Tip of the week #22

[Sea Draggin]

Over the weekend we cut a Tuna open. It was completely full of 1" squids. I'll bet this would get them.

[Reelhope]

Kudos on that setup--looks like a killa. Like Ken said, we also cut the bellies and found in our area offshore in MD 95% of the tuners last year had squid about 4.5-5 inches long. So in the middle of the season we switched to all 4.5-5 inch squid or octopus bodies and found our hook-up ratio increased dramatically. Now most of our daisy chains are rigged with these same squid. We did incredible using the dolphin color! I carry these in a 10 pack for only $3.00 if anyone is interested or I also do bulk quantities.
I have pink & silver, Dolphin, and Blue & silver.
Nice write up on the DFA setup!

[szoobie]

You guys are the best. I have been really enjoying reading all these riggin threads and going to my little room and puttin this stuff together. It's a blast and thank you all for puttin this out for the novice to learn. I have my new 50W Avet loaded with braid and lookin for Wahoonbox's post on the planer rod. Now I have to rig one (5 probably) of these. This is great. Thanks to all. Just had to say somethin.

[Andaman Andy]

Originally Posted by Kodi's_Options

Thanks Andy, Sounds like an interesting idea to try on my planers. My only question is with 20ft of leader if you do happen to catch either a cow or say a 50+ pound yellowfin, how do you leader the fish. I run a 32 center console and my fear would be losing a lot of meat once I got he planer to the rod tip. Too many chances for the fish to run under the boat and hit something undesirable. If I keep running forward I'd have to hand line in a 20 ft leader, possible but not ideal. Can you run the planer off a cleet and rig the chain on a knockout off the planer??? Thanks.

For larger YFT etc a separate planer with rubber band would be better, this rig is mainly for smaller tunas not cows.
But still with the right size leader and a single hook at the end of the chain i dont think a 50lber would be a problem.

[flappyj]

this sounds great for some football sized tuners that i hope to be getting into this summer. i already have a few planers, i will have to make up a couple of these chains. thanks capt.

[ancient mariner]

HI:
I given all the info below in my seminars to clubs and at sports shows for years.
I've been rigging all my Tuna lures (THAT I SELL))with 4, 3/4 inch plastic T'ZER squids for years. I found out one day a few years ago, when the ONLY rig that consistantly caught was the one with three(3) 4,3/4 inc t'zers on it. WOW,too long a sentence. Sorry 'bout that.
I also found that if you run more than (3) three squids on the same leader, the Tuna SOMETIMES smack the 5th one . 3 or 5, YES . 4 didn't work well at all. What you rig and how you rig it MAKES a difference.
Interesting thing about running 5 of 'em was that when I did that on my lures, the size went up (five inchers) when I hit 5 fathoms. By this I mean that (5) five inch squid T'ZERS work best out at 50+ fathoms. Another thing, guys, double skirt the T'ZERS. They work better that way.
I've been sellling them that way for years and all the guys who use them have been having better success that way from MASS. to AUSTRALIA.
Those three(3) T'ZERS make your HOOKLURE presentation that much bigger, by about 3+ feet, AND points to the HOOKLURE, WHERE IT BELONGS!

SORRY GUYS. As you can see,I'm passionate about things like this.

ANOTHER TIP:
Use a BIRD with a skirt.
A skirt will take the white water and change the white water it produces and mto Champagne sized water. WHAT you've done is to take the SOUND generated by the bird AND the WHITE WATER produced INTO ONE TUNA ATTRACTOR. YOU HAVE NOW TURNED THE TUNA'S ATTENTION from the bird ITSELF (after the Tuna came to the SIGHT 'N SOUND) and made that TUNA LOOK for the PREDATOR CHASING IT. Why have a tuna come to the spread and turn away if your LURE gets lost in all that wake.MAKE THAT TUNE LOOK and find your HOOKLURE.
ANOTHER TIP:
Take the leader from your bird to the SNAPSWIVEL and make it AT LEAST
16-24 inches long. WHAT YOU SAY?????????????????????????????????????
I found that the SOUND generated by that swivel,out there by itself can turn TUNA off. My records show that covering the snapswivel added to my hookup ratio. BEEING A PIN HOOKER for many years , that if I couldn't catch 'em, I didn't eat. I'm NOW trying to loose all that extra weight.
HINT::::::::: By placing the snapswivel(covered) at 16-24 inches further back you have just:
TURNED that Tuna's head BACK TOWARD the three(3) T'ZERS HOOKLURE where it belongs.
YEAH, you can go to my website and get a bird or two OR look and see how there rigged and do your own. YOUR CHOICE.

ANOTHER TIP: HERE's WHERE YOU GUYS BEAT ME UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I use tri beads on my lures for HOO'S on MONO. WWWWWHHHHHAAAAATTTTT?????????????????????????????? ?????????????
YEAH, AND I don't loose to many rigs TOO!!!!!!!
HOW??????
CRIMP on a crimp RIGHT AFTER YOU TRI-BEADS and the HOOK is crimped in place. MAKE THOSE TRI-BEADS AS TIGHT AS YOU CAN.
NOW take TAPE( color coded) and WIND IT UP and DOWN the tr-beads as tight as you can. I do this three times. WHY? 'Cause that way when the TOOTHY MONSTER HITS, he can't sink his teeth thru the beads and the tape. MMMMMMMM. Try it.
I believe that the mono leader makes the lure work better than wire AND by STIFF RIGGING the hook( TAPE) the hookup ratio goes up. I will loose an occasional lure to the TOOTHY ONES if I can WACKN N STACK more fish in the cooler.
OK, guys, I'll shut up now. I've given my ideas. I hope we can have a good discussion on this subject.
Hey ANDAMAN ANDY. Been over your way and the HOO fishing is fabulous. I sent three guys out there and they had a super time. I love the picture of your boat in the driveway with the kids. GOOD JOB.
WACKM N STACKM
Joseph B...aka...Ancient Mariner

[Scooper]

Originally Posted by Andaman Andy

For larger YFT etc a separate planer with rubber band would be better, this rig is mainly for smaller tunas not cows.
But still with the right size leader and a single hook at the end of the chain i dont think a 50lber would be a problem.

Andy, thank you for the post and photo's/ sketch... I'm new to this type of fishing (most of my fishing has been in shore, anchor or drifting) and a low cost alternative is a great way to get my feet (or line) wet.

Here's my question, how fast should I troll this set-up?

[ancient mariner]

HI:
Im not sure what speed ANDY would do.
My rigs can be trolled up to 10 knots. If u do speeds over 8 knots ( my best speed was 6+)you should use weights in each T'ZER head AND in the HOOK T'ZER.
If you stay with the 4,3/4 inch skirts, U can WACKN N STACK Tunas up to 150 pounds. I use 150 pound test leader. The hook ia 6/0 (smallest I use) ) and teh lagest would be a 7/0 SIWASH.
The leader would be 8 feet long and the T'ZERS be 14 inches betqween each T'ZER and 3 feet from the last T'ZER to the hook T'ZER.
If u run this setup on top, then slow down and run them right on top at about 3-4+ knots back in the 2,3 wake wave. Make them slither and slide all over the wake. It's killer on Tunas less than 100 pounds.

WACKM N STACKM
Joseph B...aka...Ancient Mariner

[Scooper]

Joseph B- Thank you for the reply... look forward to giving it a go... I'll let you know how it goes... now if I could just get rid of all this snow! Darn Ground hog said it was going to be an early spring... time to take out Punxsutawny Phil!