9-24 Inlet fishing

[djtdmd]

Cruised into into Manasquan Inlet yesterday, Brutal waves outside, so stayed within the jetties. Some bird action, men on jetties got a bluefish or two while we were there. Fished avi metal lures with yellow and red tubes. Trolled, cast, etc. and got nothing. A bit frustrating- if there were blues there, we would have got them. Perhaps we were not out far enough, we could not go to the tip of the jetty or we would have ended up on Gilligan's Island. Used 16 inch mono leaders with a snap swivel attatched to the lures. Question- is there any need to tie the lure directly to the leader or is a snap swivel OK? I hear alot about this terminal connection. Is this an issue and do any of you think this makes a difference? How about the leaders- are 16 inch long enough if using braided line? Thanks!!

[adesai73]

i think 16 in should be enough to protect against bluefish.  i don't use anything much bigger.

as far as tying them goes, i think if you're throwing metals, using a snap swivel shouldn't be a problem.  i know there are some plugs (don't ask me which) that swim better when they are tied directly to the line.

if i'm wrong, somebody here will correct me.

good luck!

[Luna Sea 5]

 

[Treebeard]

Nice Report  Good try in tough conditions.. I personally tie jigs on directly.. I do not believe it scares Bluefish off in most cases (although I've seen them get picky in mid-summer), but I believe at times, they will see the bubble trail coming off the swivel, and attack it, thus biting off the jig. Thanks for the report 

[Pfishingruven]

I think sometimes the snap swivels change the motion or action of the lure.  Although, bluefish really aren't that picky!  I use an 18" steel leader when there are bluefish around in the surf.  With them rolling in the breakers, it isn't worth losing lures over.  16" should be plenty long and mono should be ok too.  I landed 2 blues on teasers tied on with only 40# mono.  I personally like the shock leader in front of my braid after someone on the list recommended it.  Works really well and doesn't affect anything that I can notice.  Like Treebeard said, the blues may hit higher with the swivels which may lead to more bite offs.

You probably were not doing anything wrong.  The bluefish have been real sporadic lately and might just not have been there in the numbers we usually see them schooled up in.  Or, the guys on the jetties were throwing bait and they may have only wanted bait??  Usually, the boat guys are always hooking fish and us land lubbers are watching...

Good try and nice report!

 

[MartyS]

I never use a snap swivel with lures; I think it affects the action.

Best thing to do is tie directly to mono or fluoro leader.

I've been lazy more than once and tied directly to braid, and had no problem hooking bluefish in the inlet.  You do tend to lose a few lures though, especially bucktail jigs.

[Bucktail]

I almost always use a Duolock or Berkley Cross-Lok snap (not snap swivel) to connect my larger lures to the leader.

The times I don't is when I'm fishing for bonito, albies, weakfish etc. Basically fish who IMO have good eyesight and can be line/hardware shy.  I'll usually tie directly to smaller bucktails and jigs (like Fin S) as well.