Question about Spreader Bars

[BahamaBob]

And Daisy Chains for that matter. Some have hooks in the trailing bait...does one fight the fish on the rig and if so does it affect with the fight or tangle, or is it best to have a trailing lure on a release or near by?

Thanks.

[Current Affair]

Bahama Bob,

Try putting a appropriate size Swivel on the end of the daisey chain or just tie on a snap to your main line then snap it on your bar or chain. This will prevent line twist. Also regarding the release clip i would just go straight without the release clip. You will be ok with the hook attached to the chain/bar via swivel for easy changing of hook bait.

Bob

[Fish On Mike]

Bob,

For some reason, most likely water clarity, spreader bars just don't seem to work for us in the Bahamas. I have tried all sorts of colors and bars. They just don't seem to work like they do in the NE Canyons.

Fish On

Mike

[johnseafood]

We use them more for a teaser then another bait in the water. The bar does have a hook bait in the back trailer bait but 9 times out of 10 then hit the surrounding baits. We surround them with bally hoo and seem to do better like that since it creates a school effect. The only problem with fighting fish from a spreader bar is the drag going through the water on the larger spreader bars. They are just header to reel in.

[BahamaBob]

We are in the far SE Bahamas, and usually are fly fishing. We have done pretty well on wahoo and tuna just trolling lures and casting flies into the birds, but I would think attractors could only help when trolling. Our goal is a marlin this year in a flats boat!

[Dave Sikorski]

We are in the far SE Bahamas, and usually are fly fishing. We have done pretty well on wahoo and tuna just trolling lures and casting flies into the birds, but I would think attractors could only help when trolling. Our goal is a marlin this year in a flats boat!

Hey BahamaBob, Welcome to the site. Anyone with aspirations like that is ok by me!!

Will look forward to hearing of some of your Bahamian adventures.

I agree with what is said above. A spreader bar will add drag to the line when fighting a fish, but they do have their place in a spread and can really tear up tuna and bring other fish snooping around in the right places.

-D

[BahamaBob]

Thanks! Like I said, we run a little flats fishing operation out of Salina Point and have all this great, clam, unfished blue water at our door step. We are actually bringing over a 26 ft Panga to better take advantage of all the tuna, mahi and wahoo, but still access the flats. Our guides who are all commercial fishermen really have no clue about anything beyond the reef, so we are figuring it out as we go, mostly chasing birds and fishing rips on different tides.

[R'nR Bob]

Bob and Fred
Had a great crossing to the Bahamas, and let me tell you I am now an offical believer in spreader bars. We caught 15 yellowfin up to 45lbs and 40 plus dolphin in one day. Want to order to more bars. Should I order a couple larger ones? End Quote from a customer in todays e-mails. BahamaBob, if you e-mail me at RnRbob@sbcglobal.net I will send you a catalog of SUPERBAR spreader bars that will work well for you. We have been fishing from pangas and smaller boats all winter and we have just what you need. Light or heavy tackle, small or large fish, we can help you with you're billfish goal. Troll fast or slow, minimal drag (when fighting the hooked fish) and, no tangles.
Bob

[reel fool]

Bob,

For some reason, most likely water clarity, spreader bars just don't seem to work for us in the Bahamas. I have tried all sorts of colors and bars. They just don't seem to work like they do in the NE Canyons.

Fish On

Mike

Mike--try changing the size of your squid too. and add some small splash birds to the bar. they make a huge difference. The spreader bars developed for the NE fishery were originally rigged with dead baits, not shell squid. The stiff, heavy bars are far less effective at catching tunas (& other fish) than the newer, lighter, more flexible bars. I have been having outrageous success here on tunas (in Kona) with spreader bars.

Thanks! Like I said, we run a little flats fishing operation out of Salina Point and have all this great, clam, unfished blue water at our door step. We are actually bringing over a 26 ft Panga to better take advantage of all the tuna, mahi and wahoo, but still access the flats. Our guides who are all commercial fishermen really have no clue about anything beyond the reef, so we are figuring it out as we go, mostly chasing birds and fishing rips on different tides.

BB-I have some bars rigged up that would do the trick for you. Give me a pm with your ph # or give me a call. I am 6 hours BEHIND your time.

[Captain Fred Archer]

That nice catch of fish on the way over to the Bahamas was made on our light, hi speed SuperBars, fished off a 43 Merrit at 7-10 knots. I have fished ultra clear waters for a lot of years down in Mexico and the only difference between them and the less clear stuff I've noticed is that the fish can see your bars, lures, or baits from much further away. Tunas will come for a big, fat spread of bars from remarkable distances down.

Others do differently, but I don't agree with adding anything to the light, hollow squids that you will find on a quality composite bar. I see zero need for adding birds or other devices like that to our bars and thus violating the integrity of the bait school that I am trying to represent. Unlike some metal bars with all sorts of stuff hanging off of them, our composite bars consist of the same size squid teasers, just like the bait in a natural school, with the chasebait trailing behind it and in a different color or size to make it the target of attacking fish.

I hasten to add that this is how I want my bars to be - simple, clean and natural, and easy to troll and handle. There are others out there (and here) who obviously feel that the other type of "loaded" bar is better and they are willing and able to run them on the kind of gear that it takes to do so. My only comment there is I ran plenty of the other kind of bars, don't like them and we don't make them, which we easily could.

Physics remains physics and the bigger the bar and the more stuff on it, the heavier it is and this not only increases the weight of the bar, it pulls harder when trolling and when just handling the bar, and it has the same effect on hooked fish that have to fight it - and it is submerged and even harder to pull when in that state. This is why the IGFA has ruled against spreaderbars with chasebaits (the one with the hook in it) attached to the bar - they feel that the pressure on the fish is enough to violate the fair chase rule. No matter how you slice it, the more stuff that you add to a bar, the harder it is going to be for you and the fish to pull it when it is submerged during the fight. That is simple physics.

If you are going to be running a panga, take a look at the device (an UpRigger) in the photo below. More and more top panga skippers down in Mexico (this boat is from the Sportfisherman Fleet in La Paz - a top outfit) love UpRiggers and run them inshore and offshore. They require no preparation, special hardware, holes drilled or alterations to the boat, period. Besides letting you troll more lines on your panga, UpRiggers will also let you fish your bars IGFA legally, which could be important down where you are fishing and are likely to run into some potential record fish. They also allow you to fish far lighter tackle than you would have to if you were to troll big, bulky, heavy bars. I hope that you try hi-speed composite spreaderbars before you decide on what you are going to come to rely upon.