Lures keep skipping when trolling

[no eye deer]

G'day,

When I troll at say 2 knots plus, my larger lures rated at 3 metres plus and beyond, keep popping out of the water. If I slow to under 2 knots, they are fine.The lures are Halco LazerPros etc.
When I troll a Bomber, they are good.

It happens when trolling WITH the current (6-8 knots). I usually troll with a fairly upright rod, and 30- 60 metres behind the boat.

What am I doing wrong?

Mark

[Scalem]

Are you placing your rods in the standard rod holders supplied with the boat? Or are you placing the rods in fitted rod holders that decrease the angle of the rod to the waterline?

I myself have had trolling tubes which slot into existing rod holders, professionally made, which bring the rod tip right down and out to the side of the boat.

Depending on your reply I might get time to post up a photo for you later.

Scalem

[no eye deer]

Thanks Scalem,

Yeah, I put my rods into rod holders that I put into the corners of the transom. They keep the rods upright.

I am used to trolling in Top end rivers, not the sea, and certainly not in these currents.

Mark

[lethal098]

TRy attaching your line to the handle of your reel with rubber band, this will bring the line down a lot lower and should reduce the skipping effect you are having, we do this when trolling in sloppy seas to keep the lures in the water.

Cheers Lee

[Winf]

I have had the same problem with some of the recent (last 6 months or so) purchases of lazer pro 190 crazy deeps. Have had to correct by bending the tow eye on the lure and slowing down more than my usual troll speed. http://www.ansaqld.com.au/tips-and-t...ning_lures.pdf Have had no problem with the standard 190s. Don't remember ever having problems with the crazy deeps before.

I thought it may have been due to me replacing the trebles with singles. Sometimes I need to bend the tow eye quite radically to correct them rather than the usual small tuning adjustments sometimes required.

Mentioned this to the local tackle shop guy (he uses a treble on the front and a single on the rear) and he had experienced the same problem and other customers had mentioned to him also. He was going to get in touch with Halco. Haven't heard anything back yet.

I haven't bought any crazy deeps for a while now and have been using Bushys Stiffy 5-8 metre Mack Maulers with singles for my deep divers with no problems.

Winf

[LostNearBribie]

Certainly sounds like the lure mate.
Lethals suggestion is a ripper.

[Scott nthQld]

yep Lethal idea is good, gets the line down at a better angle, and for those pesky fish that will sometimes hit and follow, is a good strike indicator when the rubber band breaks

[FNQCairns]

It can help to decrease size or existence even of terminal tackle like wire/swivels/snaps etc that are in the water, line and trace diameter matters too, finally single hooks instead of trebbles and a the terminal at the lure knot that allows some freedom of movement....many do not need strictly terminal tackle here unless changing lures often.

[brisbane_boy]

the eyelet shape on a halco is square cut, it can jam the split rings esp the large size they use, check the eyelets on the bomber for comparison, it can be overcome by changing split rings usually down a size and increasing quality.

[marto78]

TRy attaching your line to the handle of your reel with rubber band, this will bring the line down a lot lower and should reduce the skipping effect you are having, we do this when trolling in sloppy seas to keep the lures in the water.

Cheers Lee

Make sure its a pretty thin rubberband and that you dont have much too much drag set as you may have the same problem as me last season when I hooked upto a 30cm bonito and snapped the tip off my rod

[lethal098]

Marto,

thats right, it is enuf to keep the line there, thats it, once a strike happens it should break away instantly.

cheers Lee

[sambos]

Ive had problems when ive used a fair size snap swivel it must affect the water flow over the bib of the lure .Try givin it the flick if ya usin one.

[samson]

Certain batches of the laser pros are duds whether it's the ones made in china or aus i'm not sure though since they started cutting corners and putting weaker hooks on them and stuffing up the split rings when assembling them the quality has suffered usally 2 out of 10 are duds but if you order a batch of 50 customs sometimes the whole lot skip as the guy's have said lowering the angle like trolling out of flat lines and longer drop back and avoiding snaps and crimping individual wire to them all helps but some are duds you may aswell put the hammer to.

[Isaac]

Halco crazy deeps are a pain in the arse for it, most of them out of the box will swim like shit. I remove the split ring and tie a 15cm wire trace to the front with a haywire twist then tune it and leave the trace on it for good.

[trueblue]

deep divers like my X-raps are a pain for getting into the water..... I have to slow down to about 2 knots, then get the lure down and speed back up