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Thread: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

  1. #1

    Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    A great mate of mine has somehow never caught a mackerel, tuna or other surface fish above 8-9kg.
    He is travelling in his boat from Southport to Hervey Bay (and return) next month.
    I would love to see him and his son catch a big mackerel or something like that during their travels.
    The boat cruises at 8knots, which I have found is just a bit too fast for many lures to work properly, as at that speed many lures can just come out of the water and skip about!
    Should he use skirts instead? Suggestions would be kindly appreciated.
    Pauly
    A Proud Member of
    "The Rebel Alliance"

  2. #2

    Re: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    Rapala X Rap will do 8 Knots all day everyday.

  3. #3

    Re: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    My old tinny with the 40 on it trolls way to quick for most lures so I use to use a bucket on a rope to slow me down , para anchor will do same , or if got tabs ...bury em lol , but saying that 8 knots should be fine for macs , and tuna ...any good lure will troll at that speed if its not a deep diver , and a troll keel / ball for those occasions , though skirts should also go alright, not used them myself though

  4. #4

    Re: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    Halco Max, bibless lure. I have caught macks and tuna from a charter boat trolling at 14 knots. Halco trembler will do the same.

  5. #5

    Re: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    Set up some nearly horizontal rod holders or use rod riggers. I run the Halco Laser Pro 190's at over 10 knots. Mono works better than braid. Rapala Magnums hold in until about the 10 knot mark. I would troll a mix of resin heads and minnows.
    A Proud Member of
    "The Rebel Alliance"

  6. #6

    Re: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    Xrap 30 will love that speed, they've become my goto mack lure since forum member Richard introduced me to them, like them even more the giant tremblers; halco laser pro 190DD lures or any other lures I can think of.

    If in doubt put an xrap 30 on one rod and whatever you like on the other, the xrap will win hands down most trips.

    sidetrack: I troll about 4 knots with an xrap and a garfish, or two xraps and a garfish, but plenty of people troll faster with xraps, think they can hold til about 13 knots from memory. cheers.

  7. #7

    Re: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    X-Raps,Halco's and Rapala Magnum CD 18's will all troll well at 8 knots.
    It is also a perfect speed for skirted surface lures.
    Something like Pakula Zippers and Mosquito's will catch any Tuna,Mackeral and Billfish out there.
    You could troll with 3 deep divers out and 3 skirts over the top of them on the surface.

  8. #8

    Re: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    As above plus consider shotgunning a skipping popper.

  9. #9

    Re: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    All the lures mentioned above should work at 8 knots. If they skip out you need to adjust the towing eye very slightly by bending it (very very slightly) in the opposite direction to what it goes before skipping out. Hope that makes sense. All lures will need this adjustment from time to time especially after catching a fish or two.

    Also I agree 8 knots is perfect for skirts and I would definately have a combination of bibbed lures and/or bibless and skirts. i like meridians but pakulas are great too. Unfortunately when it comes to skirts more money means better performance so buy the most expensive you can afford. My opinion only of course...

    Good luck sounds like a great trip!!

  10. #10

    Re: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    One other thing to mention is I have been on boats where their lure blow out, but we have used the same lures without issue. The difference is that they use a clip to attach to the lure where I tie directly to the lure with a loop. Cut off their clip and tie directly and it didn't blow out.

  11. #11

    Re: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    X Rap 30 caught this Macky shown on my avatar at 10 knots on my last Swains trip in May after the decky adjusted the bib fractionally sideways. It was coming out of the water before the adjustment.

  12. #12

    Re: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    Sorry, I meant adjusted the towing eye.

  13. #13

    Re: Help please with trolling lures - 8knots or slightly above

    Thanks HEAPS fellas,
    Especially for the points about adjustment and fine tuning.
    All suggestions are taken on board and if they mange to land anything, I will post it here first.
    Pauly
    A Proud Member of
    "The Rebel Alliance"

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