planer question

[SERprise]

Wahoo have remarkable ability to change throughout the water column...All the ones we catch are right below the surface...Speed is the key...The Bahamian/Island tournament guys have all adapted to this system.

I would venture to say your not going fast enough with your current system....Pick up that speed....More speed might require larger trolling sinkers per outfit...the trolling sinker allows your lures to stick in the water at high speeds...You can cover lots of grounds and speed triggers their feeding instinct...They can't resist

Concentrate your efforts around the humps and ledges...I believe closer to shore in Guam....Nov. is a good month to target...However, its a yr long fishery...smaller fish on the average....Find correlations of the bite vs tidal stage...Them buggas will eat like clockwork.

Thanks I will keep all that in mind. You are right about Nov. the rats really come out around that time fish around 4-10# but lots of knockdowns for sure. The speed thing makes sense because a while back we were trolling about 8-9 knots and we weren't catching anything so I picked up the speed to about 12-14 and bang instant hook up. Do you ever catch em in less than 150 ft of water?

[WahooKing]

Thanks I will keep all that in mind. You are right about Nov. the rats really come out around that time fish around 4-10# but lots of knockdowns for sure. The speed thing makes sense because a while back we were trolling about 8-9 knots and we weren't catching anything so I picked up the speed to about 12-14 and bang instant hook up. Do you ever catch em in less than 150 ft of water?

Hit as much of the shelf as possible...zig zag between 100-600 ft. Find the range where the packs are holding.

Nice area your fishing...Enjoy it.

[SERprise]

thats a cool pic of guam....thanks again for all the tips.

[Reelscreamer]

Eric,

Sounds to me like wahooking is talking Glass Break area to me and here lately the water has been laid down kinda flat so higher speeds sound more likely at this point in time! As far as November time frame we are looking at any where from 4-12 ft swells depending on the wind an storm surges but this also just hit me! 11 mile drop off is round 100- God only knows how deep. Also up North where your stopping ground is but the only thing when we hit up these ledges 11 mile or Rota banks we have to get them in fast because of the heavily population of sharks! Just my 2 cents from what I gathered from here!

Jeremy

[tunatamer4]

would you suggest using braid, mono or cable for the planer?

SERprise- If you plan on hand lining the planer to the surface without tripping it, stay away from the braid. That crap has the ability to slice you up like a fillet knife given the chance. Go with heavy mono for the S-S since they don't trip well. If you use the Old Salty, put it on braid attatched to about ten feet of 1/4" rope so you have a hand-hold to pull on and trip it. Once the pressure is off it'll come right up to ya

[nautiduck]

Serprise I never can seem to get the planers to trip or release right. And being a cheap ass We have used 2 variations of a downrigger weight for high speed trolling. One requires pulling the weight each time the other doesnt. You could just as easily run them off a cleat. It uses a length of 1" to 1 1/2" rebar ( any long slender piece of steel will work). Drill a hole through the diameter on both ends big enough to put 400lb cable through. Put a length through and crimp to make a bridle to run your line (steel down rigger line is best for the first method) Take adjustabe rigger clips and hook around the cable and put your line in just like a downrigger. The forward motion of the boat will pull your lure down the line when it trips and it is time to reload just add another clip and let it slide down. The second is the same you just a second bridle to the other end and use a riiger clip its basically just a cheap down rigger but the length and shape of the rebar seems to make it work better than a ball.

[SERprise]

Serprise I never can seem to get the planers to trip or release right. And being a cheap ass We have used 2 variations of a downrigger weight for high speed trolling. One requires pulling the weight each time the other doesnt. You could just as easily run them off a cleat. It uses a length of 1" to 1 1/2" rebar ( any long slender piece of steel will work). Drill a hole through the diameter on both ends big enough to put 400lb cable through. Put a length through and crimp to make a bridle to run your line (steel down rigger line is best for the first method) Take adjustabe rigger clips and hook around the cable and put your line in just like a downrigger. The forward motion of the boat will pull your lure down the line when it trips and it is time to reload just add another clip and let it slide down. The second is the same you just a second bridle to the other end and use a riiger clip its basically just a cheap down rigger but the length and shape of the rebar seems to make it work better than a ball.

lol thats actually very inventive. I might have to try that one day. I was actuall just gonna use a swivel clipped to the downrigger line with a rubber band attatched to the lure leader and swivel so I can just add another swivel after each fish breaks the rubberband rather than pull up the planer and reset each time.

[seapower]

serprise, I do the same thing you are talking about with a double swivel and rubber band. Works great for keeping your planer and bait at the depth that you've found the fish to strike at. The only problem I've had is if you get a "hot" fish on that main line is down there for it to tangle up with while you're fighting the fish. If you get a big or really tough fish on you need to be able to trip the planer. Setting and tripping aren't hard once you get the hang of it.