Great Blue Marlin bait

 

yes, yes, and yes. Smaller (4-6") blue runners are death on yellowfin and obviously dolphin will eat anything it can get its mouth around. Large blue runners (the 2-4 lb variety) are killer live baits for marlin. Big secret, they are also great for wahoo too.

 

So troll them live and how fast and keep them alive.

 

Troll them very slow, you want them swimming, not skipping on top.

We bridle them through the eye socket and basically point the boat into the current and go very slow.

If you go too fast you will kill them.

 

Bump troll. No faster than 2-3 knots, but usually slower. Live baiting for marlin should key on structure (i.e. rigs). Note of caution though, sharks and barracudas LOVE blue runners as well. Bridle the runner through the eye sockets with a big circle hook for marlin, and you can pull him around for hours and hours. Nose hook with a smaller circle (7/0-9/0) on the smaller runners for tuna and dolphin. Wahoo will require wire leaders obviously.

 

Are you saying to stay with hoos and mops when not fishing a structure?

 

You can't cover much ground live baiting, so if you are working a large area or rip, I would troll dead bait/ and or plastic, unless you find an area on a weedline or a ball of bait that you can focus in on and bump troll the liveys around.

 

Gotcha! I have been picking up tons od BR for AJs, so can they be effective trolled dead at a higher speed with their months wired up? Wonder if it is a viable option to ballyhoo? Thnaks

 

They aren't really shaped for it. If you want to troll a bigger dead bait than ballyhoo, I suggest mullet or spanish mackerel.

 

Lots of good advice ... I don't troll much with larger bait although some captains love it. My bigger baits all run crooked and they helicopter, which isn't a problem with rigged ballyhoo.

That said, drift fishing can be quite productive when trolling and jig&pop ain't. You chum a box of something like frozen herring. You bring the fish to YOU. Deep digging, hopeful sword fishing, float fishing at 12 to 30 feet, and kite fishing with blue runners is a blast. Even bump trolling with a 'chute and a hard current can whack the King Mackerel.

Cover some interesting structure, since drifting is more of a mental game to see if you can drift over some reefs, holes, structure, or oil trash manifolds. Nobody is perfect and that kind of fishing can be slow and hot. But often the big sows and bulls are caught that way.

 

All great advice. Might actually get a chance to do a little this weekend. Been WAY too long.