Scup

Form members, I have not given up on finishing this series of articles, but I have given up in trying to draw how one would go about putting grass shrimp on a hook. I have decided it would be a lot simpler to just wait a few more months till I get my dock out. I will then scrape a few grass shrimp off and put out a series of pictures that will describe this important, but simple procedure. It is not hard to bait up a hook with grass shrimp, however, it is very hard to try and describe how to do it without pictures. My cheap digital camera has a decent zoom on it, so there should not be problem in getting close up shots. I even thought about buying a few full sized shrimp (with the heads on) and putting them on an over sized hook just to demonstrate the procedure. However, have not seen any of the boats coming in with shrimp (pawns if you prefer) and the shrimp sold locally all seem to have their heads removed.

Scup

How to Bait a Hook With Grass Shrimp

It has been a while since I posted anything concerning the topic of catching striped bass on grass shrimp. The problem I ran into is how one would go about describing the procedures to bait up ones hook. I tried to draw a series of how to sketches but after trying to draw something up (spent four hours messing around with a draw program) I realized it was hopeless. While it is easy to bait up your hook, it is not so easy trying to describe the procedure. Finally I decided that the only way that would be possible for me to demonstrate the procedure is by a series of photographs. Of course, we had to await the reappearance of the grass shrimp to begin. Well, right now grass shrimp abound all along our coastal waters so here we go again. There are nine photographs.
The first photograph shows an un-baited hook. While typically I use a 3/0 hook snelled with brown thread, I decided to use a 4/0 hook with red thread hoping that the photographs would be somewhat clearer. As it turned out, the photos came out better than expected. The first couple of shots had to be tossed out because they were blurry. I found out that by using a close up high magnification, and snapping the picture while holding the camera meant that even the slightest hand movement would be magnified as well. After I found an old tripod, the problem was solved.
The second photograph is the start of the procedure to put a grass shrimp on your hook. One will eventually use three grass shrimp on a single hook. Pick out the largest shrimp you have which will be females with egg sacs. The point of the hook goes in at the base of the egg sac.
The third photograph shows how the shrimp looks as one works it up the shank of the hook. The natural curvature of the shrimp matches the curvature of the hook so you should not have any problem in getting the first shrimp on.
The forth photo indicates why the eye of the hook had to be removed. The eye of the hook would have broken up the shrimp had it still been there when the shrimp is slid up the hook’s shank.
The fifth photo shows the shrimp being rotated 180 degrees about the shank of the hook. This is a very important step as it will become obvious why it is necessary when the second shrimp is placed on your hook. Since only six photographs are allowed per post, this post is followed by part B which shows how to get the final two shrimp on the hook.
The sixth photo (See part B) shows the second shrimp being placed on your hook. Follow the same procedure as for the first shrimp except do not rotate it about the shank of the hook.
As the seventh photo shows, when the two shrimp are pushed together they match perfectly. Actually, they no longer appear to be two separate shrimp but rather a single enormous shrimp. This follows the same reasoning behind the whole idea of using any type of chum for any fish species; i.e. always put the best you have on your hook. When you are trying to chunk up a striped bass, you always save the best chunks you have for your hook. When black fishing, you would not try to chum the togs up with hermit crabs while fishing with green crabs. When I chum up a school of scup I use clam snot purchased at $10 per four gallon pail. What goes on my hook is whole calm tongues at $22 per gallon.
Photograph eight shows the last shrimp being put on your hook. Since this post is one of a series of articles describing how to catch striped bass on live grass shrimp we do have a problem here. We ran the shank of the hook amidships through the center of the first two shrimps; hence, they are deader than door nails. Therefore, we want to keep the last shrimp alive and kicking to entice our quarry. Place the point of the hook just aft of the egg sac.
The last photo shows how the completed baited hook should look. When a hook baited as shown, is dropped amidst a mass of grass shrimp chum, it does not take genius to figure out what the main attraction is going to be. It makes no sense why a striped bass would go after a single small shrimp when something as enticing as your baited hook gets placed before him.

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__________________
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go" by William Feather

Scup

This is a continuation of Part A

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__________________
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go" by William Feather

scurtis

Mass wildlfie did an artice on fishing grass shrimp and how to make a bait box. The difference was teh catch. A local guy was using teh grass shrimp in freshwater for trophy smallies and having great luck. It was a tecnique he had been taught years ago and continues to use today all over the cape. He hammers 4-5lb smallies regularly with this "deadly" technique. If you look up MassWildlife Magazine you might be able to find the article. Great stuff.

Scup

It is has been a while since I wrote the last article on this subject as there does not seem to be much interest in going after striped bass with live grass shrimp anymore. Perhaps, IPods, Rap, malls, and parties, have captured the minds of our youth more than fishing, but hopefully, there are exceptions to everything. Nevertheless, I do not like to leave things undone, and since the CT DEP terminated my Scup fishing for the rest of this month, I have plenty of time on my hands to finish things up. I covered just about everything one would have to know to be successful in this endeavor, with the only exception of providing a description of actually doing it. While I have not done this type of fishing in more than fifty years, I am positive if I returned to my old haunts, I would be able to put a couple of dozen bass in my boat for a given tide. My favorite fishing location was the Rockaway Train Trestle that spanned Broad Channel in Jamaica Bay, New York. The exact coordinates are (thanks to Google Earth) 40˚34.820’N by 73˚48.676W. Note that this particular site is not in, or even close to, the main channel; it is located to the North of the main channel and either side of the bridge always fished well. While I fished just about every bridge and structure in the area successfully, this was my favorite spot as nobody would ever bother me here. By using two anchors, I would straddle an opening under the trestle's structure thus preventing water skiers from messing up my chum line. I would anchor with one anchor off my stern and the second anchor off my bow. I would be sort of be nestled in between two bridge supports with the centerline of my boat running parallel to the bridge. I would always anchor such that my chum would move toward and underneath the trestle. Yes, even fifty years ago, water skiers would be as inconsiderate then as they are today and would not hesitate to buzz ones chum line.
Typically one would start fishing about two hours before slack tide (either high tide or low tide). I would straddle my middle thwart and fish directly over the side, with my working box tied up in front of me with its bottom edge in the ocean. To start things off, toss in a handful of grass shrimp over the side. By a handful, I mean about a dozen shrimp of assorted sizes (whatever you grab). Now watch what happens after you toss the shrimp over the side. They will swim in a jerky motion every which way. There will, however, be a general trend: the moving current will always move them away from your boat, and they will always swim downward toward the safety of the bottom. Since grass shrimp are not speed demons, it will take them a while till they reach bottom. Note that a one MPH current corresponds to 88 feet per minute. Therefore, if you are fishing in twenty feet of water, and it takes your shrimp more than two minutes to get to the bottom, they will end up more than 176 feet down tide from you before they hit bottom where the bass are hanging. This will be not doing you too much good as you are drawing the fish to a spot in the ocean you are not fishing. However, with time, things will get better. The current will be approaching slack, thus it is slowing down so your shrimp can reach bottom closer to your boat. Another thing in your favor is the bass themselves. Picture yourself being a bass hanging just above the bottom one fine Midsummer Day with nary a thing to do but wait until the sun gets lower and thoughts of super would then enter your mind. You would not have a clue that some fisherman topside is going to offer you one of your favorite snacks; grass shrimp. In fact, you will only be alerted to the free meal after the first shrimp drifts right down to you and sits there right in front of your mouth. Low and behold, there is several more shrimp right behind the first offering. Of course, a few tiny shrimp is not going to satisfy a bass’s appetite, so he will simply follow the shrimp chum line to its source; your boat. So you really have two things working for you with time, the shrimp are getting to the bottom sooner, and the bass are swimming ever closer to you. Things will not get started instantaneously, but after a half hour or so, all hell can break loose. Should you start fishing too soon when the current is still running smartly, it will take longer. However, once you have raised the bass off the bottom, and close to your boat, the amount and frequency of the shrimp you toss over the side can now be diminished to just a few once every minute or so. The fishing technique is simplicity itself. After baiting up, put a small pinch on sinker to compensate for the current (you want your baited hook to float down in the midst of your chum line,) as your baited hook and line will be affected by current but the free swimming shrimp are not since they are moving with the current. I use to imagine I had x-ray vision, like superman, and could see everything going on beneath the surface of the sea (recently I was diagnosed as having ADD which probably explained my over active imagination). I could see the bass hanging just off the bottom and clearly see my chum line and my baited hook. If my offering was higher than the chum line, I would add a small amount of weight, I would remove weight if it was was lower. Just strip off line feeding your offering to the bass while it is amongst the free swimming live shrimp you tossed over the side. I like to keep my bait casting reel in free spool (drag set so when necessary all one has to do is engage the spool.) While slowly striping off line, watch the line like a hawk. Usually the first sign you will have that something messing around with your offering is the quick movement of your line as a bass takes your bait and tries to swim off with it. Put your reel in gear or thumb the spool hard, reach out with the tip of your rod till the bass pulls out the last bit of slack in your line, and then smartly set the hook. There is no telling what a bass will do when he feels the steel of your hook but it always thrilling. He may breach the surface, make his typical long run, or head for the bottom. Everything in the way of tackle is light, so the sensation of fighting your fish runs high. You should be into fish for a couple of hours or at least until the tide changes and you will have to reposition your boat, or start to chum somewhat heavier to keep the bass close at hand since now, the current will be picking up in the other direction and will be soon working against you. Always keep in mind where your chum line is and its relationship to where your offering is, making minor weight adjustments when necessary. With luck, and some skill, you should be into fish for an hour or two after dead slack tide. After this, it becomes hard to keep the fish at bay as the current is just ripping your chum away from your boat. Anyway, things should have went very well, as I do not ever remember getting skunked using this method, so you should have had enough action by now such that you earned a good rest.

__________________
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go" by William Feather