Multiple hookups

Pilar · 07-09-2006, 05:06 AM

Just a thread to discuss what many of us have learned and shared in the past about troll fishing for albacore. We have many new TUNA! cowboys now and they may not have seen this stuff.

I'll start by telling you what I do on my boat and about some of our recent exploits. Then you tell us about your program and how it works for you.

On 'Kismet' and on the other boat I learned to run a mixed set of lines. This was out of necessity mostly and I got used to it. Running multiple lines is hard with many tangles if you have no system. Here's what I do.

(4) rods, no outriggers, (5) handlines.

These are arranged as follows.

Center handline total length 45 feet, a YoZuri jumper chasing a (5) hootchie home-made teaser string. The jumper has a jig dragging behind it.

Port and starboard handlines are 60 feet. Standard handlines with a jig.

Port and starboard diver boards. YoZuri 9.0 diver boards on a 35 foot handline and a jig on there.

The (4) rods are set to run behind the port and starboard handlines by 5 - 10 feet on the middle two and 20 to 50 feet on the outer two. The absolute distance is not important other than the group should be tight for best results and it should track through turns without tangles. You will have to experiment.

Now for the system part. Use all the same gear on everything. This has been discussed at length in the past and my experience bears it out as the best way to troll. The odd jig will get hit everytime. That sounds good but I would rather have a quad once in a while than single fish once an hour. Odd by distance from the boat, color or size. I use 200# leader on everything. Then it does not matter what line the jig is run on. The fish do not care about leaders in the early summer and sometimes it never matters all year.

To make things go smoothly we use buckets to store the handlines in and mark the rods with stretchy thread at the proper amount of line out to run in the spread where you need to be. Set it the first time and tie stretchy thread on the line in the right place. Then next time just use the rod in the same spot and let it out to the thread. A bobber stop thread would work too. Buckets are for preventing tangles and for quick resetting of lines. Visualize a TUNA! tail or three pounding the handlines piled on your deck and knitting them into a sweater and you get the idea.

Set up your handlines as follows. Let out each line and check for tracking and tendency to tangle. Change whatever you need to to get it right. An example of this is a diver board that tracks off to one side. If it tracks in towards the middle it might grab the opposite side diver, causing a tangle. Move it to the opposite side of the boat trading with the other diver. Also adjust lengths to match your wake. I like the gear to be sliding down the face of the standing wake wave behing the boat. The 2nd or 3rd one back usually. You want a shallow vee pattern with the center line shortest and the corners longer for tracking.

Once you get it set then bring in the lines coiling them in the bucket. Start with the center line in it's own bucket, hang the jig on the rim to prevent tangles. Then go to each corner and peel in the flatline first, hang the jig on the bucket rim then the diver. Coil that line right on top of the first one, drop the surfboard on the pile and hang that jig.

Now we're fishing. Your three hour cruise to the spot is almost over and you hear boats reporting hookups. You join them and your crew quickly sets gear. Outside rods first, let it out to the mark ... inside rods next, to the mark. Then the center jumper. Throw it out and let the line go out of the bucket while you grab a diver board and throw the jig and surfboard over. You flip the surfboard and it pulls the line through your hand. Then the flat line on each corner.

Your crew pulls out the bucket of chopped baitfish for chum and puffs on fat cuban cigars. They fidget and check the reels for clicker on and drag set a little loose by pulling some line off by hand. Check this often because someone will forget to back off the drag after fighting a fish.

The skipper goes forward to get a nap. He hears the water slapping on the hull and dreams of gettting enough sleep two or three days in a row. Another old timer crashes on the other bunk leaving the other two guys on deck .. they are too excited to nap on their first run of the year. The skipper just makes it to sleep when all hell breaks loose and a reel starts bucking and screaming. The man on deck grabs a handfull of chum and tosses it into the wake. A few seconds later he does this again. The guy driving hits the throttle and speeds the boat up to 10 kts.

One reel is joined by .. two three four as the school of fish turns to chase the speeding jigs.

The guy driving turns and yells out

"FISH ON ... HOOK UP ... DOUBLE, TRIPLE, OH MAN, THEY'RE ALL ON .. HOLY ####, WAKE UP YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He slows to 3 or 4 kts and jumps off the bridge to haul the unhit lines to prevent fouling. He quickly peels the line into the bucket near that cleat and then picks up a rod.

I hit my head jumping out of the forward berth and crashed into Puffin as he jumped out of his bunk. We got on deck to find 4 bent rods and 3 handline surging. SEVEN ON.

This quickly became 6 as one fish pulled free. We worked as a team and landed all six fish and after 5 minutes of untangling and carking we sped off again. All gear set in less than a minute and wham.

Six on this time. The deck was all bloody, the garbage can cooling tank jammed full and the deck covered with thrashing fish. It was a moment. I'll never forget it. We landed 5 on the second slam.

We continued on the rest of the day with many doubles and triples. Total score was 30. My best on the new boat.

That is my system. Maybe it will work for you.

Jennie@ifish · 07-09-2006, 05:37 AM

Thanks, John! I'm going to try that this morning on the Kilchis.

8knots · 07-09-2006, 05:37 AM

Good system...I read with interest and thought about how it compared to what goes on in my boat. Well thought out...can't say we are always quite so systematic. However, all that said, I got quite the charge when I read about the 7 and 6 hookups. I've had the quads but never 7 and 6. Way to go! Thanks, as always, for sharing your expertise.

Mr. Fisherman · 07-09-2006, 05:38 AM

Dude

Skipper · 07-09-2006, 06:49 AM

Thanks John, for sharing your sucess.

Cheerio'
Skipper

San Anita · 07-09-2006, 07:03 AM

Thanks John for sharing you system.

And no one could tell a wild hook up like you!
Bill

Birdnest · 07-09-2006, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Thanks, John! I'm going to try that this morning on the Kilchis.

Now that's just funny.

Thanks for taking me there John.

ron m · 07-09-2006, 07:42 AM

Good system, now I've got to figure out the nap part on Silverfish!

Thanks John, guess I've gotta try a handline.
ron m

Capin' Dan · 07-09-2006, 07:50 AM

Ron, On silver fish add one thing to your system. After the hand line hooks to the cleat try to run some tubing of some type where the hand line touches the aluminum on the boat for extra protection. some of those aluminum boats have sharpe edges and rough welds that may cut the lines. This is written in blood so to speak from two years ago while I watch diver board, jig and tuna go away. If you are running your hand lines and everything is smooth like John has on kismet you will be fine.

Kentucky Hog Hunter · 07-09-2006, 07:55 AM

Thanks Pilar

fish Addict80 · 07-09-2006, 08:06 AM

John, I was in the open boat with the hondas right behind you when you hooked all those fish.

You must be phsycic as I was gonna ask you how you ran your gear and you post it before I could ask.

We picked up the 1 double and that was it for that area for us. You must of cleaned out most of that school of fish with those two hookups. That's just awesome.

We ended up calling it a day not long after that with 15 fish.

Beautiful day and nice talking to you on the radio.

Luke

Chesapeake · 07-09-2006, 08:19 AM

Thanks for the post.

This is our not yet tested plan for deployment. If all goes as planned it will be tested in the next week or so.

We have 2 15 foot outriggers rigged for 2 lines each. The plan is for 2 rods off each outrigger, 1 handline off each rear corner cleat, and 2 more rods strait back off the middle of the stern. That will give us 6 rods and 2 handlines. No doubt there is room for more but there should be plenty of chance for tangles with this setup.

All rods will be running feathers rigged on 7' 80# Biggame leaders. The rods all have a 100' topshot of 60# Maxima ultra green. The handlines will be running feathers on 7' 150# Biggame leaders.

We will make all our spread and length adjustments when we see what kind of wake the boat throws loaded with ice.

kenai · 07-09-2006, 08:35 AM

Good stuff

These are the good old days we'll be talking about some day.

HiTekRdNek · 07-09-2006, 08:53 AM

Thanks for the great post John.
I'm really looking forward to one of these days.

PeterMac · 07-10-2006, 06:08 AM

John,

If not handled properly, one may refer to that scenario as a cluster "you know what...."

Thanks for the awesome day!!

PeterMac

CATCH AND EAT · 07-10-2006, 06:34 AM

Bobber stops do not work well as they tend to slip up the line as the tuna are reeled in. I found that so last year. Did not matter how tight I got it it just did not seem to work for me. Not trying to be negative about the idea as it is a great one. Just seems to slip on tough line.

Zodiac-Fisherman · 07-10-2006, 07:05 AM

John...
My freind.. You are a tunaholic!

Haven't had the pleasure of more than a quad hookup on the troll.

However try gettin into a quad while livebait fishing, now that's where its at! Light tackle, light line, frisky baitfish. Spiraling/tornadoing tuna finally has meaning!

RatherBFishn · 07-10-2006, 07:31 AM

John, You can tell a story like nobody else with tons of info to boot. I can only imagine what 7 on would be like.
Great job. Hope to be able to tell a story like that as soon as the Tuna get a bit closer.
RBF

Smily · 07-10-2006, 07:42 AM

Quote:

The skipper just makes it to sleep when all hell breaks loose and a reel starts bucking and screaming. The man on deck grabs a handfull of chum and tosses it into the wake. A few seconds later he does this again.

I noticed that a few times when we threw chum out that when we got the fish in the boat the fish puked up the chum we threw out. I am also thinking that I like to throw chum out to entice a bite. Seems like once we got bit everything lit up without. We tried chunmming after we got bit and not much happened. Just my thoughts. I like your ideas on the handlines. For some reason we couldn't buy a fish with a handline though last friday so everything was on rod and reel. Great times

.

ron m · 07-10-2006, 08:07 AM

John

Some good info and ideas here, thanks. I've been waiting for what seems a long time (the crew keeps yelling stop!) before I throttle down, but I haven't been increasing the speed. I'll try that next trip. I'll also deploy my one handline, gotta tie up a 200 lb leader first though.
thanks
ron m

TROPHY1 · 07-10-2006, 09:26 AM

Thanks for details John
I am printing this out and going to have my crews give it a read before we go. It helps them to see the importance of sticking to the right routine and how it will help catch more fish and less tangles in the gear. This Saturday I tried to stay on the troll longer after the first hit and got a couple of doubles as a result and that is an improvement for me.
Thanks again for sharing the continued education.

CATCH AND EAT · 07-10-2006, 09:48 AM

Don't forget your popcorn. much cheaper than chum and it works! Pretzels will work too.

Pilar · 07-11-2006, 10:42 AM

Make sure your clickers are on and the drags loose. We found one rod running away with no clicker on Friday. COuld have been ugly if we had not noticed in time.

Chum does not always work but I saw a couple of things this last week that make me sure I will continue to use it. From the flybridge it is sometimes possible to see the fish charge the spread. On two separate occasions I saw fish swoop in from well off to one side of the boat and just go by. You could see their wakes on the surface and see them break water as they flew by. They veered back across the wake and then turned through the chum we had thrown. Then the boat sped up and the fish veered right back to the jigs and nailed them. This happened twice. Fish playing in the wake became fish on when the boat sped up and chum was thrown.

Hookset · 07-11-2006, 12:29 PM

Great post John, thanks. Not only does this help the Tuna skippers, but deck hands as well. This will really help me visualize the drill and maybe someday, I'll get to experience 6 and 7 on at once.

Just so I understand what happens when 1 fish hits a rod, do you speed up to get more fish to hit before tackling the hooked fish? I often wondered what works bets to get multiple hookups when using rod and reel.

The first tuna trip I ever took I believe hand lines were set at 80 (2), 60 (2), 40 (2) and 30 (1 middle) feet back. How far back can hand lines be worked effectively and does it make sense to run longer hand lines if the fish aren't taking jigs in close? I would think it would be better to keep the handlines busy rather then depend on using rods since the rods take to much time to land fish.

thanks for the help John,

Gregg

Smily · 07-11-2006, 02:01 PM

I noticed that too that one time one of the clickers weren't on and caught it in time. That was a bad feeling to think that you could had been spooled and not even know it.

What a great observation from the fly bridge. Thanks for the insight.

I also noticed sometimes when we slow down to start reeling in our fish they would hit another rod or 2 at times. This is great reading.

Sturgeon Tom · 07-11-2006, 03:05 PM

I want to thank you for this terrific post. I have learned a lot and will use this when I take my first trip in my boat.
Thanks and what a trip.

Tom

Fish-a-Holic · 07-11-2006, 03:12 PM

Great info, and much appreciated!! I have asked several of the Saltier Dog's what they think of running all the same gear, and the answers are all over the board. I have rigged my boat to do the same thing (run all the same lure). I had a feeling that this would be the answer to multiple hook ups. Can't wait to try it.

I have rigged 6 rods & 2 hand lines. Everything is adjustable so they can run on the fronts of my wake. The basic set up is two handlines run off the rear cleats at 50' with 200 pound jinkai with TC-200 Clones rigged Kismet style (thanks for the rigging posts!!). All the rods and reels have top shots for exactly the distance I want them run, so we run the top shots out to the braid/top shot knot, and they are fishing. The leaders are 15' wind on Yozuri flouro-carbon, again rigged to TC-200 clones. The inside flat line transom rods are rigged for 65 feet, the next rods outside are rigged at 80 feet, and the far outside rods, run on 9' rods, straight out the side and are at 100 feet. Of course I am going to have to make sure my measurments track and don't foul!!

I was out of town all last week while the ocean layed down, and you guys were killing me while you were out there pounding fish. I have rigged and re-rigged my gear about 100 times. Tried my first run out of Depot Friday June 30th. In fact I talked with Kismet as they pulled out, although I don't think they knew who I was. They said they had run 52 miles due south and found 60 degree water, lots of life, and no Tuna. I had made it to 18 miles on a 261 degree course west. I raised Skein at that point, and he said he was already on his way in and that they had never found the water temps or blue water. It had gotten to lumpy and they had turned back. We gave up at that point and turned in too. (Actually Salmon fished for a while). I was supposed to meet Bait O Eggs at Garabaldi Saturday morning, but with what Pilar and Skein had said, we gave up and fished Sturgeon in the Estuary, and of course everybody found them. Sometimes it seems I can't win for loosing. Now I am just waiting for the ocean to cooperate and I am running for Tunna Town Baby!!!

John, thanks for the words of wisdom above, and the technical tips about rigging hand lines and leaders. Between you and Roy (BOE), I feel have a leg up on our start. Now I just need the start to align....

newportfisher · 07-11-2006, 03:13 PM

So to keep fish from grabbing to odd lure out should all the lures be the same?

Sturgeon Tom · 07-11-2006, 03:43 PM

Pilar or anyone. I keep hearing about a "garbage can for a cooling tank." What size are you using and where are you putting it, and of what is it made of? I am trying to figure what is best and not take up a lot of room as I think with all the ice etc it is going to be a premium.
Thanks
Tom

newportfisher · 07-11-2006, 04:01 PM

Strap a garbage can to the swim deck of your boat. Put holes toward the bottom for blood to get out through. They work Great!!

Chesapeake · 07-11-2006, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Pilar or anyone. I keep hearing about a "garbage can for a cooling tank." What size are you using and where are you putting it, and of what is it made of? I am trying to figure what is best and not take up a lot of room as I think with all the ice etc it is going to be a premium.
Thanks
Tom

We rigged a 30 gallon rectangle shaped rubbermaid can on the swim step for a bleed bucket. I'm sure the same would work good for a slush tank.

TROPHY1 · 07-11-2006, 04:11 PM

John
How productive is the center hand line with the jumper or is it's most productivness come from bringing fish to the other jigs? If it actually catches fish, do I have it right that you have a Jig (Clone ect.) on say an 8' leader to the jumper then a 8' hootchie chain in front of that conected to your 45" tuna cord handline?

I have a YoZuri Rabbit that I was thinking of deploying and need some advice on rigging it.

Thanks again for all the sharing.