Extreme soft plastic -Hogy- en

When fishing in general is extremely difficult that we can talk about new discoveries, and if we talk about spinning or fishing with lures, we can say that everything has been tried, or at least mentioned some times. But as often happens there are flashbacks or situations that previously belonged to few people, that find a reason to explode, and evolve.
This preamble a little wordy only to present in the appropriate way the chat I had with Michael Hogan, founder of Hogy lure, who was kind enough to answer some questions about the history and how to use lures that are created by his company .... especially because after our test here, on the mediterranean bluefin, we can certify its effectiveness.


1 - When started the history of Hogy lures?

I've always been an avid angler. I grew up in an inland town on the East Coast of the US, so my love for fishing began in fresh water. I read every book, watched every tv show and tried every lure I could get my hands on. At that point in the 1980s, big soft bait worms were becoming popular for largemouth bass my area. I quickly fell in love with large lures as I began to catch larger fish with them. At around that point in time, my mom bought me a home starter kit that showed me how to make my own mold and pour my own worms for largemouth bass fishing. That was when my love for making lures began. I still remember the thrill of catching a fish on a lure that I made myself. As time went on, I grew up and went off to college, but my love for lures remained. As an adult, I moved to a coastal town and my focus became salt water fishing. In 2006 I returned to guiding fishing charters on Cape Cod. Our target was large striped bass and the fishing was often at night when the stripers would eat eels and very large bait fishing close to sure. I wanted a large design that would mimic live eels, but one that was also easy to rig. My first lures were not intended for sale but quickly became popular with my friends. I began selling them at the local tackle shop and they flew off the shelves. Since my last name is "Hogan" the lures sort of became known as "Hogys" amongst my friends and the name stuck. We incorporated in 2006.


2 - On what principles is based the design of these lures?

At Hogy, we believe that soft baits are simply blank canvas waiting to be worked on. Each lure design is based on the principle that each fishing situation requires a very specific lure to perfectly do the job. The beauty of soft baits is that they can be rigged so many different ways to impact the lures action and depth in the water. Be believe in this principle so much that we make as many rigs as we do soft baits with the whole idea being that we can offer a custom fit to ANY fishing situation for any species around the world. We make rigs for casting, jigging and trolling, all of which are designed to perfectly interface with our baits. Obviously the same lure designed for deep water jigging wouldn't be appropriate for tarpon on the flats.


3 - What makes special Hogy lures, different from others?

It is our rigging system that makes us the most unique, especially when paired with our larger soft baits. Aside from offering custom fits, we really focus on top quality. Our baits are hand poured with very few heat stabilizers and fillers so the end result is that we make a very pure plastic. The end result is lures that have a deadly action in the water. As far as our rigging is concerned, we use top shelf components. All of our hooks are trophy-class and come sharp right out of the package.


4 - What are the little secrets that are used to fish well with your lures?

While soft baits are known for their deadly action, the action itself comes from the hands of the angler. Simply put, if you were to cast and reel your soft bait straight in, it will have very little action. Hogy Lures tend to be big and have very soft plastic, to they will respond to just about any motion you give your rod tip. There are a number of tricks to the trade:

1. Impart a series of short fast rod twitches. Keep your tip low and toward the water.
2. The larger the bait, the faster you want to fish it. You don't want to give a fish too long to think about eating it.
3. Don't be afraid to fish bigger baits than you normally would fish. Larger baits provide a bigger target for fish to see the lure. You'll be calling in fish from a greater distance, so you'll be effectively fishing more water each time you cast. You may catch fewer fish, but they will be bigger.
4. Keep your tip down when you set the hook and real down on the fish. This will driver more power into the hook set. Remember, the hook needs to penetrate both rubber AND the fish.


5 - What people do wrong when he uses Hogy lures for the first time, how can they fix these mistakes?

The biggest mistake I see on my charters is that people fish the baits too slowly, and with their tip up. I always say, "keep the tip below your belt buckle and keep it moving" Soft baits look so good when fished fast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K5U31fnt_A
http://www.hogylures.com/how-to-fish-soft-baits-fast-and-furious/


6 - can you tell me the best fishing you've done with your lure?

Since I've started Hogy, I've been lucky enough to fish all over the east coast of the USA. It is very hard for me to say which fishing I've liked the most. Can I narrow it down to two?

1. Site casting for bluefin tuna is a hoot. Each spring they should up in our waters and can be over 300lbs. They are easy to see but hard to catch and they are very fond of soft plastics. It's a nice fishery because you only need to go a few miles from the sure. They pull hard, so bring anvil! Below is a video from a shoot with Captain Terry Nugent of riptidecharters.com. He makes finding the fish look easy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn56tPDsBFc

2. My other favorite fishing is the flats for tarpon in Key West. Each May, I fish with top Tarpon guide, Aaron Snell. Tarpon absolutely love Big Hogys fished slowly on the flats. We jump dozens of fish each time. It is so breathtaking to watch a big tarpon come up and slurp one of my lures, right at my feet. If you get a chance, you have to try it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU7fh9NiXa0

Michael Hogan

Luca & NewSchoolFishing Crew

OMAN THE GREAT ARIBIC SEA PART II


We went fishing with our usual guides , found the dolphins but not one single tuna fish , only some small tuna fish by vertical jigging. The day after instead, we saw fins: they were tuna fish and really big ones , at 40 mts from the boat. Unfortunately we had a sardine as a hook and we were not able to reach them with the throw. We could do nothing else than insult each other .


The day after the sea was rough so we decided to go fishing in a stream or better “wadi” as they called it in Oman.


Two days were left and two of the elder fishermen offered to take us fishing . The morning after at five a.m. we were on the boat, grinding out miles till the shore was far away and then definitely disappeared. Hamed sighted some dolphins on which we jumped and they threw a sardine . We drop a jig but without success till when on another shoal , Vincenzo heard a stroke and had the Tamentai bent as never seen before. And I hooked a fireball. That’s the moment: the big tuna fish . A quarter of an hour fighting and then I started seeing him : the flat sea , the tuna fish rising slowly form the depths was something spectacular and I was tight like a string. Then he was just under the boat , Hamed took the rope and with four- five blows the fighting was over.


The day after instead of yellowfin we found small tuna fish from 3 to 5 kgs and we caught 130 in the morning and 40 in the afternoon , in addition Hamed exclaimed at a certain point: Msuhe which means GT. A small shoal of fishes were swimming afloat two – three miles from the cost. We therefore threw a POPPER but nothing happened . HAmed threw a sardine alive without hook which immediately was caught by the big predator- a GT of about 20 kgs , whose back appeared afloat. The evening just before, we had been told that that was the season when the GT arrived and during summer there were shoals of 400 – 500 pieces some kilometers far from the cost and they found them by sailing around and sighting the fish wakes and then by throwing sardsines by hand


Were not enough those last days to convince us thoroughly to come back , other reason would have convinced us : the fact that ALI had seen in 4 days time 4 marlins and hooked one of them by throwing a KARA by hand , a couple of pictures of 450 kgs marlin caught by hand . In addition we discovered a wonderful boat , with all necessary requirements to make serious fishing , from tuna fishes to marlins by jigging and then we met a lot of very skillful and experienced fishermen as only few guides can boast of being . At any rate the undersigned will go back to Oman the next summer to search for pelagic GT and queen fish , small tuna fish and marlins , which are all kind of fishes arriving in such season .

Oman remains an open chapter ..

THE GREAT ARABIC SEA PART I

We were aware that Oman was a hard challenge for fishing and , on the contrary, not knowing exactly what we were to face , it spurred us further to set out on such scouting in an area where till today no one ever went fishing with duns.


Our trip, apart being a nice fishing adventure, was a wonderful experience with friends in a hard and nice place , where we met extraordinary fishermen, fishing master guides who became our friends.


The morning of the second day , we were already on the boat trying immediately to jig . At the second drop , after a while I saw a 25 kgs Cobia who left the hook, and then nothing else till Rasheed sighted a shoal of dolphins. He went in the middle and started to draw with a half kg homemade kona . We , the perfect pretty boys fishermen protested and went back jigging.


Upon returning , a little bit in low spirits , 2 boats arrived and unloaded just in front of us 700 kgs of tuna fish in 30 and 70 kgs pieces. Those fishermen were speaking English and explained us that the fishing is done by sighting the dolphins , going in the middle of the shoal and throwing by hand a sardine ; if in such a way you do not catch tuna fish , then you change the shoal of dolphins.. we felt stupid but at the same time encouraged-


The following days we knew other fishermen and we became friends but the elder and more experienced ones made us understand that when they were fishing tuna fish they did not want anyone on the boat also because in one single morning they could earn unbelievable lot of money .
The problem as that our boat was without GPS and that Rasheed never departed from the cost in search of dolphins , while one finds tuna fish generally between 30 and 50 (sea) miles form the coast . Just to relax a while, we decided to go to the isle but when already at 30 km from Ras Al Had we saw the sea was read and when we arrived in Masirah we had to acknowledge , resigned , that the Red Tide was everywhere . We discovered some sheltered bays and we fished gilthed bream and small size spangle emperors . We found other clearer points but the Red Tide was at 50 mts from the shore and in fact , in spite of the wonderful shape of the spot , we did not have good fishing.


It was a pity as the spot should have been really a good one: sand , rocks and coral all together , with the shallow water descending at 30 mts from the shore. One should also take into account that there had been red Tide for 6 months and even if some times the wind was cleaning the spots , sweeping the Red Tide away , it wouldhave been difficult to find fish in such conditions.
In the evening we wandered along the harbor, where the water was clear and -what a surprise! - we found a shoal of GT hunting and we caught one after of the other . Evidently they were present in the area but who knew where did they go with such a sea.
The following morning we came back to Ras Al Haad determined to catch tuna fish and nothing else for five days.

CONTINUE ..... click here