Krocodile spoons

[bassnblues]

This fall I plan to do a couple of party boat jigging striper trips, probably out of Point Pleseant.

Seems like the Krocodile is a popular lure on these trips and I want to pick up a few. What are the best sizes and colors to use?

Also, I've seen a cheaper knockoff, I think it's called the Gator spoon. Anyone tried these?

[ped579]

Stick with the original Krocodile spoon the finish on the knock offs fade quickly.  I usually fish up to a 3 or 4 oz lure off the surf and have done very well especially on the blues.

[PeggyLee]

The krocs are excellent in a few different sizes.Also get some AVA 007,27,47s
The "Angela Rose" is in Pt Plst.
I fished with Capt Anthony last week in the FlukaTon and he knows his cookies.  Good Luck,AJ.

[CapBob]

AVA 27, 47, 67.......plain hook, or yellow tude or white tube

Deadly Dick  3,4,5 oz Silver or Silver/Blu

Krocodile in 3, 4, 5 oz

Crippled Herring in 3,4,5 oz  I have best luck with Silver or Silver/Grn

You have these in the bag and you will catch fish

I replace the treble hook on the Kroc with a single

Best price is Shark River Mail Order www.srmo.com  you'll have them in 2 days

[bassnblues]

I have plenty of AVA's and crippled Herrings. Crippled Herrings are my favorite...

I definitly hate treble hooks when blues are around so I'll take your advice about replacing them with singles.

[bassnblues]

Almost forgot...need to get some Butterfly Jigs also. What colors/sizes have worked for these.

[Bucktail]

For jigging Krocodiles from a boat, I mostly use them in the 5 1/4" size.  I don't know the exact weight of them, but they are stamped "DIE #7".  I know one of the party boats I frequent sells a bigger one, but I'm not sure what size they are.  For colors on Krocs, go with silver, silver/blue and white.  Many times the white outproduces the silver colors for me.  I like to throw it on cloudy days.

As far as Butterfly jigs.  I used them (almost) exclusively last year as an experiment.  I used four colors in the Shimano line, including Sardine/silver (blue back), Mackerel/silver (green back), Aji/silver (gold back) and chartreuse/white.  I also used the knock off brands such as ProFishCo's Power Jig (among others) in similar color schemes, as well as red head/white.  All produced fish  However, I probably caught more on the blue back/silver ones.  The best sizes I've found for striper jigging were the 3 1/8 oz. (90 grams) up to 5 1/4 oz. (150 grams) depending on the drift speed and depth.  I rarely had to use the 7 oz. (200 grams) jigs.

If the bluefish are thick, I would suggest foregoing the assist hooks in favor of a single tail hook.  With a lot of blues around I have tried using wire leaders in front of the jigs and wired assist hooks.  Both resulted in lost fish and/or lost jigs.  A single tail hook minimized bite offs significantly.

Hope that helped.

Good luck!

-Bob

[Pfishingruven]

Lots of great info.  I have only heard about butterfly jigs.  Are they exclusively for boat jigging or can you use them in the surf or from shore??

Thanks

 

[Bucktail]

They are really designed for vertical jigging from a boat.  I suppose you could throw one from the beach and catch fish on them, but there are better lure choices out there for that purpose.

[Pfishingruven]

Thanks Bucktail.  I had heard of them, but never really read up on them.  Thanks for the info.

 

[Skolmann]

Seems like the Krocodile is a popular lure on these trips and I want to pick up a few. What are the best sizes and colors to use?

Also, I've seen a cheaper knockoff, I think it's called the Gator spoon. Anyone tried these?

Stick with the 5 and 7 ounce models.

The basic chrome as well as the prism patterns are the best color choices. If you can find the rare 'Barbie'/white color in the above mentioned sizes buy them all.

Make sure you use a split ring when attaching them to your line (the cheaper Gator spoons do not have a split ring).

I always like to touch up each point on the treble before using as sometimes the hooks are not the sharpest out of the package. I know some guys like removing the treble hook & replacing it with a single hook.

Not sure if this is true anymore, but the cheapest place I found for buying the larger Krocodile models was the Cabela's online site.

[Skolmann]

Almost forgot...need to get some Butterfly Jigs also. What colors/sizes have worked for these.

The ProFish 'butterfly' jigs are relatively cheap. I like the blue or green back pattern in the 4-7 ounce range.

Also take a look at the Bass Pro Shop line of butterfly jigs. Lots of patterns/sizes to choose from. Also allot cheper than the Shimano's (plus you get the assist hooks with them).

[blynch]

This fall I plan to do a couple of party boat jigging striper trips, probably out of Point Pleseant.

Seems like the Krocodile is a popular lure on these trips and I want to pick up a few. What are the best sizes and colors to use?

Also, I've seen a cheaper knockoff, I think it's called the Gator spoon. Anyone tried these?

Kastmasters, T-hexes, and avas are better for jigging

[Skolmann]

For whatever reason, for the past 7+ years tubeless AVA style jigs have far outfished Krocodile Spoons or Crippled Herrings when on charter/party boats out of Atlantic Highlands.

But there have been allot of days when fishing on a boat out of Pt. Pleasant that the 5 & 7 ounce Krocs and Crippled Herring have been the ticket. Although AVAs still caught.

I did very well with Butterfly jigs (my first season using them) on Pt. Pleasant boats as well.

The perfered way I like to retreive a Kroc is to drop it to the bottom, bounce it 5 or so times off the bottom & then use a slow retreive back to the boat with occasionally placing the reel in free spool to allow it flutter down a few feet. I've had fish smack it on the inital drop, after a bounce or 2 off the bottom, on the retrieve, when I let it flutter & just before I pull it out of the water. I like to use a loop type of knot (Homer-Rhodes loop knot is an easy/quick/strong loop knot). This gives the Krocodile more of a swaying/wobbling action. Make sure you attack a split ring to the Kroc & tie your loop knot to the split ring. This also gives the biat more action.