Trolling For Success

I'm brand new to the TFF and to the Gulf, but have been fishing for years on the SC coast.

I just purchased a new boat and I'm anxious to get on the fish. First outing in the salt water is taking place this weekend. I'll be in a Triton 225CC, with T-Top, 14'' draw, and a 200 hpdi.

Now to the questions: I'm an avid trout / spot tail (that's an East coast mannerism for Redfish that I have stumped a few TX fishermen with) fisherman, but I would like to explore the wild world of trolling. I'm not ready for the big water so I figured you good folks could set me up with a good location, fishing technique and equipment so I can catch some Mackeral, Cobia, Wahoo, Cuda or anything else that will hit a trolling rig.

Plan to put in at the Texas City Dike and head toward the Jetties, make the circle across in front of the beach and back into the San Luis pass. All help and comments appreciated!

-sb

to the forum! you'll have a few guys chime in here purdy soon like SPB and such. listen to them as they know what they're talkin' about!

You're gonna have to get a lot farther out to catch Ling and Wahoo. You might get some Kings off the beachfront if its real clear.

you dont have to go far at all for ling. look around channel buoys for ling. kings will eat just about anything trolled from feathers to russel lures. my fav king rig is wire to a 2/0 owner hook with a treble stinger hook about 4" back. sometimes with a c&h king buster on the main wire.

Wahoo is a different beast.

Buy this book http://www.redsnapperfishing.com/

Your best bet for inshore wahoo is out of Port Aransas. Ling come and go you can chum for them but you will attract other fish such as sharks, which isn't all that bad if you like shark fishing. Ling down here love live bait, sardines,hard tails, croaker, etc.

Kings are easy troll baits and lures out and drift ribbon fish and sardines on your way back in 1-10 miles out of the jetties is fine.

15-30 miles out is good action too depending on the water, green or blue.

Dolphin, they love weedlines, rattle trops, and topwaters work wonders on them.

Also, ling and shark follow shrimp boats so that is a great place to catch a few. You can trade beer with the crew of the boats for bait or even bycatch to make chum.

3 foot strand or cable wire is rec. for wahoo, but you prob. already know that. Toothy lil buggers.

The closest rigs around Galveston get hit HARD on the weekends so fish during the week and hunt weed lines during the weekend.

Honestly, this time of the year until early July 20+ miles out is they way to go, from July - late Aug the nearshore action really pics up with the calm seas and blue water.

Cuda are a mixed bag, sometimes you can find them on the first couple of rigs or weedline but generally they like deeper and clearer water.

Get yourself some menhaden oil and make some chum slicks too when you are trolling, you never know what will show up. Blue and white along with Purple and Black are big trolling skirt colors down here, I also like white and pink and chart with blue. Troll hard tails near 50 yards out weed lines and you might pick up some large chickens and kings.

If the action is thick shut the engines down and chunk lures!


-Z-






Cuda

SPB;

Just curious what's good speeds for trolling? Last year I tried doing a little trolling and had no luck. Seems I couldn't get the speed right.

What's your spread consist of, lure wise? We talking for wahoo's right? 10 knots is about minimun for hoo in most cases.. Max would be 20 with 12 good average and 15 being a high average.

Ilander lures lists speed ranges for their lures in their cat. that I have. Some people use ballyhoo and others use added skirts and such to attract fish. For example a person might troll a p-line skirt out to start the day and locate fish then they will slow it down to 8 or 9 knots and troll the ballyhoo. Dif. people do it different ways.

Check out black bart lures.. Very nice but a lil $$.

spb;

Like I mentioned I'm not big on trolling, most of the time I don't consider the gain worth the cost of fuel. But there are times when I am running slow anyway, so I toss a rod out and see what I see...

I've only got one saltwater trolling lure, I bought it because we had good success with a guide a few years ago. Not sure what it is called, but it's aluminium, U shaped about 6" or so long, and slightly curved. I bought blue and silver.

My boat is setup for 2 trolling rods off the back apx 8' apart. No chance of adding additional rods.

We trolled these lures inside and around the jetties in port A, caught mostly kings with them. I seem to recall catching a bonita on one, but not sure if it was a different lure or not.

If it's aluminum then I am almost positive it's a Russel Lure.


If it is it should have different o rings to choose a different running depth.



-Z-

Like SPB said there are different ways to approach this.

One method of trolling that you might want to consider around shrimpers and rigs is using cigar minnows and sometimes ribbonfish. You don't troll very fast at all and only troll them where there is structure and/or lots of chuming going on such as at shrimp boats. Just get them moving slowly and often it works better than still fishing.

We sometimes set up a chum line around a rig and then use this technique. Works very well at times on kings and bonito. Sometimes its so hot and calm later on in the year where using this slow troll is actually very pleasant....but calm seas won't come for awhile yet.

Here is a picture to confirm, but yest it has three different rings for depth. Last time I took these to the coast I tried trolling the middle ring for depth, and tried various speed of 2.5-5mph with no luck. I'd be interested in learning the propper speed for these, and I can vary the depth from one rod to the next to see what I get.

those are russel lures.
I have caught many kings and sharks on those.

What's the propper speed to run them at?

About 4 knots is good..

For Russels it's best to use spectra with a stiff pole and a 3 foot wire leader, stiff as you can find.

They lure will pop up from time to time, nothing you can really do to stop that other than slow it down.

-Z-

You are looking at a long boat ride if you plan on coming back in to the Dike from San Luis Pass.
If that is what you are planning, once you get closer to the Causeway I would consider going into Greens Cut to get to the ICW to get you back the rest of the way, unless you will have someone in the boat that knows West Bay real well, lots of Oyster reefs on that end of West Bay.

Thanks for all the help folks. I'm going to give a try if the weather will cooperate for a while. What type sea can I expect to see outside the Jetties tomorrow?

If I were to run a constant speed (20-30 kts) from the TC Dike out of the jetties, down the coast to SL Pass and up the ICW back to the Dike?

SPB - I really appreciate your detailed response. Me being a first timer off of Galveston, and if someone forced you to make a bet that I would catch a few fish, where would you tell me to go and how would you tell me to fish (I know "with a guide" is the easy answer, but on my own, what would you say)?

How fast am I trolling live bait down weedlines or around shrimp boats on a sea-witch type rig for Kings, Ling, etc(2-3 mph)?

Thanks everyone. See you on the water tomorrow.

If you arent familar with slp and west bay you need a chip in your gps or you may have to spend the night out there, it isnt fun I know. low tide it can be hard to navigate.

Live bait gets trolled at or near idle speed pretty much, with in about 50 - 100 yards from a weedline. Still it depends on the weedline, if it is a few giant messes then drifting with it is a much better choice. Scattered about in many smaller pieces then trolling is better.

What kind of fish do you want to catch?

It's going to be a chocolate mess down there with the winds and sea weed. I would prob. fish off High Island, I mean it's always messy and dirty up there so the fish are used to it, green water was in pretty close there last I heard.


-Z-

Well, I am game for anything. If the seas are over 3-4, which it looks like there going to be, I don't know if my passengers are going to feel comfortable out in a 22' boat.

I just want to catch a fish trolling, I don't really care what kind at this point. Once I go a few times and know I can catch fish...then I'll start being a little more picky.

Mackerel, Ling, Snapper (not trolling), Marlin (j/k), just about anything will work.

CG - Is there an easy way I can get from the mouth of SL Pass into the ICW? I certainly don't want to spend the night and I will go back through the J's if that's what I need to do. How long of a ride is it from TC Dike out the Jetties and back to the TC Dike via San Luis Pass?

Thanks guys.

It would be almost an hour drive from the Dike to the Pass.

You can reach the ICW from Bastrop Bay but.. wooo that is a big but. Sandbars and shallow flats are a major problem. If it's high tide then I would try it but I don't know the draft of your boat.


-Z-