# Saturday troll



## panhandlephinsphan (Aug 25, 2008)

BEAUTIFUL day. I was by myself again for this trip due to COVID. The seas were 3-4 feet but true 8 second rollers. Later in the day when the wind changed direction they stopped being clean rollers but I was on my way home so it did not matter. A buddy of mine- Blake Lee headed out on his boat and it never gets old trolling along with a friend and one minute you see his boat and then you both go into a trough and he disappears then he pops back up! Yes- its the simple things that provide me with amusement. Anyway- Blake recently picked up this boat and is getting up to speed on trolling so it’s been cool to be part of it with him. He caught his first mahi on the troll on a line we found within the first hour just north of the edge by the nipple- very cool!

Arrived near the edge by the nipple and started trolling around 8. Found a clean line and ran it to the edge. . Then ran the edge for a bit. Headed down to a shelf a little southwest and ran into 3 hoos. I lost the first and the third but put the second in the box. It’s tough by yourself to clear one side of the boat, get him to the boat, then into the boat. By the time you finally get him near the boat the hole where the hook is usually is rounded out a bit so if you screw up you lose him. Which I did. Epic fail right at the boat. After my hoo fun I headed back north of the nipple and had a double hookup on the shelf north of the nipple and it ended up being two good size greater amberjack! There them back since not in season yet. Water temps BTW only 71 so far where I was. 

Awesome day- thank you God!


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## panhandlephinsphan (Aug 25, 2008)

Solo Trip on Cheryl Sue


Shared using GoPro



gopro.com





hopefully the video loads for people.


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## jack2 (Mar 19, 2010)

good read. awesome pics and video.
jack


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## BeachinSharks (Jan 15, 2016)

Thanks for sharing! We might go troll for some pelagic species Friday! Would love to end up with a first wahoo!🇺🇸


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## SouthernBell (Jan 5, 2018)

Nice job going it alone, that's always a taller order


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## cody&ryand (Oct 3, 2007)

Appreciate the report hoping to get out there as soon as I get back in town in a couple weeks


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## Baitsoaker (Jan 27, 2017)

Nice job


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## Lipz (Mar 19, 2013)

By the time you finally get him near the boat the hole where the hook is usually is rounded out a bit so if you screw up you lose him.

Based on your statement, I am assuming you were high speed trolling, if that’s the case would you mind share your spread?


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## panhandlephinsphan (Aug 25, 2008)

The hole was as rounded out as could be and still have them on. The one i got in the boat the hook fell out on the deck. The one i lost at the boat the hook fell out. I have high speed trolled for them but this time i was running 8.5 knots with all plastics looking for billfish. Standard spread of short flat, long flat, short rigger, long rigger, and a shotgun or way back straggler with a bird in front of it. I screwed up boat speed. I meant to drop it down to about 1500 rpm but first dropped it too low and then too high so i was doomed by my captain skills. Time also screwed me as i took way too long to clear one side of the boat, get the gaff (Which i should not have even messed with), get my belt on and fight the fish, i had all kinds of crap on for safety (life jacket, my autopilot remote, and garmin) and it made my fight with the belt tough as well as the fish. I also neglected to put on my gloves and could not wire the fish cleanly. Epic fails all around. I was lucky to get one in the boat. All things i know already but apparently needed a refresher from the offseason. I’ll get it right next time!

when i do high speed troll i run short flat, long flat, and long line. I just run them out farther with weights and run 12-18 knots max. Hope that helps.


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## Lipz (Mar 19, 2013)

panhandlephinsphan said:


> The hole was as rounded out as could be and still have them on. The one i got in the boat the hook fell out on the deck. The one i lost at the boat the hook fell out. I have high speed trolled for them but this time i was running 8.5 knots with all plastics looking for billfish. Standard spread of short flat, long flat, short rigger, long rigger, and a shotgun or way back straggler with a bird in front of it. I screwed up boat speed. I meant to drop it down to about 1500 rpm but first dropped it too low and then too high so i was doomed by my captain skills. Time also screwed me as i took way too long to clear one side of the boat, get the gaff (Which i should not have even messed with), get my belt on and fight the fish, i had all kinds of crap on for safety (life jacket, my autopilot remote, and garmin) and it made my fight with the belt tough as well as the fish. I also neglected to put on my gloves and could not wire the fish cleanly. Epic fails all around. I was lucky to get one in the boat. All things i know already but apparently needed a refresher from the offseason. I’ll get it right next time!
> 
> when i do high speed troll i run short flat, long flat, and long line. I just run them out farther with weights and run 12-18 knots max. Hope that helps.


Good stuff! Thanks for your time sharing, I took some notes and will be reporting results shortly, I am having some issues with my fish finders in waters deeper then 250’ which makes fishing nipple, elbow and part of the edge little harder, thanks again for your reply.


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