Bottom Fishing Field Testing (Report)

Captain Mel True is one of the latest additions to the OTW Team. He’s a serious fisherman, and spends a lot of time fishing for everything from bottom fish to bluefin. This spring, Mel field tested some newer products on the bottom-fishing grounds around the Cape.

I had an opportunity to fish a few new products on my boat this spring. The Cape has a first class black sea bass and scup fishery in the spring. May is also a great time to connect with the big fluke chasing massive schools of squid and sand eels. I fished with Bob Sundstrom, the owner of Oozzie Jigs, and Andy Nabreski aboard my 25-foot Dusky. Bob had a great selection of his lures for us to choose from. What makes Oozzie lures different is the hollow center that holds BioEdge scent or chum. We fished small Oozzie jigs on a 3 way rig in 35 to 80 feet of water and were constantly changing the weights to maintain contact with the bottom. We caught plenty of sea bass and fluke that day and managed a few nice fluke in the 5- to 7-pound class on the Oozzie jigs sweetened with BioEdge.

I’ve also been fishing a new style of jig, made in the US  by Mike Avilla Sr. The Born To Fish Lure Company has just made their product available online, and after the results I had with this jig, I’m certain it’s going to be a big hit on a wide range of species here in the Northeast. I caught some of the biggest scup I have ever seen on these jigs.It seems that the Scup-asaurus in Buzzards Bay just get bigger each spring.  I fished the 3- to 8-ounce Ultra Head Jigs slathered with the BioEdge Squid Wand and tipped with an Uncle Josh “MEAT” trailer. I fished the green 3-ounce jig on three trips and lost track of how many fish I caught with it. The hook never showed signs of rust. All the colors we fished worked very well, and this will be my new go-to jig for sure.