took a trip to north florida over the weekend (also ran into the requiem crew) and decided to try the acres of menhaden jumping off the beach. got launched out and didnt take much paddling to find the bait. i started off by casting a treble hook to see if i could snag some live bait even though i had frozen menhaden and didnt take long until i hooked into one. maybe a second or 2 later it got a lot heavier so i wondered what i hooked into. after a minute or 2 up comes about a 20" sail cat. the treble hook was inside its mouth so im guessing what happened is i hooked a menhaden only for it to get smacked immediately. after i got one without it getting smacked i put it on a squid skirt with trebles and put it behind my 9/0, put the downrigger about 5 feet down, and started paddling. not too long and i hear it pop and the bait feeder starts going. i set the hook, get towed a couple seconds, and whatever it was bit clean through 40lb wire no problem…shark im guessing. i put another rig on, paddle a while with no hits, and as im reeling in to check my bait i see something follow so i slow it down. by this point its only feet from me and i could very easily see it was a cobia! no way it would have been big enough to strap across the bow and paddle it to truck => cooler but it bit the menhaden and stole it without getting hooked. run #2 and it pops the wire again but keep 1 treble hook…haywire twist must have sucked. i drag one on the surface this time, get a strong run, and get towed for a good 5 minutes before it breaks the wire AGAIN!!! im guessing this was a shark too since i went under the yak and just sat there not wanting to come off the bottom and never jumped. almost constantly during this time i saw a bunch of 6 foot silver torpedoes known as tarpon demolishing menhaden like m & ms, but never hooked one despite some of them busting the surface just feet in front of me. all in all a fun trip but disappointed to get my wire bitten through so many times. im thinking about bumping it up to
Yep…always used to make my king rigs with #2 wire (27#) for the leader and #4 (38#) for the stinger. If you’re getting bit off, it’s probably sharks.
If you are targeting the Tarpon, switch to mono or flouro with a circle hook. I have never had a Tarpon bite on wire fishing the Pogie pods. Where were you fishing?
All Day I Dream About Fishing
Malibu eXtreme
Diablo Adios
Key West 1720
menhaden are all over the place just off amelia island just about anywhere you go. i dont mind catching shark, jack crevalle, cobia, king, … with wire but wondering whats the best way to make em so i dont keep getting broken off or is heavier wire the way to go? no wire for tarpon is noted.