Tidelines – May 26, 2016
I wanted to improve my surf fishing IQ, so Fisherman’s Post booked an Atlantic Beach-based surf fishing trip with Aaron Abbott, one of the surf fishing instructors at our annual winter fishing schools. However, I didn’t get past a question about bait and knots before Aaron made my head explode.
Joshua, Colby, and I met Aaron in the Oceanana parking lot before walking a couple of hundred yards south of the pier to position in front of a strong trough that had developed. Aaron also liked this area for springtime blues because there were plenty of holes to fish, as well as a couple of bars to fish between, and we needed all the help we could get as the recent beach renourishment efforts had certainly taken a toll on the productivity of the surf.
Aaron Abbott (left), of Triple A Bait Company, and Gary Hurley with one of the late spring blues caught from the surf in front of Fort Macon. The blue did not bite chunk bait—it hit an Abbott-prepared split tail mullet strip.
Aaron had timed it so that we were setting up during the rising tide because the fish are very curious to get more water so that they can look around to see what’s up close to the sand.
While Aaron was tying some of his custom two-hook bottom rigs on our lines, I asked him what bait we would be using, and that’s when I realized that Aaron has put more thought into bait than I ever have.
One type of bait we would be using, Aaron told us, was split tail mullet strips. Keeping the tail on the strip bait gives a more natural presentation (the bait looks like a mullet swimming), the strips are flexible and have the ability to produce a waving motion (again, looking like it is swimming), and it offers the length of a larger size bait without the width of a larger bait. A narrow (and not bulky) presentation allows for a longer cast, and sometimes 5-15 yards can make a big difference.
He also had prepared pearl belly mullet strips to cast out. Again, he liked the aerodynamic (and hydrodynamic) element of these baits (for both casting and then waving motion), but scraping out the black lines and film from the belly membrane, Aaron noted, gives a defining white color and presentation, and it’s his theory that while black film and/or lines aren’t a game breaker for enticing fish to strike, he does believe it gives an advantage when targeting some of the more finicky fish in the surf.
Then, Aaron explained, we would also try some mirror image baits. He would put two pearl belly strips on the same hook with the scales on each facing out. He really likes this presentation for our target species, blues in the surf. The mirror image of scales on both sides of the bait works especially well for slash feeders, he expounds, as it catches the eye of just about anything in the area. And while blues may be the best candidate, Aaron also regularly uses this presentation with success on flounder and reds in the surf.
I think this was the time that I mentioned something about just using chunk bait in the surf, and Aaron had clearly given this detail a lot of thought, too. While he thinks chunk bait is good in the surf with offering meat, oil, and smell, he doesn’t like that chunk bait tends to spin when you cast it, again robbing the angler of what could be a crucial 5-15 yards of distance. And that same spinning/helicopter effect also happens when the bait is in the water (even with swivels the chunk bait is more apt to get twisted than when using a strip bait). The chunk bait, he finds, tends to attract more attention from the smaller fish, whereas the natural presentation of a strip bait, with the bait moving with the natural flow of water running over the scales, is better with attracting bigger fish, particularly something discerning like a flounder.
The contrast here was apparent—Aaron is reflective and deductive about even the smallest elements of his surf fishing efforts, and I’m a lazy surf angler that just wants to cast out and let my rod sit in the sand spike and wait for a bite (and throughout the day with Aaron, the blue blitz happened plenty of times, both at Oceanana and later at the beach in front of Fort Macon).
And this was also the point when I made the mistake, my mind still trying to remember that stuff about membranes and hydrodynamic something, of asking him what knot he uses to tie on the rig.
I now know that 20 lb. mono loses about 20% of its breaking strength (4 lbs.) at the knot (16 lbs.), so Aaron likes to tie an improved clinch knot (and I’m sure I’m remembering the name of the knot wrong) so that you double the line over to get to 40 lbs. of mono strength before losing your 20% to the knot (8 lbs.) so that the knot (32 lbs.) is no longer the weakest point of the 20 lb. mono.
This is when my head exploded.
In addition to being an avid surf fisherman, Aaron runs Triple A Bait, selling live urchins, fiddler crabs, shrimp, finger mullet, mud minnows, shad, and more to local retailers. He also specializes in high end live baits for tournament anglers (such as live shad and bluefish) as well as jumbo mud minnows to serious trout fishermen.
More information on Aaron and his bait business (including a list of his retailers) can be found at www.nowakebait.com, and you can also have him fill your head with knowledge at our winter fishing schools.
