Bunker Spoons vs Umbrella Rigs

[Abrasion]

Is everyone pulling bunker spoons in the ocean? Anyone use umbrellas? I troll the bay in the spring with stretches and umbrellas.

Im thinking about trolling oceanside, but I only hear about bunker spoons. Dont own a setup for them so wondering if anyone has had any luck pulling umbrellas

[Gerry Zagorski]

Umbrella rigs wouldn't be my first choice trolling the ocean this time of year ocean side, in the fall they work better when the Sandeels are in.

This time of year with all the Bunker along the beaches you want to be using Bunker Spoons or Live or Cut Bunker.

If you're new to trolling Bunker spoons this post will help you, further down in the post you'll see some references specifically to spoons.

http://njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28665

A lot of people including yours truly have switched from wire line to braided line with a drail weight. Braid, snap swivel, drail weight, 50 pound 8 foot mono leader, snap swivel connected to your spoon.

If you don't have a bunker spoon trolling set up I'd be live lining Bunker or drifting cut Bunker and in the case of cut bunker, the heads are what most of the larger fish want.

Your timing is just about perfect too... A lot of big fish being caught on the ocean side right now and there are lots of Bunker around from the Highlands bridge and South to Asbury Park.

Here is a series of great articles on trolling spoons from one of our sponsors, TGT tackle that makes some great spoons. The last section at the bottom there is a 3 part series that will give you everything you need to know.

http://www.tgttackle.com/articles.php


Good luck and hope this helps.

[Tomm24]

I'd troll mojo's and a stretch 25. Did that with one spoon for a couple of hours last Sunday and got skunked but that was 2-4 pm not the best time.

[jerseyhunter]

We've always had success with umbrella's as well as spoons. It's all about the bait available, the speed and the set up. So your wallet will choose for you, but we always had at least one setup of each onboard as well as some a couple 5gal buckets on board for when we couldn't get the rpm's low enough. A lot of times the direction of the troll would dictate strikes or not.

[barbarian]

Try an umbrella rigged with Clark spoons or Tony pet we've had 40/50 lbs class fish crash on them. Bought at a flea market... marking big fish out front... not biting on anything... had no bunker spoons only the little spoons... decided to try next thing big fish coming over the rail.

[Billfish715]

Umbrella rigs with tubes or shads catch everything. We've caught many species on rigs with tubes including pollack, fluke, seabass, bonito, spanish mackerel, weakfish as well as the usual bluefish and striped bass. Boat speed, direction, depth are very important in your success. You can substitute Clarke Spoons, or even shallow running plugs as trailers on the rigs.

Bunker Spoons require a completely different set up especially the longer rods and outrodders necessary to pull the spoons effectively. Can bass be caught on bunkier spoons without the long rods? Yes, but the size of the spoon will dictate the technique you use. Bigger spoons swim wider than the smaller ones do so the width of your transom will be a big concern so the spoons don't tangle especially on the turns.

Spoons often account for bigger fish, but also account for many hooked and lost ones. There is a lot of torque on the spoon as it sticks out of the fish's mouth when the fish swims off to the side. This often rips a hole in the fish's mouth and causes its ultimate escape. Almost any slack in the line will likely cause the fish to come unbuttoned.

We don't pull rigs through the bunker schools for obvious reasons including matching the hatch. When those bunkers are not around, the rigs usually find the fish. When the bunkers are around, it's more sporting to live line them. I must admit that we've pulled some nice fish far from the schools of bunkers while others who are livelining in the middle of the schools are watching their baits go untouched.

My suggestion is to find the smaller, slimmer bunker spoons and troll them with a trolling lead that's heavy enough to take it down no matter what kind of line you are using. Finally, you can find a big Danny plug and pull that with or without a trolling lead. They can be another option when trolling slowly around a bunker school.

[Capt Sal]

Hate to disagree but? The fact is NOTHING works better for bunker spoons than wire! Braid works but not nearly as well. I can understand not wanting to spend the money.In that case by all means do what you can and use braid for spoons. If you have the money get two 4-0 penn reels and two 9' Seeker sponing rods. The rods are very important and need the action to make the spoons wooble. We use monel and pur 300' on each reel. In raritan Bay we put out150' of wire with "no''drail 12' of 60lb. leader and large snap swivel to spoon. In deeper water 300' feet of wire and if you need it you could put a drail weight at the end of the wire. Ocean side when the bass are holding in 50'.This is a tried and true method i learned 50 years ago from Capt. otto Reut and Capt. Coles from the Janet C. Two of the best charter captains ever!

[Finprof]

Apparently NJ fishermen use tubes on umbrella rigs.
If you put parachute jigs with 9 inch shad on the umbrella it will work well when fish are feeding on bunker. The umbrella rigs also behave nicely and don't tangle if you are pulling a lot of rods and make a turn. Spoons will go all over the place.
In Fall I will pull 6 umbrellas. In Spring I pull 4 umbrellas plus 8 tandems plus one spoon way way back. Pulling more than two spoons can create problems.
I know, I might as well be dragging a net behind the boat.

[Billfish715]

I fished with Capt. Fred Coles and his sons a number of times in my youth. Fred and his wife also owned and operated a sports shop in Scotch Plains where they also had a small backyard farm. Fred was the epitome of an old salt. If Hollywood were looking to cast a character for a movie with a fishing theme, Capt. Fred would have been the star.

While he did pull spoons, he pulled rigs as well, alternating between them depending on the conditions. There was a time when the ocean in Sea Bright used to come very, very close to the wall. Fred would pull his wire line not far out from there. The water was at least 30' deep only 50 yds. off the wall and Fred knew every inch of the area.

Call me old school, but we only use monel (150'-300'), long bunker spoon rods with carbide guides, and outrodders with safety straps. You've got to love fishing to crank in 300' of wire with a six arm umbrella rig at the end. Add a large bass or bluefish to the rig and even a big, strong athlete will cry uncle after a few fish. Fishing with wire isn't easy or for the casual troller but it does work. It always has.

[NoLimit]

What thickness Monel is preferred?

I have 45# and was looking at 60 or 90 to get rigs down deeper