# spreader bars



## bombtosser (Oct 5, 2007)

I'm thinking about adding a spreader bar into the mix and i'd be interested in hearing an opinion on bars that work. I've had the opportunity to run a few different bars, and once we get them untangled, they seem to run awesome! When it comes to teasers, we usually run a bumper teaser on the short corner, and a squid chain on the long corner. Does anyone have any brands they swear by? What do you run ? squid? ballyhoo?


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## superchicken (Jan 9, 2010)

pM Ms Yellowfin as he can give you all the info you need. He swears by them and they do work....


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## atlantacapt (Oct 2, 2007)

you obviously know what I run....the ballyhoo spreader looks good. I have personally seen wahoos and BF tunas tear it up, but never seen a billfish actually come up on it. I'm a bit reticent to pull the bumper teaser with outboards because it is so erratic. I'd like to try one of those weighted dredges that are just strips with fish prints on them at some point just to see if they produce. Anyone else use dredges on here?


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## bombtosser (Oct 5, 2007)

yeah cameron, you're the reason i'm looking at buying a set of bars. i hate dicking with them but they make me hungry watching them run, i know the fish have to like them!


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## LRAD (Aug 13, 2009)

We bought a "bucket teaser" dredge from tournament cable for use this season, though unfortunately we have not had many chances to try it out. It looks GREAT in the water, and I don't see how fish wouldn't be attracted to it. That said, our two trips this year yielded no pelagic fish (with or without dredge deployed), so the jury is still out. I will say that it seems to be a very well designed product, and it comes with its own very handy storage bucket that makes storage a breeze. 

Anybody use the Archer spreader bars (run directly on fishing line with hooked chase bait)? The dredge is great but it is a teaser pure and simple - we run from teaser reel through the short rigger eye - and the idea of having a small bait pod directly in front of a rigged bait is intriguing.


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## Travis Gill (Oct 6, 2007)

Pull some real dredges with mullet or ballyhoo and now we're talking!


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## bombtosser (Oct 5, 2007)

i've read up on the archer spreader bars, and they look like they are top sh*t. I'd be looking at a 4 or 6" squid bar. Have you guys seen his ruckus bars? they are nasty nasty in the water!!! i'd eat the damn thing. Freespool give me more info on running a real dredge, i've always considered them the setup when sailfishing south fl. how well do they pull, and how much work are they to keep trimmed up with mullet? how have you pulled they dredge when you guys are fishing?


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## Travis Gill (Oct 6, 2007)

They do require quite a bit of time and effort to rig but the results are worth it when white marlin or sailfishing. You have to rig a ton of baits beforehand but once your out there all you have to do is check it every so often and replace the baits that are washed out. Another alternative if you dont have the time to rig a ton of baits is to fish real ones on the back and outsides and rubber baits in the middle where the fish is less likely to to get one in his mouth.


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## bombtosser (Oct 5, 2007)

freespool., are you running dredges on each corner or just one in the spread? with a following lure with a hook in it? or are you just running a lure a bit back from it like you would a bumper teaser?


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## Travis Gill (Oct 6, 2007)

Double dredges are even better I like to run a mullet dredge off one side and a ballyhoo one off the other or just run one if you want. No lure attached they are strcitly a teaser and without a good electric teaser reel can be a pain in the butt


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## marlinchaser (Oct 11, 2007)

I use a Williamson squid bar, long, on top of water, off of starboard rear cleat and teaser short off of port rear cleat, Forever changing out squid on the bar. Seems to be great attractor.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

I generally just buy a spreader or dredge and rig my own. Its more time consuming but then you can add whatever you want to it. I have 3 spreader bars, one with a hook bait at the end and 2 teasers. My spreader with a hook has 9, green, 6" moldcraft squid with a black/green jethead as the chaser. The 2 teaser bars have squid on one and plastic hoos on the other. Both have been awesome in raising wahoo, tuna (both YFT and BFT) and big dolphin. I've only raised 1 white marlin on the ballyhoo spreader.

I also have a 3 tiered Dredge with plastic shad and ballyhoo and that thing is AWESOME! It just sucks to clear sometimes but works great and looks great. Just re-rigged it last night and its ready to go. Always bring extra bodies for either spreaders or dredges cause you will lose baits here and there. We had big blackfin strip all but 2 plastic hoos off of one last season.


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## atlantacapt (Oct 2, 2007)

when fake balyhoo bodies get stolen by pelagics, how do you reconnect? Just glue them into place? or is there a better way? Might be the most rookie question I have ever asked:whistling:.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Unfortunately to make them last longer on the bar you need to crimp them in place by either running the leader through them or making legs with snaps on the ends. I like to run the leader through them but it makes replacing them take a little longer. For the most part they don't get taken very easily, BUT when an entire school of tunas spends 5 minutes throwing down with the spreader bar 25ft behind the boat you are probably going to lose one or two.


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## Eastern Tackle (Jul 6, 2009)

On small boats, your better off just running teasers off the first spot on the riggers. You can also use umbella bars, like you would for striped bass, but rig them out with lure lure of choice which could be natural bait, plastics or strips. It allows the teaser to run in clean water and off to the side where you can see it and the fish on it.

Big dredges are a challenge in small boats because you can't see the fish on them to pick them off with a pitchbait.

Spreader bars down the middle work well. A lot of time its everything around it that gets eaten.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

+1 on not being able to see the dredge from a small boat. I use mine knowing that I most likely will not see a fish if it comes up to it, but that it will get fish in the spread. It has proven very effective in drawing fish in on my flatlines.


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