Trolling 101

[pomey_git]

Hi guys,

We are off to the coast for chrsitmas. I am able to join the dark side and get out on a boat!

I have proved to be shocking at bait fishing off boats in the past so we are looking to tow some lures around for palegics.

Could I please pick your collective brains for your top tips as far as speed, lures and spreads go?

Any advise would be amazing.

In the mean time,

Merry Christmas to you all.

[Scratchie]

Trolling speed for skirts or bibbed lures is between 6-8knots. Vary the length of the lines you put out. Say one 30m and one 40m to avoid tangles. For your first time only use 2.

Adjust the drag setting once you are at speed. They're pretty much the basics.

Sit back and enjoy!

Cheers scratchie!!!

[Blood Knot]

Just one tip from me, if you are a newbie trolling bibbed lures, make sure you point the rod at the lures when winding em in so the lure does not spring out of the water and lodge itself in you body somewhere.

Cheers

[pomey_git]

Great tips guys. Thanks for that.

I just happen to have 2 bibbed rapalas in my assortment scratchie.

And good idea Blood Knot, Saftey first and all that

[Blood Knot]

LOL just spoils the day if you have to get the side cutters out to remove an imbeded treble out of yourself and you dont have any spares trebs with you.

Cheers blood Knot

[pomey_git]

I'll bet.

Do you have any top lures? Style colour and size ect?

[mike2153]

Best thing you can do is get rid of those trebles in place for some 5/0 hooks, nothing worse than trying to unhook a undersized gutted hooked king and basically kill it in the process

[Blood Knot]

I'll bet.

Do you have any top lures? Style colour and size ect?

Use to use the red and white rapala cd 9's and 11's with some success the xraps are good too. Not something I have been into for a while unfortunately. Sure others will favourites

[bombora]

Maybe pick up a couple of Pakula Uzi mini trolling head skirted lures, in the Lumo colour. They'll compliment your Rapala minnows (presuming your Rapalas are meant to handle a bit of speed and aren't, say, lures meant to be retrieved slowly, say for bass etc). The Uzis catch anything from big salmon, bonito, stripeys, tailor etc to yellowfin, dolphin fish and marlin. They can be bought pre-rigged with hook and trace.

This means you have surface and deeper depths covered.

You could do a lot worse than add a couple of Halco Laser Pro minnows (They can handle a decent troll speed, and King Brown is an awesome colour) to your trolling spread too. Maybe a standard depth one and a deep diving model. They, like the Rapalas, should work at the same troll speed as the Uzis. No good having a mix of lures which work at different trolling speeds.

Put the minnows closer in to the transom, the Uzis, or other skirted lures, further back, to prevent tangles. There's some good graphics on the web for "lure spreads" showing how to stagger your lures' position behind the boat.

Keep going for fifty metres or so if you get a hookup as you might get another strike.

If you have a sounder watch for deep bait schools, and temperature changes. Look for current lines, birds working bait schools (birds in general!) floating debris. If you are confident reading the water and wave movement, trolling past headland washes and turning the boat so the lures go through the wash zone can be deadly on inshore pelagics, but be careful!)

Like a lot of fishing, "matching the hatch" can be important so, if the budget afford it, it's worth having a few different sized lures in your mix.

Cheers and good trolling!

[bombora]

PS six inch paddle tailed soft plastics on a lead jig head (say half once) are great trolled too.

[dnmn8r]

Every time I've tried to troll with a bibbed lure, they end up coming to the surface because the hooks have gotten caught on the line or something else. Is there a way to prevent this?

[RichieR]

^^ Keep your rod tip up and let the line out with pressure on it. I find that happens when the lure is jumping out of the water

[pomey_git]

Great advise guys thanks. No fish in merimbula will be safe!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kingfishaholic]

Try to troll structure and just after dawn is best. Do large turns so as to avoid tangles and don't run over your own lures. If your sounding up fish do a few runs over the same area. Best bet is to have some deep lures and some surface lures (skirts). Scratchies advice re varying distance is critical!

Edited December 26, 2014 by kingfishaholic