How-To — Pro Tail Paddle

SHORELINE RIP Shoreline rips that occur around structure such as points are often great spots to find big fish on light tackle close to the beach. The best shoreline rips have some sort of mix or combination of deep areas, including holes; drop offs, rocks, boulders and deep basins.  Moving water means confused bait so blind casting in an organized manner is the ticket. Approach: Fan cast and fish the swing through a 45-degree strike zone.  Tide: Peak 45 minutes of movement is best. Often one tide lays up better than the other.   "If I Had Just One" with Capt....

Softbaits can be broken down into two categories: 1. Top Water: Top water softbaits are typically eel tail softbaits rigged with unweighted or lightly weighted Swimbait hooks and soft circle Hooks.2. Sub Surface: Sub Surface softbaits are typically rigged on jig heads or have the weights and hooks molded into the lure. Top Water: Unweighted and Lightly Weighted Softbaits Eel Tails In my opinion, unweighted eel tail style softbaits have the sexiest action of all lures on the market, making them worth the effort and extra time spent rigging, as well as learning to deal with the challenges of casting them...

Schools of baby butterfish often ball up in the fall and provide another food source that fish like bass and albies feed on heavily. Butterfish have a unique broad, round profile that is hard to replicate and still have a good swimming action with a metal lure. As a result, softbaits with a similar profile in bone or silvery coloration is the way to go. They are slow moving, so a slow to medium retrieve is ideal. Hogy Top Imitator: We have two deadly options for imitating juvenile butterfish. The best option is our Hogy Pro Tail Paddle in up to...

Like the juvenile herring, bass and albies get very aggressive when keyed in on small mackerel. They are fast moving schools, so be ready to be nimble. Obviously green is the top color for matching the hatch for mackerel. As fast to very fast retrieve is ideal for these little speedsters. Hogy Top Imitator: For Juvenile to medium sized mackerel our top imitators are the Hogy Pro Tail Paddles in Green Silver up to 6.5. A metal option would be our Herring Jig in green silver and lastly our 5” and 7” Charter Grade Sliders in Green Silver would give you...

You know the fall has either arrived or is imminent when peanut bunker show up. Like the bay anchovy, peanut bunker ball up in great numbers just under the surface. Peanut bunker typically range from 2 to 3inches. And like both the bay anchovy and the silversides, peanut bunker too have a very distinctive color patterns. When they are dead, they appear to be silver as they lose their coloration very quickly. Don’t be fooled! But alive and well in their habitat, Peanut bunker have an olive twinge, with pink colorations. Your go to color patterns will be olive, ideally...