What setup should I use to troll for Dorado, Wahoo, Sailfish and King Mackerel?

Question

I now troll in and around the Kingston Harbour (Jamaica) catching mostly small Kingfish, Jacks and Barracudas, all under 20lbs. I want to start catching much larger fish so I will be trolling 4 miles out on the edge, between deep and shallow. I can only troll two lines. I have a #3 planer, Drone spoons (#4, #2.5), Pet Spoons #18, Rapala CD14, X-Rap Magnum 15, Boone Cairns Swimmer, MirrOlure 111MR diving plug (25 feet), Braid Runner 5" model, with one standup rod (Penn Slammer) paired with Penn Special Senator 114H 6/0, one all roller trolling rod with Penn International II 50TW reel. All reels spooled with 50lb Ande, Penn 50TW with 850 yards, Penn 114H with 475 yards. How do I rig the lures? (I now use haywire twists to attach 18" single strand coffee steel leader directly to lures then clip ball-bearing snap swivel attached to main line onto the leader. #5 44lb coffee wire) What length wire leader is best for the larger fish? What test wire leader or mono leader? Do I need to double the last section of main line? Should I buy other lures and what should they be? I don't mind risking the Pet spoons on mono leader since they are cheap.

Answer 1

Peter is totally on the right trac, (as usual). He knows his stuff about offshore West Coast WELL.

The current rigging for BIG Kings, Wahoo's, Mahi, Sails for East Coast fishing can be perused easily at The Florida Sportsman "Forum".

Go to www.floridasportsman.com

Personally,  I like C & H lures for trolling. (Stubbys! Wahoo Whackers!) But there are many various companys that have similiar products.  

And you can't beat a Shimano Speedmaster spooled with 25 LB(MAX 30LB) Berkely Big Game (green), or even a Shimano Charter Special. 50LB line is a bit "much" for Kings/Mahi. Esp Kings/Mahi that see boats every day!

Drifting Cigars, "'hoo's", Large Pogey, or Ribbonfish( or Ballon-rigging) can catch you some Smoker Kings! You should invest in a couple downriggers!

You really should go to The Forum!

There is tons of info current for your area (Jamaica) in the Forum.

Hope this helps? Thumbs up to Peter!  

Answer 2

I've never fished in the Atlantic, but off Baja California I've caught wahoo and dorado. They both tend to like bigger jigs -- the Rapala CD-18 is a good all-around trolling lure, and wahoo love the Braid Marauder, the 10-inch size.

I've fished the Marauder rigged on about a 4-6 foot 200 lb cable leader on an 80-pound outfit, trolled at 8-12 knots. 50 pound running line might be a bit light for this lure at that speed.

I use the CD-18 for tuna, yellowtail, and dorado, straight-tied onto the mono, but for toothy fish (wahoo and king mackerel) wire would be in order, probably around 100 lb test. (It should be stronger than the main line, as it gets more abuse than the main line. 44 lb leader on 50 lb main line is probably too light. Cable is more kink-resistant than single-strand, but it's thicker, too.) The leader doesn't need to be excessively long -- probably long enough so a sailfish's bill won't be whacking the main line, and so the swivel at the top of the leader isn't too close to the lure.

Double-line isn't really necessary for fish under 100 lbs -- I think that's mainly so a deckhand can handline a huge marlin or shark the last few feet to the boat (for safety reasons).