Big Baits pt 5

Over the course of more than 25 years of running my own charters, running1 / 2 day, 3 / 4 day, all day, and overnight party boats, ( boats that carry 20 to 60 passengers ) I saw first hand the use of big baits usually caught the larger fish.

Back in the early 70's before I got my own boat, I took many trips on party boats, and got to know many of the " old school skippers. " Once they saw me all the time, and saw my passion for fishing, ( and the fact that I won the Jackpot many times, and gave it, less the price of my ticket, to the crew. The jackpot on party boats is, everyone puts in $1 to $5, and the person catching the biggest fish wins it all. ) I was invited to be a " deadhead. "

A deadhead is a person who is allowed to fish for free, usually given one of the prime spots on the stern, and always gets the prime big baits if the boat has any. This way the " jackpot" usually stayed on the boat as part of the crew's tips. With a $5 jackpot and 40 weekend passengers in it, it could amount to $200 extra for the crew to split. Fair competition, no, but a way to get to go fishing a lot for a young man with a family, and not a lot of extra money.

Many years later, when I became a party boat skipper myself, I never had a deadhead on my boats. I always ran an honest jackpot. Anyway, since I was fishing for them, the skippers gave me lots of inside advice on how to catch the biggest fish.

Rule #1, BIG BAIT, BIG FISH! Rule #2, ( refer to rule #1 )

I won't give out any more inside information on how most jackpots are rigged, but be aware some ( not all ) are rigged to favor the deadheads. The first time a skipper pulled me aside, he handed me a 1 1/2 pound mackerel, got any forty pound test, he said with a sly grin. We were on the back side of Santa Cruz Island, fishing the outskirts of an immense kelp bed. Nothing's going to bite a bait this big, I thought to myself, as I cast the bait to the edge of the kelp forest and let the bait run back under the canopy of kelp.