Trolling Speed

[jackash]

Hey guys, going to try nail myself a jack this season and was wondering what sort of speed i should troll deep divers at??? Just fast enough to get them down deep or with a bit of speed??
Cheers
Jackash

[Scott15]

Top question jackash, needa know myself

[kahla_creek]

I have found around 4 knots on small lures and up to 8 knots on bigger lures [125mm plus]. Sometimes, strange as it seems, I have hooked up when slowing to a stop. Maybe it is when the lure action becomes eratic though I am not sure.
Regards
Rob

[finding_time]

Mate
I'm not a big fan of trolling for jacks, the only reason i can think why you would do it is that it is a good way to cover alot of area in your search for jack. I love getting the lures right into the snags and rattiling the cage so to speak that really stirs them up .I've also had a bit sucess with plastics for the same reason that you can get the lure right in there faces and they cant seem to help themselves but smash em . If i was trolling i would be using a lure with alot of action that can be very slowly ( as slow as your boat will go) also you will have to get right into the snags and rock bars with the lure so be prepared to loose a few( a tackle back would be a good idea) When you hook up note the area and then come back and cast the ,area there will be more there.

Ian

[jackash]

Cheers guys,
Yeah mate have hooked them on softies etc before... problem is its hard to cast accurately into a snag with no light at all (I will be trolling pre-sunrise). But flicking into the snag would usually be my first preference aswell. Thanks for the advice though.
Cheers Jackash

[scuttlebutt]

I've caught jacks trolling - I just knock it into gear which is about 2 or 3 knots. Try holding the rod and jigging it a bit while you're trolling too.

cheers,

steve

[jackash]

WEll hopefully tomorrow night i'll find out what speed they like... probably not though

[Richard]

Hi JAckash,

I'd be basically as slow as you can to get a good action on the lure. If you have braid you'll be able to feel the action work it's way up as you speed up.

Usually this means about walking pace if going against the current, a bit faster if going with the current. I reckon you should try and keep it in the strike zone for as long as possible.

Rob - 8 knots ? i only ever do that for things like mackeral and queenies - even then usually 6 or so is the limit. Thats sounds awfully fast..


Richard

[DaveSue_Fishos_Two]

I think 6 - 8 knots is too fast. Some smaller tinnies plane at 6 knots!! If we could liken the trolling for Jacks to music, I would have to say Andante - at an easy walking pace. But into and under the snags is always best. Also, I have found that trolling against the run is not successful, for me at least. Esturary fish are generally found to be swimming with the tide, not against it, as it uses too much energy. Just my thoughts and obs.

Cheers and good luck

Dave

[westie]

I spent a lot of time trolling for Spaniards whie making and perfecting my lures, the boat we used was a 19 haines and for macks 6n if seas were 1/2m and above and on glassed out days a good 8kn-10kn these were high speed lures macks and Tuna luv them .
For cobes SLOW 4kn was about the best if using high speed lures they need to be re-tuned to give action and when you got 1 and you had 4 rods out you got 4 hookups and you were lucky to get 1, in great fun.
we always found a big knob to troll over as this is where they hang around.
We use to troll upto 6 rods from 5-30m out the back looks strange when you turn lines crossing over and under but never tangled and never stopped in the middle of a turn and never had a strike while doing a turn.

And now i hardley every chase them I think that to do that sort of fishing you need to have a TEAM of 2 maybe 3 fishing and knowing the drill of things that need to be done and work together and not triping over each other and a NON cluttered boat all thinking and knowing what the other want done next.
The secret to getting BIG Palagics in the boat TEAM WORK if you have a person that has fished with you for a long time you know what I mean .