The challenge: bass holding on structure that have been eating what lives there for weeks, and a box full of plugs painted for bait that swims past in schools. When the pogy colors get looked at and refused, the match is the forage in the rocks, not the forage in the open water.
The idea: match the other hatch
In football the special teams unit does not get the highlight reel, and it decides the game. Same with forage. The pogy schools and the sand eel clouds are the offense everybody watches. The fish that live in the rocks are eating what lives in the rocks, and almost nobody throws a plug that looks like it.
The offense
Schooling forage
Pogies, peanuts, sand eels, silversides, herring. Open water and beaches, moving in numbers, and every plug in every box is painted to match it.
- Migratory; here today, thirty miles south tomorrow
- Fish on it are moving too
- The whole fleet is on the same school
Special teams
Structure forage
Lobster, juvenile tautog, sea robin, juvenile weakfish, squid on the reef. It does not migrate in schools. It lives in one place, and the bass that eat it live there with it.
- Resident; on the same rocks all season
- Fish on it are holding, and holding fish are big fish
- Nobody else is matching it
The profile is the same. The paint is the difference.
When I am on structure and the pogy colors are getting looked at and refused, I go to the special teams box. A bass that has been chewing tog in a boulder field for six weeks has a picture of what food looks like, and it is not a translucent white plug.
The special teams unit
01
Lobster
The meal in the crack
OG Swimmer Fatty · Lobster · 5.5″ · 1.5 ozLTD · ONE RUN
BAIT-CRUST
Where it lives
Under and between the boulders, in the kelp and the cracks, from the shoreline out to the deep ledges. Every rock line on the Cape and the Elizabeths has them, and the small ones are out and moving at night and at dusk.
S300 Boulder FieldS401 Rocky Shoreline
When bass eat it
Summer into fall, low light, on the rocks. A big bass in a boulder field at dusk is patrolling the cracks for what is already there. When I clean a rock-caught fish in September, lobster shell is what I find.
The tell
Fish holding tight in the rocks in low light, no bait showing on top, refusals on the baitfish colors. A boulder field that looks empty and is not.
How I fish it
The slow roll, and then slower. A foot over the rocks at walking pace, with the pause-and-rise at the pocket. A lobster does not sprint. Rod tip low, the wobble barely there, the plug hanging in front of the crack.
R1602 Shallow SwimR800 Reel-Pause
MH
Capt. Mike's Cue
“This is the color I tie on when the sun is a hand above the horizon and I am working the Elizabeth boulders with a slow OG. It has caught fish that would not touch the white.”
Shop the Lobster OG Swimmer
02
Tautog
The juvenile that big bass grow up on
OG Swimmer Fatty · Tautog · 5.5″ · 1.5 ozLTD · ONE RUN
BAIT-TOG
Where it lives
Juvenile tog hold in the same rock piles and wrecks the adults do, in the weed and the shadow of the boulders, from the Buzzards Bay piles to the Sound's ledges. There all summer, thick in the fall.
S300 Boulder FieldS500 Deep Boulders & Wrecks
When bass eat it
Spring and fall, and any time bass are set up on a rock pile. The OG Swimmer was built for juvenile tog as much as anything: a fat, slow, wide-shouldered swimmer over a boulder is a small tog that left the rock.
The tell
Bass on a pile that has tog on it. If I am catching tog on the jig by day, the bass over that same pile at dusk are eating the small ones.
How I fish it
Fan-cast the pile and slow roll across the crown. I cast past the pile and swim the plug over the top where a small tog would be exposed, then pause on the far edge and let it rise.
R1602 Shallow SwimR800 Reel-PauseB600 Fan Cast
MH
Capt. Mike's Cue
“On the Buzzards Bay rock piles I fish tog for the table in the morning and the tog color for the bass on the same rocks that evening. Same pile, same bait, different rod.”
Shop the Tautog OG Swimmer
03
Sea Robin
The bait everybody throws back
OG Swimmer Fatty · Sea Robin · 5.5″ · 1.5 ozLTD · ONE RUN
BAIT-ROBIN
Where it lives
Sand and gravel bottom next to structure: the edges of boulder fields, the sand between reef faces, the flats off the rocks. They crawl. They are everywhere, they are ugly, and big bass eat them.
S300 edgeS400 Contour Lines
When bass eat it
Summer into early fall, over the sand edges at first and last light. When the bass move off a reef face onto the sand to feed, they are on sea robins.
The tell
Sea robins on the bottom rig by day, bass marks on the sand edge of the structure at dusk, fish coming up with orange-brown in their throats.
How I fish it
The current swing along the sand edge. Cast across the seam where rock meets sand, let the plug swing on the current, and tighten into a slow roll as it crosses the edge. Low and slow.
R1100 Work the SwingR1602 Shallow Swim
MH
Capt. Mike's Cue
“I painted this one because I kept finding sea robins in fish and never once saw a plug that looked like one.”
Shop the Sea Robin OG Swimmer
04
Weakfish
The juvenile in the estuary mouth
OG Swimmer Fatty · Weakfish · 5.5″ · 1.5 ozLTD · ONE RUN
BAIT-WEAK
Where it lives
Juvenile weakfish come out of the estuaries and back bays in late summer and stage at the mouths, the inlet drop-offs and the harbor edges before they move out. Buzzards Bay's harbors and the Sound's estuaries have them in numbers some years.
S801d Estuary MouthS1700 Inlet
When bass eat it
Late summer into fall: the estuary mouths on the drop, the harbor edges after dark. A bass on an inlet drop-off in September is eating what is leaving the estuary, and in a good year that is small weakfish.
The tell
Small weakfish in the cast net or on the sabiki, bass on the inlet seam at dusk, a purple-and-pink flash in the wash.
How I fish it
The inlet drop-off on the ebb. Cast up-current into the mouth, let the plug swing down through the drop, slow roll it across the seam. It fishes best where the water is a little colored.
R1100 Work the SwingR1602 Shallow Swim
MH
Capt. Mike's Cue
“This is the estuary-mouth color. When the pogy colors are drawing follows at the inlet and nothing else, the weakfish pattern has closed the deal more than once.”
Shop the Weakfish OG Swimmer
05
Froggy Mack · Frog / mackerel hybrid
The crossover: pond frog, reef mackerel
OG Swimmer Fatty · Froggy Mack · 5.5″ · 1.5 ozLTD · ONE RUN
BAIT-MAC
Where it lives
Froggy Mack is a hybrid: half frog, half mackerel. I painted it to target the massive largemouth in the Cape Cod ponds, around the lily pads and the weed edges. The mackerel half earns it a place in the salt: in spring and again in fall the macks push onto the reef faces and rock lines, and the bass on the rocks get a schooling bait delivered to structure.
S300 Boulder FieldS401 Rocky Shoreline
When bass eat it
Spring on the Bay side and the Sound, fall along the reef faces. The window is short and the fish are big; a mackerel is a meal, not a snack.
The tell
Mackerel on the sabiki at the rocks, bass crashing bigger bait than usual on a reef face, green-and-blue flashes in the wash.
How I fish it
Faster than the others. The slow roll with a little more pace, because a mackerel moves, and a short pause. Fan-cast the reef face and cover water; this is the one special teams color that is also a search color.
R1602 Shallow SwimB600 Fan Cast
MH
Capt. Mike's Cue
“I built this one for the giant largemouth in the Cape ponds: frog on the pads, mackerel on the reef. Same plug either place. When the macks are on the reef in May, it is the first thing out of the box.”
Shop the Froggy Mack OG Swimmer
06
Squid
The sixth man, on the popper
Chug Popper · MF Squid · 6″ · 1 7/8 ozLTD · ONE RUN
BAIT-SQD
Where it lives
The reefs and the rips. Squid stage on the reef faces and get swept through the rip lines in May and June, and again in the fall on the Sound's shoals.
S100 Rip Line
When bass eat it
On top. That is why the squid pattern went on the popper and not the swimmer. Dawn on a rip line with squid in the seam is the best topwater striper fishing of the year.
The tell
Squid squirting in the seam, ink on the surface, bass boiling instead of slashing. Draggers working the reef by day.
How I fish it
Chug, chug, pause across the seam, with the pause timed for the rip line. When the fish are boiling behind it, walk it instead, tip down. Amber on the OG covers the sub-surface squid bite; this is the same idea with more presence, up where they eat it.
R200 Chug-PauseR110 Walk-the-Dog
MH
Capt. Mike's Cue
“Squid are special teams and offense at once: resident on the reef, but they show up in numbers like a school. This is the one imitator I throw on a rip line at first light with the whole fleet around, and it still gets eaten.”
Shop the MF Squid Chug Popper
Editor: no BAIT codes for tautog, sea robin or weakfish (amber). Baitfish sheet has BAIT-CRUST for lobster only. Sea robin S-code is a best fit; the reef-to-sand edge has no code.
The play sheet: which color, where
Where I am and what I seeSpecial teams call
Boulder field at dusk, fish tight, baitfish colors refusedLobster. Slow roll a foot over the rocks, pause at the pocket.
A rock pile I caught tog on this morningTautog. Fan-cast across the crown of the pile.
The sand edge off a reef face, first or last lightSea Robin. Current swing along the seam, low and slow.
An inlet drop-off or harbor edge in SeptemberWeakfish. Up-current into the mouth, swing down through the drop.
Macks on the sabiki at the reefFroggy Mack. Slow roll with pace; cover the face.
A Cape pond, lily pads and weed edges, big largemouthFroggy Mack. The frog half of the hybrid. Slow roll along the edge.
Squid on the rip at dawn, fish on topMF Squid on the Chug Popper. Chug, chug, pause across the seam.
Open water, birds, schools movingNot the special teams box. Olive, white, amber; this is the offense's game.
Retrieves: one plug, one slow roll, five colors
Every swimmer color goes on the same 5.5-inch OG Swimmer Fatty and gets fished the same way. Rod tip low, a slow steady wind, the wide shoulders rolling, the plug a foot or two under. The color decides what the fish thinks it is looking at; the retrieve decides whether it believes it.
R1602Slow rollAll five swimmers
When: eighty percent of every cast in this piece.
Trigger: the roll, slower than feels right.
Slow to moderate reel, no rod input, the plug rolling on its own.
Steady, slow, rod low.
R800Pause and riseLobster, Tautog
When: at the pocket, or the far edge of a pile.
Trigger: the rise. The Fatty floats nose-up and hangs.
Stop winding at the pocket. That rise is the eat on the lobster and tog colors more often than the swim is.
Reel, reel, pause. The rise is the eat.
R1100Current swingSea Robin, Weakfish
When: a seam: rock to sand, or an inlet drop on the ebb.
Trigger: the tighten into the roll as the plug crosses the edge.
Cross-current cast, tight line, let the current carry the plug across the seam, then tighten into the roll.
Let the current do the work, then take over.
Outfit
Rod
7′ medium-heavy inshore spinning. Enough backbone to turn a fish out of the rocks.
Leader
40 lb. I check it after every touch on structure.
Plugs
OG Swimmer Fatty 5.5″ (1.5 oz) in the five imitator colors; Chug Popper 6″ in MF Squid.
The collection: one run, then gone
These colors came out of my own box, painted for the forage I kept finding in fish and never saw on a lure wall. They were produced in a single limited run on the 5.5-inch OG Swimmer Fatty, with a squid and a mackerel pattern on the 6-inch Chug Popper alongside them. When they sell through they will not be reproduced.
Questions I get about the imitator colors
QuestionAnswer
Do bass really eat lobsters?Yes. Clean a rock-caught bass in September and look. Small lobsters, crabs and juvenile tog are the diet of a fish that lives in a boulder field.
Why the 5.5-inch Fatty and not the 7-inch?The forage these colors match runs five to seven inches and it is wide through the body. The Fatty's shoulders are the profile; the 7-inch is a pogy or a herring.
When do I not use them?Open water on schooling bait. That is the olive, white and amber game. These are structure colors for holding fish.
Is the retrieve different?No. The slow roll, the pause-and-rise, the current swing, same as every OG. Slower than you think on the lobster and tog.
Why a squid popper and not a squid swimmer?Bass eat squid on top, on the rips and reef faces at dawn. The popper puts it where they eat it. Amber on the OG covers the sub-surface squid bite.
Will you make more?No. One run, from my own box. When they are gone they are gone.
Putting it together
Throw what they are eating
The pogy schools are the offense everybody fishes, and the bass that live in the rocks are eating the special teams unit instead. Lobster and tautog get the slow roll and the pause-and-rise over boulders and rock piles in low light. Sea robin and weakfish ride the current swing along the sand edge and the inlet drop. Froggy Mack, the frog and mackerel hybrid, covers the reef face with a little more pace, and MF Squid goes on the popper for the dawn rip. When the pogy colors get refused on structure, I throw the lobster, then the tog, and I go home with the fish everybody else was casting past.
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Striped BassFall RunForageSpecial TeamsOG Swimmer FattyChug PopperLTDImitator CollectionLobsterTautogSea RobinWeakfishMackerelSquidLargemouth BassCape Cod PondsBoulder FieldsCapt. Mike Hogan
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