[bluefinn240]

I was looking for any information on deep trolling. I did a search and didn't find to much. If you have done this did you use planers, downriggers, or something else. I just want to try something different on those days when you troll for hours with nothing to show for it.


Steve

 

[captainlarry84]

WORK!!

Bluefinn,

Are we talking for tuna or shark. Slow trolling for tuna can really be a challenge unless you know where the fish are in fairly small area. The true logic of trolling is that the white from the prop wash pulls the fish into the lure pattern. On the slow troll you loose that water teaser effect.
We have slow trolled a few and pulled only a few sharks. The lures we like are by Ballyhood. They are well made and can really take a hit. The problem is that you can really only fish two down deep as they tend to wonder a little. Plus the speed must be slow. 2-4 knots seems to work the best.
Because we can only put two down deep, we also had him makes us up a set of the same looking lures for surface running which track great.
All the rigs take either a whole mackerel, bunker, ballhoo or what ever fits.
To date we pulled a nice thresher into the pattern which attach a deep planner, however the fish fowl hooked and made good his escape. We also tagged a few blue sharks, lost one & kept one ? mako both in the 300 pound class. Finally one nice bluefin on the surface lure.
It is a lot of work and our results have been far better with the high speed surface lures.
This year coming I will try his downrigger model, which may allow us to cover more different depth of water.

http://www.ballyhood.com/quick_rig.htm

http://www.ballyhood.com/ballydown.htm

 

[welly69]

Capt Larry
Its definatly alot of work, but I raised a thresher last year just messing around with the ballyhood lure. What depths are you hitting and how many rigs will you be trolling with the new surface lures??

 

[MakoMike]

We dragged wire around with a weighted green machine on the end as an experiement and we did catch bith YFT and albacore on it.

 

[carlynewlondon]

I think his question was about deep trolling not slow trolling.

I haven't done it yet but next season I plan to incorperate a planer into the spread for deployment on those slow days. From what I understand you can either run the planer off of a cleat or use a planer rod. Right now I'm looking for an old 80 class reel as the planers pull a lot of drag.

 

[MakoMike]

CNL,
I think the Z-wings put less pressure on the rod than the olde salty planers do. Might be worth looking into. I do know that the old salty type planers put lots of pressure on their line, be careful if you're using braid on them.

 

[bluefinn240]

I am referring to tuna. Just interested in finding another way to catch some tuna when the surface troll is non existent. Tnanks

 

[captainlarry84]

When deep trolliing and slow trolling the odds of a hook up are better with quality rigs out as apposed to quantity. Two surface & two deep is the max without playing Betsy Ross to untangle the lines.
The planners really dig nice & deep fast. However they do put a lot of pressure on the hardware. Also if tripped you cannot get them up to easy without stopping the boat. I have been the planner route and will next move on the using the downriggers with the lead ball weigh. They are easy to handle, and you really cannot get into to much trouble with them.
The key is to keep the speed down, and we all know how hard that is. Trolling at 8 knots can be a drag when there is no bite??.2-4 knots is just plan torturer on a slow day.

 

[MakoMike]

captainlarry84 wrote:
When deep trolliing and slow trolling the odds of a hook up are better with quality rigs out as apposed to quantity. Two surface & two deep is the max without playing Betsy Ross to untangle the lines.
The planners really dig nice & deep fast. However they do put a lot of pressure on the hardware. Also if tripped you cannot get them up to easy without stopping the boat. I have been the planner route and will next move on the using the downriggers with the lead ball weigh. They are easy to handle, and you really cannot get into to much trouble with them.
The key is to keep the speed down, and we all know how hard that is. Trolling at 8 knots can be a drag when there is no bite??.2-4 knots is just plan torturer on a slow day.


Larry,
I think you are going to find the lead balls, or any opther weight for that matter, to be a PITA when using downriggers. Try the z-wings first, they work well on the downriggers.

 

[duck doyle]

A deep planer #8 off the stern cleat. You lower the planer. Take snapswivels or a shower curtain ring, attach a #32 rubberband (if that snaps to easy go to #64)to your line as well as the clip. Clip the swivel or clip over the planer line. Feel out line from your reel until you feel the clip stop on the planer ring. When you get a bite or foul a line, the rubberband breaks and away you go. Leave the planer down and put on another clip set up and drop it down,your back in action. The planer stays down all day. The rubberband acts as a release clip. You keep stacking clips. It should go well next to a Pakulu Witch Doctor with all that flash.

This post edited by duck doyle 05:43 PM 02/09/2008

 

[KingKeith]

duck doyle, have you experienced fish being attracted to that pakula witch doctor? my friend runs one and it looks great, however we never get any hits on the lures around it.

 

[togmaster]

deep water trolling

bluefinn240 wrote:
I am referring to tuna. Just interested in finding another way to catch some tuna when the surface troll is non existent. Tnanks

Back in the 90's I fished on a boat called fish busters in the keys

We did high speed deep water trolling for tuna and king fish with great sucess.

We used the big reel penn downriggers with a 5 to 10 lb ball to get them down

The bait was Bally's and they were rigged with a rubber band to the clip. When the fish hit the rubber band popped and freed the rigger from the main line.
This was a very effective way of fishing for we trolled at 10 to 11 knts. and covered a lot of gound.
the best part was when the capt read the fish he was able to adjust the riggers to the depth they were located and that also increased or hook ups.

I wanted to try it up here in our canyons but no one I know had the downriggers to attempt it
.
But i bet it would work very well. Ballys would be the bait of choice for they hold up well at high speed and also allow the rubber bands to be attached to there snots to hold them on the main line as well

 

[duck doyle]

I haven't had any problems with it's flash. I use mine on sunny days and the fish still hit on the transom. Bluefinn 240 uses one on CHOAS the boat he crews. What do you think Steven? You guy's trolled up some marlin and tuna this year.

 

[NetKeeper]

carlynewlondon wrote:
From what I understand you can either run the planer off of a cleat or use a planer rod. Right now I'm looking for an old 80 class reel as the planers pull a lot of drag.

The drags need constant upkeep, otherwise your going to find that you loose freespool because of how high tight you need to set the drag.

 

[capndom]

Pancake weights

Try the pancake style weights, they cut through the water much better, and have a much beytter angle at depth and speed. I troll successfully at upwards of 8 knots with the downrigger in. You can adjust your depth and know where it sits in the water under you by using the 50/200 split screen on a good finder and watching the ball/bait get lowered down.

I recommend painting your weights a flat black, and removing any flash from them, as threshers seem to have an affinity for tail whacking them...in that vein be sure the drag on the downrigger spool is at the lightest it will hold, just in case you do get stomped.

You can pull a lighter dredge with a hook bait BTW on the downriggers...A good one can be found here:reel draggin tackle dredge

 

[bluefinn240]

Hay Duck, We used it all last season. In going through my log, I must say we had less hits on the transom flat lines, than in past years.

 

[captainlarry84]

Pancake wt.

Capndom,

Very helpful post this year we will invest in a pair. At 8 knots do the lure wonder much? Also what type of rigging do you use for natural baits that far under the surface. The easiest ones I have found to rig quickly are the Ballyhoods.

This post edited by captainlarry84 12:04 PM 02/10/2008

 

[capndom]

captainlarry84 wrote:
Capndom,

Very helpful post this year we will invest in a pair. At 8 knots do the lure wonder much? Also what type of rigging do you use for natural baits that far under the surface. The easiest ones I have found to rig quickly are the Ballyhoods.

Hi Cap,

I use this system for quick rigs, works great: quick rig bait clips

Very important to lower the ball boatside a few feet, and come up to speed to be sure the rig is tracking right before lowering it.

The pancake weights track very straight, and the lures running behind them do not tend to wander, unless the back fin is bent in any way, which is easily corrected.

When marking fish deep, that just will not come up, drop down your setup or setups on the riggers... Try making a turn after the ball is at depth, just before you come across your intended marks. If you time it properly, the whole rig dives briefly in the water column, then rises up, helping to induce a strike.

 

[leakyrivot]

It's funny this has come up.. I just put a set of downriggers on my boat. We typically troll for bluefin.

It's more of an experiment; took a cheap simple set thefishingfreak had given me for free and retro-fit them into my setup.

Never had good luck with planers; it seems any "diving" bait can't mix with my topwater stuff as eventually it fouls and rises causing a tangle.

Always have wanted to troll deep as we see most marks 50-100 ft, so I figure we'll give these a shot.. not sure how the scope is gonna work out - whether my fishfinder will work as a counter or not..

Also am not really getting the warm fuzzies with mixing wire into my trolling spread so plan to attempt it with 80# mono; thinking 10 lb weights.

Jon

 

[captainlarry84]

Mono

Leaky:

Are planning to us 80 mono on the downrigger to hold the ten pound ball? Is so it will fail. you will need 300 mono. In that case you will have no line compacity on the rigger plue it will scope way out due to the thickness of the mono. Cable is the only option.
The key is to trail the lure aprrox 100 feet away from the cable.