TROLLING DYNAMICS FOR SMALL SKI-BOATS

[dodger]

What a brilliant post, well done mike

[Happy Dog]

Hi Mike
thanks for the info. It will help us newbies a lot in the summer months. Will definately try it in Ponta in Dec.

[Seventenths]

Hey FA,

That is great info, I agree with you last point, match the feed as best possible. I struggled for many years mooching around too slowly, I found speeding it up to over 9 to 12 knots helps and you cover more area, my strike rate has definitely increased in the last few years. I like the softies and if I look in my box my hard headed 10" purple, Blue and whit has the most scrapes and knocks on it... this is prob because most of my trolling time is early morning and late afternoon, I like to try other things during the heat of the day. I like to try new things too - cylumes inside the skirt in early hours - no luck on that one yet! I also dump my lures in the bait bucket before they go in the water to mask anything that has contaminated the lure. My lures are washed and put in zip lock bags after every trip, this stops you contaminating them with salt water when they not used and stops you getting a nest, I will post a pic when I am back in SA next month.

When out for the yellow fin tuna or Stripies I drop the whole array back 1 wave and the shot gun back even further and take out the bird.. they seem to be shy and often take the lure set furthest from the boat as oppose to blacks that seem to like whatever is in the wash. I don't know if this always works but gives me something to do and makes me feel better that I am doing something! If I get a big yellow its all stop and the chum line starts....but..

If the longies are about I hit the throttle up to about 16knots. They seem to like the speed, if one rod goes keep going don't slow down.. you wont get more fish on out the shoal if you turn off the tap.

With needle noses, the bigger the bait the better, a 200kg black can swallow a 50kg yellow - no problem so don't be shy on the live bait, that 3 kg skippy won't do. I don't use live bait much in the Cape as I seem to catch too many suits (sharks) but it makes for great species targeting in some areas like Angola where there plenty of Blues.

I have put a pick of some of my favorite lures.... some have caught more fishermen than fish but they still go in the spread depending on time of day.  This marlin got hooked in the heart (under the chin) - if it is gonna die, please don't try release it! A circle hook would have prob saved this fish and I am changing over my lures progressively.

Hope this info help you... and again thanks FA, learned a lot about lure types.

[Capt. Hook]

Thanks for your info

[Shaun17]

Mike,
 
Thanks mate, exactly the kind of thread i've been looking for!!!

[Toppie]

Mike, once again thank you very much for this useful information, its going to help me a lot.

[deepblu]

Mike you giving all your secrets away   thanks for sharing just waiting for the new boat cant wait to pull some lures behind her

[Prego]

Mike you giving all your secrets away   thanks for sharing just waiting for the new boat cant wait to pull some lures behind her

  What did you decide on?

[deepblu]

@ Prego we went with sail fish 176 and 2x 80hp mercs in 4 stroke good value for money on a new boat

[iNdlovu]

Excellent post, great information. Would it be possible to post some pics of the various types of lures that you mentioned.

[stephenrplumb]

Just came across this post and it is very helpful. Many thanks to the OP. My son is a little obsessive and he generally sets out all our lures so I am going to get him to read this.


Whit a live/dead bait we have always battled to get them to stay behind the boat without just twisting endlessly. My son tell me that we have to trawl dead slow )one engine idle speed.) If we try and go any faster then fish just spins and is soon dead if it was alive and the reel needs to be respelled as the line is all twisted.


Should we stick to the idle along thing with live/dead bait or are we doing something wrong?


Will definitely try lures closer to the boat over December.


For those at DSBC, many thanks for all the efforts of the safety officers for yesterdays COF session. As usual the weather was k*K, so I write this from the airport not feeling like I missed anything over the weekend as the wind seemed to be howling. Good to know the boats are safe for another year. As we move into the festive season, I hope you guys are able to grab a few fish. I am back down next weekend where we shall start to use the boat in earnest. Best wishes to all for a great festive season.

[Lenny]

How do you rig your livebaits ?




With Tony , we did not do a lot of livebaits .


But with 2 other mates , we have put them out , with no problem . We mainly use  katonkel , or small yellowfins , or yellowtail .


The bill fish seems to zone in on the yellowtail , when there are shoaling up , often you will hook a tail , and a bill will come and slap it around ...

[maganything]

Just came across this post and it is very helpful. Many thanks to the OP. My son is a little obsessive and he generally sets out all our lures so I am going to get him to read this.


Whit a live/dead bait we have always battled to get them to stay behind the boat without just twisting endlessly. My son tell me that we have to trawl dead slow )one engine idle speed.) If we try and go any faster then fish just spins and is soon dead if it was alive and the reel needs to be respelled as the line is all twisted.


Should we stick to the idle along thing with live/dead bait or are we doing something wrong?


Will definitely try lures closer to the boat over December.


For those at DSBC, many thanks for all the efforts of the safety officers for yesterdays COF session. As usual the weather was k*K, so I write this from the airport not feeling like I missed anything over the weekend as the wind seemed to be howling. Good to know the boats are safe for another year. As we move into the festive season, I hope you guys are able to grab a few fish. I am back down next weekend where we shall start to use the boat in earnest. Best wishes to all for a great festive season.

Drift you live baits, or troll with one motor just in gear. Lowest RPM you can go on one motor.


Same for dead baits, a small bait swimmer helps.

[stephenrplumb]

Okay at least we have the dead slow with live & dead baits right.


Will try the faster technique while we are in sodwana and also keep some of those lures closer to the boat. Hopefully some good results 

[tkei]

You need to match your speed to the type of biat. A mozzie or small mackerel will skip/ spin and die quickly at any sort of speed. Drifting with these baits is best, but a slow troll does work. Just in gear.
A skipjack or YFT is a much hardier bait and can be trolled a lot faster, covering more water. If you look at how fast they swim over large distances a 2 or 3 knot troll wont hurt them. The biggest killer of these is the constant jarring of the bridle in their eye sockets if its rough. you ideally want the speed constant and the line just being tight. if too slow thay can swim right up to the boat at times, rather keep them a bit back as then you can feel when they get excited.

[stephenrplumb]

We tried some of this out yesterday. Left DSBC early my son laid out a spread of two deep diving rappalas, and then five knoas of various sizes closer behind the boat than we would normally do. We went to the the ships, and got a bit just past the anchor chain of the first ship, but like a poephoel I thought we had hooked the chain so I backed off the throttle and we lost that one.


Then we went past all the ships and eventually ended up coming inshore at lamercy as I needed to make a business call and being on cellc there was no reception. As soon as i started again we hooked a dorado which my son managed to boat. (We were no where near the ships) As soon as we boated that one, we immediately hoooked another, quite nice size male, and managed to boat that one as well.


We then headed out to that big drop off about 15Nm off ballito. Then we headed back at a fair pace but kept all the koans out and got not a bite on the way home.


I we were actually going quite slow when we did eventually hook the fish.


So next time we will not head as far, and will probably try live bait, but it was still good fun all the same.