So I have become very interested in the idea of surface swimming/kicking iron a la west coast style. Anyone have any experience throwing salas or tady type irons here for dolphin, tuna, AJs or hoos??? If so what situations or tactics seem to be effective??? Just curious as I have really only bucktails and knife jigged which is a bit different obviously.
Nobody??? Ok we’ll worth the ask then.
Personally, I don’t even know what you are talking about. I suspect most of us here are the same. I’ve been to the west coast, probably won’t go back 
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper
If it’s shinny and has a hook you can catch something on it. I’m like Larry, I’ve never seen one or been to the left coast.
Olde Man Charters
I’m very familiar with what you’re talking about. A lot of what’s caught on the left coast with jigs is Yellowtail. AJ bites and fights just like Yellowtail if that helps. On that note, the heavier tady and salas work here for yo yo ing deep. If you get in to black fin a surface tady would work. If dolphin/dorado are around and hot they would probably bite a marshmellow (anything) thrown on a paddy. As for another jigging technique that I don’t see used on the east coast, Wahoo bombs are used effectively in Baja. If one is hooked on the troll, immediately throw a bomb back and let it sink as the boat continues to move. As the bomb sinks look out. You really have to pull and wind hard and fast to get the hook set in their hard mouths though.
Ok thanks. Good to hear someone has some experience with what im talking about. Wonder if we could convince a local tackle shop to carry some so that we could experiment without ordering off the Internet. Those bombs look about like a jagarita by blue water candy so I guess we can get and experiment with those.
I have caught AJs on kitchen knives with hole drilled through them. I unfortunately had all three of the first ones I made broken off by toothy critters or locked up drags. I recently made 20 of them and I plan on making a post about it here whenever I get around to it. Probably cost me about 1.35 a lure including the twin assist hooks and rings. Don’t know much about tady irons or whatever that is, but if I’m sure it would probably at least do as good as a kitchen knife.
I have been fishing Tady’s for 20 years. In fact they are my West Coast distributor for JigSkinz. Tady’s, Salas, wahoo bombs all work well. Just painted metal like most lures. This wahoo was last year on a Tady here in SC.
courtland, was that a heavy dady yo-yo’d or a surface aluminum? Nice fish u da man
quote:
Originally posted by Afishianadocourtland, was that a heavy dady yo-yo’d or a surface aluminum? Nice fish u da man
Cast and crank. I like the heavier ones fished high in the water column. The aluminum ones are too light for me. Drop it too deep here and you’ve got an AJ.
They really are no different than putting a single hook off the back of a jig and casting it.
Thanks. I assume you put a short wire leader on for wahoo righ?
quote:Nope.
Originally posted by AfishianadoThanks. I assume you put a short wire leader on for wahoo righ?
That’s what I’m talking about. Which models in particular courtland? And why do you say that you just end up with AJs when you use the aluminum ones? Is it related to effective depth the lure can be worked?
quote:
Originally posted by surfwranglerThat’s what I’m talking about. Which models in particular courtland? And why do you say that you just end up with AJs when you use the aluminum ones? Is it related to effective depth the lure can be worked?
It was 3 separate thoughts
I like the heavy ones
- They stay in the water longer at the depth I want
I don’t like the aluminum ones(most of the time)
- They tend to sink slower and rise faster when cranking. Therefore not spending as much time as I’d like in the depths I’d like to fish.
Drop it too deep and you get an AJ
- I want to fish the top 1/3 of the water column where the tuna and wahoo are most likely to be. The AJ’s are under them. Go to far and that is what you get.
I’m not going to give it all away…
That’s what I figured. Thanks for clarifying