# struggling offshore



## Bigg J (Nov 7, 2007)

fished offshore yesterday, trying to troll up some fish, trolled at the marathon jacket and found nothinbut a huge ass baracuda, got my illander back and headed to the mp-255 stopped and fished a bunch of weeds holding nothing and headed to the mp 252 a&b. all that and a 62 mile ride home with nothing in the box and nothing but a barracuda to talk about. What the hell did I do wrong.


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## Chasin' Tales (Oct 2, 2007)

It's impossible to say what went wrong based on the information you provided. You may have done nothing wrong. You may have done everything wrong. What were you targeting would be a good place to start...


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## bellafishing (Oct 1, 2007)

First off, what did the water look like? Did you see any bait? If you come across grass and there's no bait, you might be wasting your time. I've never seen a Marlin eat a salad, know what I mean? If you get to a rig and don't see bait, move on. Check out some marine charts like Hilton's or Roffs if you're heading out. I figure you can spend $300 in gas looking for blue water, or$45 before you ever leave the dock and find it just the same. Also, talk with some people from the forum ahead of time and ask if anyone has been to the rigs you're considering. First hand reports are a wonderful thing! Also, what kind of spread are you pulling? Are you targeting billfish, tuna, wahoo? You may be pulling the wrong combo of stuff for what it is you're after. When we head offshore, even if we don't have access to a recent chart, try to think about what the winds have been doing . If it's been NE winds for several days, chances are good that nasty water may be pushed to the W. This time of year bait is vital. Even if it's blackfin tuna. Some people see blackfin tuna at the edge and drive right past them muttering about how blackfin are a waste of time. And that may be so, but why drive past fish to catch fish? Last I checked, YFT, Marlin and other pelagics eat BFT!! And if they're on the surface it only means1 of 2 things: they are eating baitfish, or they are being eaten by something bigger!! Hope all of this helps some.

Bob


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## whome (Oct 2, 2007)

Just like paying for the hiltons charts I suggest you find someone who has years of experience in trolling offshore and pay them to show you what you need to know. One day with someone who knows what they are doing will save you lots of trips of trial and error....


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

It's sorta like riding a bicycle. You don't stop trying the first time you fall off. Get up get back on and go for it. If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. Experience is the best teacher. PM chris Couture he has good experience with that subject and seems willing to help a rookie out.


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## Bigg J (Nov 7, 2007)

sure enough guys. the little bit i do know about fishing told me to fish the grass, it just didn't produce. i saw a lot of bird action but not a lot of bait action, there was though a lot of flyers at the oil rig we were at so i thought it would produce. my tackle kinda limits me to what i can fish for. if a marlin hits, i'm hoping it'll be fairly little. right now i'm fishing TLD 25's which i have hung two wahoo on, and penn 114 and okuma's t-30 and many other smaller reels for kings and what not. i'm really interested in wahoo, whites, blt, dolphin (bigger than chiken), and some of the smaller bluewater bruisers until i get some bigger sh...stuff.


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

i'll respond to this more thoroughly later, as i am late for work right now, but there are a shitton of hooters right now around 255. not to mention....well, i cant give away all my secrets.


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## Bigg J (Nov 7, 2007)

comon hoo, you seem to got some skill about yourself, you can hook it up.


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## JoshH (Sep 28, 2007)

Talk to Wade (downtime2)


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## Tackle Rep (Oct 30, 2007)

Fished all those inshore rigs Sunday on the way home from the floaters . And We caught 6 wahoo in the 30-45lb range on islander ballyhoo combos and yozuri bonitos. The rigs well west of mp255 in 250-300 ft of water where best. They have a lot less pressure. especially after a busy weekend like we had. Keep trying you have to put your time in it will pay off eventually.


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## Bigg J (Nov 7, 2007)

i know it, man i was so amped getting out there, i bought one of those hilton's books that you were talking about and couldn't decide if i wanted to fish the rigs or nipple edge area, so we ran to the mp 255 and mp 252a/b stopped at the marathon jacket on the way out and caught a monster of a cuda, just not what i was looking for.


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## bonita dan (Oct 3, 2007)

The charts that Tom has put out are great but will only show bottom cartography and wrecks,not where the fish are. You will have to go a little further by getting an accurate sea surface temp,water color,cholorphil,basically satelite shot of the gulf to see more clearly of where the action might,emphasize MIGHT be. Try Roffs or Terrafin and sometimes Ripcharts to see whats going on. I think Hiltons is working on something along those lines but not sure. Good luck and keep trying,persistence will pay off in the end.


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## SKIFFY (Oct 6, 2007)

overnunder- what kind of boat do you have?

fuel tank size??


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## Bigg J (Nov 7, 2007)

i run a 24ft formula, twin 130's 100 gal. fuel


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

like i said, those rigs are stacked right now. pull bonitas and mylures. illander/ballyhoo combos are alright. not my go-to wahoo lure though. if you're catchin cudas, you're swingin too close to the rig. hilton's books? not sure what you're talkin about. we have a subscription to the website, and have real-time live updates whenever we log on to the site.


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## bellafishing (Oct 1, 2007)

I think he's talking about a Hilton's Atlas. If you fish it, they will bite....


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## Bigg J (Nov 7, 2007)

sure enough, it wasn't my last trip out there thats for sure, its freakin beautimous, just wish we had some hoos to put on the grill.


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## wills marine (Oct 12, 2007)

Don't forget,"elephants eat peanuts" and big marlin eat small lures sometimes.


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## Tom Hilton (Oct 4, 2007)

> *bonita dan (11/13/2007)*The charts that Tom has put out are great but will only show bottom cartography and wrecks,not where the fish are. You will have to go a little further by getting an accurate sea surface temp,water color,cholorphil,basically satelite shot of the gulf to see more clearly of where the action might,emphasize MIGHT be. Try Roffs or Terrafin and sometimes Ripcharts to see whats going on. I think Hiltons is working on something along those lines but not sure. Good luck and keep trying,persistence will pay off in the end.


Howdy,

Hilton's launched www.Realtime-Navigator.comin May 2004 which features altimetry, sea surface temps, chlorophyll, salinity, currents, etc. We recently just added the new wave height forecast tool which is available for the NC GULF region currently - you can forecast up to 42 hours out (in 6 hour increments). We will have this new imagery in most of the other regions up by next week (Thanksgiving this week).

All the best,

Tom


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## bonita dan (Oct 3, 2007)

Thanks for clearing that up Tom. I suspected that's what the Realtime Navigator did but wasn't 100% sure since I hadn't gone to the site myself yet but will look into it in the future. And on this site if your not 100% sure about a correct answer,then it turns into the KISSOF DEATH:nonono


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## brnbser (Oct 1, 2007)

I've had a subscription to Hilton's for a couple of years now and it's well worth the money for any offshore or bluewater fishing.

We used it exclusively last week and this past weekend at Nationals and it was dead on with the SST, altimetry and chloro we werelooking for.

As faras the jacket, it's been stacked up with cuda lately. We werethere last Wednesday and even if you do hook something besides cuda, they will tear it up before you get it in.


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