How To Set Up Fishing Line For Trolling
Small-scale boats can troll up pelagics with the big boys at a fraction of the cost. There's less margin for error, specially if the weather all of a sudden turns against yous, but I've taken scores of diminutive angling boats offshore since the mid-'70s.
Size, of course, is relative. I define "pocket-sized" equally any seaworthy 20- to 27-foot craft (with V bottom, deep freeboard and cockpit, fresh and reliable power, and standard fuel tank that supports eight to 10 hours of cruising range) that can safely transit an inlet and venture at least 20 miles offshore.
Depending on your homeport, your local offshore grounds could put you lot right in the thick of things. Or you might have to reach a bit farther offshore to cross paths with migrating pelagic species. Fortunately, many boats in the same size range are eminently trailerable, so you can follow the fish upwardly and downward the coast to shorten your ride to the promised state.
I rigged upward MarCeeJay No. fourteen, a 228 EdgeWater center-console; all versions take ranged in size from 19 to 27 feet, so I write hither with the do good of five decades of experience on the discipline. I've developed a pretty skilful experience for what works offshore (loosely defined as losing sight of land and landmarks) and what doesn't, so jump on board and let's break downwards what small-scale boat trolling is all nigh.
Trolling is a Proven Fishing Method
Big boat or small-scale, the science of trolling is fairly straightforward just far from uncomplicated. Your vessel's engine(southward) produce a variety of mechanical noises: two-stroke or four-stroke in-h2o exhaust, a chimera trail from the spinning prop as it chews up the seas, and the splashing of the hull as it slides through offshore seas at deportation speeds. In short, your boat produces a white-water wake, interim like a big self-powered teaser.
Pelagic species like tuna, billfish, mahi, wahoo and others drift from faraway waters, and when they pass through an area, they are typically scouting favorable forage conditions at the usual hot spots like wrecks, rock piles, fathom curves, canyon or shelf edges, weed lines, eddies, and areas of whale and porpoise activity, water-color changes and temperature breaks. Simply as with freshwater bass line-fishing, being successful in offshore or distant canyon waters is all most finding fish-accumulation structure and knowing what to practice when y'all find information technology. Trolling at speeds in the vi- to nine-knot range in nearshore and coulee blue waters will bring a variety of baitfish into your wake, showtime out of marvel near the sound and sight of your vessel, and then to leverage the opportunity to hide in the white water, especially if predator fish are in the neighborhood.
Why Trolling Attracts Fish
Why Trolling Attracts Fish
To get a scientific spin on this phenomenon, I reached out to Dr. Mitch Roffer, the founder of Roff'due south Ocean Line-fishing Forecasting Services. Says Roffer, "Both baitfish and pelagics are attracted to the sound and sight of your vessel equally it plows forth at trolling speeds. It's easier for provender and predators to maneuver in and out of the white h2o of your boat'southward slower trolling wake than information technology is at a 25-knot cruising speed.
"Since sound travels five times faster and farther underwater than higher up the waves at sea level," Roffer says, "once baitfish and species that pursue them accept constitute the source of the audio and are drawn in to investigate, the boat wake offers a visual stimulus, providing both shelter and cover-up allowing baitfish to slip in and out of the bubbles and shadows. This helps them avoid being casualty for hungry pelagics, which are too attracted to the sound and sight of a boat'southward trolling wake equally a potential food source, looking for those same baitfish."
I have observed pods and schools of baitfish in my vessel'due south wake on numerous occasions only to see them suddenly and unceremoniously engulfed by the explosion of a hungry tuna, mahi, mako or billfish. Roffer's explanation backs upwards many of my experiences on the water — a mix of the correct baits, trolling patterns and speeds volition attract fish.
Small Boat Trolling Setup
Transforming your twenty- to 27-footer into an efficient trolling fishing setup requires some specific boat additions, particularly in the form of affluent-mount and vertical rod holders. I believe that most boats, even those "built for fishermen," simply practise not accept enough standard rod holders. Experience has taught me that the bare-bones minimum setup for a successful trolling platform requires three flush-mount rod holders per side, with an equal number of vertical rod holders gear up in a leaning post, hardtop or T-top, plus additional vertical rod holders on the hardtop-tower legs.
Installing a few additional rod holders across the transom, in the form of flush-mount units in the transom bulkhead cap or in racks beyond the outboard side of the transom well, will always create a valuable nugget. While 95 pct of small boats probably have minimal difficulties mounting vi affluent rod holders, the vertical-rod-holder part of the equation requires some sort of a fixed top, whether in the form of a hardtop, half-tower, T-top or radar arch.
Hither's the reason additional rod holders are so important: There's non a lot of excess room on a small boat trolling spread, and usable cockpit and storage infinite is at a premium. If you are trolling six or seven rods and 2 of them get hit, what do you practise with the others? Extra setups get reeled in and stowed out of the fashion and so the anglers can fight the fish totally unencumbered, without tripping over or stepping on expensive offshore tackle. Enough rod holders allow a place for everything.
One of my specialties as a boat captain is the ability to troll seven rods in my small gunkhole trolling spread without using outriggers and while avoiding tangles in most ocean and wind weather. Although we'll explore this setup in more item in the following section, I can attain this task through the utilise of two affordable accessories. One is a pair of 0-degree rod holders, which I install on either side in the forwardmost position of the gunwale covering boards.
Small Boat Fishing Storage
The second part of the equation is a set of rod riggers, which tin become by a variety of different merchandise names (currently manufactured past Taco, Smith, Tigress and others), merely all perform the same function. These rod riggers, manufactured from stainless steel, chrome-over-brass or anodized aluminum tubing, are designed to increment the horizontal reach of your trolling baits. They accomplish this task past using the length of the rod to effectively spread the lures or baits apart on either side of your vessel'southward hull, similar to how an outrigger would function, but without the drop-dorsum later on a strike. The rod riggers require a through-bolted metal rod holder as the base of operations and typically characteristic a short length of safety line that attaches to the harness lug of your reel on one end and to a cleat on the reverse end.
I've used rod riggers on my boats for over three decades and volition tell yous that they work but equally advertised. Fifty-fifty though I have a few extra pairs of these every bit backups in my travel kit, I still use original aluminum-tube Reliable Gaff rod riggers purchased in the early 1990s. The rod riggers have contributed to hundreds of tuna, mahi, wahoo, white marlin and other pelagics I've caught off Long Island while by and large trolling for tuna.
Equally a final step to improve the efficiency of your trolling vessel, I would recommend adding a trio of horizontal storage racks under the gunwales — not so much for stowing rods (they get trounce upward downwards there) as for keeping your gaffs, tagging sticks and gunkhole hooks out of the manner. On my boat, I reserve flush-mount, leaning-post and overhead rocket-launcher rod holders for rods.
Create the Best Wake for Trolling When Fishing
You've no uncertainty heard dockside arguments nigh how one angler'south boat has a beautiful trolling wake and brings fish up from the depths like the Pied Piper, while other anglers tin't seem to catch a cold with their trolling efforts. These thoughts might have some credibility when discussing a 50-footer compared to a threescore-footer, each with diesel power that produces a lower-frequency hum. None of that really applies, however, to minor-boat fans limited in their propulsion options. Ninety pct of vessels in the xx- to 27-foot range are outboard powered. That changes the narrative to which sound is more constructive: the sewing-automobile staccato of a two-stroke, or the more than serene exhaust of a four-stroke? The respond is probable a wash.
To determine if the effectiveness of a trolling wake is a major consideration when designing a modest outboard-powered boat, I contacted David Neese, vice president of engineering at Grady-White Boats. With xxx years of experience and dozens of new designs developed under his spotter, Neese is a great source for an honest answer to this question.
"A clean trolling wake is an important aspect of any fishing boat, but information technology'south typically the by-product of other design factors," says Neese. "When designing a new gunkhole, a number of factors are at the superlative of the list, including the vessel'southward constant and variable loads and how these affect the centers of gravity and buoyancy. The consequent strong points of Grady'southward SeaV2 hulls are a soft ride and excellent stability."
I have learned a few tips and tricks that you can apply to control your boat's wake. Conceptually, your vessel is a self-powered teaser, producing a constant stream of bubbles attracting both bait and predators. If your wake produces too much white water, the forage fish might have a great place to hibernate, simply the pelagics will non come across your baits. The ideal small-boat wake produces a jet stream of deep frazzle bubbles from the prop wash, plus a secondary stream of surface bubbling emanating at a 45-caste bending from the outside edges of your boat. Together, these streams are called chine wash.
In theory, you should observe a pair of clean-h2o "lure channels" on either outboard side of the prop wash and inboard of the chine wash. This scenario is the optimum setup — a bubble stream to attract allurement and predators, with clear water on either side of the prop wash for your lures to be clearly seen dancing in the wake. When rigging for tuna trolling, make sure you have those clean-water lanes in your wake.
Raising the trim on your engine outdrives and bringing downward the trim tabs will create more than white water in your boat's wake. Conversely, tucking your engine drives downwardly and taking your trim tabs up will produce less. If y'all take a twin-engine setup and still produce as well much white water even after making these adjustments, tilt one engine out and use the other for trolling to produce less white water.
This wake-adjustment advice is for monohull craft; catamarans are a totally different story. Cats produce white water from one side to some other, courtesy of the props that are set farther outboard, toward the chines, and of a tunnel on the centerline that agitates h2o like a passenger prowl ship. This makes trolling baits and lures close to the transom (which can exist seen by predators) a existent challenge, requiring a totally different trolling approach.
Preferred Modest Boat Trolling Spreads
You'd be amazed, when trolling offshore, how close to your boat'southward transom a hungry pelagic will come to get a meal. I have caught yellowfin, bluefin and wahoo xv anxiety backside the transom, in the starting time wake. The challenge is to go on baits and lures down in the h2o and brand them look natural.
My standard 7-rod trolling setup includes two rods positioned in the aft affluent-mountain gunwale rod holders, prepare in the second wake about 30 to xl feet behind the gunkhole, using brusque flat-line clips such equally AFTCO'south Roller Trollers or Rupp's Zilch Clips. These tin be fastened via a brusk halyard to your boat'south ski or lifting eyes on the transom or aft cleat, or in a pinch, they can exist tied under the reel seat of your trolling rod. But looping the clips effectually the preferred mount will keep it in identify. The flat-line clips perform 2 functions: keeping your bait swimming down the face of the appointed wave in the most natural style, and allowing an audible snap when a predator has taken the bait.
I put a second duo of trolling rods in the centre pair of flush rod holders that are angled 45 degrees outboard and set in the third wake, about 75 to ninety anxiety aft. The lures on these rods are attached to identical apartment-line clips sporting a longer halyard and secured in a similar fashion. A third pair of trolling rods is deployed using the same rod riggers (or outriggers if y'all take them) for boosted separation. These are placed in the 5th wave, which might be anywhere from 125 to 150 feet aft in your gunkhole's wake. A shotgun rod is placed in the hardtop above all of the commotion, and is positioned in the eighth wave or fifty-fifty farther back, with 100 yards behind the boat existence an platonic position.
The Ideal Trolling Setup with Lures
One way to help avert tangles with your flight patterns is to put bird teasers ahead of the long shotgun lure and the rod-rigger lures. This enables you lot to observe the wake and the lures' positions in it, and it helps guide your steering hand when making turns. The all-time trolling pattern for your boat should be limited only past your imagination. If you have both a short and long rigger setup, you should be able to troll upwardly to viii or ix outfits. I like to run a serpentine course, making a slight turn to port or starboard every few hundred yards. This causes baits to drop and dull downward on one side and to ascension and speed up on the opposite side, in addition to making your offerings swim in and out of the white water.
The ideal trolling lure setup volition vary from trip to trip, based on the fourth dimension of the flavor and bachelor forage. My setup includes Stalker Jets upward close; either squid or Green Automobile spreader bars or daisy chains on the second set of rods; single Green Machines, skirted ballyhoo or daisy chains off the rod riggers; and my all-time favorite, a big bird and Green Motorcar running 100 yards aft. You tin can choose to mix and match dredges, bars, ballyhoo or whatever based on where you call homeport and the intended species, simply the bespeak is to brand equally much commotion in your wake as possible to bring the fish up from the depths to your spread.
If I'm looking for wahoo, I might eschew the baits running in the second moving ridge and movement a pair of Braid Marauders, Little Speedies or Yo-Zuri Bonitas upwardly into the first-wave position xv to 20 feet aft of the transom. If you're lucky enough to claw up using these outfits, be prepared for a trigger-happy strike.
When blest by fishable weather, small boats can troll with the large boys about days. Utilize some of the tips and techniques discussed here to improve your score offshore.
Marine Electronics Help When Trolling
I contacted Si-Tex's sales manager, Allen Schneider, to go a feel for how small-boat anglers can utilize electronics to ameliorate their score offshore. Schneider suggests that fishermen add an automatic identification organisation (AIS) receiver to their vessel, not just for safety reasons when operating in the aircraft lanes, but to grab more fish.
As of March 2022, all littoral draggers were required to have an AIS transponder on board. It's a potential bonanza for small-scale-boat trollers, since we all know that one of the rules offshore is that finding the draggers helps find the fish! Si-Tex's Metadata dual-aqueduct AIS receiver is reasonably priced and hooks up easily to your preferred nautical chart plotter via an NMEA 2000 or 0183 connection.
Jeff Kauzlaric, from Furuno The states, mentions that "while bathymetric charts are all the rage for offshore and canyon anglers, deep drop-offs and radical edges can cause those curves to jam upward into unintelligible blackness lines on your nautical chart plotter's screen." One way to solve this problem is to use depth shading, a feature establish on most Furuno NavNet and TZtouch MFDs. Depth shading allows the operator to color-code different depth contours to pigment a much clearer picture show, which is especially useful on the smaller display-screen sizes found on pocket-size boats.
Source: https://www.sportfishingmag.com/small-fishing-boat-trolling/
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