Need Help: Offshore trolling setup...no outriggers..yea

[mobsters211]

Hey guys, me and some friends are going down to beufort in a month or two, to do some fishing..obvioulsy we are mostly going to be sticking to bottom fishin and what not, but they also want to try some trolling. We dont have outriggers or anything but we do have several offshore trolling like setups (tiagra 30 on 50-80# all rollered rod) (mingying reel on 50-80# all rollered rod, not the best setup lol) and then a couple of penn offshore setups, nothing special. The first two are setup each with about 600 yards of braided line, not topshot...or atleast not yet...Basically i am wondering how we would troll with this setup whether it be some big sharks, or king macker or even marlin and tuna (unlikely i know lol).... i was thinking about just setting up daisy chains on each line we put out and trolling them from behind the bout about 60-120 yds back... but im not the greatest expert so thats why im asikng yall

[capt. jakeg]

I used to have a small cc (17') that i did some trolling for a while without riggers. I trolled 5 rods. Fished from the rod tip in leaning post rod holder, I had an illander with a small bird chain in front of it in the shotgun about a 100 yds back. In the two further forward rod holders I fished my long rods which had a naked ballyhoo on one side and on the other side either a sea witch/ ballyhoo or illander/ ballyhoo combo at about 60-75 yds back. Then I had my two short rods in the back corner rod holders 30-40 yards back I had a little minichugger with a ballyhoo on one side in a flatline clip and a naked on the other in the clip. A squid chain as a teaser cleated off on each side. Troll about 6 knots. I was very successful with this setup and caught everything even tuna and marlin.

[Ponce]

I fish a 24 CC and troll 7 lines with out riggers, plus 2 suid chains, so you can troll plenty of lines in a small boat, sometimes too many.

I would try 1 out of your leaning post way back. In the 2 forward rod holders I would put the next furthest back, then in the back rod holders I would put my shortest I would clip these close to the water line with release clips or a rubber band on the handle of the reel.

The main thing is having your lines at different levels and distances way back, long, short so they don't tangle in turns. I like to start off with my spread pretty close to the boat so I can watch my baits. If I need too I will drop back the whole spread.

Baits I wouldn't get fancy sea witches and Islanders. I like to go heavy with blue and white, but pink white, pink and blue, and green and white are all popular out of MHC. All with a Med Ballyhoo and you should come up with something.

[captnemo]

You can def. catch fish without outriggers, you wont fill the boat, but most of us dont even with all the gear. Troll a couple rods with good swimming ballyhoo, either with a skirt or naked and you'll snag something. There will always be a mahi out there that will eat anything.

Key is to worry about good swimming ballyhoo, then to worry about what lures what colors, ect.

[mobsters211]

just wondering because im sort of new to the whole sport fishing thing..we are talking about thawed out frozen bally right?

[scattered_grass]

just wondering because im sort of new to the whole sport fishing thing..we are talking about thawed out frozen bally right?

yep

[capt. jakeg]

If your down that way and you need a crash course on a windy day, I'm sure Marty (wahoonbox) would be happy to help for a small fee. Two or three hours with him and you will be way ahead on the curve. You could also find as much as you need to find here on this site for rigging ballyhoo and making rigs tieing knots etc. by doing a simple search of these forums and watching some of the tutorial videos available here.