How do you like to troll you spreader bars in the pattern. Long or Short ? I prefer to troll mine short and have great luck. Got in a debate with some people this weekend concerning location, they swore by long on the spreader bars so just want to see what people think.....Bob...Still Think'n

We run one on the shotgun down the middle and a second one on a long rigger. Year before last we caught a lot of footballs on the shotgun but not as many strikes on it in 2005.

Bob,
We've run them in both the short and the long position and have had success in both spots. Most of the time, though on Rockin Robin, we run skirted/naked ballyhoo on the flats, spreaders on one or both short riggers and then skirted ballyhoo or a lure on the long riggers and then the WWB of Boone bird with a smoker jet head type lure. This way it looks like a ball of bait in the middle of the spread with the straglers alone and away from the "bait ball". Now our short rigger is on the 4th or 5th wave to start.(If marks and no bites, we drop back further)
Sometimes if conditions permit, we'll run a short spreader bar down the middle even with the long rigger positions, infront of the WWB.

Man, all this talk is making me want to get out there for some bluewater fishing

--Don

I agree with Skinny. Pulling one on each short rigger allows you to position the long rigger baits off the outside corners, and the flat lines off the inside corners, making them all look like stragglers from the main bait school. I've even added a third on the short shotgun further back, with the long shotgun way back. A couple of school tunas made that pattern into the most ungodly mess you ever saw. I finally took the cutters to the tangle and salvaged what I could. One of my buddys warned me that the third spreader bar was too much, but the fishing was real slow so over it went. Bad mistake. I don't mind losing the tackle, but I've never heard the end of it.

I will run one on my short and put the long on that side right behind it.I also will put one half way down the center with the wtfb behind it.It looks like a small school or something chasing.The Spreaderbars stay in when the grass gets really bad or the bight gets fast and furious.

I thought the spreader bar was to stay out of the water so only the baits were dragging. I just got a new one from ballyhood with the release on the last bait. Can't wait to try it. You don't have any trouble dragging the bar through the water?

THE newer style bars with a bait before the bar seem to correct themselves better.I have one of those spreader bar teasers with about 50 plastic hoos it works better with the metal bar out of the water,I just hook it up to a teaser reel.The mini spreader bars also work really well off outriggers with less drag.They definately get more attention from the fisheys.

I really like those small spreaders. We had great luck with the tuna on those this summer and even had a couple of whites hit on them.

Amen to that.

I've never used the mini-bars. I'll have to add a few to the ever growing list of "can't live without" gear.

They work great with the rigger clips you dont have to tighten them just clip and go.

thinking of going out for blue fins if the seas go down on friday. what do you recomend that i use for bait? one carolina guy told me to use a small (legal)striper for trolling. Is this a good idea? thanks for the help......joe

Your kidding right.

Good info on the Spreaders....I normally run two off the short riggers, killed the Tuna this year on them....had a white on them more than once......The Blue that hit my line this year was on a big lure outside of the spreaders, wish that one would have stuck !....

I don't think trolling a Striper for BLue Fin is the best idea. There's too many other ways to fish for them without having to waste a perfectly good striper .....just my 2Cents

That may not be legal I think slow trolling a bluefish would be a much better idea. Also horse ballyhoo behind a skirt or big squid spreader bars.

If you're more than 3 mi. out, the striper for bait is definitely a bad idea. The bluefin seen up off Ocean City MD have still been small, so you might need a smaller bait if those are the ones headed your way. Good luck!

Large squid, preferrably b/w in the shotgun position for tuna. Ball up witches from LR, SSG, SR, and flatlines. Crushed em this year with this pattern. NC pattern though. I haven't tried wwb spreader bar up here, but u better believe I will have a gm spreader bar deep next season. I like speed bars off riggers when I pull them their, less stress on the riggers. To be honest, I just thought about it and their good in any position as long as you know how to build your spread around them. The idea is to make a bait school and have something close by for their friends to turn too when the bar goes down.

Cmac

All you need for the Bluefin are a few Ballyhoo,a few Cedar plugs and a Spoon behind a plainer.Nothing fancy for the fast Troll.Maybe a Teaser or a Bird ,put all your lines WTFB.

I recently picked up a few standard and mini bars from www.reeldraggin.com. I have not used them yet but I really like how light weight they are and how the bar is assembled. Price wise, they are cheap comparatively so I am not sure how you could go wrong if you wanted to try something new.

BTW, no vested interest ... just a cool product that felt relevant to the conversation.

Jon