[Leprechaun]

Quite a few Noreasters have been getting the jump on the coming season by P.M.ing and e-mailing me asking about my B/S rig and the teasers that I like to use on it above the sinker.

I think that this would be a good time to illustrate a few patterns that have worked for us on the Lep over the past two seasons.

I also believe this would be a good time because of the proximity of the Freeport Show, at which one of the best if not THE best teaser creator I know of will be exhibiting and selling his products. I'm talking about our own Tom/"Reelteasers." You can catch him sharing a booth with the good Capt. Neil and Al "Rodprof" Goldberg. That booth will therefore have 3 of the nicest guys you will ever meet in attendence, there to answer your questions, show their wares and maybe even make a sale or two.

Anyways, here in no particular order are a few patterns that I consider "Must Haves" when I go for the flat ones:

First up is the "Squid Fly." This one works well mid-Summer when we see those tiny blue and white scratches on the fish finder scattered just over the bottom. I like it with a small piece of fish-bait on it - I prefer a tiny spearing - maybe 2" long max:



This post edited by Leprechaun 08:21 PM 09/20/2013

 

[Leprechaun]

Next up is the "Snapper" fly. This one works well as a late Summer special, but since it happens to be my favorite shade of blue, I use it all year round. This is the shade I used to take my personal-best 9lb4oz fish two seasons ago over some rubble dead south of Jones. In fact since I ALWAYS fish two rods concurrently, I start out every morning with one pure white fly or 1/4 bucktail and one of these "Snappers" on the other stick. I then mix/match colors as the fish's preferences that day dictate:

This post edited by Leprechaun 11:52 AM 01/12/2011

 

[Leprechaun]

This next one is a flat-out killer early in the season, especially when fished at the mouth of the Inlet or right along the beach in up to about 35' of water. Its the "Sea Robin" pattern. If you gut a larger fluke caught during the Spring run, many times as not you'll find a teeny-tiny sea robin in its belly. Hence the acceptance of this fly:

(This post edited by Leprechaun on 02/15/2005)

 

[Leprechaun]

Last of the pics is of one of my late-season favorites, tied to imitate a bait commonly seen around that Late August to Sept time period when these baitfish are running along the ocean beaches and into the deeper bays - the "Green Anchovy."

(This post edited by Leprechaun on 02/15/2005)

 

[Leprechaun]

There's one more good producer, which in fact was the best lure overall last fluke season, but I don't have a worthwhile pic of it to show you. Its called the "Porgy" fly and its grey, pink and white. I'm not exactly sure this one really does imitate a porgy, but Tom calls it that and so who am I to argue?

What cannot be argued is the way it beat the heck out of the fish off the Jones Amphitheater in 40' last August over every other color and pattern we tried - and in terms of pounds of fish caught, this one was maybe the most successful of all the patterns last year.

Hey, Porgies slayed the bass out at Mecca last Summer, so why shouldn't an imitation of a baby one work 'round these parts, further to the West?

So those are my favorites, along with snow white of course. And remember that no matter what pattern you go with keep a nice firm SMALL spearing on the hook to keep the flukies' interest when he bites down on your lure.

Oh and one other thing. No matter if you do as I like to do and leave the fly tying to an expert like Tom/Reelteasers or like to tie them up yourself, try to use smallish stainless steel 1/0 or 2/0 hooks - I really think smaller is better in this case. They seem to result in less missed hits and many more fish in the box.

At least for me.

Last tip - keep a hook hone in your back pocket and touch up the hook point often. You want that hook to penetrate when the fish so much as breathes on the bait.

Best of Luck this year guys - 5 fish at 17.5" is WAAAAY better than the back-of-th-hand they gave us last year, that's fo' sho'.

 

[gottog]

This produced a few fish for me last year. Tipped w/ a spearing and without.

 

[gottog]

These, in a wide array of colors, have been doing well for me and a few others the past couple of seasons. No added bait necessary.

 

[Hunt n' Fish]

G/T

Is that the XPS Squid? I was using them in the small and larger (like 4-inch) sizes. They produced very well, but weren't very durable.

That porgy fly sounds like a good one to try for the fall fishing

 

[Skolmann]

Fluke Teasers

I've been using a chartruse/white clouser minnow (tipped with a spearing) as a teaser fluke inside Raritan Bay and have hadd deadly results.

I've also taken some nice flatties on a pink/white clouser-especially when rainfish are around.

I'll also second the use of a sea robin pattern early in the season.

 

[Billy40]

Teasers are only as good as what they are tipped with.

(This post edited by Billy40 on 02/16/2005)

 

[Leprechaun]

Billy - with all respect, that's just not correct.

Put two teasers of different colors/patterns next to each other on identical outfits, both sweetened with the same fishbait and more times than not one will get hit more often than the other. Many times the difference is dramatic, like 3 and 4 to 1.

Take it from someone who fishes fluke only with teasers, color/pattern matters.

rgds, Leprechaun

 

[strip]

Lep...

....Am I getting a glimpse of the flyfisherman in you?

 

[618009]

Petri Fish?

anyone ever try one for fluke?

 

[Leprechaun]

Anthony - I tried flyfishing in FW a few times. It was O.K., but just o.k.
Too much effort for too little return, IMO. Maybe a nice albie or 20lb bass would change my mind, but how the heck would I backcast off a boat with more antennas than a Russian spy trawler?

C.I.K. - never mind the fluke - my question is "Has anybody ever caught ANYTHING on one of those lures?"

Dead-nuts gorgeous and realistic as they are, I've never cuaght a darn thing on them, nor have any of my friends. Might be technique, but a hit ONCE in a while would be nice.

rgds, Lepechaun

 

[HungryJack]

Rubber that outfishes the hair, IMO.

 

[fliesthatcatch]

Lep
I agree 100% color makes a difference,
Back in the day I used to fish fresh water and we had a color meter or what ever stupid name they had for it, Maybe stupid but I have used it in the salt and it works.

Bob

 

[strip]

Bob...

....what's a color meter? and how is it used?

 

[jtzannes]

Last season I remember reading several reports of fluke that had their stomachs packed with large mantis shrimp. Does anyone here make teasers that imitate mantis shrimp? Just curious to see exactly how crazy you guys get - I personally don't do a whole lot of fluking (although I enjoy it very much) and usually just use slide-on teasers in white, chartruse, or pink, or B2 squids - how very amature of me!!!

 

[River Rat]

Leprechaun wrote:

Take it from someone who fishes fluke only with teasers, color/pattern matters.

rgds, Leprechaun

How do you fish with "only Teasers"?

How do you rig your teasers and do you recomend using them as an addition to a regular bait rig?

 

[Leprechaun]

J - that's a great question - about a Mantis imitator.

Just last night I was catching up on my reading and picked up the January issue of Noreast and deep in that issue is an interesting article about using a Mantis pattern for bass.

The writer didn't spill the beans in that article and put up a picture, but I believe he promised that he would do that later.

Has anybody seen the Feb issue yet? Is there a part II to that article, maybe with a pic of the Mantis fly?

I'd sure like to give that pattern a try this season.

Lep