# Ideal trolling Speed?



## Water Spout II (Feb 26, 2009)

What's your ideal trolling speed when you are pulling artificials or dead bait like ballyhoo/ illander combo. Not highspeed wahoo trolling at 14 or 15 knots. Conditions are ideally flat or close to it. Do ya'll like to mix it up or keep it constant?


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## Midnight Run (Oct 2, 2007)

we run whatever speed makes the lures run right anywhere from 5 knots to 9 knots. but i like 6.5-7 knots is a good speed not to fast for deadbait and not to slow for lures


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

What Jeff said, 7 knots will give lures enough action and is still slow enough to keep your natural baits from washing out. You can pull them faster but there really isn't any need to. We usually make on the fly adjustments to our spread when regarding what to put out and how long to leave it out. If you haven't gotten a strike in a couple hours then perhaps its time to put something new out. I always leave time tested favorites in longer but sometimes they just won't eat. Just remember, if you drag a spread long enough, something will get bit.


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## Water Spout II (Feb 26, 2009)

Yea, I have pulled them around 7 knots or so in the past but I read an old article in Florida Sportsman from last summer where George Poveromo was talking about switching trolling speeds around while out on the water...just wanted to see what yall thought.


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## gator7_5 (Oct 4, 2007)

> *Dempsetc (3/25/2009)*Yea, I have pulled them around 7 knots or so in the past but I read an old article in Florida Sportsman from last summer where George Poveromo was talking about switching trolling speeds around while out on the water...just wanted to see what yall thought.


lure action decided speed.Itshouldchange throughout the day depending on wave action, current, lures, etc. Between 6-8 kts most of the time.

most commonly between 6.5 - 7.5 with naturals invloved. When everything looks good and has that perfect wiggle and action, you're going the right speed.


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## nb&twil (Oct 2, 2007)

For lure/bait combonation spread I would say somewhere in the 6-7knot range. With lures only, we usually kept it around 8.5 knots for 2 reasons. One, at the slightly higher speed, we cuold cover a little more ground, but more importantly, that's about where we had the Detroits making the most beautiful purr...


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## SUNDAY-FUNDAY (Apr 17, 2008)

depends on you boat, the spread your pulling, and about 100 more factors.... if you're pulling plugs thru open water "scouting" for fish- pull baits that you can haul ass with (8+ knots). this way you can cover a bunch of territory. if you're trollin a well defined weedline that has bait jumping everywhere-deploy the naturals and slow it down.... but for the most part just use common sense. every boat and every spread is different.


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## recess (Oct 8, 2007)

> *SUNDAY-FUNDAY (3/25/2009)*depends on you boat, the spread your pulling, and about 100 more factors.... if you're pulling plugs thru open water "scouting" for fish- pull baits that you can haul ass with (8+ knots). this way you can cover a bunch of territory. if you're trollin a well defined weedline that has bait jumping everywhere-deploy the naturals and slow it down.... but for the most part just use common sense. every boat and every spread is different.


I couldn't of said it better.


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## Reel Rhythm (Feb 28, 2009)

Midnight,



Do you ever troll the Mann's Stretch 25's/30's?

I 'm wanting to learn what the optimal drop back distance is

on these,as affected by trolling speed, maybe for wahoo..

Thanks


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## CoreyRF18 (Jan 13, 2009)

Ive never really draged the stretch 25's but i have draged the yozuri bonitas all over the gulf, and i think everybody will agree that they get more wahoo bites than almost anything. you can put them anywhere in the spread even as close as the second wave and troll them at any speed u like, from 6 to 14+ knots weve got bites.


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## specslayer (Oct 9, 2007)

i caught my wahoo on a stretch 30 out at the edge last nov and we were headed into the current so we were going as fast as the lure would let us without popping up.


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## SUNDAY-FUNDAY (Apr 17, 2008)

the stretches can go up to about 8 knots before fouling.... as far as how far back to run them: that depends on how deep you want them to run.... there is not an "optimal" distance.... closer is shallower, BUT to a certain extent- it you let them waaaaay back thay start to run shallower as well. play with the distance to figure out where the fish are holding. we normally run a pink stretch 30, a chrome/blue stretch 25, a braid marauder, and a wahoo jet.... with the strech 30 furthest back this essentially covers from 5 to 35 feet deep.


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## barry Cowart (Mar 28, 2009)

I use to troll between 7-9kts

for wahoo, mahi-mahi. yellowfin


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

> *Reel Rhythm (3/28/2009)*Do you ever troll the Mann's Stretch 25's/30's?


depending on your line, the stretches can run just under 50 feet under the surface. 6 to 8 knots is good. i like to set mine at 160, 80, and 45 feet behind the boat. just make sure to change out the trebles and split rings from stock


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