Hey Y’all,
I am relatively new to the offshore trolling world. I have been bottom fishing for the last few years but I want to start trolling for Dolphin, Tuna, and most importantly Sailfish. I understand the basic premise of stick baits behind the boats and troll at 3-6 mph. I was hoping someone could provide a more comprehensive explanation tackle, rigs, what I should be looking for, bait ect.
I appreciate the advice in advance.
What kind of boat are you running? How far out are you comfortable? Do you have outriggers?
I just moved here from NJ where I have a 30’ Everglades. We could get into mahi and Tuna anywhere from 30 - 70 miles out. Would change up the spread but usually started with something like daisy chains on the outside of the riggers, naked or skirted Ballyhoo on the middle riggers. More ballyhoo directly behind the boat as well as a deep diver often a Rapala 30+ and then a cedar plug just back of the propwash. 6-7 lines in total.
I’m interested in hearing how everyone sets up their spread here.
Tight Lines!
I’ve seen a Sailfish caught at 10 Mile Reef, out of Murrels Inlet, years ago.
Although, I doubt I’d try for them there.
We’ve hooked into a few, on accident, while trolling the Ledge, for Dolphin, too.
My thought would be not to overthink the spread too much, just fish the productive areas, that seem to produce the Sailfish.
Nice to see a post in the Offshore Discussion again!
Let’s see where it goes from here…
Welcome to the site ramer1, and nice to see you back, camdenroll!!
Most of the weekend warriors here catch them by accident when mahi fishing. In the heat of the summer, the sails can add up in good numbers if you happen to get in the right spots. If I was specifically targeting sailfish, I would be looking at smaller ballyhoo with minimal skirting and lighter leaders. If you find good bait offshore or birds working or good floating structure, troll that stuff and stick around. The game fish will be there. Guys swear by dredges too; we never ran them because we were 99.9% of the time just meat fishing.
When you start trolling the stream regularly, time on the water will get you hookups on billfish. Keep catching the mahi/kings/wahoo, and the sails will follow. Figure out what rpm on your boat equals 6 knts and stick to that. Kings like it slow, wahoo like it fast, but they all will eat it at 6 knts.
Haddrells used to do an offshore trolling seminar that was always very informative, but I haven’t been to one of those in several years. Its worth a look to see if there are any seminars coming up. You always learn at those things and even if you’re a seasoned pro, there’s always a tidbit or two to take away from them.
Good luck and be sure to post up some reports when you go!!