Trolling for Marlin advice

[Jordant]

Hey all long time fisho new forum member just want to get some advice on trolling for Marlin I'm from Wollongong and do a lot of land based game fishing for Marlin off the stones at Jervis Bay but have never gone out in my boat and trolled I am still eagerly awaiting the currents to push them down this way I will be fishing of Wollongong and if this season is anything like last they will be in close but until then if anyone has any advice on the subject would be greatly appreciated anything from rigs to trolling speeds lures live bait dead baits the whole shebang I only have a 4m boat so my spread will be limited to 2 -3 rods hope to hear from you soon

happy fishing 

[JonD]

We are well south of you and getting Marlin so forget waiting for the current, they are already out there ( though not in huge numbers yet).

Personaly I wouldn't bother pulling lures in such a small boat. Just find bait schools and tow as big a slimy as you can catch with the engine just ticking over in gear. 

There are often plenty of good bait balls inside the shelf along the 140m area, this is where we get most of our billfish. 

Heavy gear is pretty hard to use in small boats so I target them on heavy spin gear (and livebait). Saying that I still use quite heavy 120 lb leeders with mustard 10/0 circles.

Jon

[Jordant]

15 minutes ago, JonD said:

We are well south of you and getting Marlin so forget waiting for the current, they are already out there ( though not in huge numbers yet).

Personaly I wouldn't bother pulling lures in such a small boat. Just find bait schools and tow as big a slimy as you can catch with the engine just ticking over in gear. 

There are often plenty of good bait balls inside the shelf along the 140m area, this is where we get most of our billfish. 

Heavy gear is pretty hard to use in small boats so I target them on heavy spin gear (and livebait). Saying that I still use quite heavy 120 lb leeders with mustard 10/0 circles.

Jon

Hey Jon cheers for the info mate it's greatly appreciated are you running sinkers up on a swivel to get them down or you flatlining them? 

[JonD]

21 minutes ago, Jordant said:

Hey Jon cheers for the info mate it's greatly appreciated are you running sinkers up on a swivel to get them down or you flatlining them? 

Most of the time I just let them make their own way down, though when the bait is down deep around 80m I use my downrigger to get the bait down deep. I must admit I'm usually late getting on the water and find by the time I find bait it's usually quite high up.

Also by dropping my bait jigs down to catch bait offshore we often find the marlin follow up baits we've just hooked, often resulting in a loss of a bait jig. Having a marlin rig ready often means we feed a bait straight to a very excited marlin.

Im far from a marlin expert and don't put in as much time as the hardcore marlin chasers so hopefully some of them may be able to give more advice. What I can say is tha after many trips pulling $$$$ worth of different lures for very few hookups I suddenly started having really good success when I changed over to livebait ( saved a heap in fuel too ).

Jon

[NaClH2OK9]

If slow trolling lives,  put a small bean sinker next to the hook on one of your leaders,  it will help stop the lines tangling too. 

[Jordant]

11 hours ago, JonD said:

Most of the time I just let them make their own way down, though when the bait is down deep around 80m I use my downrigger to get the bait down deep. I must admit I'm usually late getting on the water and find by the time I find bait it's usually quite high up.

Also by dropping my bait jigs down to catch bait offshore we often find the marlin follow up baits we've just hooked, often resulting in a loss of a bait jig. Having a marlin rig ready often means we feed a bait straight to a very excited marlin.

Im far from a marlin expert and don't put in as much time as the hardcore marlin chasers so hopefully some of them may be able to give more advice. What I can say is tha after many trips pulling $$$$ worth of different lures for very few hookups I suddenly started having really good success when I changed over to livebait ( saved a heap in fuel too ).

Jon

Cheers jon good info appreciate it il keep updated on how I go

[Jordant]

3 hours ago, NaClH2OK9 said:

If slow trolling lives,  put a small bean sinker next to the hook on one of your leaders,  it will help stop the lines tangling too. 

Cheers mate Rodger that ?

[rickmarlin62]

if you want to send a bait deep attach with a 64 rubber band and a snapper lead to the trace side of your swivel

[Croydon]

I'm with John, live baits the best way to go.  If you find the bait is a bit spread out, learn how to rig some skip baits and put a couple out while searching for the bait.  A much better hook up rate than lures.  Cheers............

 

Dave

[Jordant]

Thanks for all the info fellas