Lures with Plastic and Feathered Skirts
In my past 2 articles "Trolling Dynamics for Small Ski-Boats" which covers the various types of lures and basic Spreads and "Rigging up for Trolling Part 1" which covered lipped type lures. In this article I will cover lures with Plastic and Feathered skirts specifically for targeting Game Fish, Marlin is a different subject on its own and I am not covering this in this article, although many of these methods will work for Marlin.
The tackle used for these lures could be 12lb, 20lb, 30lb or even 50lb tackle for general game fishing, the rigging would be the same and just the line class and tackle will change.
Rods & Rod Positions
For trolling these types of lures I prefer a shorter stockier type rod and these lures are best trolled with the rods standing up in flush gunnel rod holders. I like these rods between 5'6" and 6'0" in length and they must be stiff.
The shorter stiffer rod is going to allow your lures to be pulled more consistently through the water especially at higher speeds as a softer or longer rod will let your lures jump all over and your line can easily wrap around the rod tip which could make you feel very unpleasant when you loose you catch and have a broken rod.
The rods need to stand in an upright position to allow the correct action to be imparted to the lure and minimise line drag.
Lines and Leaders
On this type of trolling setup I prefer to use a high visibility line followed by a 10m clear wind on leader. Typically for a 12lb set up I use a 50lb leader, 20lb I use a 100lb leader, on a 30lb I use a 150lb leader and 50lb I use a 200-300lb leader.
On my main line I make a 600mm loop with a Bimini twist, and then join this loop to the Dacron of the wind on leader with a 5 turn improved Cats Pawl.
At the end of my leader I add a heavy duty swivel snap with a breaking strain at least 30% higher than my leader breaking strain and I make a small loop with a 4 turn figure of eight knot to join the snap swivel to the leader.
It is important that you use high quality snap swivels that can clip over properly.
I make my own wind on leaders. The high visibility line will allow you to see your lines when you are trolling.
Lure Leaders
On my lures I like this leader to be 2.0m long, and on a smaller ski-boat this is important as you do not have the space to work with a long leader when handling the leader when the fish is by the boat.
This leader breaking strain will depend on the lure you are using and on the tackle you are using to troll this lure, it is pointless pulling a tiny feather with a 100lb on a 50lb rig, and you also cannot pull a large Bonito Smoker on 12lb tackle, and so you must match you lures to your tackle. Typically here in KZN 20-30lb tackle is the norm and personally I use 20lb when fishing closer to shore in the shallows and 30lb when going deeper.
On the 20lb tackle my lure leaders can be from 100lb up to 200lb and on my 30lb from 150lb to 300lb.
I do not like to use any steel on my lure leaders even when fishing for Wahoo.
Hook Rigs
There are many different way to rig your hooks.
On smaller lures I like a single dangling hook with beads for the spacing tied directly to my lure leader.
On medium size lures I like using a Pro-Rig which is 2 fixed opposing faced hooks on wire cable to which the leader is connected, this connection will be in the head of the lure and so it is all steel where the fish bites. These double hook Pro-Rigs also help your lure with swimming balance. You can also use a single hook stiff rig although I am not a big fan of them and it is important with this rig to set the hook upright by fixing the rig into the head.
On larger lures a chain gang is the best, and again this must be fixed into the head of the lure, you can also use a Pro-Rig here or a double hook stiff rig with the hooks at 90 degrees to each other.
CAUTION: Using any double hook rig can be dangerous especially to the person handling the leader and chain gangs are the worst for causing injuries, for those who are still learning or have inexperienced crew single hook rigs are a much better place to start.
TIP: Once you have gaffed you fish, put him directly into the fish hatch from the water with someone opening this as you gaff and with the lure still attached to him close the lid, then unclip the lure and replace with another one and reset your spread. Later once the fish is dead and not slapping around you can retrieve your lure. This will go a long way to eliminating injuries.
Lure positions in the Spread
In your wake and prop wash there are certain key areas to place your lures, I call this the strike zone. Do not feed your lures out far behind the boat, the fish are attracted to your prop wash and wake.
Typically I will run 4, 5 or 6 lures in a spread depending on conditions, more wind means less lines so in bad conditions I only run 4 lines but in excellent conditions I will run 6.
I call my positions as follows:
- Short outrigger Usually 28m behind the boat
- Long outrigger Usually 30m behind the boat
- Short corner Usually 20m behind the boat
- Long corner Usually 22m behind the boat
- Shotgun Usually 40m behind the boat
- Prop wash Usually 12-15m behind the boat
You need to plan your lures and where you put them and do not just put any lure in any position, in windy or bad conditions I will only run the outriggers and corners and in my opinion these are the hottest positions in the spread. The smaller lures must be further back on the outriggers and shotgun positions and the larger lures closer in on the corners and prop wash positions.
A nice spread that covers most species from Dorado, Wahoo, Tuna and Sailfish is as follows:
- 5-7 inch feathers on the outriggers with or without birds
- Bad little Darters or Sailfish Catchers on the corners with or without a daisy chain ahead
- Dorado Catcher, Sailfish Catcher or Large Feather on the Shot gun, always runs with a bird.
- Diamond Coyote in the prop wash
Trolling Speeds
These types of lures like to be pulled fast and you can vary the speeds according to the species you want to target.
- 6-7 knots Tuna & Dorado
- 7-8 knots Dorado & Sailfish
- 8-9 knots Sailfish & Wahoo
- 9-10 knots Wahoo & Marlin
Some tips when trolling that work for me. Run your motors at different speeds about 1000rpm apart as this will create harmonic frequencies that will attract fish to your boat. Run one motor trimmed up high and the other trimmed down low.
Troll in a zig zag pattern when going directly into the swell or in a following sea as this keeps the lures down better and when you change direction some lures speed up whilst others slow down which can induce a strike.
Lure Colours
It is true when they say bright lures in bright conditions and dark lures in dark conditions, but water colour also plays an important role.
If you are unsure mix up your spread, typically run bright colours on one side of the boat and darker or more natural colours on the other side.