free lining

[Deleted]

hi, first time poster here. i have a couple of ?? about free lining for grouper. 1st, where do i hook a pinfish, 2nd how do i get it out to the rocks? thanks in advance. going out friday nite till sat afternoon.

[blacktip]

hook em in the ass, let your bait go out with the outgoing current. Try to place yourself on the left corner of the reef. With a good current the bait will get pulled slightly to the right and in term will cover more of the reef.

Welcome to the forum

[douglasb]

It's not all that hard. Just as blacktip said, it's best to be to the left of them some. You can either throw the bait out as far as you can, or save damage to the bait and just drop it straight down below and let the current take it out. The arguement is where to hook them. If you hook them behind the dorsal fin (a lot of bass fishers swear by this) the bait seems to live longer. If you hook them about a fingernails length behind the anus the will dive downwards, which is exactly what you want them to do.

Here's what I do.... I use an open face reel. I slowly let line out until I've gone completely over the reef. Once I've done this I start a very very slow retrieval where I will crank the reel 5 - 10 times and then let the bait swim for a minute or two. I'll reel it all the way in. Check the bait make sure he's still highly active. And cover the reef 5 or 6 more times. If nothing hits, I'll move to the next open reef. Keep your fingers on the line, cause they hit hard and fast. Sometimes I'll close the open face and set the drag extremely loose, run the line out using drag, so just in case I do put it down for something I can hear it as soon as something happens.

I'm not by anymeans a pro. Just letting you know my methods.

[inshorebasher]

what i hate is flipper always seems to find a fresh pinner freelining, floater, or sinker..... sorry to get off topic but yes the above mentioned is the best way to go about it. Anal fin and pitch it out and hold the rod and let line out.

[juck]

What size hooks are you guys using? I assume we're all using circle hooks? What mainline/leader do you all use. I've been using my old catfish rod (uglystick) ,, is that OK for grouper?

Yes,, I have no clue what I'm doing in Saltwater!

[blacktip]

Im using a 8' 50lb class custom ugly stick with a 450h sealine. 60lb main line (mono) 30' 80-100lb leader, and a 4/0-9/0 hook. All depends on how active the fish are.

What kind of rod is it? open face, spinning?

[juck]

It's a 7ft,,, medium action,, can't rememebr the exact model,,,, various spinning reels ,,, pulled some big catfish with it but all this saltwater stuff is new to me,, all my gear is freshwater. I've been using 30lb braid at the pier and 30lb fluo leader for the macs last week and it worked fine. I keep hearing the albright knot won't hold braid-to-fluo,,, seems ok so far,, but I dunno if it would work with a big fish ,, in 30+ years of freshwater fishing I only ever used the palomar and the occasional snell,,, now I have all these complex knots to learn lol.

[gerard1031]

juck, if you are new to saltwater fishing, don't forget to rinse all your stuff with freshwater after each outing....man I learned the hardway that saltwater loves chewing up your gear.