# high speed trolling



## redneck911

i was wondering how fast you go for high speed trolling and maybe a coulple of tips i don't really like to troll a lot but if i can troll at a descent speed on the way out to my spots i will take it up how heavy of a lure do i need thanks


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## bombtosser

There's alot of guys that are smarter than me on here that will give you some info on high speed wahoo trolling, but here's my two cents:thumbup:. buy a heavy nosed wahoo wacker or other bullet shaped lure, slap a few lbs of trolling lead infront of the leader, then let it way, way back. my tld 50s with mono barely had the drag to hold it tight. if the lure skips, add more weight.


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## Bub

Pick up a black bart rum cay candy or two. I know they arent super cheap but they troll true without any added lead easily in the lower 20kts. They also make a few different sizes in this head style. I believe the rum cay is the middle size but I am not for sure.


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## Xanadu

Bub said:


> Pick up a black bart rum cay candy or two. I know they arent super cheap but they troll true without any added lead easily in the lower 20kts. They also make a few different sizes in this head style. I believe the rum cay is the middle size but I am not for sure.


Weight has no bearing on whether or not the lure stays in the water. It's all about the shape. Any of Bart's high speed lures will stay in the water as fast as our boats will go - up to 30kts. All that lead and cable are just trouble, imho.


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## lingbat

I always used the wahoo waster at 20-22kts. Put it back until it stays in water, it will run right on the top. Do not put any weight on it. Mine would go out as soon as we cleared the pass and left in until we were ready to put out a regular trolling spread. Same thing coming in. Anytime the boat is moving it should be back there. You will catch wahoo, kings, bonita, and occasional black fin. We also caught a 48# cobia, 200+# blue marlin in 140ft of muddy water and one juvinile flipper in the end of his nose. Took a while to release but he was fine.


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## marlinchaser

lingbat said:


> I always used the wahoo waster at 20-22kts. Put it back until it stays in water, it will run right on the top. Do not put any weight on it. Mine would go out as soon as we cleared the pass and left in until we were ready to put out a regular trolling spread. Same thing coming in. Anytime the boat is moving it should be back there. You will catch wahoo, kings, bonita, and occasional black fin. We also caught a 48# cobia, 200+# blue marlin in 140ft of muddy water and one juvinile flipper in the end of his nose. Took a while to release but he was fine.


Who makes the lure and who carries it? Thanks.


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## FenderBender

marlinchaser said:


> Who makes the lure and who carries it? Thanks.


 
5th one down on the page

http://www.jdsbiggame.com/Test.asp?cID=5&Check=2


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## hogdogs

A flatline clip off the stern eyes or cleats will allow you to troll at the same speed with the baits closer to the boat as the angle will be very flat...

I made some high speed heads (stainless steal long taper copies of big lures) for light tackle (12-20lb gear and line) that would troll at 16 knots real easy... Talk about screamin' the drag...

Brent


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## lingbat

Roger, I believe braid made it, it is identical to the wahoo wacker. Bought them at outcast.


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## seeryfly

48oz Ballyhood banchee... It will set you back a bit. Need a 80lb class reel to handle the drag and strike. I've pulled with less capable reels (penn 345) and could only get around 12-15kts out of it.


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## Heller High Water

The lures above are some of the best for trolling at high speed. We run ours out of the clip from the stern cleat. When they say WAY back they mean WAY back, ours usually runs just past the bubbles from the props, WAY WAY back, usually the only way to really see where it is, is by the chug every few seconds. 
I have found that a really long (8-10ft) 300lb leader helps when that wahoo hits at 20+mph. The stretch also allows for some minor mistakes. We have also picked up some nice sized mahi trolling at speeds around 10-15knts.


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## Xanadu

hogdogs said:


> A flatline clip off the stern eyes or cleats will allow you to troll at the same speed with the baits closer to the boat as the angle will be very flat...
> 
> I made some high speed heads (stainless steal long taper copies of big lures) for light tackle (12-20lb gear and line) that would troll at 16 knots real easy... Talk about screamin' the drag...
> 
> Brent



One of the mistakes people make when high speed trolling is trying to use light tackle and straight / stand-up style rods. The tips are too noodly and want to flex and bend and act like a sling shot at speed. The best for high speed trolling is bent butts in minimum 50s. I've never seen a flat line or other clip that would hold the 25 or more pounds of drag, but if you can get one that will hold, that would work too.


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## hogdogs

Xanadu, I pretty much agree... I use 7500-8500 penn reels on "heavy action" slammer rods. The bent butt angle would be nice but...

I was mainly looking for "extreme" trolling on the way out to the deep water grounds. 

I will say that if you don't take the utmost care of your reel (especially drag section) the line will break at the rod tip before the line even starts to run off.

I only lost a single lure head due to a buddy's less than stellar drag maint.

I had some cut off but after the fight had started and boat was slowed. 

These lures require very little drag tension to troll at high speed. That was due to a few mods I did that utilized a few physics laws. It also made them "skip" or "chug" very straight rather than "pop" out of the water flippin' all goofy...

But it was just a bored ******* fisherman with access to a lathe and bridgeport that was " 'sperimentin' "...:whistling:
Brent


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## Captain Woody Woods

hogdogs said:


> Xanadu, I pretty much agree... I use 7500-8500 penn reels on "heavy action" slammer rods. The bent butt angle would be nice but


You're high speed trolling with a spinning reel?


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## redneck911

thanks everyone i appreciate it


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## BlueH20Fisher

I've tried several lures, BlackBarts', heavy stainless bullet heads, mylar's, etc... The best I've found are the "Wahoo Kings" by Ace Lures I think. You don't want a rubber skirted lure, unless you want to re-skirt after EVERY fish. I reccomend a nylon "islander" type skirt that wahoo can't destroy. If lure isn't in perfect shape it WILL spin, and ruin a lot of line, and eventually, if not adressed, break off. I use a 32oz. weight then 20' of 300# mono, then 2' of 375# Seven Strand (49 strand). Tried one w/o weight and one with side by side several time, and the one with ALWAYS got hit. It takes 25# of drag and a rubber band wrapped around line several times and looped over drag drag lever to hold @ 22kts. At strike rubberband dissapears, most wahoo caught this way are 50#+ and after the boat is slowed they no longer fight, so line capacity isn't an issue, a 50wlrs w/80# line is sufficient. Keep boat in gear, rod in holder, wire fish, watch the weight, gaff towards head, and they come in quiet. Caught them as shallow as 80', and average one a trip when we do it.


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## hogdogs

Woody, Sure, It is a reel BLAST!!! If I can make some more heads, I will gladly show the set up in action to ya'. 

I have also used 30W internationals spooled with Ande 20# but we already know they can handle it...

The trick to the spinner is perfectly cared for drag and setting the drag so as the line might pull an inch or 6 when the lure re-enters the water.

Oh yeah, someone has to be right there paying close attention since they ain't got a clicker...

Brent


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## Xanadu

hogdogs said:


> Woody, Sure, It is a reel BLAST!!! If I can make some more heads, I will gladly show the set up in action to ya'.
> 
> I have also used 30W internationals spooled with Ande 20# but we already know they can handle it...
> 
> The trick to the spinner is perfectly cared for drag and setting the drag so as the line might pull an inch or 6 when the lure re-enters the water.
> 
> Oh yeah, someone has to be right there paying close attention since they ain't got a clicker...
> 
> Brent


I'm not sure how you're doing what you're doing, but it sounds damn near impossible to troll a 2# lure at 18kts with 30# test. Frankly, I don't think an 8500 will even put out enough drag to hold the lure in place, but I wouldn't even try. When a 50# fish eats a 2# lure making 20kts, it's going to break the line or the rod or the reel very frequently. God forbid all the popping and jerking from that light a rod wind up giving you a loop around the tip and destroying or removing your rod from the boat, but each to their own. Perhaps by "extreme" you're talking about a way different gig.

FYI, for high speed trolling, I like Bart's San Sal Candy or Crooked Isle rigged with 900# air craft cable, a stainless 9 or 10/0 hook with the tip 1/2 and inch behind the end of the skirt. 20' of 400# stiff mono leader works fine. Having the hookset properly positioned eliminates any chance of spin or twist and these lures run perfectly at up to 30kts. Anything less than a 50 won't hold the line in place even from a bent butt set at 16# of drag so we generally use 80s set a 28#.

On strike, there's a big splash and a few seconds of line screaming, but it's my belief that's more the sound of the boat pulling line against a dead fish than the fish actually running against 30# of drag headed 20kts the other way. Slow the boat and you can reel them in and lift over the gunnell or slide in the door without a gaff.

Check your hooksets at least every other trip because the constant wiggling will break even 1200# cable quickly if it's not heat shrinked.


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## hogdogs

Xanadu, I was not totally clear I guess... As I previously said "I made"... these are custom lure heads that weight only 1-2 ounces not counting the skirts. They start as 1/2"DX2"L solid round S.S. stock... These are scaled down for the light tackle... You would have to hammer the drag to drag a full size lure...

I do not have any of my high speed taper heads left... But so you see the size we are talking, here is my door knob/ spool style with smoker holes (minus skirting)... It trolls at 9+ on 15# just fine...
















Brent


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## hogdogs

As for leader, for these small heads and light line, I use 1/16th inch 49 strand stainless cable. On the line end, I make the loop with a sampo swivel already attached. 
Brent


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## Xanadu

Interesting. Looks like a little cupped jet and I bet at that size it would pull a whole lot less. I bet if you made that head 6-7" long you could toss on a couple skirts along the length and present a 12" lure that weighs nothing and still stays in the water if you get the shape right.

Cool.

It always bothered me seeing people dragging 2-4# of weight when, at that speed, big trolling sinkers make very little different and add tons of hassles and possibility for tackle failure.


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## hogdogs

Yeah... The face isn't cupped... when I tried that it seemed to leave the water and flip nearly every time.

The under cut section at the back is so my skirts are never adding diameter and related resistance.

I have used the 4-6 inch rubber/plastic squid with the end cut until it would stretch on and was super glued. I also tried a few types of the "lure maker" type flat stuff you roll on and glue in the same rubbery plastic as a C&H type skirt.

My favorite just because it was so ******* was my "mylar" lookin' skirt cut from various chip bags.

I also "mini-rigged" medium size finger mullet. I then had to cut the speed to 4-7.

Brent


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