Trolling
For those of you who are not too familiar with the sport of fishing, here is some additional information.
Trolling is placing your lures in the water with your boat in gear and letting the speed of your boat decide the action of the lure. One of the big keys to consistent success is a good spread of lures, which gets all the lures you are allowed to run into the water without tangling. This spread covers a broad range of depths, distances from the boat, lure style and color.
We troll with four lines in the water at the same time. One line is hooked onto a downrigger with an 8-pound weight, which keeps the lure deep. Two other lines are hooked on outriggers, which fall off to the sides of the boat but are basically skimming the top of the water. The last line is pulled behind the boat also at surface level. We may adjust these lures by adding on weight or lures with steelheads.
Interested in learning more about trolling line preparation, download this Trolling Handbook.
We use Ballyhoo for bait and a wide variety of lures.
.jpg "Ballyhoo is a baitfish of the halfbeak family - Wikimedia")
Ballyhoo
Trolling is a patient sport. The boat moves through the water pulling the lines in hopes of attracting the larger billfish; sailfish, mackerel, mahi-mahi, marlin and sometimes large barracuda.
When trolling it is important to watch the rods as they are being pulled because as the fish attack the bait, the tip of the rod will bend toward the water.
Sometimes the clicker on the reel does not go off when a fish is biting, so the bending of the rod is important to watch.
However, when that noisy clicker does go off you can feel the adrenaline rush in you blood as the Captain and mate take their positions for possibly bringing in "the big one."
After hearing that clicker go off you will begin the task of reeling in your catch which could take a half-hour or more.
Trolling is exciting, but again, it is patience too.
