Get to Know Metal-Lipped Peanut Swimmers

A peanut swimmer is a small metallic lip, within the 1- to 1½-ounce vary, that has a rounded nostril and a large physique between 4 and 6 inches lengthy. (Proven above: a peanut swimmer from Potomac Plug Co.)

A mild surf lapped on the fringe of Island Seaside State Park the place, on the sand, dozens of automobiles and a whole lot of anglers unfold alongside the seaside. Only a few yards offshore, rectangular darkish stains broke up the cool inexperienced of the late-October ocean. Peanut bunker had been in.

I had a soft-plastic swim shad clipped on as I waded in, however as I regarded up and down the seaside, I noticed that almost all different anglers had the identical thought. Paddle-tailed tender plastics, each these matched to jigheads and those with built-in weights, are near-perfect peanut bunker imitations in measurement, profile, and motion. They’re the good alternative, however not essentially the most romantic—and for an occasion as romanticized as the autumn run, typically one wants to pick plugs with the center as an alternative of the pinnacle. I eliminated the swim shad and changed it with an RM Smith Peanut Swimmer. The lure was nicely liked—for a time, it was one in every of my solely customized wooden striper plugs. There was a half-moon of naked wooden above the stomach hook hanger the place, by way of numerous casts and dozens of bass, the paint and end had been raked away. Like so many different plugs that survived a couple of seasons within the surf, its wooden had been imbued with historical past, character, and a form of magic that, within the depths of winter after I’m feeling homesick for the excessive surf, makes it a conduit for my favourite surfcasting reminiscences.

A peanut swimmer is a small metallic lip, within the 1- to 1½-ounce vary, that’s between 4 and 6 inches lengthy. It has a rounded nostril and a large physique that tapers to a thinner tail. It could swim on the floor or beneath it, relying on retrieve pace and the way the road tie has been “tuned.” Bending a line tie down causes the lure to swim increased within the water column; bending it up causes it to swim deeper.

I forged the plug out to the far facet of the closest college of peanut bunker, and commenced reeling, feeling for the precise rhythm to let me know I used to be retrieving on the correct pace for the circumstances. After I felt a gentle pulsing, I locked within the pace and labored on the cadence. A quick pause to let the plug float up a couple of inches can usually set off a strike (particularly simply after resuming the retrieve), however I’ve at all times favored rising the retrieve pace for a few cranks or popping the rod tip to make the lure dig in and even roll out momentarily to imitate a panicked or injured peanut bunker.

The success of peanut swimmers isn’t restricted to areas with thick colleges of peanut bunker. They’re wonderful prospecting lures round jetties, in quiet bays, and on open seashores from late spring to fall, whatever the baitfish current. They fish finest in slower-moving present however can deal with appreciable surf.

Because the tide started to flood, roving packs of stripers discovered the colleges of peanuts at Island Seaside and the chunk turned on. For a bit, the bass pinned the bait to the seaside lip. Whereas that was taking place, my small, shallow-running metallic lip loved a short benefit over the tender plastics, which up till then had been outfishing the plug at a fee of three to 1. Forged after forged, I watched the plug disappear in a violent swirl as bass snatched it proper off the again of the rolling waves.

When the bass and bait finally dispersed, I put the plug away, admiring its latest scars, and headed for the truck. It had been a morning of fall=run fishing appropriately: extremely visible, fast-paced, and over too quickly.

Peanut swimmers are a looser metal-lip class than pikies or Dannys, so there could be appreciable variation between lure builders. Ryan Smith nonetheless builds his 1-ounce peanut swimmer as he has for the final 20-some years, providing them on the market at his web site RM Sort out, when he has them out there. Lonell Rodgers of Potomac Plug Co. makes a peanut swimmer that I’ve had nice success with this spring on the south facet of Cape Cod, so I look ahead to fishing it when the peanut bunker lastly present. His plugs could be discovered at Angler’s Market, a web-based “flea market” the place customized lure builders provide their wares.