Basic Trolling Set-Up?

[tsuribaka]

Afternoon fellow Fishraiders,

1st time post, long long time fan. My brother-in-law has been trolling up some Bonito & Mack Tuna on shallow divers over the past two weeks, but i'm not sure he knows exactly what he's doing. Maybe he has just been lucky thus far. Keen to get some good advice that we can convert to some good fish. Keen to get in on the action, I bought a few small cheap trolling skirts on online shop (see attached pic. Also, sorry if the guy I outbid is a Fishraider). Was hoping a few guys out there can give us advice on how to rig these lures up. Any help would be appreciated. Specific knots to join main line to the leader, speed to troll them at, suggested spread. All these things answered would be appreciated as would any other advice. Dont be afraid to be technical, we are virgins when it comes to trolling skirts.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Will definately post pics of any fish we catch on these lures.

Tsuribaka

[Kiwi]

Right:

Tie double with plait or bimini in the main line about 600mm long.

Use cats paw join to joun double to wind on if you are using one.

Or use double uni knot to tie on sampo style snap lock of 300lb.

Look for peter pakula "marlin bar" buy "Between the Lines" dvd

sorry admin but best to cut out a lot of misinformation.

Cheers Rowan

[The Baker]

Tsuribaka

Hey mate you will want to lose the chunky hooks off those lures and put something like a SL12S gamakatsu hook on, make sure if you go that way that you put anode tape on the hooks to stop them from going dull on the point from the electrolysis. And I would not go any more than 150 pound mono leader on them any more may be bit of an over kill, the action of the lure would suffer. I have put some pics there for you to have a look at the hooks are the ones that I have mentioned in the post, when you cut your wire cut it the length starting from the bottom of the lure head to the very end of the skirt that is how you measure the wire length. And a point remember with your crimping DON'T use ally crimps on wire only on mono use the double crimps (brass, copper or steel) on your wire.

The SL12S hooks I would not fish them on line any heaver than 8-10kg line or you will straighten the on the higher drag settings. Your trolling speed you want about 6.0-7.0 knots you could push it 7.5-8.0 knots but the lures may start to blow out at that speed.

I hope this helps you out good luck.

Dave.

[Dezmo]

It looks like those skirts are a 7 inches long? These will get fish but if your trolling in close and getting mack tuna and bonito you will probably find at lower profile skirt which is maybe 4-5 inches will get more fish. Maybe consider running a mix of sizes if your not targetting a particular species.

[tsuribaka]

Kiwi, The Baker and Dezmo, thanks for all your help guys. I will head down to my local tackle store, buy the stuff you recommended and see what we can come up with. As mentioned, pics will be up of whatever we catch.

Thanks again for your support.

[Chris 55]

we use 100mm christmas trees in pink or blue & pink like this

Chris

[The Baker]

Tsuribaka,

mate when you run the lures run the darker lures up short, because the dark colours silhouette better in the wash off the boat. That wash off the boat is like a giant white screen, when you look at it from the under side. You might want to get yourself a Jethead or a Long Barrel and run them on your longest lines, like the shotgun position or your long rigger your long lines will pick up the most with the Tuna. Run your lines a little longer.