These types of lures work best when pulled as fast as you can, but in many cases they are always popping out of the water which means that they are not swimming correctly.
When rigging up these lures I have found that heavy leaders simply do not work with these lures as the drag created by these heavy lines upsets the movement of the lure and does not allow them to get to their designed depth and they keep on "losing their balance" and come popping up out of the water. The smaller the lure; the bigger the problem.
The method that I now use is working well and I can pull these lures as fast as 8 knots without any problems, the smaller lures (Under 10cm) may be limited to 6 or 7 knots.
I use a No. 7 stainless trace wire (No. 5 wire for lures under 10cm) and I prefer wire with a brown colour to it. I use a haywire twist to join the wire to the lure with a large loop so the wire does not interfere with the lures movement, and then make the wire 300-400mm long and with a haywire twist and a very small loop tie on a small swivel, I like the Centro size 14 swivel which is rated 80lbs and is really small.
When tying your haywire twist ensure you doe this properly with 3-4 loose twists of both sides around each other and then 4-5 tight wraps of the tag wire, a all times make sure there is no kink.
From there I tie my main line 20-30lb's directly to the swivel using a figure of eight knot and use no leader at all, so far even for toothy fish like Wahoo and King Mackerel I have had no problems and the longer steel wire compensates more than sufficient for this.
Ensure that your lures are tracking straight by running them next to the boat and if needed you can tune them by ever so slightly bending the wire loop from the lure that the ring attaches to the nose of the lure in the opposite direction.
These lipped lures can be classed into two main categories:
- Shallow Runners
- Deep Runners
Shallow Runners
These are lures that run between 1-3m below the surface of the water, the two I use most are the Rapala X-Rap Splash Baits and the Halco Laser Pro's and I prefer these two brands because I have found that they swim the best compared to other types I have tried.
Shallow runners are the most difficult to keep from popping out and so it is important that you set them up properly.
I use the Rapala X-Rap Splash Bait from size 10 up to size 14, the size 14's are very easy to set up and get going whilst the size 10's need to be properly tweaked to getting performing at their peak. The size 10 is my favourite and has accounted for many a fine fish on my boat but they do need to be modified before you use them. The hooks are not strong enough but the lure does have a wire going all the way through the body and so I beef up the split rings to a heavier gauge and I fit thicker hooks like 2X or even 3X of the same size or you can go one size up, and I tie my wire directly to the lure without the split ring. Doing this will ensure that you land the big one when you hook him up without the hook opening out.
Halco Laser Pro's come with a pair of interchangeable lips and I prefer to use the deeper lip as here you can attach your wire directly to the nose of the lure and not risk losing a fish because the lip came off.
The best position for the shallow runners in your spread is just on the edges of your prop wash in your wake line 5 25m behind your boat with closer having produced more fish than those placed further back and 15m being an optimum distance. In fact I have run them 3m behind the boat and had hook ups on several occasions. You also need to set your drag reasonable loose.
Deep Runners
These are lures that run from 3m to 10m below the surface of the water.
There are many to choose from and although these are easier to pull at a high speed compared to the shallow runners they also need to be tuned to track straight. Most of these lures come with a solid ring, but for those that have a split ring remove it and tie your wire directly leaving a large loop. On the smaller X-Raps I also like to change the hooks and split rigs to heavier ones.
With these lures the more line you let out the deeper they run and so you can run them from 5m to 50m behind your boat. When running them close they work best right in your prop wash and also under your prop wash.
You can enhance the depth that these lure run by adding weight into your line, I do this by adding a 16 or even 24 ounce trolling sinker 2,5m ahead of the lure and then I use 80lb line from sinker to lure with 300mm of No. 10 wire and tie my main line to the trolling sinker. Not only does this get your lure swimming deeper but it also allows you to run them faster up to 15 knots which means that you can use these with your Feathers, Bullet Heads, Jet heads and Kona's.
Rod Position
The best angle for your rod when trolling these lures is as flat as possible, bearing in mind that you cannot run all your rods at the same angle and so will work with +5 degrees to a maximum of +30 degrees depending on your position with the rods closest to the centre of your boat being the flattest and those lures running the closest to the boat and the rods on the sides of the boat and a larger angle and the lures running further back. This is done to allow you to do turns without your lines crossing and causing tangles.
With these lures I can easily run a spread of 5 6 lures without them getting tangles or you can mix them with Kona's, Feathers etc. and run up to 9 lines although I do not like pulling that many lines and often run 4 of these and 2 feathers or bullet heads on my out riggers to cover the surface action. Expect many, many multiple hook ups when trolling like this and take note that when the first line goes not to slow down and wait a few seconds for the others to go, then start tightening the drags a little before you take the rod out the holder and only start slowing down when the anglers are already fighting their fish, do not stop just slow down to 2 3 knots fighting the fish hooked on the lures that where running closest to the boat first, this will mostly keep the lines directly behind the boat and keep the fish from tangling up with each other.