Ilander vs Seawitch

[Holy Smoke]

Why would you use one over the other ? Let assume your mixed bag trolling
for Bill's, Wahoo, Mahi, Tuna;

Why would you choose a Blue/White Seawitch over a Blue/White Ilander?

I usally pull some of each but I don't know why to choose one over the other?

[JMS-ILM]

witches on the flats, shorts, and longs.....ilander on the bridge pole. i think the larger profile of the ilander pulled way back down the middle out of the distrubance and bubbles of the wake is very effective, especially on the wahoos.....so it might pay to pull this rig on wire.

[bobdu11]

I pull witches on the longs, Islanders on the short rigger, and Shotgun (when the green machine is out of the spread) and cedar plugs in the wash...I love a cedar plug bite in the wash !....>That Big-eye we caught last week was on a blue/white island on the short flat in front of a Spreader bar...Bob

[BTH284]

I like to run my ilander/jag in farthest back position on my boat in the clean water where it's bigger profile can be outlined against the sky and more easily seen by the slobs. I will always pair up the biggest bait from the tray with this setup too to increase it size, profile and outline. This can have positives and negatives as ilander style lure will sink faster compared to a 1/4 oz or 1/2 oz witch bait when in a tight turn. But when turning over a mark down deep on purpose this can be an advantage. All of mine have some sort of flash on them which again IMO is more effective in the clean water for visibility.

I do feel that the witches work well in most positions on the troll especially when it is calm and the fish are responding to a smaller more compact "school of bait "presentation. Just that little bit of accent from a witch can be dead on as compared to the overpowering size and all that hair from an ilander. Hence the reason you will see less lure covered baits in a spread as the season goes on in the next few weeks when targeting the sails and whites. But I can guarantee you, in just about everyone's spread there will be at least one ilander/jag or large popper/wiggle bait in the short position out in the clean water in case "she" shows up and decides to inhale the largest thing in the spread or at least hope "she" goes for the big bait that catches "her" eye first. But sometimes it don't work like that.

To try and answer your question more thoroughly Smoke, I will run more ilanders as opposed to 1/4 oz or 1/2 oz witches when it is rougher and the wind is hitting my spread from the side. The reason for this is a witch can get pulled up and almost track weird or "float" along in a cross wind. Not a realistic presentation. I also will run an ilander as a chase bait against a teaser to represent a bigger fish chasing smaller bait.

[mrfishy]

I pull islanders on the flatlines and on the WWWWWWWWWFB rod and seawitches on the outriggers

[Glenn W]

This ought to raise a few hackles----
An Ilander (AKA Hawaiian Eye) is a Blue Marlin and truely big fish bait (Giant BFT & Big Eye)-- it is not meant (nor all that effective generally) for the average summer time YFT, Mahi or Wahoo. Furthermore, a sea witch will out catch an Ilander 10 to 1 on typical summer meatfish. This being said, I sometimes pull an Ilander even when not looking for a Blue Marlin.
I am well aware that YFT north of Carolina tend to hit larger baits better than they do down south, so my discussion is primarily focused on NC waters.
The following is just my opinion and based soley on MY experience--- It could very well be that I am full of shit. In any event, a medium ballyhoo is really too small to swim proper with a Hawaiian Eye, and I ain't about to waste $4.00 Horses on Mahi. "Selects" or large ballyhoo are marginal performers with this lure.
There are those days however, when the gaffers are around but they only seem to want a big bait. I will sometimes find a large ballyhoo and put it on a LR or bridge pole on these days. With regards to Wahoo, yea, I've caught a few on Ilanders--- but a shit pile more on Sea Witches (I'm talking about surface swimming baits only).
As far as NC tuners go, I have caught very few YFT on an Ilander--- a few, but very few (this could be due to the much larger leader I use when swimming an Ilander, however).
I used to buy all the Ilander products for my toy box and deploy them while meatfishing, but realized that my good ole el cheapo witches out produced the expensive Ilander products 10 to 1 (the exception being the Tracker, but it still didn't catch any more fish than a witch and costs 7 times as much).
Most important seems that the bait fish in NC are Fliers, small fish, and small squid. IMO a big Ilander doesn't match the profile of these smaller baits very well, and hense, a sea witch is a much more effective cover to my ballyhoo.
Now, when we start talking about hunting Blue Marlins--- The Hawaiian Eyes are coming out and getting rigged, no doubt about it.
My biggest advice (and opinion that I am positive about) is if you want to put an Ilander in your spread, at least use a big enough ballyhoo so the lure will perform properly. A typical medium ballyhoo is just too small for a Hawaiian Eye.

[JMS-ILM]

great info delivered in classic GlennW fashion....pretty work.

[Sea Witch]

I fish NJ and love the Islander but never had as much luck with it for tuna when compared to the sea witch. Recently I started pulling the Jr. Islander with a medium and I have had good success catching tuna with it.

[Lowcountryboy]

An Ilander Tracker is a different story now...