Bullet

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.