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iving birds and bustingskipjacks off thenorth end of Biminidrew fishermen fromall directions. We

were the third boat to arrive, andquickly set a spread of ballyhoofor yellowfin tuna, which oftenfeed among the skippies.

After a few uneventful passes,it was obvious that the yellowfinsweren’t interested in our ballyhoo,so we switched to small jetheadlures. On the very next pass, thecenter rod doubled over. We hadcracked the code, and soon hadour first tuna chilling in thefishbox!

As that catch proved, successful offshore trollingoften requires experience and adaptability. You’ve gotto read the signs that lead to fish and be ready to alteryour game plan if strikes are not forthcoming. Chang-ing lures, varying your trolling speed, and changinglure position are three things you can do to produce abite, but having a few proven trolling spreads up your

sleeve also helps considerably.Outlined in the following pages are my three

favorite spreads, the ones I rely on to catch fish aboardmy center console, MARC VI. It should be noted thatthe spreads often serve as a starting point, and that I’lloften change things around in terms of bait type,placement and trolling speed.

My 3

Favorite

Trolling

Spreadsfor scoring

with tuna, wahoo

and dolphin.

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Yellowfins, and to some degree black-fins, are a prized catch when I head tothe Bahamas. Catching tuna in thesewaters requires a special spread.

TACKLE Like that yellowfin weplucked from a school of skipjacksoff Bimini, our “go to” tuna spreadis based on small to medium jet-

heads. Using Penn International30s, we’ll troll five jetheads meas-uring between four and six incheslong. The exact brands and modelsinclude the Ilander Tracker,Bluewater Mini Jet, Ballyhood,Billy Bait Mini Turbo Slammer andMold Craft Tiny Hooker. We’ll fishmost of the lures “plain” and somewith plastic bonito strips.

PLACEMENTBecause tuna haveincredible eyesight, I’llrig each lure on eightfeet of 80-pound-testSeaguar fluorocarbon.For the plain lures, Isimply add enough spac-er beads to position thesingle 6/0 long-shank,ring-eye hook just insidethe skirt. For those car-rying the bonito strips,it’s necessary to form apin after securing thehook to the leader, towhich the bonito strip is

attached.When they’re feeding aggressively,

tuna will eat just about any bait.However, when the fishing is tough,I’ll troll the baits far behind the boat.For example, my two flat lines arefished roughly 100 to 200 feet behindthe boat. I’ll often experiment byrunning the short flat-line bait from atransom clip, which keeps the line

Tuna Time Spread (5 to 10 knots)

300-380' 4" tuna lure

flat line off transom clip

150'

200' 4" tuna lure

400' 6" tuna lure w/ strip bait

6" tuna lure

6" tuna lure w/ strip baitcenter ’rigger (900-1200')

Ilander Tracker

Mold Craft Tiny Hooker

Bluewater Mini Jet with plastic bonito strip

Billy Bait Mini Turbo Slammer

Ballyhood Mini Tuna Jet

Bluewater Mini Jet

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low to the water and the lurebeneath the surface, or off a high-speed planer. The long flat line isfished straight back.

The outrigger lures, one with astrip and one plain, are run some 300to 400 feet back. The center-’riggerbait, one of the hot lines for tuna, ispositioned some 300 to 400 yardsback. Granted, it’s a pain to check orremove weeds from this bait, butsooner or later it will get nailed by atuna.

SPEED Productive trollingspeeds range from five to ten knots.One tip for dialing in your trollingspeed includes watching the tunacarefully. If they’re busting small fly-ing fish, pick up the speed to wherethe lures are just skipping across thesurface. Imitate the action of the fly-ers and you just might get morestrikes. The size of the forage isequally important. If the tuna appearto be busting small flyers or tiny fish,dispatch your smallest lures. Ifthey’re chasing large flying fish, stepup in size, or at least add one or twolarger lures to your mix. One goodway to determine the size of yourlures is to gut the first tuna you catch.Its stomach contents will tell youplenty about the size of the local for-age.

TECHNIQUE Finally, try to getwell ahead of the tuna prior to cut-ting in front of them, so that your farlures will intercept the leading edgeof the school. If you get a strike, keepthe boat moving along at the sametrolling speed for about 30 seconds.Doing so will help remove stretchfrom the line and result in a solidhook-up. It’ll also keep your otherbaits “in play” for any followers.That’s how you get those double- andtriple-headers, and create that chaosin the cockpit that we all live for!

Super Wahoo Spread (6 to 10 knots)

TACKLE When the target iswahoo, my spread consists ofthree medium ballyhoo riggedbehind Ilander lures. Each bait isrigged with eight feet of 80-pound, single-strand wire leaderand a single 8/0, long-shank, nee-dle-eye hook. Securing the hookto the leader requires a halfdozen haywire twists followed bya few barrel wraps. However, Imake between 15 and 20 haywiretwists prior to the barrel wrap.This gives me another inch ortwo between the hook eye andleader pin (the tag end of barrelwrap) so I can position the hookfarther back in the ballyhoo. De-pending on the number of hay-wire twists I make, I can easilyplace a hook in the mid-sectionor even the rear quarter of theballyhoo to foil short-strikingfish.

I use all-blue or blue-and-white Ilanders that, when pairedwith a ballyhoo, mimic a flying

fish. The exception is the center’rigger, where I opt for either agreen/yellow or pink/blackIlander.

PLACEMENTThe Ilander/bally combos are

fished from the outriggers andthe center ’rigger. To reduce theline angle, as well as the amountof dropback, I run the outriggerclips halfway up the poles. I alsoadjust the tension settings onthem so that there’s enoughresistance to set the hook on thestrike.

At roughly 200 to 300 feetbehind the boat, the outriggerbaits are fished farther back thanin my dolphin spread. The cen-ter-’rigger bait swims around 200yards back. The extra distancekeeps these baits racing along ator just beneath the surface attrolling speeds of between sixand ten knots. All are fished fromPenn International 30s.

release clip at midpoint of ’rigger

Sea Striker High-Speed Planer

Ilander/medium ballyhoo combo

8 3/8" Yo-Zuri Bonita Lure (40' behind prop wash)

600' Ilander/medium ballyhoo combo

80'

release clip at midpoint of ’rigger

Offshore Racer (40' behind Yo-Zuri lure)

200' - 300'

200' - 300'

Ilander/medium ballyhoo combo

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My long flat line is an 8 3⁄8" Yo-Zuri Bonita lure in either a dolphinpattern (if dolphin are around) or ablack/purple pattern (if skipjack,tuna or bonito are present). Thelure is positioned roughly 40 feetbehind the point where the propwash fades to clean water. Using aNo. 64 rubber band and a two-wayswivel, I attach this line to a SeaStriker HS8 High-Speed Planer.

TECHNIQUEThe planer, which can be trolled atspeeds approaching 15 knots,comes complete with an independ-

ent tow line that attaches to a tran-som cleat, double swivels and rub-ber bands. It takes the Yo-ZuriBonita down roughly eight feet. Onthe strike, the rubber band sets thehook as it breaks, letting us fightthe fish free of the planer system.The Bonita lure, incidentally, isrigged with ten feet of 175-pound,49-strand cable and fished from aPenn International 50 and match-ing Tuna Stick rod.

The long flat line tows anOffshore Racer lure/bait-stripcombo. I position this bait roughly

30 to 40 feet behind the Yo-ZuriBonita and fish it off anotherInternational 50, minus the planer.With a mix of large and mediumbaits, this spread has proven itselfon wahoo of all sizes. Importanttips include keeping the baits rac-ing along just beneath the surfaceand dropping them farther back ifthey start skipping.

Wahoo run in schools, so whenyou get a strike, hit the ManOverboard button on your GPS.Troll back over that spot and youjust may score again.

extended haywire twist positions

hook farther back in ballyhoo

rigging wire for ballyhoo

Yo-Zuri Bonita

Ilander

Offshore Racer

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Dolphin are one of my favorite game fish to pursueon the troll. Since I’d much rather catch a single 30-pound fish than 15 schoolies, my spread is builtaround large and horse ballyhoo. By trolling thesebig baits, I’m less likely to draw the attention ofschool dolphin. This keeps my baits in play longer,increasing the chances of hooking a larger fish.

TACKLE My dolphin arsenalconsists of three Penn International30s and two International 20s onmatching Penn Tuna Stick rods. The20s are fished off the outriggers,whereas the 30s are fishedoff the center ’rigger andthe flat lines. I tie a shortBimini twist in each line andadd a 165-pound-test, chrome,ball-bearing snap swivel to thedouble line. With the exceptionof the long flat-line bait, whichis rigged on eight feet of 80-pound, single-strand wire, allleaders are approximate-ly eight feet of either 80or 130-pound Seaguarfluorocarbon (I use theformer in Florida waters,the latter in the Bahamas)

and carry single, 8/0 long-shank,ring-eye hooks.

PLACEMENT I opt for a mix ofswimming and skipping ballyhoo,minus skirts or lure heads. The swim-ming ballyhoo are generally fishedfrom the outriggers and placed farenough back to keep them swimmingjust beneath the surface. I’ll also stag-ger their placement by about 15 feetor so. The outrigger baits track

approximately 180 to 250 feetbehind the boat. The center ’riggerhas a plain skipping ballyhoo posi-tioned some 300 to 600 feet (100 to200 yards) behind the boat.A skipping ballyhoo is run from the

short flat line and positioned rightwhere the prop wash begins to fadeto clean water. The long flat-linebait — an all-blue or blue-and-whiteIlander/ ballyhoo combo riggedwith a wire leader and single 8/0long-shank, needle-eye hook —runs 40 to 60 feet behind the shortflat-line bait. This bait is riggedwith wire because it attractswahoo.

TECHNIQUE Trolling speedsrun between five and seven knots.The key is to make sure the skippingbaits are barely splashing on the sur-face, while the swimming baits areworking their magic just below.Adjustments include either increas-ing or decreasing the trolling speedand/or dropping back or moving thebaits forward to keep them perform-ing their best.

Trophy Dolphin Spread (5 to 7 knots)

300-600'

clean water

skipping horse ballyhoo

200'

large swimming ballyhoo

skipping horseballyhoo

large swimming ballyhoo

Ilander/large ballyhoo combo

skipping ballyhoo

swimming ballyhoo

Ilander/large ballyhoo combo

180-190'

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