I’m fairly new to South Carolina. We move here from the gulf coast of TX three years ago. I have fished offshore most of my life. However, we don’t have the billfish population in TX that you have on the east coast. I have fished out of Charleston 10 - 12 times over the last two years, and have yet to see a billfish in my pattern, but have caught a ton of mahi and a few wahoo. I have tried trolling large black bart lures / islanders, etc with medium size ballyhoo. I haven’t used any type of teaser other than squid daisy chains. Can someone give me a basic marlin lure pattern, and let me know if I should be fishing the large lures without ballyhoo or with horse ballyhoo, etc.
I am no marlin fisherman,but have hooked up with more than enough during my 25+ years deep-sea fishing.Its all about location.Hell,I had more hookups on old fashioned SeaWitches than anything else.Location,location,location
Just a few tips that might help,
Every lure head is diferent and its action all depends on the speed pulled and length behind the boat to get the proper action. A good rule of thumb is fish your bigger lures closer to the boat and your smaller lures father back, and when I say farther back I DON"T mean a way back as if your pulling hoos.
When you test a spread out and spend hours figuring out the right distance behind the boat that a lure requires then place a mark on your line with a magic marker or use tag line hangers to mark your position, a PROPER hookset in a lure makes a big difference as well. There is alot more to lure fishing then this but maybe this will help you get started