hungover santa cruz 6/9/2007

I got out at the crack of 9:30 or so.  forgot half my gear and was dehydrated to start. but at least
I was fishing instead of working!

why dehydrated and not all there? not sure. I swear. it was only a little champagne!?!? 

anyway, as per usual, I wanted to try something different and hung an 8oz banana off a dropper and
bottom-trolled a 4.5" jointed rebel fasttrac in blue and silver. a lot of hits. but not that many hookups,
maybe small fish or I'm slow on the hook set? I figured they should hook themselves. but seems like
they needed a little help. 2 4x owner trebles, middle and back.  maybe those hooks are a little thick?

but the bottom trolling method does find fish pretty quickly and keep you busy.

once I went over a school of something and reeled up the rebel and dropped a trusty 2.5oz jig head with 5"' big
hammer swimbait and hooked up immediately on a probable ling, but my leader broke at the surgeon's
knot I had in there for the teaser. ouch.  . the 10lb mainline held, but the 25lb leader breaks
at that knot? I might have to rethink the surgeon's knot for a dropper loop for a teaser.

anyway, brought home an olive, a yellowtail rockfish and a couple blues since it got windy a couple
hours after I launched. but as usual, for me, any fishing is fun fishing.

sorry abking, no pics! but at least I'm feeling guilty about it, that's a start.

J

Bummer.  there's taht cool dropper loop knot that works pretty good... I'll see if I can find a picture of it for you.

The surgeon's loop must  put too much "sideways" pressure when used for a dropper.....?  I know it works great in a staight line.

Sounds like fun anyway.  How did you feel once you got off the water?

Allen

I know it works great in a straight line.

What he said, I use a double surgeons for the end of my mooching leaders and they haven't failed yet with salmon and Hallie's at 40lbs + I use 15lb maxima. I think when you pull from both ends it fails. Tie one and pull on it the loop disapears and it turns into knot and breaks. I have gone to a dropper loop,swivel or using a long tag end off a uni or palomer. Trolling the bottom is a Lotta work but productive. I did it a lot out of my PB but still working on it out of a kayak.

Perhaps fluorocarbon line and mono leader?
In my experience, the fluoro is harder and cuts the mono.

v

That's cool, John - you're evolving toward it anyway!   

Here's a pic of a nice 6.5 oz. Megabait that I don't know how a ling or big red can resist...  This is the first one I've bought of these and Redwood Marine in Eureka has a bunch of them hanging on the wall - $6.99 for this one.  Since they're discontinued should I grab a bunch?  Are people running out of them down there?  Sorry for the thread-jack - just rambling...

  AB   Somebody bought the molds nd they are available again.

Thanks, Mickfish.

I agree a surgeons in a straight line works well for me too.

but apparently it does not work for a dropper loop. I have to agree that when you
turn it sideways, it seems to break just below the knot. once previous this happened,
but on 40lb mono and it was on a snag. but that's twice the heavier leader broke
and the lighter mainline held with that knot in the rigging. live and learn.

that's the problem with being so experimental. you repeat a lot of previous mistakes.

I have seen the dropper loop
pic, I guess I'll have to look for that and learn it, sigh. I feel like mahi mahi: another
knot OH NO!!!. I think there's a pic on this site even.

I felt fine off the water allen, a little headache, but after the margaritas and fish tacos
I felt fine,  . it was so flat, I never got any seasickness even with the
hangover.

hey today I was at seabright beach with the family (but had a rod sitting idle)
and the birds started working, pelicans,
cormarnts and seagulls. no bait coming out of the water, could not see it.
assume anchovies?

I tossed a perch grub into the mess of birds and hooked up on something.
didn't feel big tho. either meenie striper or foul hooked bait or
opportunistic surf perch are my guesses. it LDR-ed
which does not happen a lot to me with surf perch. of course,
not sure it wasn't a cormarant,  .
Then I cast again and my line blew sideways
after the cast and landed on a seagull  , so I gave it up.
but maybe it was stripers and bait?

It was pretty exciting tho, my 7 year old was with me and we ran down the beach to
the birds.

J

if the old Philipino men that used to fish near Watsonville were not just pulling my leg,
they said bird and bait action just off shore usually meant kingfish chasing bait.  If you cant cast to it, Kingfish.  If you cant cast cuz you'll hit a bird, stripers.

of course I asked if you cant cast to them, how do you know they're kingfish.  They chuckled and said they could cast to that far, they said I couldnt.  I thanked them and left with what little pride I still had.

Eugene

That's cool, John - you're evolving toward it anyway!   

Here's a pic of a nice 6.5 oz. Megabait that I don't know how a ling or big red can resist...  This is the first one I've bought of these and Redwood Marine in Eureka has a bunch of them hanging on the wall - $6.99 for this one.  Since they're discontinued should I grab a bunch?  Are people running out of them down there?  Sorry for the thread-jack - just rambling...

that is my fav megabait pattern.  Picked up a load of fish at elk on that one, then lost it to the reef at bean h.  Damn!

dropper loop link: http://www.animatedknots.com/dropperloop/index.php

do kingfish ever chase bait like that?

John, I've always been curious about the dropper loop -- how do you attach a weight to the loop?  Swivel?  Another line?

-- Dave

Dave:

Put the loop through the eye and then put the weight through the loop.  Loop has to be big enough to do this.....

Or, use the loop for your hook and put the weight on the bottom....just depends on how much you want a training leader...



Allen

what allen says is of course right but
I just use the dropper to add a teaser sometimes. 

not for threeway style trolling. by 'hung off a dropper' I mean just a dropper line... not necessarily
a dropper loop. sorry for the confusion.

for the bottom bouncing I like a lot of swivels at the threeway connection to reduce tangling.

one thing I learned this weekend is that an 8oz banana weight makes a great bottom bouncing
weight with the rebel. I was able to keep it on the bottom in 50 feet with 30lb spectra even
bouncing along at close to 3 knots. maybe the diving lip on the plug helps to pull it down?
the apex I tried before seemed to not stay down as well.

also, a 10oz torpedo got hung up a lot more.  a ball works pretty well, but the banana seemed
to bounce more smoothly.

I tried pulling an apex and that worked, but I'd like to try a grub on a hook and a
lightweight swimbait too. maybe a big jerkbait with a worm hook? I have one ready to try.

Hey guys,
I have been really happy with the performance of the dropper described in the Grogs website (posted above). Been using it for a couple years now and it works great when tied properly.

But I do have one bit of advice: use a stick to tie the dropper. It makes it 1000X easier. Click on the link above and check it out. Insert the stick at step 3 and use it to twist the line around (stick must be shorter than the actual dropper loop or you won't be able to spin/twist it effectively). Then, you just pull the loop back through the hole (the stick s/b in the hole…THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID!) like step 10. One thing that makes it easier to pull the loop through the hole is to cut a diagonal slit in the stick…just stick the loop in the slit and pull the stick through the hole. Grab the loop with your teeth and pull outwards on either end of the line.

After reading this info, it doesn't sound like an easy task to describe. I will have to post a video tonight. I've got it down pat and can tie a dropper loop in about 10 seconds (with a stick).

In the meantime, here's a non-artist's rendition of the stick with a diagonal slit.
PK