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I have the boat, rods, reels and enthusiasm. Now I need the basic ingredients for a good starter trolling spread. I'm on the east coast and will be going out of the Wachapreague, OC area with the occasional run to NC. From my research so far the quarry will be mostly YF tuna, with marlin, sails and sharks sprinkled in.
The only "real" offshore lures I have right now are 2 green machines - the rest is basically striper fare. I have no teasers, nothing. The boat does have outriggers.
What would you buy if you had to start from scratch? Remember it all has to be operable by a newbie to offshore
Rods are 30-80 lb cabellas salt strikers. Have 4 Penn 50Ts(60 lb mono) and 4 TLD25s (30 lb mono).
Unless you can rig a ballyhoo to swim correctly, you are better off pulling all plastic. You will likely get more billfish with natural baits
For tuna, green machines are a good start. I would add cedar plugs, hex heads, zuker feathers, tuna clones and aliens. These are all relatively inexpensive. I like daisy chains for yellowfin, any of the above can be rigged into a chain with my first choices being the feathers, aliens and machines.
We catch more than 1/2 of our yellowfin on spreader bars, if you are serious you should pick up at least 2. They run from $75-$150 a pop depending on what you choose.
You should be able to pull 6 or 7 lines with your riggers. Two flatlines, two short rigger, two long rigger, and a shotgun lure way back. If you get this down, you can add a short shotgun down the middle
[quote]YoungersGhost - 6/6/2005 3:13 PMBallyhoo. Some naked, some swimmers, some skippers, some with Illanders (blue & white)./QUOTE]
Rigging ballyhoo for a beginner? Come on!
You're best off pulling plastic. Run 5 lines to start: spreader bar (squid maybe) short in the center. Iland sailure (red/black or blue white) behind it on*one flatline and a tuna feather on the other*flatline. Large green machine on one outrigger and any medium sized*marlin lure*on the other outrigger. You can vary it as you see fit by replacing the spreader bar with*a daisychain or*replacing the green*machine with the daisychain (with or without a bird)* keep some plugs handy (yozuri bonita, braidrunner, braid little speedy etc) to replace a lure,*add some depth and/or*a sixth line.*The basic pattern for 5 lines would*be a*'V' or 'W' pattern.
Anything that swims will eat a rigged bally. You will seriously limit your shots at a whitey by pulling plastic. I even rig my spreader bars with ballys or split tail mullet.
Don't really know your area, but it's probably best for a newcomer to the offshore game to start simple and small. I'd go with just five rods until you and your crew feel confident managing a bigger spread, and small, simple running heavy lures like jets that will handle most sea conditions and catch just about everything. Cedars are probably a good idea and some of your striped bass plugs like Mann's Stretch, Rapala CDMags 11, 14 and 18cm sizes can be trolled at 5 to 7 kts and also produce tuna well. Concentrate on getting every lure rigged and running right, every rod and reel, line and knot fresh and perfect, and finding the fish or signs of fish (working birds, bait on the surface or sounder, whales, dolphins etc). Finding the fish should be your first priority, find the fish and a lot of your problems re lure selection will solve themselves, and if they don't, a bit of experimentation (matching lure size and colour to the bait) and persistence will normally get you results. Don't leave fish to find fish.
Check out the "Canyon runner" website, they seem to do pretty well and you'll probably learn a lot in terms of techniques and tackle. www.canyonrunner.com. (not affiliated yada yada yada)
Consider fishing on a charter or learning how to rig ballyhoo from a professional. They do work, but for maximum effectiveness rigged baits must be high quality and rigged right.
YoungersGhost - 6/6/2005 3:13 PMBallyhoo. Some naked, some swimmers, some skippers, some with Illanders (blue & white)./QUOTE]
Rigging ballyhoo for a beginner? Come on!
You're best off pulling plastic. Run 5 lines to start: spreader bar (squid maybe) short in the center. Iland sailure (red/black or blue white) behind it on*one flatline and a tuna feather on the other*flatline. Large green machine on one outrigger and any medium sized*marlin lure*on the other outrigger. You can vary it as you see fit by replacing the spreader bar with*a daisychain or*replacing the green*machine with the daisychain (with or without a bird)* keep some plugs handy (yozuri bonita, braidrunner, braid little speedy etc) to replace a lure,*add some depth and/or*a sixth line.*The basic pattern for 5 lines would*be a*'V' or 'W' pattern.
I can't talk about west africa, but here in the Northeast US, we pull MEAT. White marlin will eat meat 10:1 over plastics. I taught my girlfriend to rig ballys and in about 5 tries her efforts were perfect. Rigging ballyhoo is easy. If you are gonna learn, learn right. Ask someone on your dock to show you how.
Thanks for the advice, guys. Figured I'd order some of the pre-rigged ballys to use and see how they're put together.
I definitely will stay with 4-5 lines to begin with - no sense adding more potential mess to the learning process. I noticed on my first time out 2 weeks ago that my green machines are very attracted to each other...practically inseparable, dammit!
Whats a good speed? I was running at 5-7 mph when I tried the first time (so damn fast!).
Youngers, I agree that ballyhoo are best. But the guy said STARTER spread. Sometimes it's just a pain to do it. Plastic works and are easier to deal with. Let him START with plastic and progress from there.
Besides, plastics don't wash out and are good for more than one strike/fish.*
Taking apart a pre-rig is only part of the story - you really want to see how a ballyhoo is prepped before it's rigged and how it looks when swimming right in the water. You'll want to see how a professional's rigs look, not just in the cooler but in the water- skip ballyhoo, chin weighted swimmer and split bill. Bait fishing is definitely productive but there is a little more involved in some respects than lurefishing. Professionals fish a lot more than the average weekend fisherman ever will and the cost of fishing a charter can definitely pay off big in the long run. Take notes and video, ask lots of questions and treat it as an instructional seminar just as much as a fish catching exercise.
I haven't had the good fortune to fish white marlin in your corner of the world but having fished them in the N.E. Atlantic, I find the main advantage (and it's a great advantage) with bait is that fish swallow it and hook up better, but the disadvantages are... some angler skill/experience required to spot, bait and hook the fish; baits must be high quality, rigged and fish right. The main disadvantage with whitey on lures is traditionally that lure hookups suck compared to bait, but with the right lure size, reel drag, hook size, razor sharp hooks and learning how to play the bite, you may surprise yourself with your results. Think small- think your basic Carolina dink ballyhoo rig with a small leader and small hook, adapted to a small artificial. As far as raising fish, I think Mr. Whitey is a pretty aggressive little critter, I've had them bite monster blue marlin lures and try their best to swallow a pair of 12/0 hooks. I'd feel pretty confident of raising them with the right lures and teasers. But of course, your whiteys are probably under a lot more fishing pressure than ours and may simply respond to bait better.
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Anyway, Ben: White marlin are probably a little ambitious for a newcomer to the offshore scene; you'll probably want to target tunas to begin with, and if you do happen to raise a white marlin, treat it as a bit of extra excitement. If you get the billfish bug and want an education in white marlin fishing, take a charter with a good crew from NC. They are the top guys in your area and you'll learn a lot from them.
Patudo - I'm focusing on the tuna end of the spectrum this season and would consider snagging any billfish to be a bonus.
I'm not new to fighting marlin and sails or observing pros bringing them to the baits but I am definitely a "my own boat" virgin in the offshore category.
I like to run in the 6-9 knot range. I believe in the principle of creating alot of commotion in the spread. To bolster my point I went to the Canyon Runner site as recommended by my buddy Patudo. They should rename it the Spreader bar site. Buy some spreader bars with artificial squid and plastic ballyhoo. They work very well. I've lost one this season already to an "unknown" (likely tuna) monster.
He posted a great video on rigging split bill Ballyhoo's. It seems to be removed from his site. But I am sure he has a copy.For the record. I don't know Jimmy. I never met him. I am not affiliated. I only have heard of him by lurking on fishing sites. But he seems like a good guy. He is usually very helpful.
Obviously, he is trying to earn a living selling spreader bars and the like. So picking up some "plastic" at his site would be a nice gesture as well....
Keep your eye on tidalfish.com and thebassbarn.com
You've received good info so far. First is you have to get that nice RayMarine system you have to read knots rather than mph. Generally speaking, you can troll faster for tuna than if you were strictly targeting white marlin. I stay between 5.5-6.5knts for tuna, depending on conditions, current and the way the spread is looking.
After the first 2 weeks of the tuna season you'll notice a lot of people switch to chunking. As much as I hate it, it's a good way to put some serious meat in the boxes.
So straighten this out for me - are you guys running hooks off the spreader bars or are they teasers? These things look a lot like the umbrellas run for stripers here (which are just school-sized lures).
My squid spreader bar has a hook in the stinger. The 'Bullyhoo' plastic that I lost had hooks in the two outside lures in addition to the stinger. Rig them anyway you wish. In fact try putting together some lures yourself. There's a great deal of satisfaction in landing a fish on something you've cobbled together yourself. For example, I decided to put a clark spoon in a jethead one day and landed a Sailfish with it.
When Tuna fishing, everything that goes into the water will have a hook in it...so spreaders or daisy chains should always have a hook bait at the end...what that hook bait should be is ALWAYS up for debate.
OK, starter spread. I agree with Younger, buy a bag of hoo's and ask someone to show you. By the 12th one, you'll have it down NO problem. It's not rocket science. It does require practice to make them really SWIM well but in less than 12 tries, you can rig a pretty good one I'll bet. Shoot, if you can make your way to VA Beach some time, I'll be glad to show you.
I had a buddy who was experienced and taught me the ropes...but my starter spread (off VA Beach) was:
Bird/Green Machine center long.
Islander or sea witch swimming ballyhoo on the Long and Short riggers (maybe a daisy chain of chuggers or squids mixed in but always a hoo trailer bait).
Cedar plugs on the flat line clips.
Our first trip out to the Canyon, we got one on the GM, a double on the short riggers (hoos) and one on the Cedar plug...so it all produced. All 50-55 pounders.
I ran this spread pretty much my entire first year...every trip produced some Yellowfins...and some nice 50-65 pound buffs at that...also some Wahoo and a few Whitey attacks (no hook-ups)
A seven line spread is pretty easy with outriggers...everything is on the surface so it's pretty easy to keep everything from crossing as long as you don't make very aggressive turns.
I like 6-7.5 knots depending on conditions....but really I look at my baits. When they are coming up for air every 15 seconds or so and then going down for a swim, I feel I'm at the right speed. This will be easier to notice if you use some sort of smoke-trail bait on your riggers.
Now I run much more meat in the spread and minimum of 8 lines...always meat on the flat lines and I run more daisy chains and try to incorporate spreaders if there is a lot of squid around. Last year, Squid spreaders and green machines were hot...this year, who knows.
I agree though, nothing will pass on a ballyhoo...
Beginner trolling spread - tuna, marlin, sails 
They put fish in the boat 
