Article by Dale Timmons
Made my annual pilgrimage to Oyster, VA last week in search of tarpon. There have been several nice tarpon caught down there this year, including fish of 81 and 84 inches. They are nice fish, even by Florida standards. This time I was traveling with Capt. John Freeberger, and once again the score was Tarpon 1, Me and John 0. We had a good time, as usual, catching croakers for bait, which we fished both live and as cut bait. The sharks also loved the croaker baits. Most were sandbar sharks anywhere from two to five feet long, I guess, and they were plentiful. Anybody who thinks the sandbar population is in trouble should travel to the Virginia Eastern Shore. Anyway, every time something picks up a bait and starts rapidly moving away you think tarpon and hope for the fish to skyrocket out of the water when you come tight, so the anticipation level was high all day, but it dimmed with shark after shark. It was blowing pretty hard, and when the water got really muddy about halfway into the falling tide, we called it quits and decided to do a little exploring to try and find a place for the next tarpon trip. When we reached the head of a creek and came out almost on a flat, I looked down and was surprised to see thousands of small red worms all over the top of the water.
We had just come off a full moon, and it was the annual breeding cycle of what are called May worms. In Florida the worms probably do this in the spring, hence the name, but here it can be anywhere from June to August. Flounder and just about every other inshore species gorge themselves on these little worms in the brief period that they come out of the mud and up to the surface to try and make little baby worms. I understand the tarpon in Florida love them, too. Anyway, it was neat to see. Also plentiful on this trip were the croaker fishermen from North Carolina. The parking lot at the Oyster boat ramp was full, and most of the tags said Carolina. There were probably at least 40 boats fishing the same area. We didn’t have any trouble catching enough hardheads for bait, but one fellow at the ramp complained that “four years ago we filled eleven coolers, but this year we can’t fill one.” Well, duh! Did he ever stop to think that one might lead to the other? Even though the croaker fishery probably provides a small economic shot in the arm to the lower VA shore, I still think Virginia needs a size and creel limit on these fish…
Every vocation, every sport, indeed every pastime has its own particular vocabulary, known as jargon. Fishing is no different, of course. Since this is the middle of White Marlin Open week, you might hear a lot more fishing jargon this week than at any other time. If you are reading this column you are probably a fisherman, but maybe you are not “hardcore offshore”, and most of the fish you catch are from a Pennsylvania farm pond, so I thought I might try to explain some of the terms you might hear or read during the tournament:
The “spread”—No, this isn’t what you put on a sandwich, or even what happens to your butt when you eat too much. It refers to the array of lures or baits that you have out behind your boat when you are “trolling,” which is the term for pulling a lure or bait behind a moving boat. Your spread might be four baits or as many as eight or more. Some baits will be close to the boat, others much further out, like the “way way back,” which is a bait trolled as far as four or five hundred yards behind the boat. The long “poles” on each side of the boat cabin are “outriggers”, which, when lowered to the side, allow baits to be trolled in a wider “spread” away from the boat. Lines running from a rod in the cockpit go through a release clip(s) on the outrigger line. When a fish hits the bait, the line is pulled from the clip. Other lines running straight out from rods in holders on the gunnels are called “flat lines.”
“Teaser”—Not the hottie that left you hanging last night, but usually a large flashy lure with no hook that is pulled up close to the boat as a fish attractor. The late Paul Mumford’s Trophy Tackle Teasers were famous on the East Coast.
“Ballyhoo”—A small fish in the “half beak” family that has its own bill similar to a marlin, except that the lower jaw is longer than the upper. It is the most popular trolled bait for offshore fishing. Other baits might include mullet, Spanish mackerel, squid, eels, or strip baits. The latter is a strip of “meat,” usually from the belly of a skipjack tuna or false albacore.
“Sea Witch”—Not the evil woman you met the night before and took fishing, but a skirt, usually made of nylon or other “hair” that is slid on the leader in front of a bait, especially a strip bait. It is tied a little forward of center, and the front half bends back into a parachute shape as it is pulled through the water, giving the bait a pulsating action and a larger silhouette.
“Hawaiian Eye”—A catch-all term for a lure with a shiny chrome head and artificial hair that is slipped on the leader in front of a bait such as a ballyhoo or mullet. Actually this term usually refers to the Iland® lure, a particular brand name. The blue and white Ilander over a ballyhoo has been particularly effective over the years for white marlin. Unfortunately, since the feds now require circle hooks rather than J-hooks in any tournament targeting marlin, these lures aren’t used as much since circles are rigged differently than J-hooks.
J-hooks, by the way, are the traditionally shaped hook where the point sticks straight up like the letter “J” and is parallel to the hook shaft. The pointy end of a circle hook, on the other hand, is curved back toward the shaft, almost perpendicular to it. While a fish will often swallow a J-hook, circle hooks usually catch in the corner of the mouth, allowing for a better survival rate for released marlin (or other species).
“Spreader Bar”—An array of lures usually coming off one straight piece of stainless steel or titanium wire. Designed to simulate a school of baitfish. One lure in the center on a slightly longer leader may have a hook; the others are hookless. The “Dredge” is similar, but is made with crossed pieces of wire and a center weight. This allows more baits or artificial lures to be pulled at once, giving the illusion of a school or “ball” of baitfish.
“Flying Gaff”—Despite the name, this large hook used for securing a large fish at the side of the boat does not take off on its own. It is mounted on a pole, but the hook itself has an eye where a rope is attached. When you gaff the fish, the hook portion pulls off the pole and you then have the fish on the rope, which gives you greater control.
“Bent Butt”—I won’t even go there, but actually refers to a fishing rod, usually in the larger 80 or 130 lb. classes, with a butt that is bent down to fit in the gimbals on a fighting chair, allowing the rod to be kept at the optimum angle for leverage.
The “Formula”—Not the tournament winning combination, but an equation that allows a crew to approximate the weight of a fish by using its measurements. The formula is length (in inches) times the girth squared, divided by 800 (see chart on page 13). On billfish, you use the lower jaw to fork of tail (LJFT) measurement. I’ve seen it used many times, and it is amazing how close the formula will often come to actual weight.
These words are just a few terms you might hear in reference to the Open. If you hear more that you don’t understand, drop me an e-mail… again, hope to see you at the scales…
Contact Dale Timmons at [email protected] or call 410-629-1191.
