Started trolling in 15-18 feet of water with Barramundi Maulers. First fish was a 12" Rock Bass. Next fish was big, really big. Could barely do anything with him and he got tangled in the other bait. Got him to the boat but he had other ideas. SNAP!
Re-bait.
10 minutes later. We are completing a turn and I see a small tap. As soon as the line came tight again, bam, another huge fish. Couldn't do anything with this one either. Broke him off way back. OK, time for stouter tackle. Re baited this time with a CD-18 Rapala in blue fire tiger, same color as the lost mauler. 10 minutes later we had a 30" 11 pound gag in the box. Another pass over a spot, bam, another huge fish, and I can barely move this fish. Had to get on top of him to pull him up. When he finally came up, I found out why. Ever tried pulling a bucket through the water? Well, that's what its like trying to pull a foul hooked 31" gag up too.
A few more passes produced a 4# spanish and two short gags. The last fish came on the shorter CD Rapala, and it was a nice 8 pound gag. All the while, we are finding great bottom on Tin Can's new Garmin 240 Fishfinder. Folks if you want a great B/W bottom machine, this is the one. On several of the fish we caught or hung, we saw the fish on the machine with the big arch like they show you on the ads before we hung them. I really think the bottom machine was key today.
The winds and seas never did hit the South @ 10. It ended up East @ 15 with 2-4's. We just couldn't hang in that any more. We didn't catch many fish today, but it is a trip that I will not soon forget. I had a blast!
What kind of rod and reel and line weight do you use to troll that size lure?
