# Tripletail. Ever caught one? Fishing tip # 196



## captken (Feb 24, 2008)

<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 20pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">FISHING TIP # 196<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>[/B]<H2 style="MARGIN: auto 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 20pt">Tripletail<o></o></H2><H2 style="MARGIN: auto 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt">Ever Caught a Tripletail?<o></o></H2><H3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt">By Capt Ken Roy<o></o></H3><P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">For most folks, the answer is no. For some others, if you ask a few questions, you will find out that they have caught maybe one or two--by accident. Then, there are guys who target Tripletails on a regular basis. Fortunately for those of us who live on the [/B]<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1lace><st1laceName><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Nature[/B]</st1laceName><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> [/B]<st1laceType><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Coast[/B]</st1laceType></st1lace><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">, Tripletails are common all summer long but you gotta? know what to look for.<o></o>[/B]<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Tripletails are often well camouflaged and they have the ability to change color triple to match their surroundings. <o></o>[/B]<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /><v:shapetype id=_x0000_t75 stroked="f" filled="f" path="[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@5xe" oreferrelative="t" o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"><v:stroke joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke><v:formulas><v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></v:f></v:formulas><vath o:connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t" o:extrusionok="f"></vath><o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit"></o:lock></v:shapetype>[/B]<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">







[/B]<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The most striking example of their ability to change color that I can remember was the coloration of two Tripletails lying in or on a large clear plastic bag off [/B]<st1:City><st1lace><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Fort Pierce[/B]</st1lace></st1:City><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">. They were just about the color of the bag. Sometimes they are difficult to spot. Free swimming Tripletails, out in open water, are often mistaken for a patch of floating grass. I miss them occasionally even when I am specifically looking for them. I tell folks to look for an old greasy rag that seems to hold position in the current near a buoy or piling. There are exceptions, even common exceptions, with fish that appear gold, white, black or copper.<o></o>[/B]<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Tripletails are easy to hook---if you can find them. I?ve caught them in 2? of water and in 2000?. When they are inshore on this coast, I expect to find them most often hanging around crab traps in 8-20? or so. Some channel markers hold fish too with some channel markers being far more productive than others. If you find a few Tripletails around a channel marker, store it in your memory bank and look for them there at a later date. Some buoys attract fish in the incoming tide and others on the outgoing, more data for your memory bank or log book.<o></o>[/B]<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Tripletails are tough to land because they are extremely strong fighters and are most often hooked around pilings, buoys, crab traps and even FADS deployed to attract Tripletails and Cobia. I strongly doubt that a Trippletail has enough sense to run around a piling or crab trap line to cut you off. They often get lucky and foul the line because they change directions often and sometimes pull twenty or thirty yards of line against the drag.<o></o>[/B]<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Tripletails eat just about anything that will fit in their mouth. They hang along side buoys and traps eating any small critter that happen by. They are dash and crash feeders. They can cover 2 feet in the blink of an eye to capture a fish, crab or shrimp. Tripletails have a strong affection for shrimp and live is best. Small crabs and baitfish work fine too.<o></o>[/B]<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">As in most fishing situations, if there are several Tripletails in one spot, they are far easier to catch. Competition becomes a real ally for the fisherman and proves the downfall of the fish. Single fish are sometimes finicky.<o></o>[/B]<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Small jigs work well for Tripletails. Shad tails and twin tail grubs work well for me with bright colors attracting more fish but sometimes being refused at the last moment. A twin tail grub in root beer/ gold flake, clear/ gold flake or clear/ silver flake are usually eaten on sight. When you find a reluctant Trippletail, a simple hair jig with a small tip of cut bait or shrimp often gets bit. A live shrimp or small crab is seldom refused if it comes close to the fish.<o></o>[/B]<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Tripletails take crab or shrimp imitating flies readily. In fact, Tripletails may be the easiest of all saltwater fish to catch on a fly. A Clouser minnow in a dark shrimp-imitating pattern catches Tripletails better than any other artificial. When a Tripletail follows the Clouser without taking, let the fly sink. Lots of times the Tripletail will follow the fly all the way down and eat it right off the bottom.<o></o>[/B]<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">On a cloudy day, when Tripletails are hard to spot, a small weighted spinner with a single hook and a little bait will often catch fish that you?d never see otherwise. Tripletails are one of our better table fish, easy to catch and great fighters.<o></o>[/B]<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">What more can you ask for in a fish?<o></o>[/B]<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt"><o></o>[/B]<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 20pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o></o>[/B]


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## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

Thanks for the tip, I've only caught one in my life and it was by accident by a channel marker in the mouth of the Pearl River near Lake Borgne. I saw one around a moored bouy off Navarre pier a couple years ago with Clay Doh and company and jumped in to try and spear him, but he played duck duck goose with me around and around that big metal bouy. Eventuallly I had another crew member jump in to help corner him off and he was immediatlley stung in the face by a jellyfish :banghead Tripletail then swam off. Maybe I'll look around here and try and target some, thanks.


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## phillja (Oct 1, 2007)

check out the tripple tail we got into last year at this from the old forum. The were alot of fun.

http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=45207&posts=13


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## Heller High Water (Nov 1, 2007)

Great tip! Not sure I have ever seen that much info in one place on triple tails. Thanks


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## JoeZ (Sep 30, 2007)

That will be very handy come June when I'm chasing them in Jekyll Island, Ga.

Thanks.


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## Brad King (Sep 30, 2007)

Awesome tips, thanks for the advice. *I have only caught a few small ones personally. The ones in the pic are of my bosses when I was in Texas. I decided not to go on this trip.:dohMaybe I should have went


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## Butcherpen (Oct 8, 2007)

I caught one by accident (approx. 10lbs.)on 3-mile bridge Sat May 17th about mid-day. Dead shrimp on the bottom.


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## HeartofDixie (Oct 3, 2007)

Great eating too, I might add. :hungry


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## mdrobe2 (Oct 12, 2007)

Planning a Mobile Bay charter late July early August with Capt. Chancey...at least I think that's how you spell it. Anybody see them in the P'cola area? Ever? I haven't, and we even caught cobes while looking for tripletail, which seems bass ackwards to me...Mike


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## Boardfeet (Sep 27, 2007)

My brother Richard.......and a triple tail buddy










Sorry couldn't figure out how to rotate it:doh


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## captken (Feb 24, 2008)

Back when I fished out of P'cola, there was a buoy pretty close to the Mass. I caught Tripletails off it regularly. I've caught them at the sea buoy at P'cola and remember catching several around the bridge that is now a fishing pier.

Mobile Bay was loaded when I was a kid and Appalachicola can be fantastic. 

I caught a nice one out of my yak this morning--8-9#. I was fishing in the Cross Florida Barge Canal today. Gonna be dinner in a few minutes.


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