When all things fail, pull out the Dabo.

[CR dog]

What a blast this weekend. Live bait fishing, but the fish were real spooky at times. It took patients to get those fish to bite.

We had a late start joining the parking lot of boat around the 46 08 line. We spent some time trolling at the 124 35 area of the south canyon. Just wanted to see what we could bring up. Saw some nice whales.

As we entered the area we stayed our distance until we got tired of hooking sharks. We then see Shake-n-Bake in the distance. A nice school of jumpers about a 1/4 mile in front of his bow. (Do we do it or keep our distance? He won't even see us sneak up.) We sneak up and bam it was a good stop with 9 landed and a few lost. Sorry Mike couldn't resist, you were fishing the stern which was pointed west away from us.

We proceeded west, jumpers everywhere. We sneak up, no luck. Every now and then we would get 1. Then Wayne noticed that all the commercial boats were trolling. Trolling it is, bam, one fish at a time. Wayne calls out for the big guns. Time for the CR dawg home boy special spreader bars. Bam. Fish on every time on the spreader bar. Then we dig deep into the tackle bag a little deeper. I have been carrying this surface action float all summer. Let's see what it does. (We had to figure something out, Wayne keep saying we stink. I wasn't sure if he noticed I hadn't taken a shower that morning. Or he meant our fishing tactics.)

The Dabo!



We rigged it onto a big rod setup. Wow makes lots of splash. Then we rig up another rod next to it and set a natural cedar plug 25 feet behind it. Ka bam. That fish jump out of the water. That cedar plug 25 feet behind and off to the side was hot. Multiple hook ups accomplished, on the troll, when it was suppose to be a live bait show!

So the moral of the story is:

You paid a lot of money on those spreader bars, use them. They work great even when fish can be spooky. Surface splashing is good. Dabo is good.

Next year we'll try the Shikuko Dabo.

[Pilar]

You did that on a standup rod?

Wow I use that thing on a blue cord, shortest one and I love it. Always brings them to the boat. When I ran that dabo on ID P's boat as the only hand line we landed about 10 with it and lost a green machine. Big fish hit it on the way by and never slowed down.

Watch the commercial jig boats they sometimes run this splasher on every line. Dabo is good.

[CR dog]

Originally Posted by Pilar

You did that on a standup rod?

Wow I use that thing on a blue cord, shortest one and I love it. Always brings them to the boat. When I ran that dabo on ID P's boat as the only hand line we landed about 10 with it and lost a green machine. Big fish hit it on the way by and never slowed down.

Watch the commercial jig boats they sometimes run this splasher on every line. Dabo is good.

When you rigged it up to blue cord, did it still jump out of the water every now and then? When rigged to a pole it looked like every now and then a fish jumping out of the water landing on bait fish. It does vibrate the pole quite a bit. Next time I'll hook it to blue cord and see the results. Thanks for the input.

[Sea Jypzee]

I've run Dabo's for years as well. Always on the blue cord. Yes, they do jump around a lot, sometimes out of the water but most often just right on the surface making lots of surface noise.

There've been times that it's hooked up most of my fish for the day.

I agree, Dabo is good!

[No Reservations]

Sounds like fish voodoo where can you buy that thing.

[CR dog]

Originally Posted by No Reservations

Sounds like fish voodoo where can you buy that thing.

Englund Marine

[Vulpinus]

Thanks for the advice.

Ive noticed that Spreader bars can do the same thing. Same story... slow fishing days "spooky" fish etc... the fish pile up on the bars though. Sometimes you just need a little extra something.

[colbachlaw]

James,

I didn't even know you were there, so you must not have been too close.

I have always wondered if those things worked, thanks for the info.

One more thing to buy this winter.

Mike

[Reel Obsession]

Great report, thanks James. Glad to hear that you had some luck on the spreader bars. Can I ask what type of bars you ended up with?

[No Bail]

I tried pulling a large bird also, but didn't get any takes on it. Maybe I should have tried all three in a pattern.

[CR dog]

Originally Posted by Reel Obsession

Great report, thanks James. Glad to hear that you had some luck on the spreader bars. Can I ask what type of bars you ended up with?

Tim:

I make my own spreader bars. They are the metal ones that I cut down so I can used them on a rod and reel. So I run 3 strands instead of 5. They have worked well all summer. I have borrowed Fred Archer bars and they work well also. Maybe this winter we can get together and make a few for you.

[Reel Obsession]

Originally Posted by CR dog

Tim:

I make my own spreader bars. They are the metal ones that I cut down so I can used them on a rod and reel. So I run 3 strands instead of 5. They have worked well all summer. I have borrowed Fred Archer bars and they work well also. Maybe this winter we can get together and make a few for you.

That would be great James. Sounds like a good winter (i.e. post hunting season) project.

Thanks.

[Puffin]

Moral of story watch what your big bro does hes tryin 2 make a livin at it and its probably not his first rodeo. Hows life in Russia Pilar?

[bajadan2000]

Ok, got this tip from a commercial Tuna fishermen, however, he had a different name for the Dabo.

Run the Dabos on the outside of the spread with a hookless lure that matches the inside spread. Never bring the Dabos in, leave them running at all times to keep the biters near the boat. The biters will move in on the deadly inside lures.

Not sure why so many sport boats run their teasers on the inside with hooks in the lures. The idea of a Dabo or teaser is to attract the fish. Once you take the teaser out of the water to land a fish, the other fish may lose interest and move off, then you need to start the bite all over again. Plus having the teasers on the outside gives the teasers a wider spread that brings the biters in from further out.

Now running a Dabo on every line would be a blast.

[CR dog]

Originally Posted by bajadan2000

Ok, got this tip from a commercial Tuna fishermen, however, he had a different name for the Dabo.

Run the Dabos on the outside of the spread with a hookless lure that matches the inside spread. Never bring the Dabos in, leave them running at all times to keep the biters near the boat. The biters will move in on the deadly inside lures.

Not sure why so many sport boats run their teasers on the inside with hooks in the lures. The idea of a Dabo or teaser is to attract the fish. Once you take the teaser out of the water to land a fish, the other fish may lose interest and move off, then you need to start the bite all over again. Plus having the teasers on the outside gives the teasers a wider spread that brings the biters in from further out.

Now running a Dabo on every line would be a blast.

How long of a leader are they running behind the Dabo?

You make a good point about running the teasers on the outside of the spread. We do that also, it makes it easier to manage when the fish hit the inside.

Another question:
Is your buddy using divers. That big orange diving board. How successful are those things. We used them this weekend with no hook-ups.

[edsr]

For the first three years I ran a Dabo it didn't catch a thing. I used it as the center of the spread at several diffrent distances on the blue cord with a six foot leader and a clone. Three years nothing, then one day it was hot. Just bring everything ya got and try it all .

[bajadan2000]

Originally Posted by CR dog

How long of a leader are they running behind the Dabo?

You make a good point about running the teasers on the outside of the spread. We do that also, it makes it easier to manage when the fish hit the inside.

Another question:
Is your buddy using divers. That big orange diving board. How successful are those things. We used them this weekend with no hook-ups.

He runs a 9' leader behind the Dabos. He believes a hookless lure on a 9' leader gets the best action. He is not trying to hook up on the Dabos just bring the Tuna into his spread. This technique has worked well for me. Once I get a trolling bite going, it is non stop action most of the time. If I only have scratch fishing using the technique, it is time to move.

Yes he runs two divers all of the time. Both divers from extensions on each side of the bow. The diver hand line length is set to float the fish right to his open work station on the stern. He just grabs the line above the fish and flings it into the boat. Then he sets the diver back down, all without moving a foot. He calls these his meat lines. The key is to have the diver line set at the right length so a big tuna can not swim into the propeller. Divers are a hit/miss thing. Some days they are hot, other days they are not.

I also run the big orange commercial divers, however, my boat is too small to safely run the divers from the bow so I run them from the stern cleats. I run at least one most of the time, also with mixed results.

I run double black snubbers on the hand line to the divers. This helps absorb some of the shock of the larger Tuna strikes and eliminates most break offs. Double black snubbers have worked so well on the divers I now use them on all of my hand lines.

[5-Salt Fever]

Originally Posted by No Bail

I tried pulling a large bird also, but didn't get any takes on it. Maybe I should have tried all three in a pattern.

Had good luck with 4ct small bird daisy-chains

[Sea Jypzee]

This year, I was running my spreader bars on the outside lines off the outriggers, with a Dabo next inside of the spreader bars, again off of each outrigger. Ran a clone off of each Dabo. I figure that with the spreader bar right there near the Dabo, pulling one or the other in shouldn't have too much of a negative effect as the other will keep the fish interested.

[HugeDuckFan]

Originally Posted by colbachlaw

James,

One more thing to buy this winter.

Mike

Dear Santa,

Please bring me one dabo and be sure to pack inside a Viking.

Thank you,


Mike


Lemme know how this works out for ya