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Best Marlin lures/trolling ?

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B

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Looking for the best lures for a GOM blue marlin. What colors, troll speed, and how far back do you recommend. Please name some good brands. I assume these lures are rigged with about 15-18 feet of 250-400 pound mono leaders, ball bearing swivels, and bimimi twist, but correct me if I am wrong. Do you recommend double hooks 90 or 180 degrees to each other? What strength line on the reel?

Also, looking for a good high speed trolling blue marlin lure. I need it to be able to troll up to 16 miles per hour.

I have a purple and black arearule doorknob, but it is about 9 inches long. I am assuming it is too small.

Is trolling live bait better? At what speed? I assume just fast enough to keep the bait from swimming under the boat.

No answer is too basic. You don't need to kill yourself answering all these questions, but feel free too. I am trying to learn about trolling for blues.

Thanks!
Scott
 
2wahoo

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#4 ·
For a beginner trolling for billfish I would go with these brands. Moldcraft. The 'standard wide range' is an excellent all around lure. Color selection should be made based on what bait fish are you attempting to imitate. I would also look Islander lures. These are awesome. The regular islander is outstanding when skirted over a rigged ballyhoo. Medium or horse on the ballyhoo. Trolling speed should be 7-9 kts for bills and most everything else. You also mentioned trolling up to 16 kts. This won't produce many blues but it could definitely entice a wahoo to dance. You will want heavy lures for this. Billy Baits makes a 16 oz. jet head that does nicely. Also, I recommend a trolling weight above the leader to help the lure stay down. Sevenstrand makes a lure called the green machine which can be fast trolled when weighted down. Those are some basics. If you want to learn more find lots of magazines and absorb the material like a sponge. Best of luck!
 
C

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#6 ·
Moldcraft

I agree with 2wahoo. Whilst I have dozens of lures, including a couple of Black Barts, I'd say that the absolute easiest lures for a beginner to troll are Moldcraft. The Wide range will run right in pretty much any position at pretty much any sensible trolling speed without any tweaking. Many custom lures require adjustment to position, outrigger height etc to get them running right which requires a bit of experience. They're also excellent value for money.

That's not to say that Moldcraft are only for beginners, I'm always running some in the spread and you only have to look at the number of record fish that they've taken to be convinced.

Spike
 
B

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Discussion Starter · #10 ·
The fast troll is when I am on the Pelican for a long range trip. On that trip, I want one to troll to the rigs. Heck, may as well keep it on when we first get there and troll the floater.
 
JohnHumbert

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#12 ·
Marlin Lures

A Pink/White Moldcraft Super Chugger should always be in your spread in Texas. It will catch sails, blues and whites and is considered a standard "money bait" by a lot of tournament fishermen in Texas.

The MoldCraft Senior WideRange in Black/Purple is another time-honored proven producer around the world.

In general, Black/Purple are good marlin colors. Pink/White and Blue/White are good sailfish colors. I like bright colors early and late in the day, and darker colors mid-day - but hours of trolling give you time to switch things around often.

There is a lure called The Texas Turd which probably accounts for more billfish in Texas than any other single lure - and I'm STILL trying to find one to buy. (anybody know where I can get one? [email protected])

The Ilander in blue/white over a ballyhoo (or bully-hoo) is also standard.

Naked Ballyhoo will catch anything, anytime.

We like to use birds in front of our trolled baits - almost all the time now.

The Joe Yee Super Plunger in the White head, Blue/Pink skirt is a big fish producer - believe in it!

We use a lot of Zukers (5.5, 7.5) in Mexico with great success, but haven't had too much action on them in Texas.

We also a using a lot of daisy-chains, all types. The only time we don't have chains and/or birds out in our spread is when we are specifically targeting larger blues.

If there's tuna around, you can't beat spreader bars/dredges - but they are real pain to deploy and retrieve.

If targeting marlin, you really should deploy a teaser if you are serious. Moldcraft fish-fenders do an amazing job of raising fish. Big Kahunas, Witchdoctors are also good. Even a big marlin "jig" in the 14-16" work. The nice thing about fish-fenders, Kahunas, or witchdoctors is that they run well below the prop wash - down to 10 to 12 ft. This really brings the fish up. Also, when pulling teasers you tend to draw strikes from fish that normally might be just lookers. There is a specific reason for this, but that's a secret. Just trust me on this......
 
B

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Discussion Starter · #14 ·
JohnHumbert said:
There is a lure called The Texas Turd which probably accounts for more billfish in Texas than any other single lure - and I'm STILL trying to find one to buy. (anybody know where I can get one? [email protected])
Click to expand...
John, I will be buying my stuff from Roy's today or tommorow. Let me know if you would like me to purchase any Texas :texasflag turds for you. Just PM me with colors and size and I'll pick them up.

Thanks for all the great info!

Scott
 
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