newbie rigging question

[Gringo]

Thanks again for all the advice. We can get frozen ballyhoo here. It's not top notch stuff, from what I have read here,but it's usually available. We used a lot of ballyhoo last year with some luck.

I am surprised to be learning, now, that some of you guys are active near La Paz. We were just there last month, stayed at the Fiesta Inn there on the marina....whats the name of that, Baja something-or-other. Great place.

[Patudo]

Hey Gringo.. as you can see advising other folks on how to go about fishing is nearly as absorbing a pasttime as spending someone else's money!

I'm not a massive fan of frozen ballyhoo personally - this is not to say there is not some good product out there and of course the frozen stuff is the mainstay of charter fleets up and down the US east coast. But when you've seen the jewel-like colours in a fresh one you can't but think if the fresh one has so much more eye appeal to you then how much more to the fish. I guess the success rate that folks have with high quality frozen bally speaks for itself, but if you're not happy with what you've got, and your strategy calls for trolling naturals, you could do worse than try strips from fresh caught little tunny or skipjack or any other small tuna. If it's possible to get local kids to catch ballyhoo or mullet for you, or obtain it from commercial fishermen; you'll be laughing.

It's a great idea to have one big bait or lure out there but you'll need corresponding heavy gear to troll it. If your gear consists of Penn 113hs and toriums, IMO you're definitely better fishing smaller baits and hooks, if only because the hook-up rate is better with lighter gear. If you want to add something big to your setup that may be best done with a big hookless teaser. A good one which I'm not sure anyone has mentioned yet is the bowling pin. They aren't too expensive, don't pull so hard as to be difficult to clear, and the wobbling action looks great in the water. Because they are not as large as the big boat fenders and witch doctors it is more common for fish to attack them, but that's normally not a big issue as they can't kill it and will often switch right on to a lure or bait running close by, which is what happens most of the time anyway. There is a benefit to running a large-ish teaser as their size and activity can help get the attention of fish and you'll also find that a lot of the bites that happen after fish come to the teaser and peel away are good positive bites. I agree with babalaza- in some trolling situations it can be more effective to add a big hookless teaser than another rod. If you wanted a blue marlin for instance I'd recommend trolling just two lures from your 113hs and one big teaser up short. That'll be enough to get the bite and you'll appreciate how easy it is to pull the teaser and just one other rod out of the water when you see how fast even a 100 lb blue can burn line off your 4/0 ...

ps. check your private messages ..

[Gringo]

I picked up a small fender, two 16 oz. egg sinkers, and 33 yards of 300 lb. mono. Following Capt. Fred's ideas, I had our new "Toad" out yesterday for a couple hours, and we hooked up with two dolphin. One spit the lure, but I managed to snag the other little one who hit a cedar plug.


The Toad swims really well! I think I might have a bit too much weight on it, or maybe I should say more than I need, but I can play with that.

I have not painted it yet. Anyone have any paint suggestions on a commercially available one ( limited options down here for paint) that will stick to flexible plastic?

[ElMar2530]

I have not painted it yet. Anyone have any paint suggestions on a commercially available one ( limited options down here for paint) that will stick to flexible plastic?

Krylon Fusion

[Gringo]

wow, that looks like great paint for it. Would be amazing if I found it here. I was even thinking about buying some of those silver mylar helium balloons and cutting them into strips and using some kind of RTV or whatever I could find that works.

But spray paint that sticks to plastic. Wow. You fall so far behind technology when you live in a place like this

[leeroychristison]

tie a bunch of old cd's together and tow that as a teaser, works as well as anything

[clt_capt]

You know, there is an article in this Month's Marlin Mag from Capt Jeff Rogers (Reel Fool - I think) about using the small Gatorade bottles as trolling lures.

The bottom is shaped just like a chugger...

You could spray paint a couple of them and use them as teasers...

[Admin]

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