  Using a 40lb leader is probably a better idea as the dropper loop creates a weak point in the line.  IMO a fly will outproduce a hoochie.  I usually only go to this if the bite is sloooow.  The extra hook usually becomes a pain when dropping through school fish to get the more desireable species residing in the rocks.  Occasionally a ling will hitchike a small fish that hit the teaser or go after the fly but its usually not the case.  Try straight iron first.   

There's a huge variety of iron jigs on the market and a ton in the 4-6 oz range.  Try stopping by Fisherman's Warehouse or Ly's (fishery supply is usually light on iron options and they mostly carry braid slammers which can get expensive) The most commonly used is a standard diamond jig but I like going with the sumo tackle candy bars in chrome or white/blue.     

Al,
Thanks for your tips. If I make up a leader with a snap on the tag-end of the top loop, I can snap on Shrimp Flies or Hoochys, hook or hookless in a few seconds. I do have Shrimp flies as well--I'll try them. I also saw two-color glow Squid (half white/half glow) Hoochy at FW and picked some up. I think I'll try those as the teaser as well but I will put a hook on the end.

If I get a nice swell to jig for me, I'll take a rod in each hand and test flies and hoochys side by side as see what scores better. Should be fun. Especially a double 

I'll take a rod in each hand and test flies and hoochys side by side as see what scores better.

Watch the number of rods you have out at one time.  For rockfish and lingcod you can legally only fish with one rod.

........so many rules........so few fishing hours.................

You can test them side by side by using 2 inlie dropper loops, one with a fly and the other with a hoochie, and a torpedo sinker on the bottom.  I'm not quite sure how you're gonna run them without a hook though, where have you seen that rig?

marmot, any old loop in your leader works.

i usually hang my teaser off the swivel where I connect the spectra to the 40lb mono leader. 

use a loop so you can detach it if you are getting tiny fish on it.

btw, since you are a fly fishing dude, try a 4/0 deceiver as your teaser. 

not much drag, a lot of action, durable, I used a grey and white one I got off ebay,
with a crimped barb and it got a lot of fish with a megabait on the bottom, and not
just little fish, some big blues chomped that guy.

megabaits come in 4.5 and 6.5 weights too, I think any color works on rockfish. I have
used fiji gold, bunker, anchovy.

a braid slammer or bead tackle diamond jig or slab work real well, same with
luhr jensen krippled herring.

so does a SUMO jr. iron for that matter, any of those so-cal heavy irons work, especially
with a little prism tape on them.

there are guys on here that have attached a hook to a torpedo weight and pulled up
lings and rockfish.

if you find those fish, it seems they will bite anything or nothing.

Watch the number of rods you have out at one time.  For rockfish and lingcod you can legally only fish with one rod.

man, nuances, nuances. I thought 2 rods were legal "all ocean'--it was teh Bay  and Lakes you needed the two-rod stamp for. Sheesh. I forgot to mention when I have two rods going, I am fishing for...ahh...Jack Smelt, Sandabs, and Kingfish. Yeah that's it.  Just kidding. I obey the rules straight down the line--they are there to protect the fishery. But DFG regs are getting to be like taxes--you have to start consulting and bringing an expert on the bureacracy along to interpret for you as you fish. That's indeed a sorry state of affairs.

But now a question: so since I use the same rig for Cabezon, the only way to tell if I violate is if I keep not catch right. So if I intend to C&R, there is no proof I not really trying for Cabezon or Halibut for that matter. But of course that meeans All Rockfish and Lngs get released. Heck, that was why I was thining lures anyway--less mobidity with lures with single hooks than bait.

Finding this took me two attempts!


Fin Fish — Gear Restrictions
28.65. General.
Except as provided in this article, fi n fi sh may be taken only on hook and line or by hand.
Any number of hooks and lines may be used in all ocean waters and bays except:
(a) San Francisco and San Pablo bays between the Golden Gate Bridge and the west
Carquinez Bridge, where only one line with not more than three hooks may be used.
(b) On public piers, no person shall use more than two rods and lines, two hand lines, or
two nets, traps or other appliances used to take crabs.
(c) When rockfi sh (genus Sebastes) or lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) are aboard or in
possession, where only one line with not more than two hooks may be used pursuant to
Sections 28.55 or 28.27, respectively.
(d) No gaff hook shall be used to take or assist in landing any fi nfi sh shorter than the

(c) When rockfi sh (genus Sebastes) or lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) are aboard or in
possession, where only one line with not mo

Yeah, its easy to miss buried down there. DFG needs more user-friendly docs. they should also put this under each species. I missed it too. As I'll bet more than a few did.

Thanks Brian. So putting on my juris doctor hat, I can fish two rods with as many hooks as I want (provided no fish are aboard--as if it were a Sabiki) up until I keep my first Sebastes or Lingcod, then I have to drop down to one rod with a maximum of two hooks. If my first 'keeper' is a Salmon or other "special" species then the rules are different and I won't go into them here. If I keep none, then I can fish two rods with as many *damn* hooks as I please  cuz I'm a fishin' fer Jack Smelt and Sar-deenz. At his point, I almost fell like doing just that to 'flip them off'. Man I amfiesty today--need to go fishing.

Clarification: in possession or aboard requires carefull netting and release procedures so as not to create certain ambiguities surrounding the interpretation of aboard.

I was thinking about rigging up the Hoochy using 40-pound mono this way. tie a knot behind a big bead, thread it up through the Hoochy, put on another bead, and tie a loop Perfection or Double Surgeons to finish it off.

Thanks Brian. So putting on my juris doctor hat, I can fish two rods with as many hooks as I want (provided no fish are aboard--as if it were a Sabiki) up until I keep my first Sebastes or Lingcod, then I have to drop down to one rod with a maximum of two hooks. If my first 'keeper' is a Salmon or other "special" species then the rules are different and I won't go into them here. If I keep none, then I can fish two rods with as many *damn* hooks as I please  cuz I'm a fishin' fer Jack Smelt and Sar-deenz. At his point, I almost fell like doing just that to 'flip them off'. Man I amfiesty today--need to go fishing.

Well, if you are fishing 2 rods, then you can't even keep that first rockfish or ling as it would have been caught illegally.

-Allen

Well, if you are fishing 2 rods, then you can't even keep that first rockfish or ling as it would have been caught illegally.

Yes. You are correct--I didn't mean to pahrse it the way I did looking back at it. I actually would have to decomission one rod  (I.e.e reel in and stow) BEFORE hooking any fish I intended to bring aboard or keep.

I also tie a dropper loop about 3" long and thread either a shrimp fly or a siwash with a hoochie on it.  I also tie tinsel teasers which work extremely well.  Generally a rig with a teaser outperforms a single bait rig by a fair amount.  I believe from the fish's eye view it looks like your big jig is chasing the teaser and that gets the fish excited and more into a biting mood. 

When fishing really deep you can also leave your rig on the bottom when you hook one fish and wait for others to come see what all the commotion is about.  Once I brought up 2 lingcod and a third followed them to the surface trying to steal the shiny stuff hanging out of the other ling's mouths.

thanks P-Spark. I cannot imagine the challenge if I'd hooked both my 8- and 11-pound Lingcod from last weekend at the same time. However, I was using a single hook with stinger treble hook so no doubles.