Hey Steve. I doubt that I have insight that would impress you nor could I make it as interesting as you.
Lingcatcher,
Good point was made about knowing what part of the wreck is best to fish. Many people assume that you want to be on the highest hardest part of the wreck. Sometimes this is true. Other times not so much. This comes with time spent on a particulr piece. You will learn where the fish hold and where the best part of a wreck is. Sometimes on some spots the fish (blackfish) hold in holes. One barge I fish is littered with holes. The fish sit in the holes when the current is running. When the current goes slack, they come out of the holes and stop feeding. Drop your crab in a hole when the current is moving and you got yourself a fish. Getting it out is another story. It is a good idea to mark as many spots on a piece as possible on your plotter. Keep a log and you will see what the most productive areas of a wreck are. There are definitely spots within a wreck and anchoring on a high piece is not always the best. Last week I fished a new piece for the first time. The piece was huge and we could have spent the better part of the day bouncing around it. Well, anyway the fish were on the lowest, least sticky part of the wreck. A party boat in the area pulled up next to us to the southeast and was on the high part of the wreck. We were in the area he moved to about an hour earlier prior to a little wiggle with poor results. They stayed on the piece and caught maybe one fish. In the twenty minutes he was there we had about a dozen nice fish with two going over 10#. Point is this. Make note of where you catch fish on a piece. Try it again and again and take notes each time. That's how you learn where the best spot on a piece is. Trial and error.
Another great investment is an underwater camera. You can learn alot about the feeding habits, how they feed, the wreck you are fishing (sometimes the fishfinder does not tell you all you need to know). It will also tell you when its worth waiting the few extra minutes (if you see them on the camera) and when it's time to pull up your anchors and leave (no life on the bottom).
