What am i doing wrong!!??...Marlin fishing

[Slugok]

Hello everyone, well I have some questions about marlin fishing... I've been going out for 4 times in around a month all the way off shore for marlin fishing. We go on a grady white 22', maybe that doesn't matter maybe yes, but well... We've been trolling marlin with 5 rods, we use this formation... 2 on the outrigers, 2 short ones and one really far on the middle. We use good lures, but non bait nor anything. Maybe that would be a good way of fishing but completely different no? Well... We troll around 6 and 7 knots some time less some time a litle more. The confusing part is that we are all day fishing and fishing with not A STRIKE! and beside of us there are other boats, the majority diesels and that stuff fishing and having strikes and marlin aboard etc, but on the same places! What might the problem be? The color of the lures? Do we need some reflectors or something? What can we do?!?!?!

[ancient mariner]

HI:
I'm sure lots of Marlin guys can help you out. The only thing I can think of from your thread is that your not running at around 9 knots. That speed worked well for me. The other thing sounds like like your varyiung the speed to much. Keep a constant speed and I'm sure you'll start to get them into your spread.
Again , I'm NOT a MARLIN FISHERMAN.
Wackm 'N Stackm
Joseph B...aka...Ancient Mariner
www.ancientmarinertackle.com

[IglooMan]

Speed MAY be a problem... but not likely.

Time on the water is the most important thing. That and knowledge, whether found in books, in the threads on this site, gathered at the dock from other fishermen, etc.

Watch the tides and the bait. Find bait and you will find fish.

Try using a teaser. If you search the boards you will find several posts by Captain Fred Archer about making your own "Toad Teaser". They are relatively inexpensive, and very easy to make.

Check out the Inside Freds Head section of his website (http://fredarchersworldoffishing.com). It has some really good articles that should help. He also has written many books which can be found on the site.

There is no substitute for time on the water, but reading as much info as possible written by people that have years of experience speeds up the learning curve immensely.

[Patudo]

Tell us more about your fishery amigo. How far offshore, what depth of water, are they white or blue marlin, how big they are, as much information as you feel you can share. If your marlin are mainly blues, you'll want to fish differently compared to if they are mostly whites. If you can help us understand what is happening on the water as much as possible, you'll probably get more helpful suggestions.

[FAT CAT MX]

You say that other boats are catching marlin in the area, but you aren't. First thing you should do is network with the successful boats and find out what they're doing. Most guys will share info (in my experience) unless they're in a tournament at the time.

As far as trolling speed goes, I recommend paying more attention to how your lures are working at the speed you're going in the sea conditions you're facing.

With regard to the boat type and power, I feel that diesel boats raise marlin better than outboard boats. But, my boat is outboard powered and I catch a lot of marlin from it (stripers and blues), so it's doable!

Mostly though it's about time on the water trying and learning for your mistakes. Which is a good excuse to go fishin'!

[Deep C]

There are so many things involved that its tough to nail down to one thing... Out boards do not raise as many billfish as inboards but some things can be done to improve that... Try varying your speed a little more. I'm not sure where your baits are in relation to the boat but if the boat isnt raising fish you may want to run them out longer...
What color is the bottom of the boat. Blue, green or white seem to produce better than say a black bottom. The black silohuette may represent a predator and actually spook some fish... Not all the time but some... If thats the case longer is better...
Its possible that your boats speed where you need to run to make the lures work properly might be "Whining" in a higher pitch sound than fish like. If thats the case try slowing and bring the spred in tighter. Possible again that some boats don't work well with lures at all. If thats the case try naturals.
Just some ideas. Nothing set in stone here... Check the other guys bait and color selections. That could help. Otherwise just keep plugging away trying different things. When you score take notes and repeat that part...

[Anthony of the ARK]

i dont know how most boats fish in tampico but ill try to explain how alot boats fish when targeting billfish from the eact coast and the Caribbean. i am no world class billfishermen not even close but i think i can help.

from where i see you are located i think you will see whites, blues and sails. dead bait is essential when fishing for these species. not the whole spread but most should be bait. naked ballyhoos with circle hooks are what most boat use. the size should be small and medium. i would suggest putting these baits on the flat lines and of one or both of your riggers with a big lure down the middle.

i would try pulling squid chain teasers with no hooks off your outriggers between your flat lines and long riggers. teasers are essential as well when billfishing another thing that a lot of boats use are dredges these look like a school of bait fish to a fish and are very successful when targeting whites and sails especially.

ill try to find some pictures of what some of this stuff is

the first pic is a dredge

the second is a squid chain that a white marlin got wrapped up in it was caught on a naked ballyhoo

check this tread out as well
Circle Hooks in Isla Mujeres, Mexico

[Capt Lindsay]

We fished outboards, both single engine and twins, from 1973 to 1984. The hulls ranged from a 20' Mako to a 23' SeaCraft. All were center consoles.

We got solid advice from charter captains at Hatteras and Oregon Inlet when we would trailer the boats down there. They were not in favor of trolling lures and most of them wouldn't use one if it was given to him. They trolled ballyhoo and a split tailed mullet on a close flat line every once in a while all on #8 coffee colored Malin wire leaders. Hooks were 5/0 to 7/0 Mustad 9175s or the same sized O'Shaunessy needle eye hooks. One Oregon Inlet Captain, Tony Tillet of the Carolinian, sat on a piling on a blow out day and taught us to twist wire the right way. The man spent over 6 hours with us but we learned how to twist wire properly.

Tony and several other captains, including Tony's brother Omie, Harry Baum, Buddy Cannady, and others all concurred that using natual baits gave the fish a chance to come back on a missed bait if you weren't going too fast. They all convinced us that the idea was to go to an area where fish were know to hang out, i.e. over structure, and slow down to where the baits just work. Slow worked in more than one way for these charter captains. Slow meant using less fuel. They still moan and goan on the VHF when the fish are more than 35 miles from the bell buoy.

The Carolina boys told us that too many magazine articles wrote that you should go as fast as you can without the baits pulling apart.

The better method is to go as slow as you can while the baits still work properly. The wake is minimal and the water stays nice, clean, and blue behind the boat.

In all of the outboard boats we fished, we found that 3.5 knots was about the right speed. For the SeaCraft, we trolled on one engine at 1100 rpm. The baits worked, the wake was clear, and we started catching fish. By the time I sold my SeaCraft in 1984, we were catching as much if not more than the top big boats. We had days with doubles and triples on White Marlin at one time and countless days when the fish well was full of tuna.

Back in those days, on the odd day when natural baits didn't seem to work as well, we had to speed up to get lures to work properly but we had to learn what speed was correct. We found that just below 5 knots was the ticket for these boats. Again, the wake was relatively clear, the lures worked, and we caught but not as well as with natural baits.

We also found that Albacore like a slower bait and slowed either our lure or natural bait speed by a knot to accomodate Albacore when they were around.

When rigging moved from brown wire to mono, speeds remained the same depending on the type of bait being pulled.

Trial and error is the best way to find out just what works on your boat. However, you can dramatically increase your opportunities if you go to places that are known to hold bait and fish to begin with. Over time you will build a record of what places are best in certain winds, currents, etc. Keep a log and you will start to see a lot of duplication for certain spots as the good spots start to pull away from random locations.

Keep it simple until you catch on.

Capt. Lindsay Fuller
June Bug Charters
Beach Haven, NJ
609-685-2839
http://www.Fish-JuneBug.com

[Slugok]

Thank you all for your help! I went Blue marlin fishing on Wednesday, thats why i couldn't answer the thread... Here in Tampico where we fish there are basically more Blue marlin and little white really few. We went fishing really early on the morning, we were throwing the lines at around 8 30 or 9 am at 30 miles from the shore at around a depth from 40 fa to 100 fa. We put some blue with white Big black bart lure the "Zulu" on the short line, then a marlin magic orange with purple or something like that, that was big so we place it on the other short line. On the middle outrigger we place a blue with white black bart on it and threw it far. And on the outriggers we had a blue with white and pink and on the other a pakula all green. We were trolling at 6 knots, it was really sunny and the wind was blowing from the south east. So we fish all day there on a mark we hand going from side to side and in all directions and nothing. I don't know if trolling against the waves or crossing them or going on the direction they go affects on the strike opportunity.
The other boat that went fishing that day had only one strike of marlin and they caught a sail fish and a Mahi mahi. They went north and we went south, but on south on days before they had have good results... We are planning our next trip for tomorrow but for weather issues we are postponing it. So we will go next weekend to a place called Isla de Lobos which is a small island in front of Tuxpan and there at around 10 miles from it offshore there is an oil platform where days before they've had really good results of yellow fin tuna and really big marlins. I don't know if anyone have a tactic of fishing big game around oil platforms or if jigging might help or something??

[Pakula]

To give you answers from what you have written is difficult. Your speed is probably a bit slow for the lures you are running. 6.5knots would be minimum if you have the lures rather close to the boat.

Trolling speed is based on speed through the water, not speed over ground as shown on your GPS.

As you troll faster the lures are put further back in the spread.

Tampico is a very popular Marlin port. I am sure you can find many other game fishermen there and perhaps a Game Fishing Club to join. Some there will help.

Here is a link to many articles that may help.

Pakula Articles

and

Pakula Between The Lines

Mostly though as said it's time on the water, and making each experience, good or bad count. Learn to look for the signs and read the water.

The oil rig sounds fantastic and yes it will certainly attract fish of both the up current side and down current side. Once again the local will help you if you ask in a respectful manner. I'm sure you'll also be able to go out with them to see what they do and how they do it, or ask one of them out to go with you.

I am sure you'll do fine.