by dahlberg » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:06 pm
Hi BF
A spoonplug of the right size with a big squid tail on the back might make a good teaser if you had a 900 pound gorilla to pull it out of the water, but that's about it!
Billfish are almost impossible to hook on lures that have bodies. Believe me, I've tried!(much to the consternation of the captains and mates who've been unfortunate to endure my experimenting)
The reason is that rather than having mouth cavities like bass, tarpon etc. that rely on both a bit and a big blast of suction, they have a beak like mouth not unlike a bird. When they grab something with a body their mouth doesn't close around it and they are really hard to get hooks in. That's why virtually all the successful billfish lures are skirted, so the fish grabs nothing but "fringes" and hooks!
best,
L
Larry Dahlberg
The Hunt For Big Fish