Salt Water TT or other hard baits for Cedros Island

[Fishstix024]

I'm headed down to Cedros Island MX next summer for a a full 5 days of fishing. Pretty stoked to throw swimbaits for big Calicos and yellowtail. I'm planning on having a few baits made for the trip and also going to grab a couple salt water Triple Trouts.

Who's got reviews on the SW TTs? 

I'm looking on the sit now and they have a few 8" in stock. What's the difference between the 8" with the 3/4 listed and the normal 8"?

Anyone have favorite colors? I was leaning towards a Mack and a Mint.

Anyone here been to Cedros and had any luck on other big baits?

[El_Weruso]

Following, would like to know about those too. I drilled into my 5-8" triple trouts and added a significant amount of lead to get casting distance. They swim excellent, just need to go on more boat trips. Hoping the bite this saturday on the san diego for tuna is good enough to give me a chance to bust out a triple trout. 

[Badfish562]

I've managed one YT so far on the saltwater 8" sardine colorway. Was at the Coronado's and stuck a cool little 12 pounder but it rocked me. I haven't changed the bait at all from how Scott sent it to me. Casts great and swims so I haven't made any changes as of yet. A couple dink calico other than that.  I did find the front hook to be unnecessary and made it way harder getting the back hook out from the back of its mouth. Just my opinion tho. Hooks held up fine but I wouldn't expect a 12# YT to really max out the gear necessarily compared to a quality model YT. Only thing I would change would be removing the front hook all together and putting a 5/0 XXX Owner on the back end, Ryan Block style. Not sure of the exact hook make or size he uses but he is the only guy I see putting it to good grade YT consistently. I would also possibly contact Scott (triple trout) directly if youre looking for the SW TT. He also makes a badass saltwater 10" that I would definitely say you should be slinging at Cedros. Hope this helps!

Here is the link for the hook make Id recommend but TW doesn't have the 5/0's:

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Single_Replacement_Hook_XXX_Strong/descpage-XRH.html

Edited October 22, 2019 by Badfish562

[thedonnguyen]

Ryan Block has done really well with the saltwater TT...lots of yellowtail and even a couple yellowfin I think

https://www.instagram.com/arrr_block/

[Fishstix024]

From the looks of his IG, he's gettin em on every color. Guessing it's an action over color thing.

I'll have to get a hold of Scott over at TT and see what models he suggests for Inshore style fishing. Most of my trip will be around kelps and boilers. 

[El_Weruso]

1 minute ago, Fishstix024 said:

From the looks of his IG, he's gettin em on every color. Guessing it's an action over color thing.

I'll have to get a hold of Scott over at TT and see what models he suggests for Inshore style fishing. Most of my trip will be around kelps and boilers. 

I once asked scott which triple trout he recommended and it was the stubbys which he can put the most weight into for casting distance (If boilers are off in the distance it'd be best so you don't have to ride to close and spook the school), then it was just about any 8" saltwater triple trout with your choice of sink rate which was dependent on the fish being on the surface or down below. 

[Badfish562]

20 minutes ago, Fishstix024 said:

From the looks of his IG, he's gettin em on every color. Guessing it's an action over color thing.

I'll have to get a hold of Scott over at TT and see what models he suggests for Inshore style fishing. Most of my trip will be around kelps and boilers. 

that is most likely the case. i see him throwing the green w/ mint stripe and the wounded soldier colorways a good amount along with a few others but all in the 8" saltwater models from the looks of it. A buddy of mine @maki909 just got back from a recent Cedros too and stuck a 35# YT on bass gear. Tagged him in case he feels like sharing 

[Fishstix024]

15 hours ago, Badfish562 said:

that is most likely the case. i see him throwing the green w/ mint stripe and the wounded soldier colorways a good amount along with a few others but all in the 8" saltwater models from the looks of it. A buddy of mine @maki909 just got back from a recent Cedros too and stuck a 35# YT on bass gear. Tagged him in case he feels like sharing 

That's what I'm hoping for. I'm bringing two swimbait kits and one surface iron rod. Hoping I don't have to touch a livebait all trip. From most of the reports i see, those fish don't see much pressure and will eat just about anything. A day with 50-100 Calicos on a swimbait would make the trip!

 

I'm gonna grab a couple of the 8" TT. And, I have a couple Toxics being build, weighted for salt. Should be plenty...

[Fishstix024]

On 10/22/2019 at 3:39 PM, Badfish562 said:

I've managed one YT so far on the saltwater 8" sardine colorway. Was at the Coronado's and stuck a cool little 12 pounder but it rocked me. I haven't changed the bait at all from how Scott sent it to me. Casts great and swims so I haven't made any changes as of yet. A couple dink calico other than that.  I did find the front hook to be unnecessary and made it way harder getting the back hook out from the back of its mouth. Just my opinion tho. Hooks held up fine but I wouldn't expect a 12# YT to really max out the gear necessarily compared to a quality model YT. Only thing I would change would be removing the front hook all together and putting a 5/0 XXX Owner on the back end, Ryan Block style. Not sure of the exact hook make or size he uses but he is the only guy I see putting it to good grade YT consistently. I would also possibly contact Scott (triple trout) directly if youre looking for the SW TT. He also makes a badass saltwater 10" that I would definitely say you should be slinging at Cedros. Hope this helps!

Here is the link for the hook make Id recommend but TW doesn't have the 5/0's:

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Single_Replacement_Hook_XXX_Strong/descpage-XRH.html

What kind of retrieve did you use for this YT?  Burning it on top like a surface iron?

Or counting it down and steady retrieve?

[Badfish562]

1 hour ago, Fishstix024 said:

What kind of retrieve did you use for this YT?  Burning it on top like a surface iron?

Or counting it down and steady retrieve?

This fish actually hit about 3 or 4 cranks in so i think it was more me pretty much hitting the fish on the head. I am using a Tranx 400 with an upgraded power handle (not HG) so with the slower gearing I do have to have a fast cadence on the retrieve to make the bait have a steady (but not crawling) presentation. I was casting behind a boiler rock with a nice drop off behind it and I let the bait sink out about 5 or so seconds after the cast. After a couple cranks it pinned me almost breaking me off on the boiler rock. The short 3 foot piece of 40# fluorocarbon leader was super frayed after getting it in and I had to change to a new piece of leader.  The smaller calico I got earlier this trip were on a steady to a fast (burning) retrieve but still letting the bait sink at least 5 - 10 seconds. Anytime I tried crawling the bait I saw no interest from any fish, but I also need to fish bait this more to rule that out.