# what lures do you run in your spread when ur trolling for wahoo



## gwhite33

just wondering trying to perfect this area


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## gwhite33

So your pretty much saying that you like to run jet heads and mostly things that will stay close to the surface and make aloat of noise and actons. have you ever ran just naked bally hoo with a eggweight under the gills


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## Capt. Alex Pinney

just go ahead and pull six blue n white islanders , bound to catch SOMETHING


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## Travis Gill

> *www.fishing (5/6/2009)*
> 
> 
> 
> *Capt. Alex Pinney (5/6/2009)*just go ahead and pull six blue n white islanders , bound to catch SOMETHING
> 
> 
> 
> LOL thats funny.But naw i dont pull any naked baits anymore.If i was gonna put a bait in the water it would be a live hardtail with a 70 pound wahoo swimming close to the boat or a live Black fin or BOBO out to a school of yellowfin that a blue was in there busting up.I dont have tubes installed and dont plan on getting them.We do well enough on what we have and the hassle of rigging baiots and getting them to swim right to have KINGS eat em up isnt worth the aggrevation to me.
> 
> We mostly target blues anyway and consider the wahoo and dolphin a + when they get on.I always have a slab of wahoo candy in the spread somewheres and wont say what it is but we do very well with it.
> First time we dropped it in the water we were leaving pertronius and it was slammed 2 minutes later.never looked back
Click to expand...

If you are targetting blues I'm pretty sure your not in the right area if kings are eating you up lol


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## matttheboatman

I agree with Alex - blue and white Islanders w/ ballyhoo is about as good as it gets. 

In general, Wahoo like 3 things; straight, deep, and fast. 

So, don't run baits that zig zag or blow out. 

And, if you can get them down all the better - usecigar style weights in front of the Ilanders, or use swimmers such as the Marauders, or just heavy head lures (12 + ounces) way, way back. 

And, if your tackle can handle it, run as fast as you can with your baits staying in the water. Straight is best, Deep is second best, and fast is 3rd.


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## Travis Gill

I don't think I've caught a mackeral deeper than 400ft. Now over to the west is a diff story. I can beleive you caught themover there north of petronious. I was just saying If I'm Blue Marlin fishing I'm not gonna besomewhere tha kings live. Now wahoo fishing is a different story


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## SnapperSlapper

Braid Marauders, Ilanders, bullet head lures. If I were just wahoo fishing, I would start with a Braid Marauder on my short flat, something like a C&H Wahoo Wacker (or similar lure) rigged with a select or horse ballyhoo behind a 2# trolling weight on my long flat, a dark colored ilander with select or horse ballyhoo on my short rigger, a large bullet headed lure on my long rigger, and a blue/white ilander with select ballyhoo way back on the center. I'd start with something like that, and adjust it from there.



My boat is a center console with twin outboards, so it's tough for me to troll between 8 knots and 18 knots. So, on my boat, I'll run the above spread at about 7-8 knots. On a big boat, we'll sometimes pull all plastics at 10+ knots. Just replace the ballyhoo rigs with plastic. When we are running at 16 -18 knots, we'll pull two rods, each with a trolling weight and a large bullet headed lure. I don't run wire line, but some people do and have a lot of success.



That's the way I do it. I don't know much, but I have caught a few.


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## John B.

yo zuri & braid bonitas, hot pink, black/orange and black/purple.

plus a blue/white ilander


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## Chris V

I've always believed to a degreethat you will catch more fish on the lure you pull the most and you usually pull lures that you are most confident in. Its a vicious cycle.That being said I don't think there has been too many times that a blue/white ilander and medium ballyhoo hasn't found its way into my spread. I will say that for some odd reason it is a very consistent producer. Theres a lot of other great lures in my arsenal but I will always have at least one ilander back there.

Will, I have caught dolphin,wahoo,BFT,YFT, skippies and some big ass sharks on them but have yet to <U>boat</U> a bill on one. I've hooked a couple whites at the nipple on them but until I start rigging my baits with a chain of 5/0 trebles I don't think my hook-to-land ratio will be going up on white marlin.


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## Downtime2

Lucky 13's on the corners, jitterbugs....green and blue, on the riggers, tiny torpedo on the way back.


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## Chris V

> *Downtime2 (5/7/2009)*Lucky 13's on the corners, jitterbugs....green and blue, on the riggers, tiny torpedo on the way back.


That is a great spread Wade and I like the fact that it will work both at the spur and in a farm pond.

Will, you seriously haven't heard of or seen a billfish caught on a naked ballyhoo? 90% of the whites or sails I've hooked have been on a naked ballyhoo. For blues not so much but billfish in general yes. I love rigging natural baits and I've caught more wahoo on naked hoos with 100# mono leaders than on all my expensive lures. It definitely does take a few more seconds to rig one but if you do it enough it shouldn't take more than about 45 seconds to rig a swimming or skipping hoo.


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## gwhite33

> *tunapopper (5/7/2009)*
> 
> 
> 
> *Downtime2 (5/7/2009)*Lucky 13's on the corners, jitterbugs....green and blue, on the riggers, tiny torpedo on the way back.
> 
> 
> 
> That is a great spread Wade and I like the fact that it will work both at the spur and in a farm pond.
> 
> Will, you seriously haven't heard of or seen a billfish caught on a naked ballyhoo? 90% of the whites or sails I've hooked have been on a naked ballyhoo. For blues not so much but billfish in general yes. I love rigging natural baits and I've caught more wahoo on naked hoos with 100# mono leaders than on all my expensive lures. It definitely does take a few more seconds to rig one but if you do it enough it shouldn't take more than about 45 seconds to rig a swimming or skipping hoo.
Click to expand...



yea naked bally hoo have produced loat of fish but yes i agree with the bonita lures they also tend to be a pain when ur trolling a weed line and you get a good hunk of weeds on them.


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## Capt. Alex Pinney

ill agree , islanders have started to become more and more scarce in our spread because of the tournament rules. but if fun fishing then i will pull islanders because they have proven to me to catch everything. we usually catch our wahoos and biggest ones on our " marlin " lures as a by catch. if you plan on going to the egde and trolling for just wahoo then do what most of these guys told you , braid runners , run an islander on a planer , or some jet heads . everything works different for everyone , its going to be trial and error for what works for you..


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## Xanadu

> *www.fishing (5/6/2009)*.I try to keep all the lures lead lines as close to the water surface as possible.reason i run side riggers to get the line as close to the water.Lures seem to swim more natural and wont get pulled upwards as bad.A Plunger is meant to be pulled straight and dive.How can it dive right if the line over its head is 45 degrees to the rigger.
> 
> I always like to keep a sm




Bite your tongue grasshopper. Rigger lift is most beneficial.



Must look deeper, yes?


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## Chris V

Yeah the tourney rules nowadays have definitely stemmed the sale of ballyhoo for tourney fishermen. I mostly use them for fun trips and we pull them on J-hooks.


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## Chris V

I almost forgot my favorite big hoo bait, a spanish mack. You can skip em, swim em or even put them on a downrigger and big wahoo love them. I hear blue marlin kinda like em too.


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## SnapperSlapper

We've caught a number of blue marlin on the standard blue/white Ilander with a medium or select ballyhoo.



A blue/white or blue/pink ilander with a medium or select ballyhoo is one of the most productive billfish lures going, and it's hard to run wrong. It will work well from the riggers or center, and is hard to mess up. Wave placement doesn't seem to be as critical as with plastics, so it is hard to mess up. I've caught or seen more billfish caught on ilanders and moldcraft wide ranges than any other two types of lures.


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## SUNDAY-FUNDAY

pink stretch 30 short corner. orange/black braid marauder in prop wash. varying colors of strech 25 on long corner. black and red wahoo bomb way back.

if we are specifcally targetig hooters- likeat the rigs along the shelf out of the mouth of the river from jan-march: we never pull more than 3 baits.....because when the bite is on and you make a pass by the rig, however many baitsyou have out, thats how many drags are about to start screaming.


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## Xanadu

Will, each lure is different and each has different balance and weight. Some lures like to be run flat off the rod tip of a bent butt and others like to be run from a straight butt. Plungers that dive deep have to come to the surface to pop and the higher the rigger the deeper the dive after the pop.



Gravity and friction and lure shape all play a part, but this much I can tell you with no uncertainty: Some lures run better from high up the riggers and others would prefer to be run flat off tag lines.


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## ManFish

I like that black bart sal cal candy you can troll them pretty fast.


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## Xanadu

> *ManFish (5/7/2009)*I like that black bart sal cal candy you can troll them pretty fast.




26kts!


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## Downtime2

Moldcraft baby!!!!!!


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## Downtime2

Rich? Me? Hell, I work for a living. If you can squeeze all the shit out of me.....I might give you some _rich_ fertilizer.....


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## Downtime2

Fester Adams....my childhood hero......


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## jim t

> *Downtime2 (5/7/2009)*Fester Adams....my childhood hero......


And pretty much... TWIN brother!!!okeoke:shedevil:shedevil

Though I think "Fester" was obviously the better looking of the two...

Sorry, couldn't resist...:letsparty:letsdrink:letsdrink:letsdrink:letsdrink

Jim


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## SuperSpook

> *Downtime2 (5/7/2009)*Fester Adams....my childhood hero......


I had thought that was youin a "thinking" posefor like 4-5 years now lol.


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## Downtime2

> *SuperSpook (5/7/2009)*
> 
> 
> 
> *Downtime2 (5/7/2009)*Fester Adams....my childhood hero......
> 
> 
> 
> I had thought that was youin a "thinking" posefor like 4-5 years now lol.
Click to expand...

Now....do you see a comode anywhere in that pic????


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## SuperSpook

> *Downtime2 (5/7/2009)*
> 
> 
> 
> *SuperSpook (5/7/2009)*
> 
> 
> 
> *Downtime2 (5/7/2009)*Fester Adams....my childhood hero......
> 
> 
> 
> I had thought that was youin a "thinking" posefor like 4-5 years now lol.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Now....do you see a comode anywhere in that pic????
Click to expand...

Lmao... Great answer!

Just so you know I couldnt really see the pic that good and never enlarged it.


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## Runned Over

MOLDCRAFT???????? :hoppingmad 

Now I gotta return these!!!!!! :doh I was wondering about the "farm pond" reference :letsdrink



> *Downtime2 (5/7/2009)*Lucky 13's on the corners, jitterbugs....green and blue, on the riggers, tiny torpedo on the way back.


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## BlueWater2

Im supprised Jeff ,from the Midnight Runhasn,t chimed in here. !!!! We had a double hook up on Blues close to edge. Both around 300 #,,Mine on a blue and white islander (nec) Jeffs on blue and white ???? Some of the biggest Hoos we caught were on my blue and white islander. Running( Shot Gun !!!! ) And have caught lots of Dalphins too. Good luck all !!!


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## Travis Gill

We've caught every offshore species on a blue and white islander, including the 96lb wahoo in my avatar


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## Xanadu

White Zinfandel? That's chick wine, but I did have a nice Cab last night with Osso Buco.





Those blue and white islanders with ballyhoo catch lots of fish. They get bit, but they're also typically riding shotgun on every spread in the panhandle so their productivity may be just a function of hours in the water. My only issue with them is that meat baits have a lower hook up ratio than plastics, but they probably get more bites so its a trade off. Moldcrafts damn sure catch fish, but I prefer to drag lures than sex toys.



The deck gets really slippy with Wade and the KY when we're running Moldcrafts.


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## SuperSpook

> *Xanadu (5/8/2009)*White Zinfandel? That's chick wine, but I did have a nice Cab last night with Osso Buco.
> 
> 
> Those blue and white islanders with ballyhoo catch lots of fish. They get bit, but they're also typically riding shotgun on every spread in the panhandle so their productivity may be just a function of hours in the water. My only issue with them is that meat baits have a lower hook up ratio than plastics, but they probably get more bites so its a trade off. Moldcrafts damn sure catch fish, but I prefer to drag lures than sex toys.
> 
> The deck gets really slippy with Wade and the KY when we're running Moldcrafts.


Ol' Bart vs. Barta, I am a rubber man myself depending on what the game is.

I know Islanders waylay some fish but you cover alot more ground with plastics, with alot less stopping to real in a blackfin. On charters its always the meat we pull but in a tourny I prefer plastics or mix it up a bit throughout the day.

I only went "wahoo fishing" one time and the guys I went with guaranteed we were going "wahoo" fishing, I was skeptical as wahoo is considered bycatch when your billfishing. But these guys pulled rigged mullet on downriggers over rock formations in the edge/nipple area and damn if it didnt work like a charm. I think we ended up with 10 or so... But the best wahoo catch I ever had was of half a pallet we found floating in the canyon,dragged medium plastics by it and caught 24 wahoo. In the end we were catching them on the head itself as there was no skirt left.


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## Downtime2

> *Xanadu (5/8/2009)*
> 
> Moldcrafts damn sure catch fish, but I prefer to drag lures than sex toys.
> 
> The deck gets really slippy with Wade and the KY when we're running Moldcrafts.


Ohhhhhh I'm getting her wet again!!!!!!


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## BLKFLYZ

I always thought that "Bodacious" boat smelled kinda funny when we would pass them on the rip....... and whats a blue/white Islander????


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## Downtime2

Always sniffin' the air for marlin poon.......


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## seanclearly

I personally like a fat shad crankbait on both corners. A chartruese spinner bait on the short rigger a white spinner bait on the long rigger and a big 10' watermelon color worm on the shotgun. This spread works them over every time. What do you thank Wade? Isn't this the secret spread you showed me on the boat the other day?


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## Downtime2

Damn Sean, don't be telling everyone our secret spread.....


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## bluffman2

> *Downtime2 (5/8/2009)*Damn Sean, don't be telling everyone our secret spread.....


at least he didnt tell everyone about the beetle spins....:doh


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## tiereta

Pull Junkaroos!


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