Any suggestions??

[loosegoose]

I am new to sportfishermen but enjoy what I have seen and read so far, lots of good advice/ and great updates!!!! That being said I am looking for any suggestions/help on getting out of a slump.. My family and I fish out of ocmd and have fallen in to a frustrating slump the last 2 years. We have been fishing out of oc for 15+ years on and off and just prior to last seaon we purchased a new boat and have now unfortunately found ourselves in a slump. We mainly target billfish but will drag whatever is necesary to get a bite. The props have both been checked and re-pitched, and we have gone over the boat to check for anything that might be causing a vibration. Just curious what anybody else does when they find themselves in a tough slump? Also curious what tackle set up others are using.... ie color/type of line... wind on leader etc. as we have made some changes there as well. (bright green mono with dacron wind on leaders). Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated....we enjoy our "boat rides" off shore but it would be nice to show our guests a fish every now and then!!!!

[shoefish]

Welcome loosegoose!
That's a nice, honest intro, and I'm sure you'll get some good feedback from the SFCers from that area. Hopefully you'll get the kinks worked out soon! Again, welcome to SFC!

[frankypettolina]

Tell me about your old boat and spread, versus your new boat and spread. Then I will try to help.

On my dink bait rods I fish hivis with 80 pound clear sufix windons. On my tuna trolling outfits I fish clear sufix with 100 pound clear sufix wind ons and spro swivels. On my blue marlin/big bait rods I fish either dacron to mono wind ons or straight 22 foot 400 pound leaders from a snap swivel. Not the only way, just my way.

Also, how often do you fish, and what general areas. Do you use a satellite service? If you give the details, I will offer my honest opinion.

[loosegoose]

Thanks for the feedback....
Our old boat was a 40" pace, and the new one is a 1998- 48' ocean. Typical spread has not changed much, we usually fish ballyhoo with skirt or blue/ white islander on the long rigger (approx. 100-125 feet back), naked ballyhoo on the short riggers (75 ft back), and horse ballyhoo on the flats(about 30-40 ft back), or spreaderbars if we are going for tuna. Also, we will run a daisy chain or a mackeral on the center rigger back about 250 ft or so. As far as the line 50-80-120 lb bright green mono with 80 or 120 lb dacron to mono wind on leader (tournament cable) depending on the rod set up (we use penn 30-50 tw, and shimano 80's). Teasers we run either pink squid daisy chains from the bridge teaser reels and place them just in front of the flat lines, or we run dredge strip teasers. We really have not changed anything with the spread between the two boats, the only change was adding the dacron to mono wind ons. We do subscribe to roffers and usually are close to boats catching fish, (obviously we hear a lot of the boats having slow days as well....after all it is "fishing"). As far as frequency, we try to go atleast 1 day per weekend july-early october. I do appreciate any feedback or suggestions... we are always looking for ways to improve.. and we do try changing the spreads throughout the day but this is our main configuration.

[Kahi]

Make sure you dont' bring any bananas on the boat.

Crack a beer and pour it into the wake on both sides of the boat.

A good rally cap can make all the difference in the world.

[Glenn W]

Thanks for the feedback....
Our old boat was a 40" pace, and the new one is a 1998- 48' ocean. Typical spread has not changed much, we usually fish ballyhoo with skirt or blue/ white islander on the long rigger (approx. 100-125 feet back), naked ballyhoo on the short riggers (75 ft back), and horse ballyhoo on the flats(about 30-40 ft back), or spreaderbars if we are going for tuna. Also, we will run a daisy chain or a mackeral on the center rigger back about 250 ft or so. As far as the line 50-80-120 lb bright green mono with 80 or 120 lb dacron to mono wind on leader (tournament cable) depending on the rod set up (we use penn 30-50 tw, and shimano 80's). Teasers we run either pink squid daisy chains from the bridge teaser reels and place them just in front of the flat lines, or we run dredge strip teasers. We really have not changed anything with the spread between the two boats, the only change was adding the dacron to mono wind ons. We do subscribe to roffers and usually are close to boats catching fish, (obviously we hear a lot of the boats having slow days as well....after all it is "fishing"). As far as frequency, we try to go atleast 1 day per weekend july-early october. I do appreciate any feedback or suggestions... we are always looking for ways to improve.. and we do try changing the spreads throughout the day but this is our main configuration.

I'll offer a couple of things to try differently for billfish--- I assume you are following Roffer's suggestions for billfish and not just limiting yourself to shallower water. Find the bait and pretty water otherwise.
These are just suggestions and not intended to infer that your method or others may not be better on a given day. Nothig wrong with pink squids except they don't raise billfish for me very well. May want to try some pearl of white squids on one side and/or a Blue/White Ilander Chain w/ horse trailer on the other.
I would tighten up your billfish spread a bit. Most important, put them dink naked bayyhoo on both flats just behind the dredges or chain teasers. The Shorts are for your big baits (assuming Blue Marlin are around) Horse on one side, Spanish on the other. I prefer a popper head or moldcraft chugger on 1 of these 2.
On the LR's I would run 2 naked dinks again (no weights and a proper dink hook., If you like split bills, run one on either LR. Your billfishing here not Bluefinning---- keep it fairly tight. If Blues are more prevelant than Whites, run one of your LR's with an Ilander and Horse or on the mousetrap (center) bait. Run the Mousetrap between the SR and LR. Dink or large bait. I would not run more than 2 big baits in the entire spread unless you are looking exclusiuvley for Blue Marlin.
On the dink rigs go light, 30lb main line/ 60/80 lb leader and forget all that fancy crapolla. If you have a set of light rods and TLD 25's use these. Last but not least, leave the dang spreader bars in the tackle locker.
Last but not least, have confidence that your boat is fine and what you are doing is the right way to go.

[Squidnation]

what is your speed? We typically troll for whites with 6 baits. 2 dinks on the flats, two dinks on the longs. Ilander pro and horses on the shorts. 1 dredge on the right side with action plastic black and pearl shads. Teaser chains with eight 9 inch squids. We troll at 5 to 5.5 knots when white marlin fishing. TLD 25's with 40lb moimoi diamond and 80lb floro leader. find the bait and stick with it. Look for bait higher in the column and spend most of your time with bait that is found above the thermocline.

[junior trade]

Hi Mike,
Good to hear from you here. Obviously I have no good advice based on our showing last
Monday.

[frankypettolina]

I think gearing down a little for the whites will help. Small bally, 60 or 80 pound leader, 80 pound mono wind on connected via modified albrigt or yucatan knot. I use 9175 J hooks, or 2004ELF circles. I like to fish an 8/0 9175 with a small moldcraft hooker (4 inch model) in front of my rigger dinks. nakeds on the flats with 6/0 9175. Fish big baits on the short rigger. I am partial to the express or the islander (hawaiin eye) for teasers I like green squids chased by a blue white islander with horse on one side, and a pearl squid chain chased by a pink/blue seastar on the other. I will run a 3rd teaser down the center, usually a big lure or a horse behind an express. I run the dredge off an electric reel on the stbd side (4 total teasers on my rig). If you don't have a fancy dredge rod set up a handline from a cleat will work. 4 foot section of 3 strand nylon shock and 40 to 60 feet of 400 pound mono works.

I like 5 to 5.5 knots.

Hope this helps some.

[loosegoose]

Thanks.... lots of great info!! We will post our good report from the next trip when we end our slump!! I really do appreciate the info. best of luck to everyone.