Tweet
Hi Guys;
Good luck again to all who fish the upcoming MG.
If you are going to use the "gummy bear" soft body, lead headed artificials, these tips may help improve your success.
The "offshore speciality tackle shops" Capt. Mac's, Ake's, Mumfords, etc. usually sell small containers of pure Menhadden Oil. A pint can cost up to $25and you have to ask for it. But if each member of the MG party pitches in and buys one pint, it can be spit up between as many as 10-12 guys. Although this Oil is expensive a little goes a very long way. The old saying "a little dab will do ya," applies to Menhadden Oil.
If each member of the MG party brings a small clean & empty plastic jar with a tight fitting lid, the pint of Menhadden Oil can be split between the group and still have some to spare. The mouth of the empty jars should be large enough to dip you artifical in after it is tied to the end of your line and you are ready to put it into the water. Don't use any jars that contained strong smelling lingering odors like instant coffee.
Menhadden Oil is thicker than molasses, very very sticky and about as strong a fish odor as you will smell. One drop on the surface of the water will spread into a circle bigger than a man-hole cover and it lasts a long time on anything you use it on. Its a secret weapon of a lot of sharkers who chum the offshore canyons for makos and big sand tigers. It also works great as an attractant for tuna chunking. Some bill fisherman won't put a teaser in the water unless its been dipped in menhadden oil.
Flounder also like the smell of menhadden oil. What ever soft body artificial you are going to use, first rinse them off at home with warm water and a scent free soap. Final rinse with warm water. Use surgical gloves to handle them from that point on and store them in new Zip Loc bags until ready to fish. Avoid touching them with bare hands.
When you start fishing with artificials first put on the surgical gloves. Again a box of 50-100 surgical gloves can be spit up between a party of fisherman and save on the cost. In addition to surgical gloves, I use to keep a bar of unscented soap aboard and wash my hands as often as possible when handling any bait, chum, rigs or lures.
Warning! You don't want to get any menhadden oil spill on your kayak, clothes or rods/reels. The only place you want it on on your artifical lure. Keep a wet rag at hand just in case and clean up immediately. You don't want the sun to dry it on your boat or gear. The smell is sickening after it starts to decompose.
When you are ready to fish the artificial put it on the end of your line with surgical gloves. Then dip the lure just once in the Oil. Let the excess it drip off into the water before you cast or you will have it splattered on your kayak. About every 3-4 cast, re-dip the lure. If you can stand keeping the surgical gloves on your hands even when fishing, your success should be higher. Or wash your hands whenever you can.
Menhadden oil is not for use on live bait. It is so thick it can kill a minnow by blocking its gills. As I said earlier the oil is primaily used for chumming. Nor does it work on hair tail artificials like bucktails. It tends to discolor them and keep the hair matted together underwater so the lure loses that fluttering action during stop and start fishing.
I accidently discovered using Menhadden Oil on flounder during a slow day of flatfishing. No one on the boat was catching fish using the standard long leader drop sinker single hook rig baited with live minnows and cut spot strips. I grabbed a rod and tied on a soft bodied lure with a minnow and made a few cast. Something hit the minnow but not the hook. The next cast, something bit off the end of the soft bodied lure below the hook. I had some left over menhadden oil from a shark chumming trip, so I decided to try something new. I tied on a new white 1/2oz lead headed white body lure and dipped it into the menhadden oil. The next cast I reeled in a 4lb flounder. From that point on we switched the party to using the same lures all dipped in the oil. We totaled 8 keepers in two hours. I was drifting the edge of the Sinepuxent bay west channel north of the 50 bridge.
Flounder hunt with by sight and smell. They are perfectly designed bottom dwellers. They are flat, both eyes on the top side of the body, backs are camo colored to blend in with the bottom and a wide tail and fins to cover themselves with sand. The sideway mouth and sharp teeth allow them to attack and easily capture their prey with a quick surge upward off the bottom.
Flounder are very picky eaters. Preferably , they want their meals alive, smelling fresh, no foreign (human, gas, colone, deodorant, etc.) odors, moving and familiar to their taste buds. The addition of Menhadden Oil to a soft body lure gives it a live fish smell and leaves a scent trail for flounder to follow to your lure. This oil also helps eliminate short strikes that leave your lure tailess. I hope these tips help. Providing them brings back a lot of fond memories.
The last tip I can give you is that overall, I found that white is the color of choice when it comes to flounder.
Good Luck Guys, I'll be looking for your pictures on the cover of the Coastal Fisherman.
Joe P.
Good luck again to all who fish the upcoming MG.
If you are going to use the "gummy bear" soft body, lead headed artificials, these tips may help improve your success.
The "offshore speciality tackle shops" Capt. Mac's, Ake's, Mumfords, etc. usually sell small containers of pure Menhadden Oil. A pint can cost up to $25and you have to ask for it. But if each member of the MG party pitches in and buys one pint, it can be spit up between as many as 10-12 guys. Although this Oil is expensive a little goes a very long way. The old saying "a little dab will do ya," applies to Menhadden Oil.
If each member of the MG party brings a small clean & empty plastic jar with a tight fitting lid, the pint of Menhadden Oil can be split between the group and still have some to spare. The mouth of the empty jars should be large enough to dip you artifical in after it is tied to the end of your line and you are ready to put it into the water. Don't use any jars that contained strong smelling lingering odors like instant coffee.
Menhadden Oil is thicker than molasses, very very sticky and about as strong a fish odor as you will smell. One drop on the surface of the water will spread into a circle bigger than a man-hole cover and it lasts a long time on anything you use it on. Its a secret weapon of a lot of sharkers who chum the offshore canyons for makos and big sand tigers. It also works great as an attractant for tuna chunking. Some bill fisherman won't put a teaser in the water unless its been dipped in menhadden oil.
Flounder also like the smell of menhadden oil. What ever soft body artificial you are going to use, first rinse them off at home with warm water and a scent free soap. Final rinse with warm water. Use surgical gloves to handle them from that point on and store them in new Zip Loc bags until ready to fish. Avoid touching them with bare hands.
When you start fishing with artificials first put on the surgical gloves. Again a box of 50-100 surgical gloves can be spit up between a party of fisherman and save on the cost. In addition to surgical gloves, I use to keep a bar of unscented soap aboard and wash my hands as often as possible when handling any bait, chum, rigs or lures.
Warning! You don't want to get any menhadden oil spill on your kayak, clothes or rods/reels. The only place you want it on on your artifical lure. Keep a wet rag at hand just in case and clean up immediately. You don't want the sun to dry it on your boat or gear. The smell is sickening after it starts to decompose.
When you are ready to fish the artificial put it on the end of your line with surgical gloves. Then dip the lure just once in the Oil. Let the excess it drip off into the water before you cast or you will have it splattered on your kayak. About every 3-4 cast, re-dip the lure. If you can stand keeping the surgical gloves on your hands even when fishing, your success should be higher. Or wash your hands whenever you can.
Menhadden oil is not for use on live bait. It is so thick it can kill a minnow by blocking its gills. As I said earlier the oil is primaily used for chumming. Nor does it work on hair tail artificials like bucktails. It tends to discolor them and keep the hair matted together underwater so the lure loses that fluttering action during stop and start fishing.
I accidently discovered using Menhadden Oil on flounder during a slow day of flatfishing. No one on the boat was catching fish using the standard long leader drop sinker single hook rig baited with live minnows and cut spot strips. I grabbed a rod and tied on a soft bodied lure with a minnow and made a few cast. Something hit the minnow but not the hook. The next cast, something bit off the end of the soft bodied lure below the hook. I had some left over menhadden oil from a shark chumming trip, so I decided to try something new. I tied on a new white 1/2oz lead headed white body lure and dipped it into the menhadden oil. The next cast I reeled in a 4lb flounder. From that point on we switched the party to using the same lures all dipped in the oil. We totaled 8 keepers in two hours. I was drifting the edge of the Sinepuxent bay west channel north of the 50 bridge.
Flounder hunt with by sight and smell. They are perfectly designed bottom dwellers. They are flat, both eyes on the top side of the body, backs are camo colored to blend in with the bottom and a wide tail and fins to cover themselves with sand. The sideway mouth and sharp teeth allow them to attack and easily capture their prey with a quick surge upward off the bottom.
Flounder are very picky eaters. Preferably , they want their meals alive, smelling fresh, no foreign (human, gas, colone, deodorant, etc.) odors, moving and familiar to their taste buds. The addition of Menhadden Oil to a soft body lure gives it a live fish smell and leaves a scent trail for flounder to follow to your lure. This oil also helps eliminate short strikes that leave your lure tailess. I hope these tips help. Providing them brings back a lot of fond memories.
The last tip I can give you is that overall, I found that white is the color of choice when it comes to flounder.
Good Luck Guys, I'll be looking for your pictures on the cover of the Coastal Fisherman.
Joe P.
Comment