down riggers for trolling for tuna??

[hotreels jr]

I'm not much for having a lot of gear in the water that has to be gotten out of the way when you get a hit on something else. 4 spreaders on the surface with the proper action will move fish from wherever they are to your gear, if they're hungry, and it's splashing properly. Kind of learned the adage "if you see a hooker a 175' away, and you're interested, you'll find a way to get to her, right?" A tuna fish will cover that distance in a flash and beat you every time...keep it simple...

But those fish that aren't feeding agressivly, that could be down deep, may eat if a bally, sluggo, or some other plug gets sent down there way. We have had many times when a fish comes up to the rigs and the planer gets eatin at the same time.

[jamesytuna]

what kind of distance behind the planer do you run the lure? Like 10' or 30'?

[Goodnyou]

I usually run a ballyhoo skirted or naked about 140 feet behind the 32 planer. It takes an 80 at almost full strike to do this. You get alot if stikes but you lose about half. It definately pays off later in the day when you mark them but cant raise them and also later in the season it works better.

[Dads Dream]

Hey Shaun-
I like your Q and I think I brought this same thing up last spring.....
My late father fished lake Ontario and several reservoirs in NJ for many years. He was a huge fan of the downriggers, running 4- BigJon Capt Paks off the stern of his 195 SeaNymph....

Stacking lines on each rigger to find & hit the thermoclines in spring in Lk Ontario is key.....

I still think there's room for maybe one DR on a center....and I think you could fish it effectively.....but like BFBilly said, I can run more gear effectively w/o having one line deep (I mean, it makes a ton of sense to fish a 60'er down there while draggin top water stuff.....I'd just hate to have somebody friggin with the release on the ball when I fish hits a flat line.)

What's more- I remember marking deeper fish over the last 2 summers.....and if the bite was NOT happening on top 20-30 ft, then we'd try jiggin them.......

my worthless $.02~ go get em!
Rich

[shaunp1280]

I am somewhat new to tuna fishing and trolling is basically how i fish. I know alot of you guys jig so i was wondering how much success you have had and how to go about doing it. Also i am wondering about live bait..... the macks were easy to get last year but when fishing them live for tuna do you sit and wait or troll them around the bank.... thanx