With the Mid-Atlantic summer offshore fishing season in full swing, we wanted to follow up on earlier articles like How to Catch Tuna: Trolling, and Offshore Trolling: The Art of the Mixed Spread, with some useful tips. And as it happens, during the course of the past year we've shot a number of offshore fishing tip videos. Most of these haven't showed up in written form on the pages of FishTalk or on FishTalkMag.com, so we decided to compile them here and now, for your viewing pleasure.
How to Rig Ballyhoo Fast and Easy with a Bait Spring
Everyone knows rigging ballyhoo can be a real pain in the butt. If you haven't tried rigging with a bait spring yet, you should give it a try. This method works best when coupled with skirts, Iland Lures, and similar offerings. Here's how it's done:
Leadering a Pelagic
Leadering a pelagic, even relatively small tunas or mahi, you do need to be careful. If you don't know how to go about it, cuts on your hands, lost fish, and bruised egos are likely to follow. This offshore fishing tip is a simple but important one.
How to Pick Good Ballyhoo
Most of the ballyhoo you buy will be in decent shape, but tackle shops do get bad batches. Here's a brief tip that will help you avoid getting stuck with sub-par ballyhoo (which often wash out and deteriorate much faster).
Choosing and Deploying a Dredge
Deploying a dredge from a moving boat is easier said than done. This brief video shows you a type that's relatively easy to deal with, where to pull it, and how to get the job done smoothly and effectively.
When Deploying Fishing Lines
We're not going to give away this tip - you've got to watch the video. Watch closely - the whole video is only 30 seconds but failing to do this one leads to lost fish!
Tie the Offshore Swivel Knot
When you need to attach a swivel to the end of a double line, the offshore swivel knot is the best way to do it. Here's how to get it done.
For more how-to fishing info, check out the How To section of FishTalkMag.