current and circles

[neilinov]

The other day I noticed something. When we were trolling with the current we had a 0% hookup ratio. We had several fish follow us for almost a mile surfing down the big swells and picking off all 6 baits in the spread and even one off the dredge. The fish were rather lazy and just followed the baits and snatched them off the circle hooks almost nonchalantly. We tried winding in the hoos quickly dropping them back in free spool, turning the boat, slowing down and speeding up, but nothing would get them lit up. They just slowly picked us clean!

Now when we turned and ran into the current we had a 180 degree turnaround in hookups. The whites came in hot and we had a 100% hookup ratio. They were much more aggressive while moving into the current. My guess is that they are already exerting extra energy bucking the current and they were gonna eat no matter what it was!

This is just something that I noticed Monday while billfishing, and didn't know if anyone had any good insight on current direction and hookup ratios. What could we have done differntly to increase our ratio trolling downsea? We had more bites going downsea, but more hookups going upsea. Any thoughts????

[Patudo]

This is something that interests me a lot (current direction/strength and its effect on the bite). Generally speaking, and this is just my feeling, I like working in tacks across the sea, whether going in a up or down sea direction as it evens out boat speed and when going into the sea avoids running the lures straight into the sea which is the angle they work least well. Not sure whether that is as much the case with trolled baits at slower speeds, but you definitely notice how the lures are affected by sea direction whenever there is a good sea running. Given the choice I prefer to work in a down sea direction because of improved lure presentation, but there's no doubt you can get bites in other directions. If you have to keep turning into the sea, for instance to maintain position on structure, you're going to need to pull lures designs that will look all right when working into the sea (not all do).

I tend to work by sea direction more than current direction despite knowing that current can at times oppose sea direction, because lure presentation is affected by what is on the surface, but it's still important to try and figure out the direction of the current if possible, because that can have a big effect on where the fish hold in relation to structure.

Maybe in that situation you mentioned, turning into the current once you raise a fish on a down-current run might possibly cause it to bite with more aggression - like the ones raised when trolling into the current?

[Bay Fishin]

Neilinov- post up those pics from the other day i only caught a glimpse of them when they were on the forum mainpage.

[neilinov]

Bay Fishin:

Here is the post from Monday's fishing. Headed back out Friday. Hope the bite is still as good!

Patudo:
I hammered out the spot on Monday. We didn't leave about a 1 sq mile area all day. My plotter looked like a big ole ball of spaghetti. The thing was we raised most of our fish trolling with the current, however we couldn't convert them to hookups. Running into the current I had to adjust the rpms to get the speed up, but generally speaking we were doing about 5.5 knots each direction. No bites or fish raised while quartering the seas. We saw two cutting through the waves and slid the baits in front of them while turning down sea. They pulled right up into the spread and proceeded to pick off everything we had! They started with the longs followed up under them for a few minutes then slowly came up and took them. Slurped right off the circle hooks. Then proceeded to do that with the shorts then the flats and even grabbed one of the dredge mullet. I don't know if it was the circle hooks or just the direction we were trolling made it easy for them to swipe the baits right off the hooks. We were using the floss rigged circles that we have been using all year. I tell ya it was just frustrating!

[gradywhite273]

Bay Fishin:

Here is the post from Monday's fishing. Headed back out Friday. Hope the bite is still as good!

Patudo:
I hammered out the spot on Monday. We didn't leave about a 1 sq mile area all day. My plotter looked like a big ole ball of spaghetti. The thing was we raised most of our fish trolling with the current, however we couldn't convert them to hookups. Running into the current I had to adjust the rpms to get the speed up, but generally speaking we were doing about 5.5 knots each direction. No bites or fish raised while quartering the seas. We saw two cutting through the waves and slid the baits in front of them while turning down sea. They pulled right up into the spread and proceeded to pick off everything we had! They started with the longs followed up under them for a few minutes then slowly came up and took them. Slurped right off the circle hooks. Then proceeded to do that with the shorts then the flats and even grabbed one of the dredge mullet. I don't know if it was the circle hooks or just the direction we were trolling made it easy for them to swipe the baits right off the hooks. We were using the floss rigged circles that we have been using all year. I tell ya it was just frustrating!

where were your pit boys during all this

[neilinov]

sleepin!

No seriously I didn't see them do anything wrong. They worked the fish trying to tease them up into a strike. When they finally did grab the bait it was a quick grab and run and the rod never did bow up when the drag was pushed up. Just a bally head and the circle hook.

However on the upcurrent side they were right on it. Ease the drag up and oh look at that she's jumpin!!

[#1Gaffman]

Well it was obvious it was your baits. Dont blame it on the lazy fish, your baits probably didnt look good enough to eat...

[Squidnation]

Not sure what effects the bite when regarding current but I have noticed listening to the pros on the radio talk about the bites being up sea or downsea.

I remember one of the first trips I took on my boat. Raven Lady with Dove Hunt as captain was working a bump and would get bit everytime he trolled over it when approaching it from the NE. I didn't pick up on it until he told me but I couldn't get bit coming from the other directions.

[Patudo]

Bill, can you recall which way and how hard the current was running on that day and were the fish in front of, behind or on top of the structure? What type of gamefish were these?

Best regards

P

[Squidnation]

Bill, can you recall which way and how hard the current was running on that day and were the fish in front of, behind or on top of the structure? What type of gamefish were these?

Best regards

P

He was approaching the bump from the NE and the Current was running south. It was a very calm day though.