Trolled bait for Spaniards
Submitted by Yewiefish85 on Sat, 2025-08-02 07:58
Hi guys, wondering if any of you troll baits for Spaniards?, I have caught them on trolled gars rigged with wig heads, I have tried Reaper rigged gars, doggie mackerel and wolf herring rigged on chin weights but no luck on them yet, has anyone rigged and towed whiting?, being nice and shiny they should be good just unsure of how to rig them
cheers Yewie
sunshine
Posts: 2645
Date Joined: 03/03/09
Why troll?
Caught many many up to 30+ kg just free lining gars or mulies down a current line with the reel clutch set to run ......and even had sails take the same baits. Top hook in the baits head so that it "swims"
Yewiefish85
Posts: 808
Date Joined: 02/01/11
I troll as I only have a
I troll as I only have a 4.2m tinny, the grounds I fish are relatively shallow (Port Hedland)
sunshine
Posts: 2645
Date Joined: 03/03/09
Find a current line
Anchor and drift unweighted baits ......can't see why it won't work in PH as it works great around Dampier
Reefsta
Posts: 355
Date Joined: 03/08/19
Troll or drift
I think I'd keep trying with slow trolled wolf herring on one line and a lure or gar on the other. The wolf herring worked well for me when I lived in north Qld and initially I didn't think they would, as the go was to troll quite slow, around 2-3 knots and the wolfie just looked pretty ordinary as it flopped one side to the other. But I think the silver flash that generated did the trick.
As the others above said, drifting baits on a current line or adjacent to a drop off is also very effective. When I lived in Dampier , if you could catch something for live bait that also worked very well. We'd use bait jigs to catch a few fusilliers then fish them under a float with the bait set at around half the water depth.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18185
Date Joined: 11/03/08
You could try whiting as I
You could try whiting as I know the pro Mackie fisho up here uses them but generally he fishes miles away from here . He told me the catches have dropped off where he goes so they could be coming in closer
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
beau
Posts: 4121
Date Joined: 24/01/10
We did really well this
We did really well this season metro trolling gars on the richter bait runner rig. Not so much slow trolling but as additions to the spread of laser pros and xraps at 6knts, with fish swimming past 4 hardbodies to hit the subsurface gar
davewillo
Posts: 2595
Date Joined: 08/09/16
So those baitrunner rigs
So those baitrunner rigs work well Beau? I have never tried them but the built-in chin weight looked like a good design and probably easy to rig.
PGFC member and lure tragic
beau
Posts: 4121
Date Joined: 24/01/10
Yeah they work really well,
Yeah they work really well, absolute game changer for me, have always been more of a live bait fisherman for mackerel but now feel just as confident trolling a couple gars out the back while also covering a decent amount of ground.
Very easy to rig a bait on once you've done the pre-rigging side of things at home.
I've set mine up like in this video from On-strike in Exxy
https://youtu.be/KaTjefaryIo?si=dHJcva93S5weogXw
Yewiefish85
Posts: 808
Date Joined: 02/01/11
Great info Beau, interesting
Great info Beau, interesting about the gars out fishing the hardbodies, trolled gars on wog heads accounted for 2 Spaniards for my son a couple of weeks ago, might have to invest in a couple of bait runners, how do they hold up to the Mackie teeth?
davewillo
Posts: 2595
Date Joined: 08/09/16
Funnily enough it was Josh
Funnily enough it was Josh that first talked to me about these heads. I'll give them a try for sure. Do the gars blow out in the belly or are the okay because their head is covered? When we rig skipping gars in Exxy for small marlin/sails we stitch them up with bait rigging thread to prevent blowout.
PGFC member and lure tragic
beau
Posts: 4121
Date Joined: 24/01/10
Mackerel
I haven't had any teeth damage on mine, but I think if you were to have one come in contact with mackie teeth it would most likely rip it to shreds. The material is slightly thicker than a squid assist skirt you'd expect to find on a metal jig.
Personally it's worth the risk for a good chance at the "elusive metro mack" but if you were based in the North West where the toothies are a fair bit more common then maybe the fur style wog rig is a better choice if you're after longevity.
Haven't had any baits blowout,as you said, the mouth and gills sit well inside the rig and the heads actually fit quite snug over the front end of the bait