Catching Skipjack for Bait?

[MountainM]

What do you guys usualy use to catch the skipjack to livebait for marlin and tuna?

Just an over sized sabiki rig slow trolled or?

[Captain Michael Buffington]

What do you guys usualy use to catch the skipjack to livebait for marlin and tuna?

Just an over sized sabiki rig slow trolled or?

on the size of the bait. One thing I have seen is trolling a sabiki is not nearly as effective as casting and varying your jigging until you find what they want. irons and different spoons work well too.

Mike

[DropinBack]

If casting for bait... Small Jigs...

If trolling for bigger baits(5 plus pounds)... the same stuff that you would use to catch yellowfin but just smaller... including small skirt baits with strips, ballyhoo, spoons, jigs...

You can also catch them on chunks if you know where they are...

[kilsong]

They troll hoochi rigs for skipjack tuna.
When I fished Hanibal Bank in Panama in January, we couldn't catch big skipjack needed for marlin though we caught tons of 1 - 2 lbs small skipjack for an hour while slow trolling with hoochi rigs. So we went to a hight spot and everybody used small jigs while drifting and we got enough big skipjack in 3 - 5 lbs range on jigs within 15 minutes.

[Andaman Andy]

Try using a rod planer with squid skirts Click here for thread

[Capt_John]

this is the store I used to buy my small skirts for that. They finally have a website and here's some links to the lures I used for skipjacks and small tunas.

http://www.tacklehawaii.com/store/pr...ku-M-N-R-SS-R/

http://www.tacklehawaii.com/store/ca...EADS-KEN-KEN-/

http://www.tacklehawaii.com/store/ca...8/HEADS-PEARL/

http://www.tacklehawaii.com/store/ca...S-SKIRTS--3in/

[Robja]

we used large led head jigs with a white oversized grub on it

[MountainM]

so try to find a school and cast to them. Small spoons like Kastmasters and the like?

Then use smaller jigs to hit the schools that are a little deeper?


I get the hoochie rigs just a daisy chain of small squids basically.


Headin down to Santa Catalina Panama in a few months and want to have these rigs ready.
Thanks!

[Capt_John]

I used to find the school and troll the lures on TLD 15's w/ 30lb. line. Sometimes no leader either. Just troll around the school at 4 knots while jigging the lure at the same time.

[zar2754]

here in the NE CANYONS,

we usually encounter them on the troll when they hit a small feather or the like..

fishy will briddle it up for future deployment.


last year in the baltimore north the spencer there where huge schools of skippies along the 50f line, this was the only chance at yellowfin as they where almost non exsistant here in the northeast last summer.

once you found the skippies flippin and flopping, the yft werent far behind.

we alway get them as bi-catch while trolling, never target them for bait specifically.