The maritime rule of salvage has its origin in Roman law, which dictates that one who preserves or improves upon the misplaced property of another is owed compensation, even if the service was not requested. Let’s get out the internet trawler and get to work…
Pod | SeaBros Fishing Podcast: Captain Mike Deskin and Danny Young —> While there is some discussion of greenstick tactics and canyons bites of the past, this one is the definition of a good old fashion shit-shootin’. You might not learn a ton, but you will be laughing your ass off the majority of the time. Not one for the family drive to Sunday Mass, to say the least.
Vid | Muskies on the Snake [NDYakAngler] - The Midwest’s pleasantest Youtuber is back in a big way with an utterly BANANAs figure-8 at the 10-min mark, as he sticks a few muskellunges on River X. Tell me a Striper won’t eat one of these things and I’ll call you a liar.
Reports | OnTheWater / FishermanMag / SaltyCape / HullTruth / StripersOnline
Q&A with Swimbait Guru Jeremy Campbell AKA @BigBite_at_Midnight
Q - Swimbait fishing (primarily at night) is a pretty hardcore niche within the Bass fishing world. What influenced you to pursue that method and why do you find it so rewarding?
A - I’ve been fishing as long as I can remember but started to get into swimbaits in 2016. I’ve always like trying new lures and techniques for largemouths. One day I randomly ordered a 7” MS Slammer and a hudd 68. It took me a few months to get my first good fish around 5lbs on the slammer, but no lure had ever gave me that excitement on every cast. It wasn’t until the Fall of that year I started to experiment with night fishing. I quickly found success in the dark with the slammer, the thrill of every explosion on a quiet night quickly had me obsessed.
Q - What’s your big fish philosophy? Do you believe in the Solunar calendar, wind conditions or favor certain weather patterns over others?
A - I think the key to finding big fish is to first find a spot that holds the potential. You can tell by catching a few 3s and 4s and looking at their build. Certain fish are built different, they are thicker throughout. Once you find a few spots like that, you need to put some serious time into learning that body of water. Then use what you’ve learned and hit all those key areas in the pre-spawn. When you finally catch a true giant (7+), you then need to remember everything about that night or day. Water temp, moon phase, weather patterns and most importantly, the specific location where you caught her. Most of my big ones have come from year-over-year patterns like this.
Q - What is your nighttime lure selection process like? Is forage a major factor? What do you see as the most productive profiles and actions in a fast-growing market for oversized bass lures?
A - My lure selections depends on time of the year. Early season it’s a lot of slow subtle baits like a bullwake, shellcrackers, Sherpa gill, and holy crappie. As soon as the bite picks up I will start to add crawler style baits like the KRR and Battlewings. The warmer months I turn more to rat style baits like the Illude rad rat, triple doubles or sneaky rats. If I’m having slow nights though, I will always experiment with all these techniques, including cranking. Sometimes these baits will surprise you.
Q - Speaking for our Saltwater-based readers, what’s a bit of advice you would give to guys targeting Stripers or Snook that are cover/structure-oriented? Are there specific big-bait retrieves or presentations that you think can excel in a variety of conditions?
A - I don’t do much saltwater fishing, but from what I’ve witnessed, matching the baitfish is more important than freshwater. I think finding a good glide bait or a paddle tail swimbait would be the best options.
Lightning Round
Favorite Trout imitator? Pizz trout wake
Best nighttime fishing snack? Peanut butter pretzels
What do you listen to on the way to the lake? Podcasts Scales N Tales, Cast and Crank, MMA hour and The Nine Club.
Bucket-list trip? Amazon Peacock trip
Funniest "nickname" for a large bass? A Pig
Soft-Plastic Eels for Big Striped Bass (OnTheWater) - “Giant soft-plastic eels. For many Northeast striped bass anglers, their vision fuels a hair-raising, sweaty-palmed, white-knuckled daydream. In my version of this dream, pinpricks of infinite starlight twinkle overhead and a marshy salt air gently nudges my kayak down-current in the fragile silence of the ocean at midnight, a silence broken only by two sounds. They are the floppy plop of a 13.5-inch soft-plastic eel landing somewhere near shore and, shortly after, a strained zip-zip-zip as my rod and reel struggle to slow the freight train of a cow striped bass that just inhaled my bait.”
Oldie But Goodie: How to Catch Trophy Striped Bass (SaltwaterSportsman) - “It has taken years of trial and error to refine the way I fish today,” Many says, “and I’m still experimenting. One early realization was the more live eels I could put in the water, and the farther from the boat I could space them, the more big fish I caught. That led to trying side planers, and that opened up a world of opportunity.”
Caffeination Nation - How energy drinks became a $21B industry (Sherwood) - “In 2006, the top five best-selling energy drinks had a caffeine concentration of 9.9mg/ounce, on average, based on sales and nutrition data analyzed by Johns Hopkins University researchers. In 2023, that figure crept to 13mg/ounce. These bigger buzzes, along with attention-grabbing, Jolly Rancher-meets-Miss Chiquita flavors, are driving serious sales volume. The American energy-drinks segment is up nearly 10% in chain retail last year on sales of over $21 billion, Nielsen scan data shows. The sustained, explosive growth is changing customer expectations for caffeine delivery in bold new ways.” —> I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: coffee has lost the battle for the gas station.
Is a Dual Console Really a Fishing Boat? (SaltwaterSportsman) - “I’ve talked to many hardcore anglers who think anything other than a center console fishing boat is a glorified day boat. Creature comforts? Ha! Those are for the weak. Real fishermen can brave the elements with only a surfboard-sized hard top over their heads and nothing more to sit on than the gunwale or a five-gallon bucket. I’ve got news for you purists and snobs: For years center console boat builders have been adding features that allow owners to entertain on their boats or do activities other than fishing (Gasp!). At the same time, builders designing dual-console boats have been adding serious fishing features that blur the line between a multi-use family boat and a serious-as-a-heart-attack fishing vessel. If you can set your prejudices aside for a moment, there are some valid reasons for serious anglers to choose a dual-console boat.” —> Now I told myself I wouldn’t let my own experience guide my thoughts here, but I will note for the record that the last time I went tuna-fishing on a dual-console, I went home with a bloody baseball-sized welt on the back of my cranium thanks to a close-quarters back-cast (looking at you Mark!). But hey, water under the bridge, and we got bit that November day, so I can’t complain. Still, angling success and boat model and make are only loosely correlated. God knows there’s plenty of big open CCs running around with trips & quads every Summer weekend at the Dump going home with consolation mahi and bluefish, and just as many Grady’s that will run up a limit of Yellowfin faster than the national debt/GDP ratio. The game is played between your ears, not between consoles.
Thanks for reading The Weekly Salvage, until next week!
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