Hi mate, i've been doing a fair bit of reading on this subject online as i've never really tried trolling before. i found a website      www.pakula.com.au       to be pretty informative it has lots of free to read articles about offshore trolling for gamefish, lure selection (colours/size/type), lure position behind the boat and boat setup etc. could be worth a look

Thanks Steve i will check out the site, any more help on locality would be good guys...... do i fish the edges of reef structures? any clues?

I'll be back in Australia after three years of pretty much trolling at least once a week up here in Micronesia. Even after all that time I'll admit that there's a lot that I don't know.

I guess I could give you what are purely my own six top tips and you can take them or leave them. Happy to sit down and discuss at length when get back to WA at the end of next month.

1. Target a species - lure selection is critical. You'll always get bycatch but your chances of getting what you are after increase rapidly when specifically targeting.

2. Current lines, water temp and working birds. If you come across a current line drive along it for a while. Water temp plays a factor with 'turning the fish on' into a feeding pattern. Working birds means that the bait fish have been pushed up by bigger fish beneath them. Don't drive through the middle of the bait as you will only break up the school of bait and fish. Work the edges.

3. Speed. Different fish species hook-ups are more likely dependant on speed. Based purely on what I've seen here 7.5-8.5 knots seems to be a magic range.

4. Spanyards and Wahoo will sit on reefy structures. Change to wire leaders in these zones. Deep divers will work extremely well but limit the speed of the boat therefore reducing the distance you can cover. Wahoos love skirted lures - the bastard things have destroyed thousands of dollars of mine.

5. Set your drag to about one third of the breaking strain of the line class - use a scale pulling the line through the rod. Then mostly importantly back the drag back even further while trolling to absorb the 'strike' and initial burst in the opposite direction. This also assists with getting the fish out the back so that you can clear teasers and other lines. Tighten the drag back up a little once you start fighting the fish.

6. Never stop the boat when the fish is along side. Even moving ahead at one knot allows you to keep the fish boat side instead of having it going crazy and swimming under the boat or into the prop. You can then simply lean over and gaff or net the fish as it is being dragged beside the boat.

Hope this helps you out. Looking forward to seeing some pictures of your pelagics up on here real soon.

Scott

Soupster, some great tips there!

best tip i have ever been told is regarding speed -if in doubt -go faster!, if you are targeting anything metro you really want to be doing at least 6-7 knots - obviously going to fast will cause some lures to stop tracking correctly but its a trial and error game -just remember most pelagic fish can hit 60kmh+ (sailfish around 110kmh) so whilst it may feel like you are going "too fast" its not

cheers
Clint

 Hi Bayliner,

I would recommend you speak to Perth game fishing club. I have joined and the guys there are really helpful and have a lot of knowledge to share. Check out pgfc.com.au or come to one of the social nights.

For my two cents worth you run your lures at a speed that they run best at. There is no magical speed depends totally on lure and target species.

Let me know if you want more info, pgfc is running basic inductions this year with workshops and practical days

Cheers southy

Thanks guys i really appreciate the help and advice, i thought everyone on here was keeping all their secrets to themselves after 526 reads but hardly a responce, i trully do appreciate all the help and once again Thank you scott, pelagicyachts and southpoint.. top guys!!