To follow up on “meat and greet” lay back fishing with a bait runner or not

[Jim DE]

Hey admittedly I rarely do lay back fishing. I have nothing against those that do it’s just does not work for me and my obsession of night time Striper fishing. I am one of those guys that has to be active while fishing.

 

That said I had a close friend named Neil from England and one named Hoss from Lewes DE that got me interested in surf distance casting. I did this weekly at a dog training area near the C&D canal religiously for believe it or not relaxation. Yeah I know who would enjoy dirt casting for distance if they rarely ever fished this type tackle? Yeah I’m that guy. 
 

So as my distance casting improved and I met others who do this sport the natural progression is to take your skill set to the water with some friends. Neil got me convinced to use a euro tripod instead of a spike and I got one and never looked back. Now admittedly when fishing this way I used breakaway clip down rigs and conventional reels with on the fly Mag adjust ability. I would keep a setup or two as backup in spinning with Baitrunner’s and they work well and IMO easier to preset for strike indication but for me could not get the distance line test for line test to my conventional’s. 
 

The fishing we did was daylight with a edge to the distance needed to reach the outside bar along with beer and BS. Fun? Sure! Would I prefer to to this rather than my nighttime fishing? Nope! Why? We did not catch near as much but drank far more. 
 

Back to the point of bait runners or not... depends on ones priorities and the waters they fish. Me if I was going to just do meat and greet fishing I’d use my 6500 baitrunners  and make life easy and wait for the take. If I was out with a free distance casting guys for a day on the beach out will come my 525 Tmag, 6500ctc3, slosh Mag, something I could reach another area code with. 
 

Either way will work fine it’s just what one prefers and puts a priority on.   By the way I have never came close to losing a rod using a tripod and I can fish two rods with spare rigs baited and ready to clip on during a blitz while unhooking the first fish ...  if you ever get to try one you won’t regret it. Man I miss Neal and Hoss!! It’s been a very long time since I distance casting or fished this way..... maybe I’ll try and make time for both this year. 

[quan808]

I have not done it from the beach in probably 10 years. Still do it from a pier every chance I get. If Spanish mackerel or trout are in, I will throw live bait first then lures once it slows down.

 

I enjoy “bait n wait” for slot reds. I just like the sound of the clicker going off mostly!

Edited March 3 by quan808

[crazybellringer]

Problem with your tripod and spike is you will miss fish if you are not holding your rod. ITS A FACT.  So unless your someplace with a hot bite hold your rod.  If you are on a beach and hoping one fish comes by and takes the bait having it in a holder could mean you just lost your chance.   TRUST me

Edited March 3 by crazybellringer

[crazybellringer]

It's ok to sand spike 3 rods and have beer and listen to tunes and BS just realize you are there to do that and not 100% focused on fishing.  A couple years ago when surf clams were around I would have no problem doing this because the fish were around and I didn't mind if I dropped a couple now. I feel like if you are doing it the bait better be fresh and the rod should be in your hand. 

[Jim DE]

Crazybellringer, I don’t doubt what your saying a bit. With few exceptions throughout a year I really don’t take daylight fishing as a whole saltwater or freshwater as serious shoreline fishing. A rod held has to be a better way to feel what may be happening at the hook end. Now whether one rod in hand will out perform 2-6 baited rods with circle hooks at various distances and baits in holders? I don’t know. What I do know is some of the most successful bait fishing guys I know fish a spread of spiked rods and constantly are changing bait to keep it fresh and get a idea which bait and distance is holding a active bite. 
 

If we are comparing the effectiveness of one baited rod held vs one baited rod spiked without a doubt I would say the rod that is held would be the winner. Only makes sense. Those running a spread and liking spinning tackle IMO can benefit from baitrunner type reels as a aid to strike detection and reduce the chance of losing a rod and reel on a hard take. 
 

 

[Captain Ahab]

I have seen the tripods used for carp in rivers and lakes.  Never saw anyone use one in the surf.  Don't they keep the line low and thus in the breaking waves?

Edited March 4 by Captain Ahab

[Jim DE]

Mine sets two rods at say 30deg apart and at say 60deg to the sand

[Surf bomber]

I saw a rod in a plastic sand spike in moco literally disintegrate into pieces when a good size blue whacked it.....the owner caught the rod in the suds and landed the fish but the sand spike never had a chance...it wasn't cold out actually it was hot out...the fisherman was paying attention to his girl friend....not sure what rod he was paying attention to but the one with hook and line almost went bye bye lol lol .......

[Sudsy]

On 3/3/2021 at 9:35 AM, crazybellringer said:

Problem with your tripod and spike is you will miss fish if you are not holding your rod. ITS A FACT.  

Not always

Not if you use a circle hook and rig it the right way

[Sudsy]

21 mins ago, Surf bomber said:

I saw a rod in a plastic sand spike in moco literally disintegrate into pieces when a good size blue whacked it.....the owner caught the rod in the suds and landed the fish but the sand spike never had a chance...it wasn't cold out actually it was hot out...the fisherman was paying attention to his girl friend....not sure what rod he was paying attention to but the one with hook and line almost went bye bye lol lol .......

EdRahway, who used to be a regular here, lost a sweet rig to PVC

Big BIG fish hit it, three bounces and the rod was gone. 

He was ten feet from the rod and it happened so fast there was nothing he could do

 

I took that lesson and chucked all my PVC rod holders and bought stainless

[Gully]

PVC comes in differing qualities. Some are more rigid than others. The solid core pipe is pretty sturdy and will last a while. I’ve got spikes going on 15-20 yrs old w/o worry. To each their own...

[petergulickjr]

I do a fair amount of "lay back fishing - more like lean back. I mainly use conventional with clickers - but have also considered a baitrunner recently. I tend to go for the simple rugged type reels (Penn 705z, Abu 7000C, Penn Fathom), maybe that secondary drag pushed me away - how different tis the secondary drag from any other reel on light drag?

Sandspike type, sometimes it just doesn't matter - years ago I was chunking in Northern NJ, about 15' away when the spike, rod and reel, just slammed to the ground hard and the road and reel quickly dragged thru the sand into the water (Penn 705z and nice Lamiglass 11'). I sprinted, 1/2 dove into the wash, found, and picked up the rod and reel - about 20 minutes later, huge crowd.........beached a ray about 5' across. I don't know how many other reels could have been dragged thru the sand and water, pulled out, and reeled in like that. 

[DoorGunner]

About 99% of my fishing is back bay. Can't even imagine how many stripers I have caught in the back. Most fun is top water. Nothing compares to a striper smashing a smack-it on the surface. I do that in the evening at the start of the outgoing tide when the stripers are bunched up at the creek mouths waiting for the shiners (spearing) to move out.

Most of the time I'm anchored in my boat chunking clam bellies and clam bellies on my hook. I have rod holders that hold my rod out over the water instead of the vertical rod holders. One in the holder was always a baitrunner set just tight enough to hold the line in case the line picked up a hunk of weed. Bottom line was that the rod I held almost always ended with a hookup while the baitrunner missed over 50% of the time. 

The problem bothered me for some time until I just said screw it and locked the reel down. From then on the hookup ratio went to about 80% and I think I figured out why.

Fish don't have hands so they feel with their mouths. Very sensitive nerves enable them to sort out what enters the mouth and spit out what isn't food or doesn't feel right. I believe that when they pick up a bait and move off with it they feel the leader and the vibration and just spit it out.

Stripers have a huge cave for a mouth and can inhale some big targets. Some of us refer to them as swimming seagulls. I lock the reel and most of the stripers just open their mouth and suck it in then turn to run and that usually results in the hook in the corner of the mouth.

I still use baitrunners for safety reasons. If I have to put a rod down even for a few seconds I flip it on so it doesn't go sailing over the side.