Groupa Trollin'

[beatswork]

Normally when I go out I anchor and drop bait, but the last couple of times I've really tried to get into this trolling. When offshore I rarely go past 40-45' of water. I have used both the stretch 25 and 30 with no success. I'm going by their recommandations concerning speed and amount of line out (4 knts. and 150' of line). I've had the rod bend a few times but never pull anything up. Sometimes the lure comes up and starts skipping across the water behind me. One person said a had the drag locked down to tight and was probably ripping it of their mouths. I loosened the drag last time I went out, the rod bent and before I could get the rod out of the holder I was spooled. Bye Bye $10.00 lure. Here's my questions-

1. How tight do you have your drag set? If I'm bottom fishing I have it hammered down and that works well.

2. Do you use wire leader in case of kings or other toothy predatores? What pound test do you use for leader material?

3. Any recommendations on color?

Thanks for your help.

[Good Times]

I've used the red head stretch with 50# Ande mono leader for kings. Worked well for us. Had the drag set just tight enough for the lure not to pull it off when trolling. Trolled at about 3-4 MPH. I have also used the silver and black and chartreuse and blue. The red and white caught almost all of our fish.

[beatswork]

I have 50# on my reels, a swivel, another foot or so of 50# attached to the stretch. That's about how tight my drag was set when I got spooled.

What kind of test do you have on your reels?

[Good Times]

30# test on the reel. You must have hooked a smoker for them to spool you that fast. Maybe a Tuna. I'm using about 3-4 feet of leader under that barrel swivel.

You can see my set up in this pic

[Tom Keels]

65# Power Pro, swivel, 4 feet of 80# leader, snap swivel. No need for wire.

Troll 3-5 mph, with powerpro you need much less line out to get the bait down.

Clicker should be on, and drag should be just tight enough where you can pull drag with your hand (while the bait is out). Once you have a hookup have the other folks in the boat reel and jerk the other baits in at the same time.

[beatswork]

Thanks for the suggestions.

[macdaddy]

I talked to Mann's in Alabama on tuning the stretches and the 25's are more subject to get out of tune than the 30's. thats probably why your lure is coming out of the water. ( thats why i called mann's !)On the first drop of the lure i will run it out 20' or so and watch the lure to see which way it tracks, it should track directly behind the rod. To tune it get yourself a small pair of channel locks 6"-8" and put one jaw on one side of the plastic lip and the other jaw on the eyelet and bent it in the opposite direction the lure is running and re-check. 25's don't need but a very small amount of bending for correct tracking, 30's some what more bending. Hope this helps.

[CATCH 22]

Dito on what Big Tom said, Bright colors in stained water, dark colors in clear. Red/white works well also.

[Double Naught]

Use a rod with some wiggle in the tip. You need to see that tip wiggle. When it stops, ya' got grass on the plug. The old mopstick grouper digger is more than you need for trolling and it won't normally tell you what you want to know.
The softer tip also gives a little to help keep those hooks from tearing out on the strike. This becomes even more important if you use the braided fiber lines that don't stretch.

I hope this helps.