# Gotcha plugs



## Noreaster (Jun 16, 2004)

Just getting ready for '07
Just wanted to know what the guys on the planks recommend for gotcha pluggin.  

I love jiggin but I aint to good at it and trying to get better this year. Want to catch blues spanish and whatever else hits the plug  

What size rod and reel?

Do you prefer spinning or baitcasting?

How bout a fav color 

I can't wait to read the answers opcorn: 

Thanks in advance all


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## ASK4Fish (May 4, 2005)

bait cast or spinning?

its a matter of preference...if youre good with a baitcaster it'll be just as easy as with a spinner...i use both interchangibly...

size of reel?

anything that can handle 10-12lb. line a 2000-4000 sized reel is fine with some 10lb. mono...baitcasters go for a 200 sized reel with some 10 or 12lb...

colors?

i like the silvers and golds with the flo. orange heads...other than that a chartreuse and red head and a white with red head...blues aren't picky...but spanish wont hit it if its not a favored color for the day...


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## Sea2aeS (Jan 7, 2005)

if your not great with baitcasters, go for spinning gear. otherwise youll hate it when its elbow to elbow and your picking nests when a small batch of macks go cruisn past and ya aint ready. blues eat basically any color, but da mackish are picky eaters. I tie directly onto 12lb mono, and retie after every fish, unless the line isnt nicked. get alot more hits, but loose a few in the process. 

for a good spinnin reel with rippin fast retreive and smooth a$$ drag, go grab a shimano stradic 2000 and fill it up with 12lb suffix clear. then getcha a light as you can find 6'6 or 7ft 6-14lb spinner with a decent fast action. a faster action rod will help sling that badboy far and help make that gotcha work its tail off tryna get macks attention. as for the pier crowd 6'6 would be better, but 7 would give ya a little more added leverage when slingin it in open areas such as lynnhaven, etc or round bridges & such. sometimes a little extra distance can help a lot when the macks are feelin shady.

I reccomend red head/white, red head/yellow, redhead/chrome, redhead/gold, yellowhead/gold and blue head/white. da macks seem to love the plastic bodies better for some odd reason, and i always murder the blues on a chrome body/redhead. 

give randy at the baitshack in Ptown a holler, hell setcha right. great feller, killer prices, and he will getcha whatever ya want... my first time buyin with him the other day, and it looks to be bout the only place ill shop anymore, besides jam & the folks at RDT when im down south.

hope this helps, blues are one of my favorite fish ta catch, and i catch blues pretty well.  ya get any more questions drop me a line brother.


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## Noreaster (Jun 16, 2004)

I am going to get that 6'6" rod in MH with a 2000 reel from Randy this week along with a bunch of Gotchas! 

I'm a tackle junkie anyways.


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## French (Jun 18, 2005)

i use a 6'6 medium weight spinning rod with a penn silvarado and 8lb Sufix. Cheap outfit $50 tops. It is a little light for a big spanish, but it casts better and I seem to get more strikes with the lighter line. Usually if I am plugging, get Spanish is secondary to getting blues for bait so I don't sweat it too much. Biggest key is having a pier net handy if you have light line, and having a reel that has a high rate of retrieve.

You certainly don't need to invest too much to catch blues and spanish on gotchas. If the fish are there, everyone should be able to catch them


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## one more (Sep 19, 2006)

*plugs*

they all work


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## George Gravier (Oct 28, 1999)

I use a 6500-c4 on a 7ft ugly stick intercoastal rod spooled up with 14 pound test. The c-4 has a fast retrieve and sometimes thats how the spanish like it. As far as color, I like green head white body and red with yellow, yellow head white body, as far as spanish go depends on the weather and moon anyones guess for the day...geo


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## hokieboy (Jan 19, 2006)

For my pier pluggin rod i have a tsunami 7' rod that throws 3/4-1 1/2 and will load a gotcha plug better than any rod i have found. got the rod for $20 on ebay and have a $10 Browning reel on there that is about the size of a penn 4500. I use to use 15# with a 30# leader but switched to 12# mainline now b/c i can cast it even further. you could even go down to 10# but i like the twelve for a little abrasion resistence around the pier. I use a 4ft 30# fluorocarbon leader and retie about every 3 fish or when it looks nicked up. As far as colors go i have 8 plugs in each color they make. I usually just see what color the locals are catchin them on and match that. If there are no locals then i will use a brighter color in darker water and a lighter color in lighter water. Same as you would any other artificial. The color isnt the most important thing anyways. The most important thing is the action you are giving the lure. I have been side by side with someone throwin the same plug and he was catchin fish and i was b/c of the action he was puttin on it. If you can get the right action and maintain that you will catch plenty of fish. Change ur action to begin with until u start catchin fish and then stick with that. The lighter the rod and reel the better b/c it takes a lot of energy to plug....


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## FishinAddiction (May 9, 2006)

been workin gotchas since i was 11 yrs old.....a few things to remember....always make sure there is no rust on your hooks....rinse them off when done....always have a lot of different colors on hand...always tie a knot that leaves a loop at the lure and not sinched down on it...gives better action...something whitney taught me before he left town....have plenty of leader w/ you and as mentioned earlier...different retrieves.....on a side note....i caught a damn flounder on a gotcha at night off avalon....no kidding!


and all those blues you seen in my avatar w/ me and my girl, were caught on gotchas from a boat in the Rappahannock River.....we slayed em that day.


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## Andre (Mar 15, 2003)

This lil guy came by way of yellow head silver body..I no longer use a swievel I tie 30 # leader direct to main line

Dick's up here in MD had gotchas on sell for 1.97 I bought 7 .

My reel 4000 stradic on 7 footer quantum energy rod 
Line 10 # stren magna thin for distance 

I burn spoon [clark's] on my 6500c4 baitcaster ...If you hittin blues your reeling to slow 
I hope this helps


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## Chugg'n & plug'n (Jul 3, 2006)

just use like a 6 to 7 foot slicer. i use spin cast. get any line that will cast real far. some people use braided but some people don't like you throwing braided around their mono big rigs. don't get anything over 7 feet or you'll wear your arms out in no time. you don't need a big reel. as far as colors go, there are 2 staples: white body- red head, and green body- red head


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