Bullet

A fellow sent me an email what to make out of Super Strike Bullet lure? Should he get a heavy duty model or a regular one? Where is it suppose to be used and under what circumstances? What type of retrieve? Howe does it cast ? What will he catch ?
Lots of question for a Sunday morning J

It made me think though. Admittedly, I am a late comer when it comes to bullet myself. I always owned a few but will admit that I sparingly used them. Just like many of you who carry lures that are tucked in the corner of your bags. They do come out in play but if fish does not respond immediately they quickly get replaced by “go-to” lure.

I had a good success with them over the years, but again, I never used them enough to become a “mojo” lure. Then few years ago, during my one and only year of guiding, I found myself at Montauk more times then I wish I would be, casting the lures of its legendary rocks…and catching nothing.

The sand behind the town was hot. Very hot. Everyone and their mother was there throwing tins during the day and needles at night. But my customers wanted to fish rocks and nothing else.

 Some nights were better then others but it was really difficult to catch few fish here and there while you knew that bass were stacked up on sand like cordwood and rocks were giving up few fish.

 I plodded ahead and tossed same lures that have been good to me over the years looking for bigger fish. Lordship A40, Super Strike Darters, Danny metal lips, rigged eels, all were mostly ignored. Then one night I took a fellow named Joe from New Jersey onto the lead rocks in Kings. After going through our standard array of lures I started catching fish on the Bullet. And not occasionally, but on every cast. Between two of us we tallied up about fifty fish in a tide.

Was this just a fluke and was there something more to it I wondered as I lay in my truck trying to get some sleep afterwards? To make a long story short, regular Super Strike Bullet became my most productive lure that fall in Montauk rocks.

If I was a little smarter I would have realized that this little devil was a great imitation of sand eels which were the only thing bass cared for this fall. With a single hook with a feather added to the lure, it became even more productive , and helped a ton in unhooking fish too.

Then next year I stated to use it more and more on the sandy beaches by my house. Just like most sinking needlefish it benefits greatly by a current or a sweep in order to make it appear alive. As sand eels become THE predominate baitfish on our beaches last few years it became one of the “mojo” plugs in my bag, something that might not go into a rotation every night but it never comes out of the bag.

Unfortunately, last fall wasn’t kind to me, any of my lures or my skills. Frequent storms, high waves and sweep and stripers uncanny preference to put on a feedbag right at dawn made night fishing difficult, to put it mildly.

I didn’t know what to make out of the new “heavy bullet” at first. I knew it would cast like a dream but just because you can tell few things by just looking at the lure, you don’t know what the sink rate, how will it hold until you actually out it in use. My plan was to toss it into a teeth of a Noreaster in Montauk to see what it can do, but I never made it to Montauk. Out of curiosity I tossed the Bullet into the fast south shore inlet too see a sink rate. Only I wasn’t expecting a big bluefish to swallow it on a fish cast and bite me off. And then again. And again. Three casts, three lures bitt-off at the leader. The must have been swallowed whole. Hmmmm….painful and interesting at same time.

Later in the year I used them along the shore on sand in stormy situation and caught fish. Did it out fished the tin? Absolutely not but it had its moments as it held in rough water much better than some tins which frequently popped up on the top and they were hard to control. My retrieve on the heavy is no different then regular one, slow retrieve with a occasional twitch. Some fellows had best successes by using a heavy model in the rough sweep and just bounced it off the bottom. I can see why this would work but I haven’t tried it myself. I guess I am letting you know to give you another thing to think about when using these lures.

So what’s the verdict? The same as it is with any lure. Use it in right conditions and I can be a rewarding experience. And just like with any other lure, confidence will make or break you. Sometimes it takes awhile for me to see the light. Hey, I never claimed to be an expert some people proclaim me to be. Or at least not that swift. But like I always said, I am a quick learner.

6 comments on “Bullet

  1. Ctmatt

    I tried the heavy before I tried the 1.5’s and caught a few keepers when nothing else worked. Wad actually calm water with not much current and it produced twice in one night. Black over clear.
    I keep more needles and darters in my bag then others this time of year going into the summer when I do see sand eels but I can’t say they catch consistently when the conditions dictate heavy/regular. I do like them both for casting, sink rate and the fact no other small profile artificial acts like a bullet.

  2. Greg Tucceri

    I got the heavy ones late in the season and didn’t get to use them. I have had luck with the 1.5 in the cc canal, they can be worked either of two ways sub surface with the twitch or on top witch I prefer when there is surface activity. Like Z says its a confidence thing once you catch fish with you will reach for it more. They do cast nice even with onshore winds.

  3. CTmatt

    Today I was the odd man out at my local river. I have had enough of catching schoolies so out of the dozen or so guys on the fence I brought my heavy gear looking for the big girls. The others were doing well on a steady diet of small zooms/redfins/etc while I was tossing big stuff. Wind was whipping in the 30’s and I went to my 1.5 bullet. Thing cast without trouble right into the wind, no knots or anything. However with the fast current it was rather quick to roll over and flip to the top. I tossed the heavy bullet and I noticed it casted slightly further but made its way down the column noticeably faster for the extra once. So fast I hit the bottom of an already high 20/25 foot water column rather quickly. I snagged and cursed myself but with persistance and about 15 minutes of cranking my VS ever so carefully I got it back inch by inch. I would have hated to lose it!

    Needless (lol you get it) to say I didn’t catch a thing while the Kmart mafia made a solid killing today. I went out on a limb after being a few dozen solid keepers/many more schoolies into the season and came up empty but I learned a great deal and got to practice in some pretty nasty windy conditions. The wind must have been cranking well into the 30’s in my face. Not sure what was harder to deal with. The current moving, keeping contact with my lure on the retrieve, or the guys who wouldn’t shutup about who on the “line” was catching. Notice I put that WORSE then the wind! That is why i fish 99% of the time in the dark. No yappers!

  4. Irish

    I have not been into fish w the bullet or the heavy three oz. but I enjoy having a plug in the bag for those days where the sweep is ferociuos and having another option than tin or bucktail. That alone for me keeps a spot in the bag

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