Trolling behind 56 foot Cat. Equipment?

[Gerrit Coetzee]

Originally Posted by RaggioVerde

Agreed!! This works brilliantly. You may get the odd barracuda but I’ve caught tuna, King and Spanish mackerel and a beautiful Dolphin fish with almost exactly this rig and a bungee chord.

Thanks for the photo and advice. Is that the lure used? Photo maybe of your bungee cord setup too

[dwightsusan]

Running day charters in the Gulf on a 48' high performance offshore cat with frequent clients who want to fish while underway. For clients, it's sport, not meat fishing. They want rods and reels. We use Penn Senator 113H's on 6' medium heavy Ugly Sticks set up with braid and fluorocarbon toppers. Great for what we catch - Kingfish, Mahi, yellowfin, blackfin, etc. Head up, fall off, head up, fall off to slow from our usual 12-15 knots. Don't forget a couple of offshore fighting belts, a good gaff, and maybe a heavy long handle net. We keep a couple of medium heavy Penn Battle II spinning combo's especially for use when cranking in a Mahi. There's usually more lurking nearby. For meat, handline with heavy line/leader kept tidy on a Cuban yo-yo. Vodka in the gills followed by a blow to the head with a medium heavy billy.

[theBigKahuna]

A capt I know called this a 'cuban reel' (hope I don't offend anyone, not intended!!)

[sdj]

Google search "TLD50 combo". Lever-drag type reels are the easiest to use and are strong and reliable.

You want a spool of 75% 24kg braid topped off with the remainder 24kg nylon. Simply tow whatever lure you like the look of.

Learn how to set the strike drag to 50% of the line weight.

Don't for goodness sakes use a bloody ten dollar handline.. Someone gunna get hurt real bad..

[RaggioVerde]

Originally Posted by Gerrit Coetzee

Thanks for the photo and advice. Is that the lure used? Photo maybe of your bungee cord setup too

I used the rig set up in this excellent sailing resource
https://www.sailboat-cruising.com/handline-fishing.html
I did not use a weight but used the bungee as a snubber. I bought the components from a tackle shop but everything is available on Amazon too.
I only ever put out one line as it’s too easy to get fankled with another line. 3ft per knot of speed is about the right length and I pull it in well before major maneuvers and anchoring.

[Ghostrider421]

Originally Posted by Fletchccc

Good morning!
We are new owners of a Cat that will be cruising the Bahamas, BVI and down to Grenadines. Boat will be in charter and licensed for fishing as needed. Question is what kind of poles, reels, line weight should I get for the trolling rods?
Likely going to get a rod or 2 for any charters who want to do casting. Same question there. Prefer those are collapsible for storage. The trolling rods will stay in the rod holders attached to boat. Thanks!!!

See the PM/DM I sent you.
We troll off my custom 44 sailcat - I have two 130# rods and 12/0 Everol reels spooled with 50kg dacron line. I use only wire leaders and Mustad circle hooks. Too many cutoffs from sharks to use mono or fluoro. Two 10ft spinning rods with Daiwa BG90's spooled with 30kg braided line. Two flippin stiks with Ambassadeur 7000's and 20kg braided line.

[old pirate]

Agree with dwightsusan above. To avoid all the blood we gave the fish a small shot of cheap Caribbean rum. They usualy shiver for a moment then are dead and marinated too !!!