Saltwater Fishing

Brutally strong fish and vicious topwater strikes make a fabulous combination. Here’s what you need to know to get in on exciting bluefish action this summer.

Pound for pound, bluefish are known as the hardest fighting inshore fish along the Northeast coast. Blues demand respect, punishing rods, destroying lures with knife-bladed teeth, ripping drags, and blowing up reels with powerful runs.

Ask other anglers: Topwater popping for any gamefish typically tops the list of exciting ways to fish. When you get topwater blow-ups from 10-, 15- and even 20-pound alligator bluefish, the adrenaline meter goes through the roof.

Bomber minnow plugs are time-proven striped bass producers in the surf. Learn how to tap into the best coastal action.

No fish in the United States commands the passion of the surf angler like the striped bass. From Maine to New Jersey, surf fishermen plan their lives around the spring, summer and fall months for the chance to tap into hot striper action.

Going back to the advent of surf fishing for striped bass, large, long swimming plugs have been designed to mimic natural forage baitfish, including as menhaden, mullet, herring and mackerel. One lure has not only the pedigree from the old school to be considered the godfather of manufactured surf plugs, but to this day remains the top offering for any surf striper angler – the Bomber minnow plug.

Look through any old fishing magazines, and you’ll quickly see the word Bomber was omnipresent through the text. That pattern still rings true. The Bomber plug is a surf striper angler’s best friend.

You don’t need to fish from a boat to catch snook. You can wade fish the flats and take the “dog” for a walk, too.

Can you walk the dog? No, not the four-legged kind. I mean a cigar-shaped topwater lure that launches like an arrow and walks and talks to gamefish on the way back. The walk is twitch left, twitch right, twitch left, twitch right. The talk is clickity-clickity-click. It’s a dinner bell for predators. Florida’s saltwater snook come a runnin’.

This is far from “deep sea” fishing. It’s casting light tackle in mostly knee-deep water. You can use your boat to motor to the a, then hop out and wade. But you don’t even need a boat. Drive your car to a waterfront park. Hike to the shoreline. Put on wading boots. Wade in. Walk the dog. Map and satellite imaging on your devices are terrific for finding places to park-and wade

A jigging spoon fills a critical niche in any angler’s tackle selection. Learn how to best use these highly versatile lures.

Simple and Versatile: those two words describe Cotton Cordell’s CC Spoon to a T.

This venerable lure consists of nothing more than a piece of hammered metal with a rustproof treble hook at one end and a metal loop at the other end. It comes in just two colors—silver and gold—and four sizes—1 1/2, 2, 2 1/8 or 3 inches. Despite having only basic options when selecting a CC Spoon, the angler who drops one of these often-overlooked lures into the strike zone might hook up with anything from panfish such as white bass or crappie to high-jumping black bass or trout to pole-bending saltwater species that could range from sheepshead and redfish to sharks and tuna.

The War Eagle Jigging Spoon offers similar functionality. However, different shaping alters the profile and wobble. It comes in two sizes – 1/2 and 7/8 ounce – and seven colors and comes equipped with a swivel.

Learn the benefits of Fish Handling Gloves for conservation and safety and how to maximize those benefits.

“Net?” I asked, as my 15-year-old son Nathaniel gained control of a good trout and worked it close.

“I’ll use the glove,” he said, as he held the line tight with his rod and used his other hand to pull a Lindy Fish Handling Glove from his back pocket.

Well-rehearsed from many previous fish, Nathaniel slid his hand into the glove, maneuvered the fish to good angle and then stabbed like a heron nabbing a baitfish to grab the trout by the base of the tail. He then set down his rod, slid his rod hand under the trout’s belly, showed the fish to me, removed a barbless single hook and let the trout go, having never taken it out of the water.

The striper bite has heated up along the Atlantic coast. Learn the best techniques for getting in on this exciting fishing action.

Ask any Northeast angler:  No other saltwater species attracts more fervor, with a cult-like following, than the striped bass, also knows as rockfish, linesider, striper, or even the affectionate old-school term of “ol’ Pajamas.”

Although striped bass are found in many areas, including Northern California and freshwater impoundments from the South to parts of the West, the coastal striper’s epicenter spans the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic coast from Maine to North Carolina. With average size classes ranging from 5 to 50 pounds on any given day, the species can be hooked on a variety of methods, all certain to raise your adrenaline level.

Waking the surface with crankbaits and minnow lures is a highly effective tactic for everything from bluegills to saltwater predators like redfish and striped bass. Here’s what you need to know about this fun fishing technique.

You wouldn’t think a 1 ½-inch Rebel Crickhopper and a 7-inch Cotton Cordell Red Fin would have anything in common. One is grasshopper shaped, weighs only 3/32 ounce and is best fished on ultralight tackle. The other is shaped like a big baitfish, weighs a full ounce and is best suited for fairly heavy spinning or baitcasting tackle.

However, these two baits (along with many others that fall in-between in size) lend themselves to fishing the same way. Both work wonderfully as wake baits, and while the scale of everything, the setting and the fish species targeted differ substantially, the actual technique and the explosiveness of the results are the same.

Choosing the right float and rig allows for targeted presentations that produce excellent catches of sea trout and other inshore saltwater species.

“It’s the old time way to fish for trout around here. What everyone use to do,” Chris Holleman said as we stood side by side on the back deck of his boat, watching pole floats drift slowly away from us.

“And it’s a great way to catch fish,” he added with a smile as his float shot under and he set the hook into a sea trout.

Float fishing with large slip-style floats like Thill Big Fish Sliders and Weighted Pole Floats, allows you present live bait just off the bottom, where trout like to feed, and to effectively work areas to locate schools of fish. It produces well year ‘round but is especially effective during winter, when spotted sea trout (also commonly called speckled trout) tend to congregate in deeper holes in tidal creeks, rivers and canals.

By Mikayla St Clair

When it comes to fishing, some of us started when we were little. Others have picked up the sport over time. Reeling in that big one comes from skill and a bit of luck, and specific types of fishing, such as inshore saltwater fishing, call for extra skills. If you want to boost your skillset, following these seven tips can make you a better inshore angler on your next fishing trip.

Know Tidal Movements

When inshore fishing, you need to understand how the tidal movements affect your target species. When the tide is incoming, oyster bars and mangroves become ideal spots for finding baitfish and gamefish. However, when the tide is going out, baitfish tend to drop back into passes and channels. You'll want to be in each area at the same time as the bait because actively feeding gamefish will follow the movements of their forage. Check local tide charts before heading out and track them with your phone while you are on the water.

Use Polarized Sunglasses

Ask veteran anglers, and they'll tell you that polarized sunglasses are an absolute must to stay on top of your game. These sunglasses are produced with a special lens technology that essentially works to cut through the glare created by the sun. This is perfect for being able to spot fish below the surface and to see bait and fish-holding features like oyster bars and grass beds. Just one look through polarized lenses and you'll be sold on getting a pair for your next inshore fishing trip.

Bad to the Bone

“Bone, of course.”

Even if the words, “of course,” aren’t stated, they are implied in the answer any time you ask a Bone enthusiast what color is producing.

Strikingly simple, highly visible and fabulous for suggesting the whitish flash of many forage fish species, the lure color “Bone” transcends being a good color in the minds of many anglers. For certain applications – like waking a Bomber Long A across a slick-calm surface – Bone is seen by many as the only color.

Beyond a Long A, other baits that Bone owns among certain anglers include several classic topwater lures. Heddon Spooks in various models, Rebel Jumpin’ Minnows, Cotton Cordell Pencil Poppers and Bomber Badonk-A-Donks all have core users who choose Bone over anything else because it offers great visibility from a below in a broad range of conditions and looks like dinner (and, most importantly, because it produces fish!)

Bandit Series 100, Series 200 and Series 300 crankbaits, Bandit Rack-Its and Bomber Long Shots are among the most popular sub-surface lures in Bone.

Two brand new Cotton Cordell Red-Fin colors, Pale Perch and Bone Appetit, are painted on a Bone base, providing Classic Bone visibility and appeal as a backdrop to natural color patterns.

Bone, although productive year ‘round, works extra well during autumn, when shad congregate and migrate shallow in reservoirs and saltwater baitfish of various kinds push close to beaches, opening frenzied fishing opportunities for everything from stripers to bluefish to tarpon.

How about you? In what situations, do you insist on Bone, and what species do you expect to catch?