I encountered a solid weedline/color change today in 180-280 ft of water and proceeded to drag three baits and a squid chain up and down it for a couple hours as that’s all I could find without running 15 more miles to the wall. Saw a ton of glass minnows under the weeds, plenty of ballyhoo and a few dolphin but only caught 1 sailfish off of it. It got me wondering, how would most people approach fishing a weedline?
What side would you troll along if it were a drastic color change, clean or dirty? Do you stay “nut to butt” close to it or troll 10 yards off? If the line is parallel to the current would you troll into or with the current? Do you tend to only drag baits on top or use a diving plug/down rigger/planer to fish deeper?
If you encounter a piece of debris (ie- log, pallet, Cuban raft, refrigerator, etc) floating by itself, would you have a preferential way to approach it (ie- into the current, across the current, with the current, etc)?
Any other tips?
I live in the Lower Keys so the conditions are somewhat different, but I figure offshore techniques are relatively universal, at least when it comes to debris and weeds.
Try it all, when it comes to fish, they are like a woman, highly unpredictable! Dolphin are sight feeders, so one would think the “cleaner” water would yield better, but temp would play into it and also where the bait is hanging out as well. When it comes to current direction, you are still trolling at the same speed thru the water no matter which direction you are going so unless it’s a more stationary upwelling that’s causing the color change I’ve never really noticed a difference seeing as how one is usually trolling in deep water. Same goes with trolling around junk found in the water, technically it is not moving in the water just drifting with the current.
A lot of times I’ll pick which direction to troll a weed line. color change based on which direction gives me better visibility with the sun or which direction looks to have larger sized patties. Usually try to run the outboard rigger right up next to the weed line as much as practical without fouling lure every 2 minutes, with that said, usually seem to catch the bigger lone bulls cruising about 50-100 yards off of weed lines and not right up against them. With solitary junk floating in the water sometimes it seems fish won’t come out from under it untill you drag a bait allmost over the top of it.
Cograts on the sail the other day!
Russ B. www.joinrfa.org
God is great, Beer is good, People are crazy
It it’s an object like a pallet or a single large mat, then I like to go upwind of it and shut everything off and be blown up to it.
You need to use the sonar and try to get some stuff deep this time of year if you see them. P nuts look similar to B liners on the screen… Larger dolphin have a different more flat arch look as well and sometimes are pretty close to the bottom. Dolphin will follow stuff like a butterfly jig up if not fully hooking up on it.
Trolling wise, different stuff at dif. times just like Russ said. Have seen them jumping out of the water to get to a spread from 100yds away, and have seen them not even respond to baits running 10ft away.
I can tell you this, if you find fish, they will eventually bite if you have the patience to either wait for them or try enough things to get them going.
Speed or lack thereof sometimes triggers them into biting. Have thrown a handfull of cut bait out to a wad of dolphin and have it sink right through the school and no response whatsoever. Drop a bait down on a line and jerk it a couple times as fast as possible and three or four fish will compete over it!