Anyone have much luck with this technique for trolling? One of those Darcizzle videos popped-up about how to prepare the strips which looks pretty simple and common in Florida. Not sure if this is used much around here.
I used strips a lot. Most of those fancy lures are made to catch fishermen. strips put some shine & scent in the water- and that scent is something they understand from a local fish.
Using belly strips for trolling is not really common around here because it is so easy to get brined and frozen ballyhoo and you’re not really guaranteed to catch multiple bonita (little tunny/skip jack/bonito) each trip to have something to rig.
You could probably use dolphin bellies the same way, since they are pretty plentiful during the summer, but the whole salt/freeze processing deal would be a big downside and probably not worth the trouble.
Sword baits might be a different story.
Just my $.02…
“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations,neither are you here to live up to mine” Peter Tosh - I Am That I Am
Just got back from Panama and they are the go to pitch bait for sailfish. Caught tuna and dolphin on them as well. They even troll them.
Sabalo 21 150 Yamaha
Key West Stealth 150 V-max (SOLD)
Some of the best baits can be strip baits but no one wants to go to the trouble, mullet strip and spainish always seem to catch wahoo’s. everything eats squids but very few people troll with them. Buying ballyhoo just to easy, Lots of old salts pull different kinds of bait
We tried trolling bonito strips for the first time this year. The answer is yes, they do work very well and are very resilient tough baits. You need to bait them behind something with a weighted head, we found the bullet head Ilanders to work best. You just need to get some malin wire and wrap it around the shank of the hook so that the strip has something to hold on to. The action it provides is incredible. Baitmasters sells them in packs of 4, they aren’t cheap but they are very nice baits, ~$13.
Sea//Quencer
27’ Gamefish
Learn to split tail a mullet and pull the back bone with an auto antenna.
Just got back from the keys and the bonito were in a frenzy one day off Molasses reef. We picked up the bottom rigs and trolled some feathers and tuna chuggers and caught 4. One got off at the boat but the 3 we brought back created 25 strips. We cut some too thin on the meat or would’ve had more. We had roughly $75 worth of bait in those 3 bonito. Had we started trolling for them from the get go we would’ve had 10+ fish and tons of future baits. Dad and I love to troll them. They last forever and draw aggressive strikes.
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Mike Martinez
"Team Hookers Dream”
2017 Robalo R302 twin 300 yams “Roballin”