Time to sell the trolling gear

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Porkchunker

Porkchunker

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I think I'm going to jig my way through spring trolling season. When we can catch guys like this and limit out (one 35" followed by one 38") and a bunch of 28-29" fish in the mix (over 30 fish for the day), I'm left wondering "Why Troll?" After filling the box, we went trolling for grins/giggles and some C&R. Got skunked...second time this exact same thing has happened to me this year.

I've got the planner boards, 11 trolling rods, all the UBs, tandems, daisys and other assorted gear a troller could want. I just can't get it to work. I either need to buy a whole table at the next Tri-State Marine Flea Market, or find someone to teach me to troll.

Ideas? Recommendations?


Dave

aka
 

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I don't know anything about the jigging for Spring Rock. Have been trolling with limited success. One 35" on Saturday and one on Sunday.
 
Dave... I went to Capt Wayne Morgans' spring trolling seminar at Tri-State this year and totally re-engineered my spread using Waynes advice.
I don't run as many rods as Wayne - he runs a 9 rod spread, I run 5 - but I cover the water column down to about 25'.

I tried out my new spread on Saturday... Had one monster runoff that crossed my WWB causing me to loose the fish and about 100 yds of braid. :(
The good news is that I got all my tackle back, so I can't complain too much. Had 3 more knockdowns, but no fish landed.

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The winter jellies were horrible, and judging from the lack of success from all the boats around me, we weren't the only ones not catching.

Still, it was a GREAT weather day and all crew members got this cool t-shirt for participating. :D

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BTW - 3 of the 10 boats participating were Parker 2520's. 8)

I'm going to continue to give Capt Waynes' spread time to work. Lord knows... it certainly works for him. :wink:
 
Trolling bite has been slow. I think the fish are spawning in the rivers as the fish have gone from big females a few weeks ago to smaller males now. I also got a report from a buddy that he never seen so many bass in the river by his house spawning in his life. He said the were "rolling on top of each other".

I went out for a half day this morning with a friend and customer (Francis) and we only ended up with 3 fish and they were males of 31-33" who were spewing all over the cockpit. Sorry no photos as the fish were nothing to write home about..

Hope the hot weather speeds along the spawn and it picks up this weekend and I find a big fat cow!

Dave, if you want to sell your stuff, pm Francis on TF. I think he knows someone looking for gear. List it on the classifieds page there too as I know several people who have picking up some stuff there. I say dont give up on trolling. I enjoy it as a capt since it forces you to find and track the bait movement. I also like the team work of running a 12 rod spread.
 
Can you guys hurry up with them Stripers and send them up to us already!
the jones is coming on strong!
 
Kevin, keep at it. Capt Morgan's plan to cover the water colum does work. Got 1 37" on Saturday with a couple of shorts on the teasers, but it was a bit slow out there. Maybe too much sun?

Saw alot of good marks from 15-25ft but not alot of bait.


Barry
 
Boy do I hope the B-Faithful spread catches just one (big one) this weekend. :lol:

Is anyone here fishing the MSSA?

ps. Dave, you got the jigging thing going on. I envy that. :)
 
Speaking of trolling, I may be doing my first ever troll for Tuna this Sunday.

Any tips on terminal tackle, rods, etc., from you Tuna guys?
 
I'm not exactly sure what tuna are running down in Florida now, I assume black fin? If so Penn 330gt's would be pretty fun. This year I am gearing up with Penn 850ss spinning reels on 7' 30lb spinning rods to use on mahi and football sized tuna. Light tackle is always more fun than heavy tackle, and you can always count on a big fish when all you have is light tackle in the water!

As for tackle, Iland lures (with or without a bally) and zucker feathers work very nicely for tuna. I have also had a lot of luck with green machines. Anything from tuna to wahoo to marlin hit them, so needless to say, we always have one of them in the water, usually wwwwb.

I learned a trick this summer with swivels, go strong and small! Nothing like what you use for shark. I was watching a documentary on tuna fishing and they showed a boat's trolling spread from a helicopter view and you could see the large swivels causing white wash! Now when we are targeting large tuna, we put a small 3-4" plastic squid over the swivel so it acts like a little teaser/daisy chain.

One last thing, we troll between 6-8knots for tuna.
 
Dave,
Don't give up on trolling yet.....it's been a slow bite this season but it turned on Tuesday and the fish are headed out of the rivers....the big bite is on.....gonna rock for the next couple weeks......PM WMorgan on tidalfish with an email address he'll send you a sure fire spread.
Go to his seminar next spring or ask him for a HO ride or instructional charter......Wayne's a nice guy and has forgotten more about trolling than most ever learn.
 
FishFactory--Its not a concern of the fish hitting the swivel, its to make it more stream line and not cause such a odd bubble trail that might spook the fish. I havent had a fish go after the swivel-squid yet (to my knowledge at least). The only time i ever have a problem of a toothy critter hitting swivels or something is sharking when the shark (usually blue sharks) get curious of the balloon and go after that, thus cutting the line. its funny to watch, but a pain in the...
 
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