# Tripletail on bouys



## fjmaverick (Sep 18, 2015)

Is this the time of year for Tripletail? I always look for them by the crab buoys on the beach but haven't had any luck.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Terrible table fare, I’ll dispose of them for you!


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

Very Nice. Tripletail are one fish I'd like to get, but so far have completely struck out on with flies, not that I have had a bunch of chances with those tasty fish.


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## ngarcia11892 (Apr 16, 2019)

fjmaverick said:


> Is this the time of year for Tripletail? I always look for them by the crab buoys on the beach but haven't had any luck.


I fish for em once the stone crab traps come out, and treat em more as opportunity when they are not in season. Honestly its a grind but its fun, pick a ramp close to you an run the bouys on the beach. i try to run one depth or distance from the beach and when i get as far as i wanna go run the next rinse n repeat. sometimes you see em right away and some times you run 100 traps before seeing one. but i love it very active.


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## DBStoots (Jul 9, 2011)

At this time of year, also look for them drifting in the current at the mouths of rivers and creeks.


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## omegadef (Jul 10, 2011)

Best tasting inshore fish. Caught one one time that was sitting in the shadow of our anchor line.


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## fjmaverick (Sep 18, 2015)

There is a local fish monger that serves it up... Delicious


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## Steve_Mevers (Feb 8, 2013)

They love to eat flies


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

While most fish triples on the buoys- at least half a year off the coast of the 'glades there are no buoys (stone crabbers have to remove them during off-season) so we fish them around structure. If you can find them - they're suckers for flies and small leadheads with Gulp tails - and some of them are pretty fair sized.....


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## jimsmicro (Oct 29, 2013)

I love to fly fish for them with any sort of shrimp or crab pattern. It's like sight fishing for bream, it's great.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

We either sight fish them around structure or simply work the structure (usually downed trees along shorelines) with Whitewater Clousers in size 2/0.... Find a fish - make a close presentation - then do your best to keep them out of the structure. The ones we're working are up to around ten pounds.

Markers and similar things also hold them -but you have to be the first one that day or the fish will already have been cleaned off by local anglers (out of the Chokoloskee area) that know how to work them with bait...

Here's a pic of that pattern (my own variation on the Clouser original pattern..)








Note the wire weedguard - very handy when working around snag filled places - the fish don't even notice it at all...


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## afernandez (Aug 28, 2013)

I ran the beach last weekend and hooked two on live select shrimp in the 25” class. Landed one and the second opened a 1/0 circle hook and got off. It was tough to get the eat. Both fish let us present to them several times and I think approaching quiet with the trolling motor helped with that. They only ate when the shrimp was drifted right across their lips. They would turn of the buoy and eat it at that point. First time I specifically fished for them and it was a lot of fun running the skiff around the buoys. 

Learned a couple of things: 1) don’t use light wire hooks. Go small but beefy. 2) figure out which way the buoy ropes are leaning and try to run the down-current/down-wind side. Almost caught my prop in ropes that were WAY too long for the depth. 3) the elongated/popping cork shape buoys seemed to be more attractive to the TTs than the spherical ones. 

Fun trip and looking forward to doing it again soon. The beach being glassed out with no clouds definitely made it more enjoyable


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## kjnengr (Jan 16, 2018)

lemaymiami said:


> While most fish triples on the buoys- at least half a year off the coast of the 'glades there are no buoys (stone crabbers have to remove them during off-season) so we fish them around structure.


Does anyone in that area set up dummy crab floats?


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## ngarcia11892 (Apr 16, 2019)

afernandez said:


> I ran the beach last weekend and hooked two on live select shrimp in the 25” class. Landed one and the second opened a 1/0 circle hook and got off. It was tough to get the eat. Both fish let us present to them several times and I think approaching quiet with the trolling motor helped with that. They only ate when the shrimp was drifted right across their lips. They would turn of the buoy and eat it at that point. First time I specifically fished for them and it was a lot of fun running the skiff around the buoys.
> 
> Learned a couple of things: 1) don’t use light wire hooks. Go small but beefy. 2) figure out which way the buoy ropes are leaning and try to run the down-current/down-wind side. Almost caught my prop in ropes that were WAY too long for the depth. 3) the elongated/popping cork shape buoys seemed to be more attractive to the TTs than the spherical ones.
> 
> Fun trip and looking forward to doing it again soon. The beach being glassed out with no clouds definitely made it more enjoyable


I actually use light wire, Ive found that the first few seconds if you pull em away from the bouy before they wake up and fight you've got em. Ive never had one run back to the bouy after that but it make just be a fluke. Just open up the drag a bit and hang on. I also don't use corks cuz I've found at least the ones I've thrown at, like things diving if I can't get a bite but I through it by the bouy and let it drop they will dive down n nail the shrimp or fly. Im by no means an expert at all but just my experience.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I’ve never heard of anyone using “dummy floats”... During crab season folks fish the floats and when the floats aren’t around don’t fish triples much - that’s why I mentioned the inshore alternative... One other thing few take advantage of is the way triples will actually “ride the tide” on the incoming in some places - right at the surface so you can actually sight fish them if you know where to look and are paying attention...


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## SomaliPirate (Feb 5, 2016)

I've often toyed with the idea of anchoring a wooden pallet in a likely location and coming back a week later, but I think that's frowned upon by USCG, FWC, and basically everyone with a lower unit.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

If your attractor can be seen... it will be gone the next time you visit... Any kind of float on a submerged attraction is a dead giveaway as well. Just another of those "ask me how I know" propositions... I swear - even when you're well outside Park boundaries concealment of a "made spot" is essential if you want to catch the first thing off of one.. 

Now if only I knew where everyone else's was....


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## fjmaverick (Sep 18, 2015)

Friend of mine loaded his bay boat up with rocks. He ran a ground and had to unload it then reload it all again. I'm sure storms have moved it but it produced some good fish for a while.


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## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

There are some pretty ingenious tripletail FADs in Mississippi. Most use pipe insulation foam and burlap bags but the more stealthy ones are made with sticks or bamboo that look like flotsam. The anchor lines are black and get covered in slime, the burlap floats seductively in the tide and the whole contraption attracts small baitfish and tripletail. Of course, none of them are legal and the first errant tow of an inshore shrimper and they're gone.


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## kjnengr (Jan 16, 2018)

Zika said:


> There are some pretty ingenious tripletail FADs in Mississippi. Most use pipe insulation foam and burlap bags but the more stealthy ones are made with sticks or bamboo that look like flotsam. The anchor lines are black and get covered in slime, the burlap floats seductively in the tide and the whole contraption attracts small baitfish and tripletail. Of course, none of them are legal and the first errant tow of an inshore shrimper and they're gone.


I heard about these as well as others when tripletail started getting popular in Louisiana/Mississippi a while back. I thought these ideas would be more popular elsewhere. The fake flotsam probably doesn't work where the water is really clear.


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