Trolling anyone?

[Capt Fred]

I am just curious at to how many people out there still enjoys trolling.
Whenever I go out on my boat to do some big game trolling for fish like Marlin along to Dropoff in Brunei or the deep water YellowFin Tuna Payaus(FAD) with my fishing kakis. It is not stop complains and whines that trolling is boring and that we should stop and jig or bottomfish.

It is as if trolling and big game fishing is dead. At least it seems so in Brunei. What about you guys in other countries?

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by Capt Fred

I am just curious at to how many people out there still enjoys trolling.
Whenever I go out on my boat to do some big game trolling for fish like Marlin along to Dropoff in Brunei or the deep water YellowFin Tuna Payaus(FAD) with my fishing kakis. It is not stop complains and whines that trolling is boring and that we should stop and jig or bottomfish.

It is as if trolling and big game fishing is dead. At least it seems so in Brunei. What about you guys in other countries?

Hi Capt Fred,

To begin with, trolling in Singapore waters generally gets you nothing but plastic bags & seaweeds Those who try occasionally do get queenies & barracuda. Jigging & popping has taken the region by storm and alas, trolling has been relegated to / perceived to be nothing more than an "ah lau" technique that requires no skills & technique whatsoever, favored by lazy anglers

Personally, I love to troll where ever I may be fishing & stop to jig when the sounder shows interesting structure or drop offs that hold bait balls or pop when I see breaking fish schools or balling baitfish. In open water, trolling is actually an excellent technique to search for pelagics. When you get a strike from schooling fish like tengirri, wahoo or tunas of any species, the boat can stop to chuck poppers or drop jigs into the depths. Chumming with live bait to bring fish closer to the boat when fish is found on the troll is a techique widely used by the long range fleet in the US. I believe they it call fishing "the slide." When fish hit the trolled lures, the skipper will turn the boat either port or starboard & "slide" so anglers can start chucking irons from the side of the boat towards the fish school.

Anyways, the important thing is to get a boat load of like-minded anglers. If you have some who prefer bottom bashing or some who wants to do nothing but jig & pop, even trolling between spots will be a problem because when the boat has to slow down or stop to fight a fish, people will complain that time is wasted. CUT THE LINE & DON'T WASTE TIME LAH!!!!!

Who knows ................ perhaps trolling may come back into "fashion" sometime in the future

Best regards,
Makaira

[Jacktrevally]

Jigging is becomming a new trend here and it seems like many trolling charters now are geared with jigging equipment. Not a big fan myself of trolling but have to say that it can be productive when Jigs are not working.

I connected with a billfish while trolling on Sunday! I was planning a jigging trip but jigging wasn't productive so decided to trolled as there was a lot of surface activity and birds working!


Broke a ring off my Rapala when I tried to highstick the bugger got a decent fight on 80lb braid and at some point I had about 175M of braid left on my V80! Initial set drag was about 3kg increased to approx 10kg during the fight, fought on standup!

Landed 1 yellowfin and 5 skipjack on 30lb braid, really enjoyed my day!

[Capt Fred]

Hi Makaira

Are you the same Makaira that was in the FK forum that I use to have decent exchanges of opinion on various fishing topics?

Trolling is still quite productive in Brunei especially near the oil rigs for fish like Tengirris and Barracudas.

Like you, I too enjoy trolling. I could troll for hours and not feel bored. The anticipation of a strike by a Marlin would keep me interested. I would spend time checking the outrigger, teasers and would occassionally change or adjust a lure that I feel is not swimming well.
Unfortunately, I don't have many fishing kakis that share the same sentiments as me when it comes to trolling. Haha.

I remember you were into some kind of fishing charter at some exotic place. Are you still doing that?

[Makaira]

Hi Capt Fred,

Guilty as charged.

While I enjoy all types of fishing. I particularly like trolling if the locale allows for it because I love targeting Marlins. Everything else is basically by-catch. The snap of the outrigger clip following by the ratchet screaming really gets my blood pumping!!! Like you said, it is NEVER boring. Lots of things to do while waiting for the strike; apart from checking on the lure action, changing lures, adjusting the distance of the lures etc., we also keep our eyes open for current rips, surface action, bird action, keeping an eye on the sonar etc. The anticipation of a strike is thrilling; especially when you see a bill & sickle tail zeroing in on the spread!!!

As for exotic locations, I really don’t consider the places I fish at as exotic. People like Chris Seo are the hardcore-exotic location anglers!

I look forward to more catch reports from your neck of the woods when the season starts again.

Best regards,
Makaira

[Patudo]

It isn't just the SEA region. Other types of fishing are much more popular than gamefishing everywhere in the world. Most charter anglers come from a freshwater, spinning or bottom fishing background and get bored easily with trolling as they don't always understand what the skipper and deckhand are trying to achieve (to be fair not all crews troll all that effectively either). With popper casting or jigging they are always doing something, participating, trying, they are involved even if they are catching nothing. More anglers can fish at the same time by bottom fishing or jigging, making the cost of fishing cheaper. Trolling is best suited to single angler charters or small parties. The type of boat suitable for gamefishing also tends to be more expensive to charter compared to other types of fishing where the boat is just a vehicle to take the anglers to the fish and doesn't burn fuel when fishing. And most of the fish caught bottomfishing are more prized as food fish.

I personally like trolling for most of the same reasons as Makaira. I prefer to relax in the shade with a cold drink making sure my lures are swimming beautifully until they get crashed by a marlin (or any gamefish really), or if I'm driving the boat, it's a great challenge to use all your skills and equipment to find the fish. When working this way I never feel bored. But that's just what I like to do. It's not for everybody. The gamefishing mentality is a little different.

Jacktrevally... are you still in Mauritius? It must be right in the middle of marlin season for you guys... and even the skipjacks (bonito) get huge in your waters. I can't think of many better light tackle fish to catch than a 20 lb skipjack, or to eat afterwards. Do they still have those FADs along the west coast?

Regards

P.

[Jacktrevally]

Hi,

The FADs are still there on the west coast. I know a couple on the west coast. There's one in Black River and one in Tamarin. The one in Tamarin fish well for YellowFin Tuna. There might be a possibility of having one in le Morne but I haven't fish this place offshore.



The FAD I fish the most is the one on the North-east coast, at 6 miles from the shore but prefer the one at 12 miles where you have instant hookup at anytime of the day! You have a wide variety of fish to catch and the Bonitos are pest there!!!

My mate hooked a 25lb skipjack on 30lb line a couple of month ago and he wasn't aware that he was near the IGFA record. It was on the 6 mile FAD!

I've landed skipjack to 18lb on a 6lb class rod and a 5000 size reel with 30lb braid. I've landed skipjack and bonito on Ultralight tackle, using a 2500 size reel and ultralight spinning rods!

The commercial big game boat are aware that it is illegal to fish FADs as these are intented for traditional tuna fishries. These are checked regularly by officers of the ministry of fishries. You need to be a licenced traditional fishing boat in order to fish these locations. Just to have an idea, I fish a 15ft wooden boat with a 15HP engine! Takes us 1hr to reach the 6 mile FAD, I normally pay about $100SGD and hire the whole boat between my friend and I. All catch belongs to us! Split cost is about $50SGD, this includes 4 hr fishing, i.e trolling or buoy fishing near the FAD and on the way back 2 hr bottom fishing where you can easily catch 40lb of red groupers on a good day. I've hooked plenty of 6 shots one one drop.


Jigging would work exceptionally well there as the traditional fisherman target bottom fish using buoys and handlines, up to 180lb mono. I know traditional fisherman who has hooked tuna to 150Lb near those FADs and plenty of big fish everyday they go fishing. In some time of the year you can pop near these FADs and hook some decent fish.

JT

[Patudo]

I must visit Mauritius again one day. That was where I hooked my first blue marlin (baby about 140 lbs that hit a six inch white John Killer lure on a 20 lb outfit being fished for dorado) which triggered a lifelong addiction to marlin fishing. My brother and myself caught so many skipjack and kawa kawa (mackerel bonito) to 15lbs on baitcasting rods and Abu 6500 and 8000C. What a great education in fighting pelagic fish it was. I could not believe how hard those skipjacks fought on 10 and 12 lb mono. It's great to hear that Mauritius still has such excellent pelagic fishing.