Page 43 - Galveston Waves - Feburary 2019

as the wires item that I can’t understand why some ing thumb pressure on your reel’s spool.
going through wire company out there doesn’t manu- This puts your bait and its stinger in a
and around the facture. I know I’m getting tired of spray ready to hookup position as it enters the
hook eye. Form painting my wire leaders. What are these water, straight away from you and un-
this last haywire almost magical spray paints? The blue fouled. Fish it with your reel in gear and
twist and eye at the “marker” bend. With is Rust-O-leum 7727 Royal Blue; green the rod tip pointed at your line’s entry
the eye on the stinger wire connected at is Rust-O-Leum 7435 John Deer Green. into the water. It’s been my experience
the hook. This stiff hook stinger wire The clear matte top coat is Krylon 1311 over the years that freelined dead baits
leader is completed. — it’s used over the blue or green and definitely get hit more often by kingfish
kills the reflection of sunlight off of the or wahoo when they are twitched about
Now, back to “going beyond invisi- shiny color coat. every ten seconds or so. The twitch of
ble” — well, it’s not really beyond that the rod tip transmits a look to the bait-
impossibility, just in my opinion, harder Do you need camo painted wire? . . .No fish that may make it look alive but in its
to see than that tobacco brown/non- and Yes. Thousands upon thousands of death throes. To a predator, that makes it
glare finish. The surface finish I came kingfish and wahoo have been caught a vulnerable target. Twitch your rod tip
up with years ago is a camo blue or without it. On the other hand, every and see it for yourself— the strike that
green and have written about before. It advantage that can be built into your is, followed by your hookset and that
lets you use a wire leader that is almost presentation is just that — an advan- first reel screaming run.
invisible in most offshore blue or green tage. Who knows how many times a true
water; near the surface, daylight fish- smoker kingfish or an equally wary adult The Stiff Hook Stinger Rig will definite-
ing situations. Keep in mind that the wahoo has been turned off right before ly increase your hookup percentage on
camo blue and green colors weren’t just its strike senses are about to be activat- those notorious short-strikers, our Texas
randomly pulled off the shelf, numerous ed? Did it detect that “invisible” leader? kingfish and wahoo, and the camo blue
brands and shades of each color were This camo treatment will contribute to a or green wire does its part by helping to
compared to color photos taken hori- hook up with a personal best or tourna- generate that strike in the first place.
zontally in clear blue and green water ment winner. -think about it.
at depths of about 8 feet or less. These
depths were looked at because this is To bait this rig up, hook your baitfish
obviously the depth that near-surface through its nose, bottom to top. The Patrick
feeding kingfish and wahoo are prowl- stinger is then hooked into the baitfish at
ing. Either of these predators will likely the mid-body or beyond, keeping a slight
be seeing your bait presentation from amount of slack in the wire to the nose Lemire
this horizontal view. . .your presentation hook. The Stiff Hook Stinger Rig is an-
includes your leader and hooks; stealth other of those that can use a slight slow-
in these areas is a good thing. Camo blue ing down just before it enters the water.
or green wire leader material is another This is accomplished by slightly increas-

Waves Magazine | February 2019 Issue | 43