Rexlace 2

For mackerel fishing from a pier, I used Rexbait rigs many times. One of the good things for Rexlace-based sabiki is color variation you can choose. My first model was silver holo and it worked very well. When I lost chartreuse color of a jigging spoon which caught some mack, I wanted to make green colored ones. I bought green holo, clear green and silver Rexlace and tried a few combinations. I also found some glow color strips. I thought they might work better in the evening. I bought glow white and used in combination with silver.

Tools
Paper binder clips, scissors, a craft knife, a pin, a ruler

Materials
Rexlace, scotch tape, hooks (Octopus #4 or similar), mono lines, glue (silicon based, no-solvent type) , non‐woven fabric (used for a connecting strip of upper and lower Rexlace ), nylon hair, feather 

Design finished shape

Cut strip into 2’’.

Fold at the center, clip and fix using scotch tape.

Cut out upper and lower parts with a craft knife.

Remove scotch tape and open strips.

Make a pin hole in upper part.

Put leader tied with hook through the hole.

Apply glue to the inner side of strips and let them dry for 5 minutes.

Attach glued surface with a connecting strip.

Fix with scotch tape and clip overnight.

Attach nylon hair (or feather) tail and fix with scotch tape overnight.

Make a complete rig.

At first, I led the mono line from the lower corner of the tail end. Sometimes it caused trouble in leader when I caught mack. Therefore I changed the design and led the line from the tail end as in the photo above.

Schoolie

In 2012, warm winter brought us earlier start of the season. I got the first flounder in the first week of April. Probably because of the earlier bloom of the plankton near shore, bait fish grew faster and they fed record high amount of squid from the middle of June.

When I went to Beverly pier early June, there were tons of small herring. Striper chased these bait fish and you could see active surface action every night. I brought a medium rod and a sabiki rig with a jig. I wanted to catch some mackerel for bait but couldn’t catch anything. Instead, I hooked small herring during jigging. When I slowly trolled the rig with a herring on a hook, I got a hit. The way it ran was different from that of mackerel. It was a schoolie, 16’’ or so. When I hooked another herring, I traced the same zone again and got another. It was also the same size. Although it was a catch and release fishing, it was fun. I kept fishing for a while and, caught and released a dozen.

Blackseabass Limit

Massachusetts regulation of blackseabass has been published. Although minnimum size is the same as 2013, 14 inches, bag limit is increased to 8. Hyline may resume seabass trips in summer.

Fluke and Blue

I wanted to go to a fluke trip at Frances Fleet in August. My friend was also interested in the trip. We reviewed the report and found that Wednesday was good and Thursday was decent with 6 keepers for high hook. We decided to go that Saturday. I thought that although I couldn’t expect limit-out, I could keep a few as long as drifting condition was good. Some additional blackseabass could make the trip very good. Blackseabass tastes good even if you freeze them.

It took 2 hours driving over to Rhode Island. We planned on arriving at 5:30 to keep spots. When I got to the dock, my friend had already kept spots at bow.

Although I didn’t have a rod for fluke, I didn’t feel like buying one because it was once-a-year event. The question was which substitute rod I would use. Weather forecast said that Saturday would be windy. I worried about higher drift speed. Heavy sinker is the key to keep the bottom in such condition. I decided to carry cod tackle, which can handle up to 16 oz of sinker. A conventional reel also works better in choppy condition. In addition to it, I brought in a medium rod, Shimano Sojourn 7’ with a spinning reel with 30 LB power pro. This rod was the sturdiest in medium rods I had. It was good for an option when the ocean calmed down. It can handle 4 oz SPRO or a lighter sinker. The only risk was bluefish, which might break the rod. Rigs were high-low with 4/0 baitholder hooks. I also stocked 3-4 oz SPRO bucktail jigs and Gulp swimming mullet 2.5’’. For bluefish, I carried 2-3 oz metal jigs such as Crippled herring and Hopkins.

Gail Frances left the dock at 7. It was choppy from the beginning and I got mildly sick when I took a nap in the cabin. Soon after I got out to the deck, the boat arrived at the first spot, I started with the light rod and SPRO. However, it didn’t work well and the rig tangled with the one on the other side of the boat. A few nice keeper fluke showed up in the bow area soon. I switched to the original plan, cod tackle with a bait rig with a 16 oz sinker. After catching an undersize seabass, the rig broke with a snag. I reset the rig with an 8 oz sinker. After one reset of the drift, I felt a bite. After waiting 10 seconds, I set a hook. I thought it might be a dog because it ran well. However what I found after reeling was a decent fluke. A mate brought the fish in the boat with a net.

Fish was on here and there steadily. The trouble was that we got snag very often. I lost two 16oz sinkers and two 12 oz sinkers. After running out triangle swivels, I had to use a dropper loop for a sinker. This type of rig was damaged on rough bottom sooner and I lost rigs even faster. Occasionally I tried the light tackle but I didn’t feel like keeping the bottom. It was waste of time. Overall catch on the boat was not so bad and my friend got a jumbo door mat, 27’’ fluke! The mate said it looked 10 LB. I saw a few similar size of fluke in bow after that.

When I got a keeper seabass with bait, I ran out of hooks. I gave up fluke and started blue fishing. I hadn’t had big bluefish so I was interested in catching one. I took the light rod and set a 3 oz Crippled Herring with a gulp on a single hook. I casted the jig and bounced at the bottom. I felt something but couldn’t hook up. In the meantime, I got a clear hit near the boat. I thought it was a big seabass because it didn’t run. What I found, however, was a keeper fluke. It was smaller than the first one. I found the metal jig worked for bottom species as well and it was fun!

I jigged with the same action and got a strong hit. The fish pulled the drug, should be a blue. However, the leader broke after 3 seconds. Although my friend advised me to use a wire rig, I didn’t have any that day. I reset the rig using a snap swivel and a 3 oz Hopkins with a long shank single hook and a tube. It would be better as long as I hooked up before a blue ingested it. After slow time, the boat moved to a spot near Block Island. I switched to the bait for a while but didn’t have any actions. In the meantime, my friend using a jig got a hit of blue and lost the jig. I replaced a tube on Hopkins with a gulp and started jigging. I got another keeper seabass soon. Around 1:30, a bluefish hit during reeling the jig. I set the hook firmly. Although the fish ran well, the line was OK this time. The rod tip ran toward the bottom of the boat and drug was pulled with the noise. Holding the rod was a tough work. I managed to pull the fish from the other side of the boat and a mate picked it up with a gaff. It was an average size, looked like 28’’ and 8 LB. Because of the right drug setting, the rod didn’t break.

In the last 30 minutes, a boy came over to the bow. He hadn’t caught any keepers so far. I advised him to keep the rig at the bottom as other fishermen did but he copied me, jigging the rig. Under the condition that day, beginner’s luck wouldn’t happen. You had to keep the bottom on the rolling boat, avoid snag and pull the rig as the drift went. You did need the skill. If you could keep doing it diligently, you had a few chances during 6 hours of trip. It was such a trip. After I caught an under size fluke, the captain called the end a little past 2 pm. I kept 2 fluke, 2 seabass and one bluefish. I brought them home without cleaning.

Regulars said Saturday a week before was crowded and no catch. This Saturday was moderately windy with showers but there were less people and the catch was decent with several jumbos. I thought it was a good trip. The fleet reported the trip as quality rather than quantity. Larger fluke I got was 22’’ and smaller one was 21’’ both were good size to eat. Black seabass was not so big. Bluefish had a lot of fat line. I removed the dark meat and took pieces of fillets. Belly meat looked oily and delicious. I tried sashimi with ground ginger and found it was very good! It was similar to albacore. I also made a marinade using loin. It was different from any other local fishes. Although it becomes fishy soon, super fresh one is unique and delicious!

Cod Marathon, Yankee fleet

Yankee fleet has marathon trips in summer time. From Boston area, it is closer than Newburyport or Hampton fleets. I made a reservation for a marathon trip in July.

When I went to an allday cod trip for the first time, I had a hard time reeling in fish. I decided to buy a power handle for my Penn 555GS. After installing the new handle, reeling became much easier. I set the reel to Ugly Stik BWB 1140 with a clump. I also got a 14 oz LavJig this time.

Yankee Clipper left the dock at 5 and we started fishing a little after 7. I kept a spot at port side near bow. I started with a jig and a fly. At the first cast, I got a hit soon. It seemed decent but what showed up was a dogfish. Although there were some cod on board, dog were too many. After a few resets, we still had some dog. When a fisherman pulled a dog, the rig tangled with my main line and teeth of the dog cut my braided line. I grabbed the end of line so I tied the line and started fishing again. However, there was another weak point. When I jigged a few times, the main line broke again. My rig was recovered because it was tangled with another rig but I gave up main line of 50 YD or so.    

After I got a few small keeper cod, the captain moved to deeper water. More of the main line went out from the spool. When the jig reached the bottom, a fish hit. Good one! It was a decent size pollock. Immediately after that, I got another hit at the falling near the bottom. It was even better size of pollock. A fisherman next to me got double. School was there. I got another hit at the bottom. This one didn’t swim a lot. A bait fisherman asked surprisingly “Got another big pollock?” I replied it was like a cusk. What I reeled in was not a pollock this time but a cusk.

I found pollock hit on a falling jig. I tried squidding, reeled 15 turns and dropped to the bottom. I got another hit. When I said it was another pollock, a fisher man said might be a side-hooked dog. What I found after reeling was a nice pollock. It didn’t fit in my 50 QT cooler box. I got a coffee bag and put two big pollock in it.

After noontime, I had steady catch of cod. When I thought I got a good one, it was a side-hooked dog. The jig fisherman next to me limited out for cod. I got 7 cod at that time and wondered if I switched to bait. However, there weren’t many haddock. I kept using a jig.

In the meantime, wind stopped completely and the boat was dragged by the current. My jig caught the anchor rope. The captain decided to pull the anchor and switch to the drifting. There was little time left at that time and I fished with bait for 15 minute until the end of the fishing.

I got 8 cod, 3 pollock, and 1 cusk. Pollock were all big, 8, 10 and 13.5 lb. Although cod were not so big, they were delicious. It was very good trip and I enjoyed it!

Cod Fly

I had stock of Mustad O’Shaughnessy (3407DT) 6/0 50 pack. I bought it for cod flies. Although cod flies are not so expensive, they are consumed as you lose jigs.

When I tied cod flies last season with pink braid nylon hair, they worked well. However, there were two major problems. One was that the hair slided on the shank during jigging. The other was that occasionally a part of hair was lost. I changed the design to improve it.

I bundled a hank of nylon hair with braid line at the middle and folded the hank. The center of the hank was fixed to shank near the eye. At the beginning of tie, I put the line through the eye once. This design prevents hairs from moving and being lost during fishing.

This winter I got nylon hair materials for doll. It was softer than the material I used before. So I slightly increased the volume of the hair for a fly. Flash yellow looks very good.

Smelt Fly

When I searched web sites, I found Fishin’ Hole rig with flies. The bead head glow-in-the-dark fly looked nice. I had some materials. I tied flies of similar design.

Hook
What came up to my mind for thin wire hook with a straight eye was bronze Aberdeen #8 available at Wal-Mart. It is sold as 20CT bulk packs and reasonably priced. Although I liked the wire gauge, the gape was too narrow considering big mouth of rainbow smelt. I knew it was easy to bend this hook because I used #4 for flounder fishing as an “easy unsnag” rig. I made the gape wider and the shank shorter with a plier.

Bead and thread
Available at AC Moore. I got gold beads of 3 mm diameter and fine thread of dark red color.

Fiber
I blended glow in the dark and flash yellow nylon hairs.

Tying is simple. Hook a bead, tie fibers and fix with Krazy Glue Advanced.
















From the top, an original #8 hook, a modified hook and a tied fly

Pollock Boil

It was the middle of June. I went to State Pier for mack. I arrived at the pier a little before sun rise. I set a Rexbait rig and casted. The first fish was a 12”pollock. I released it.

In the meantime, I found surface actions here and there. Maybe stripers were chasing bait fish. I set a Storm jig to a surf rod and casted on the boil. Active surface actions were within the casting range. Although the jig dropped on the sweet spot of the action, I couldn’t have a hit. I realized that it was different from schoolie.

I got back to sabiki and casted to the surface boil. In a few seconds, I got full hook of pollock. I found some baby herring of two inches from the mouth. Pollock were chasing bait fish on the top! It surprised me a lot because pollock were bottom fish for me.

I followed the boil to the inner part of the harbor. Surface action spread all around the dock with full volume of the noise. Splendid view! It was literally the BOIL! Every time I casted the rig, I got 4-5 fish. It was tough to reel in.

Fish were gone around 6 o’clock. I came back to the original spot and got a mack, which was the only one for the day. It ate small herring, too.

 

Sea Worm

Bait shops stock sea worm in April for winter flounder and early season striper. Below are some bait shops in North Shore.

Bridge Street Sports
280 Bridge Street, Salem, MA
Located near Salem train station. Sea worm is available year round and reasonably priced. The only choice in early April.

Al’s Bait & Tackle
24 1/2 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA
Across the R1A from Beverly Pier. Sea worm is available from the middle of April. Competitive price. Good variety of tackles, too.

Beverly Bait & Tackle
114 Bridge Street, Beverly, MA
On another Bridge street in Beverly. It is only for bait. Although tackles are no good, sea worm is sold at competitive price and some local information is available.

Three Lantern Marine & Fishing
7 Parker Street, Gloucester, MA
Convenient when you fish in Gloucester. Although sea worm is more expensive than shops above, the advantage is that you don’t have to drive away from the highway. They stocked all sizes of LavJigs in this season.

Tomo’s Bait & Tackle
104 Wharf Street, Salem, MA
I think this shop has some bait, too. It is open from early morning. Stocks excellent variety of squid jigs.

December Eastman’s Pollock

When I looked into the weather forecast, Sunday was cold but light wind. Report of Eastman’s for Friday trip was excellent. Lots of big pollock were caught. I made a reservation Saturday morning for Sunday allday trip. The man in the office said that they could add one. Might be they had good number of crowd.

Allday trip became 7-4 after summer time ended. I made lunch and left home at 5. When I got into the boat, cabin seats were not available anymore. It is not unusual for Eastman’s. Some fishermen drove more than 100 miles to the fleet. After keeping a spot at port side near the stern, I brought my cooler box to the cabin for seating. Several were at the deck but jumped into the cabin as the boat sailed out. Temperature was low 20s and it was very tough to stay out.

Lady Merrilee Ann 3 got anchored at 9 and we started fishing. There was no bait and all started with jig or flies on a high-low rig. I set a 14 oz LavJig and a pink hand-tied cod fly (6/0 O'Shaughnessy) to Ugly Stik BWB1140 6’6’’ and Okuma Classic Pro XP-452L. The spot was relatively deep, 300 feet. I got a hit at the bottom. It was a baby size pollock. After another small pollock, I got a keeper. It was not so big, 4 lb size. I found that I was only fisherman without gloves. Although heated rail helped a lot to warm up my hands, I should have prepared ones.

I realized that pollock was the only game that day. I tried squidding, reeling up 30-40 turns and falling to the bottom. I got hits during reeling, 20-30 feet above the bottom. In most case, the fish was hooked on the teaser. I kept 4 pollock up to 8 lb until 10:30. After a few resets, I got a double and a nice 13 lb one. Both came up with tangle. There were too many people. It was impossible to avoid tangle once you got a pollock. I had to cut braided main line twice. It was the last thing I expected in a trip in December!

Catch got slower before noon. The captain reset the boat. Small hake, redfish and cod showed up there. I wanted to catch redfish. Although I looked for Gulp in my jig box, I didn't have any. I changed a treble hook to a smaller one with an octopus bait and switched a cod fly with a gummy shrimp. As I stuck to the bottom, I felt like a snag. When I pulled the line, it moved. I thought it was a nice fish. I guessed it might be a cod because it didn’t run like pollock. After reeling in, what I found was a nice pollock, with tangle as usual… After another slow hour, fishing ended at 1:30.

I kept 8 and released 3 shorts. In the boat, some caught a dozen and others just got 2. Several per person was average. I saw several 20 lb up pollock, too. I had fish filleted and got some milt as well. Although it was not a super trip, I enjoyed steady catch with a few 10 lb class. Fish tasted good. I would like to thank the captain and the mates providing a nice fishing trip in this season!