Bonito lure/jig

[teddysclaw]

When going out on these bluefish/bonito/false albacore trips, I was curious if there was a specific lure or jig to use that would target the bonito more? I don't enjoy the taste of bluefish or false albacore, so those are mostly nuisances for me when fishing.

Bonito on the other hand, I love to eat. I know that all 3 species hit the same type of jigs, but was wondering if there was a particular lure or jig that could maximize my chances of landing bonito as opposed to the other two.


As a sidenote, has anyone seen any skipjacks on these trips this year? They seem to be absent.

[Ismellfishy]

Red & white bean head bucktail jig. Gotta get whippy with it.

[AndyS]

Freshwater Swedish Pimple. (change the hooks)

[nmc02]

007

[BugEye Chris]

I am a big fan of the deadly dicks 2 oz jig in silver and green
However the small treble hook needs to be changed

[AndyS]

Fresh spearing or sand eel on a small bonito hook and light line, maybe a split shot for line control.

[TAB95]

Small Deadly Dicks work great but if they are in the chum slick flip Tsunami Holographic Swim baits paddle tail green. Swedish and Kandlefish are also solid producers. I take off all trebles and put 5/0 gami siwash hooks.

[bulletbob]

small white marabou bucktail with a bit of mylar flash... Rip it back in sweeps, or just move it as fast as you can reel. Nothing better. You can thank me later.... Unless the blues bite them off of course...bob

[rumster]

Love to eat them myself... Sushi, deep fried seasoned nuggets in a dry buttermilk pancake mix or made like tuna fish, amazing!!!! Anything that resembles a sand eel will do. Caught over 60 one day on a well known lump trolling yellow and green feathers that resemble a sand eel. Fishing was so good that we would have 3 outfits out and have fish on 2. After getting them settled in the boat, bled and in a ice slurry ( very important) we would reel in the 3 rd after it hit the bottom and get another one. Very memorable trip within 10 miles. If the sand eels are around so is everything else. Personally I would do a charter specifically for them. Hint, hint, there is money to made Capts. Tight lines.

[vikesdad]

Did really well with deadly dicks. Bigger bonus was the macks basically ignored the lure

[Skolmann]

Olive over white closerr minnow or a 4" pink or Arkansas shiner Fin~S or Zoom soft plastic rigged on a 2/0 baitholder on #20 fluorocarbon fished 3-5' behind a popping cork.

[makosnax]

The key is to reel it as fast as humanly possible, if they have time to look at it they ain't gonna hit. Deadly dicks work well.

[dales529]

Have to laugh that we all are convinced and me included that we need all this tackle. In the 70's and 80's all you needed for trolling bonito was some Clark spoons on planers behind the boat and a couple of feathers off the riggers.
4 Lines out Total

Bait / chumming was spearing and a hook with maybe a weight and jigging was an Ava 007 to 017

Tackle boxes were 4 lbs

I agree and have all the lures mentioned because on one day that worked best.
Thank goodness for lure designers:cool:

Did the Bonito change or did we?

I do look forward to chartering a sponsor boat in September for this great fishery as the government has left the industry few options and hopefully you all will too

Also no tackle shops were harmed in this post and any characters are fictional .

[teddysclaw]

Thanks guys for all the great suggestions. Im gonna try the deadly dicks, small white bucktail, and storm/tsunami shads. Sounds like a pain in the ass changing the treble hooks though, so i might have to stick with 007 ava instead.

Dale, yeah all these lures etc probably arent necessary, but the goal wasnt just to catch bonito. It was to try and get em while avoiding the other fish (blues, macks,albies).

thanks again guys

[TheFishSlayer]

Where can I find them?