Best fishing tackle for tripletail

One thing that the Shore Thing charter captains agree on is the tackle used to wrestle tripletail to the boat.

“Medium-heavy spinning rod and reel, 30-pound braided line, a Styrofoam conical cork and a very short piece of 30-pound fluorocarbon line leader,” Capt. Sonny Schindler said. “The braided line is for strength, feel and ease of casting. The hook needs to be small but as strong as you can find.

“These fish can be big and they can be mean. They are extremely lazy — until you get a hook in their face, and then they go nuts.”

The cork plays a key role in the gear.

“First, a lot of times when we are fishing, the water is very murky or at least stained and you can\’t see the fish or the line as clearly as you\’d like,” he said. “You might just see the cork twitch a little bit, and then you know he\’s taken the shrimp.

“Second, it makes it easier to control the cast, even in the wind.”

And then there\’s the matter of bait presentation.

“It keeps the shrimp right in the fish\’s strike zone,” Schindler said. “The cork certainly doesn\’t scare the fish, and a lot of times the fish will actually follow the cork.

“That\’s why we only use between 6 to 10 inches of leader: When the fish sees the cork and turns from on his side to vertical, I want to be sure when he looks at the cork he sees the whole package. I want him to see the shrimp. When he does, and the shrimp sees him, it all works for you. The shrimp gets nervous and starts moving, and the fish sees that and will go get it.”

There is only one critical error a fisherman can make in making the presentation, Schindler said.

“Don\’t let your cast land on its head,” he said. “You do that, and it\’s over. You might as well reel it in, crank up the engine and leave.”

Capt. Kenny Shiyou agreed.

“That\’s about the only wrong thing you can do,” he said. “A lot of times the fish might get spooked by the boat or by a cast, and he will go down under the water. But usually, I can wait him out. In five or 10 minutes, he will pop back up and you can fish him again.

“He won\’t come back up if you have hit him in the head, though.”

Waiting fish out if you spook them with the boat is usually better than trying to get the fish to bite deep.

“A lot of guys will go ahead when the fish goes down and throw a shrimp without a cork, and hope the fish will hit it under the surface, but I don\’t like to do that unless all else fails,” Shiyou said. “The crab trap is down there and the line from the buoy isn\’t always straight, and you can get it all wrapped up.”