Drag settings for pelagic trolling

[bugman]

Gents,

Had the first attempt at trolling for offshore pelagics (billies) on the weekend. Only had one hit but it occured to me as I was setting the lines up that I didn't know what do do with the drag settings.

On the lever drag reels should you set the reel into strike while trolling in order to set the hooks when the fish grabs the lure - or do you have the drag set lighter and strike the fish after 5 secs of the first run or so?

I was doing the later and thought it may have been responsible for the no hook-up on my single strike.

Thanks in advance

Bugman

[Ratman]

Bugman,

As far as I know , you set the drag on strike for lures and a drop back set up for live baits or have your rachet on and give them a few seconds before striking. I've only caught or seen three caught and both were on resin head pushers and all were on strike drag. Hope that helps.

Mick

[cheno]

Strike set at about a third of the breaking strain of the line as measured off the rod tip with scales is probably the best way to go for lures as a start. You could go a little heavier sometimes if you wish but you do risk a bustoff. I have not experimented with the light drag option except with baits. I would probably be more convinced of using that methos of teh lure was "spiced" with a strip of flesh or casth scent for example thereby hopefully increasing the amount of time it takes the fish to realise that the baitfish it has hit is in fact bogus.

Also, others may have differing opinions but I like to just keep trolling along for a good while (30s or so ) after getting strike. It keeps line pressure on the fish and helping to set the hooks, increases the chances of getting a double hookup ;D and also once well hooked gives you time to clear the decks to fight the fish.

hope this helps

cheno

[vertico]

When we used to troll for wahoo around hutchies, when a strike or 2 occurred the boat was instantly put up on the plane or if already on plane accelerate for a few seconds to hook the fish and pull the fish from the school. As cheno said drag should be around 1/3 of the breaking strain of the line and we always had the lever drag reels set to strike.

[wessel]

Sometimes we are just unlucky on the strike I reckon. A 30% hookup rate on strike with marlin is considered good according to the pro's.

[Sportfish_5]

Vertico - I do the same regarding the acceleration on to the plane but I do it because I reckon you have more chance of gettin hit on any other lines as it would be a normal reaction for bait to flee once a toothy hits. If any other hoo are travellin with your hooked one then hopefully you will get a double :P :P :P

Cheers

Greg

[jeffo]

cant see any point in accelerating once a fish is hooked and not jumping at you... keeping the same speed till all the gear is in is a common practice. we usually stop the boat once the fish is well and truely hooked, gear is cleard in no time flat and we have not put exccess line in the water unnessisarily.

[damons33]

i find if i don't set a hook immediately on the hit i don't end up on that fish so i set the drag 1/3 or a tad more. i don't slow down untill the fish is off and running then i slow to 1000rpm whilest the gear is cleared then i back up to shorten the line lenght on the fish and fight em' close as possible! this enables us to use more drag then normal, using 6kg line every ounce counts!lol
wessel my hookup rate would be about 25% with bills using light line and sl12s' hooks can't wait to use the pakula designed light tackle "katana hooks" then i reckon it will be better again.
damon

[jeffo]

on lures in the past few weeks we are 7 from 10 i think... on 6kg. had a much better hook up rate on lures than on baits :-/

[vertico]

Thats just what we did to make sure the wahoo were hooked up. We also got several double and triple hookups of wahoo, which was exciting. I think out of all 10 wahoo we got one day we only lost one which bit through the wire.

[bugman]

Thanks gents,

I'm kicking myself now I didn't have the reels at the strike setting. It's funny because I didn't think about it until after I'd lost the first fish and then realised I'd probably made a mistake.

There's always next time

Bugman

[Leo_N.]

I have missed quite a few strikes on mackeral when fishing in the strike position, but have had a better success rate when the lure is trolled with just enough drag to stop line from feeding out and the ratchet on. When hooked up I like to keep motoring at the same pace for about 10 sec to keep the line tight, then slow down and try to remove the rod from the holder as the fish takes it's first run. I focus on keeping a tight line, and letting the fish hook itself rather then really striking or motoring hard and risking pulling the lure out of its mouth. I have been told that it is a different story with billfish though, as they have a hard mouth that takes some power to hook into well.

[vertico]

prolly some very very very sharp hooks would help :)

[mackmauler]

all taken care of ;D ;D

[Mortalkombat]

We use 3 kilos of drag for 8 kg line once the fish is hooked we go to sun set which is 5 kg on the Tiagra 16s we use gami SL12s and they are sharp we put anode tape on them to keep the point. You will not hook all the bills you raise they have BONY mouths a 50 % hookup rate is good. Check you drag every time you go! out attention to detail and not cutting corners is the art of game fishing.
Nick

[damons33]

you people in game boats make it all look so easy!
art.....haha
70% hook up ratio on billfish ........ artist!
so how many hook ups today jeffo/mib 7/1/05?
damon

[magicpudding]

On lures our hookup rate is a bit over 50%, but its less with blue's on heavy tackle. Like nick said, fish strike at 3kg and up it as soon as you feel comfortable. *drooling over the TI-16* The fish won't come back for a second bite if the hooks prick it, so everything's got to be prepared well.

Whatever you do, don't ask rob how to livebait for billies ;)

cj

[jeffo]

damon- 1 from 1 on a black today.

[cheno]

From billfish strikes since the week before xmas my boat is
9-6-3.

Small numbers so far and meaningless to make any (statistical) claims about them until the final released figure is at least well into the tens given an expected catch rate of 25% or above. This is due to the huge variance in a boats success among trips.

cheno

[cheno]

Actually guys I'm happy use some of my statistical skills for good instead of evil. If you are interested in knowing the average catch rate from hookups then send in your results from as many days fishing that you have this summer.

Best to confine it to billfish strikes that you have visually or otherwse confirmed. Don't tally them up but send me the success rates for each days. i.e

day 1: 3-3-3
day 2: 4-0-0
etc.

Its important to do this because that will enable the calculation of the variability in success.

cheno

[whiteman]

I chase fingermark and coral trout as well as the usual palegics and I find the lightest possible drag setting works really well. If I loose one it's usually when I pick up the rod but I've had a really good hit rate of late.

I keep the trebles really sharp and have swapped to 4x Teflon coated hooks which seem to work better than the standards.