Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
One day last week we were drifting for sharks about 26-miles offshore when my mate stuck his head in the cabin to tell me that we had a school of tuna passing under the boat. His assertion was immediately confirmed with the beeping of the fish alarm on the depth finder which had a glob of red showing about 20-feet below the hull. We had four shark lines out and two light spinning rods rigged in case we saw some bluefish, but the tuna came and went so quickly that we didn’t have much of a chance to do anything to enhance our odds of hooking one. For the few fleeting seconds opportunity was knocking, we just weren’t prepared to open the door.
No matter what kind of fishing someone is engaged in, there’s always a chance that something besides their targeted species will show up and give them a shot at hooking something special. It doesn’t matter how good they are, no one can capitalize on every surprise encounter – there’s just too many possibilities. (We were striper fishing this past January when a humpback whale surfaced beside the boat, and I didn’t have a single harpoon on the boat – darn the bad luck!) But, anglers who plan ahead by considering what “could” happen and having bait and tackle on hand “just in case” can sometimes pull off extraordinary catches during otherwise routine fishing trips.
One of the best things anglers can do to take advantage of surprise encounters is to have their tackle (rods, rigs, leaders, lures, etc.) assembled and ready for immediate deployment.
When something unexpected shows up, anglers might have only a few seconds to put the right bait or lure in its face if they hope to get a bite. If they have to waste time tying on swivels, untangling leaders, or finding a particular plug or jig, the game might be over before it even gets started. Imagine hooking a dolphin while trolling and as you get it to the boat the entire school follows it in. If your light rods are set-up and ready it could take less than a minute to get the tackle on deck, chunk up some baits, and start bailing fish. Otherwise, by the time hooks are tied to leaders and leaders to line, the school might be long-gone!
No matter what type of offshore fishing we’re doing we always keep a couple 10-pound test spinning rods ready, one rigged with a surface popper and the other with some kind of jig so that in seconds we can fire-off a cast to bluefish, dolphin, bonito, jacks or any other modest size fish that comes our way. We also keep a couple 20-pound spinners rigged with snap swivels that allow us to quickly attach whatever we need to hook a tuna, cobia, big dolphin or small sharks. Of course, with a cabin boat I’ve got a lot of stowage space. Small boaters might be limited to only one “just-in-case” rod in which I would opt for a medium 12-15 pound test spinner rigged with a floater/diver type plug.
Inshore anglers should also consider keeping an extra rod or two for unexpected opportunities because whether they’re bottom fishing for flounder or dropping sand fleas or crabs down to inlet tautog, there’s always a chance to be surprised by a school of bluefish, shad, stripers or any number of other species that are not expected. Again, a light spinner pre-rigged with a jig or plug can make the difference between hooking these fish or crying as an entire school passes you by.
Besides having tackle rigged and ready, another consideration is to have some kind of special bait at hand “just in case.” Whether someone is offshore trolling for billfish, chumming for sharks, or chunking for tuna, having bait aboard such as a one pound box of whole squid, 3-4 live spot or eels, or even a couple dozen live minnows can sometimes mean the difference between having a great day or coming home skunked. Though these baits are not exactly associated with offshore big-game fishing, they’re all readily available, inexpensive, easy to keep, and will tempt a bite from most anything with fins.
When fishing over artificial reefs or chumming for sharks, we’ve also used these unconventional baits to catch seabass, cobia, sharks, drum, king mackerel, flounder, bonito, big bluefish and false albacore that wouldn’t take our “regular” baits or lures. And these baits don’t have to be reserved only for times when certain fish show themselves. Optimistic anglers can put them out ahead of time so that just in case something comes along, even if they don’t see it, they’ll be ready. Imagine drifting the bay for flounder and having a live spot on a separate rod wiggling under the boat. Maybe you’d go 15 times and never get a bite on it, but if on try #16 that big striper just happens to pass under your hull it could make it all worth while! And I guess, for that matter, if you’re drifting for sharks and you happen to have a live eel squiggling under your boat when a school of bluefin passes,
the outcome could be a whole lot better than ours was last week. It’s never a pretty sight to see a captain cry!
Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and Captain of the charter boat “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
