Hoping to try offshore this year from Virginia Beach with my sons. Trying to come up with a short list of lures to start my spread and where and how to run them. Will be fishing from a 27 ft outboard, if that helps. Hope to target tuna and dolphin, maybe a marlin?? What a dream!!
I'm very new to this and open to learning. Thanks

Try a large planer with a #3 Drone with about 30 Feet of leader for a flat line.On the other flat line put out a small ballyhoo with a Blue/White Islander (small bullethead).Usually just infront I run a spreader bar teaser with 25 Artificial Ballyhoo.For your Short riggers go with medium Ballyhoo with a chartreuse Islander flat head on the teaser side and an Pink/Green islander daisy chain (bullet head) on the other Side.Long riggers way back with Large islanders with Medium Ballyhoo Black&purple on one and Chartreuse on the other.For the Shotgun run WTFBx2 use a large chartreuse Boone bird with a Large Ballyhoo(later in the year go with Horse ballyhoo or a rigged Spanish)On the large ballyhoo put a large Islander Hood with Chartreuse & dark green.If you arent getting hits try some red,pink,yellow or flash.This spread is easy to run with novice fisherman.If you want to get fancy you could add a few dredges on your shorts or flats.Always run the Spoon I caught alot of Tuna and wahoo on it last year.when nothing else worked.I use an 80wide for the planer and shotgun and 50wides for everything else.Also dont forget to have 3 spinning rods pre rigged 2 for Dolphin chunking and one heavy action ready to cast for tuna pushing water.Skip a spoon across the surface yellowfin have a weakness for the Flying Fish.

My short flat line will be the most aggressive lure in my spread, it also is most likely to be my largest lure in my spread. I want this short flat lure to carry some of the excitement that the prop wash displays, lots of splash coupled with a pushing, driving, undulating display of swimming. I want this lure to stay down in a swimming pattern for a term of 5 to 7 seconds and should troll in a controlled running manner. (Slant head)

My long corner flat line will be sized down from the short flat slightly, I want this lure to troll similar to the short flat with the main difference being it should display more of a swimming motion, smooth undulation is desirable, the down time about the same 5 to 7 seconds. (Slant head)

My short outrigger is probably sized down in size from my flat lines, this lure will be cupped & have jet holes, the action of this lure will be to troll very straight, dive, swim, splash, Torpedo like in action, down time will be 5 to 7 seconds. (Cupped jet head type)

My long outrigger is sized down from the rest of my spread & will be sparky, by that I mean it will have considerable splash, dart, dive, and undulate, down time 5 seconds. I would also like to see a long trail of bubbles & white water exhaust. (Slant head type)

My center rigger will be my mouse trap, smallest lure in the spread cupped with jet holes, straight running, 5 to 7 second down time, quick surface pop, shallow running Torpedo like action, exciting but easy to catch, must troll very smooth in a tight straight pattern. Many Marlin will commit suicide trying to eat this quick moving small package, thus the nick name Mouse Trap. (Cupped jet type)

This Power Spread is only one pattern of many that can be used to your advantage, you will find that working your spread is worth the effort of learning how, your reward will be more bites, and larger fish, and of course more fun.

Mega always has good info. I usually keep a green machine in my spread on the starboard outrigger outside. It has definately proved itself as a catcher. Islanders can be expensive so if you are trying to keep on a tight budget use seawitches instead. I keep four of each color imaginable onboard and keep an ear to the radio. Some days it seems that the tuna only want a certain color and if someone is catching they will usually share the info. Another thing that I prefer is inline weights instead of planers. The weights put less stress on your tackle. I keep an assortment of weights up to 42oz.

Good luck and keep on the board. when you are planning to go offshore usually someone from here is heading out too. It's always nice to know you have a friend out there.

all good spreads but i think all will agree that for your wfb rod use either a big spreader bar or a bird w/ a green machine or islander or some thing like that on a 80 wide also keep a smaller reel/rod combo(like a tld15) rigged w/ a pitch bait(small ballyhoo) incase a white comes in and a green machine should be somewhere in your spread

Thank you for the info. Bobdu11, I don't think I know enough about it to interpret your post!

Any advice on speed to troll, which wave to run lures on, front or back of wave, etc. How about tuna feathers, tuna clones and other artificials to limit need to rig ballyhoo?

My boat came with outriggers. How do I learn how to rig them? Is there a web site or thread here with instructions and drawings for various setups? They are set up with single lines. I have glass eyes with releases but I don't know what to do with them.

Should there be some sort of line running from the outrigger forward to absorb some of the strain? How do you decide how tight the releases should be?

I have two planers rigged on nylon rope. I assume these are for running the Drone spoon or the like?

Any chance one of you would be willing to look at what I've got next time I am down at Va Bch and advise? Alot of this equipment came with the boat and I admit I am truly inexperienced with rigging everything.

Thanks again

I was looking for a way to make an offshore racer and stumbled upon George Poveromo's website...has plenty of articles.

http://www.georgepoveromo.com/howtofeatures.htm

...and click on "the well" for past years' articles.

Thanks for the info. I am reading all I can. I appreciate all the help.

Keep your hooks sharp,Tie good knots and keep it simple.Tickeled pink is right about using Sea Witches they work good and are cheeper,I cut the skirt material short I think they are too long but they work.Salt Water Sportsman and Marlin are good Mags to get info.Make sure your Ballyhoo you buy are fresh the tips of their bills should be bright orange if they are brown they arent fresh.

I believe in good knots but I will put money on a crimp. Early lart spring we had problems with break-offs. At close inspection I found that most of them were from knot failures. My best friend and I decided to run some teasts. I broke out my old knot book and tied the top eight knots that we would use for connections using 120# mono. We made twenty-seven eight foot long leaders each knot three times and made three with crimps. We pull on each leader using my fish scale to measure the breaking moment. We would use a slow gradually building pull till there was a failure. Each knot failed at the knot every time. The new improved polymer knot was the best breaking at just below 80#, that is less then 70% of the line load, unacceptable. The three with crimps all had failures two above 105# at the crimp and one failing at 128# with the line itself parting. At the end of our tests we dicided to crimp all connections from now on for several reasons.

1 - They are more reliable
2 - They are actually quicker to do for most people.
3 - If you offset the loss of tacle the crimps are cheaper.
4 - We would rather catch fish and be in control of the release ourselves.

We are not scientists by any stretch and my garage is hardly a laboratory. However, I do believe that we did all the tests fairly and as precise as any professional could have done it.

I concur with the crimp theory but crimps can cut mono if not seated properly in the crimping tool before pressure is applied.I keep a crimping tool and a whole assortment of different sizes in a box.I prefer the double barrel type for most stuff.For 40# braided wire I like the singel barrel crimps.

Alot of questions, I'll see what I can do..

1. Speed depends on the species your targeting..let's talk Tuna,,,generally start a toll between 6 - 8 Knots, Tune you speed to the lures your running, making sure they staying down and not skipping and bouncing out of the water.


2. I generally work my way from stern rods to long outside rigger...the short flat line stern rods usually fish on the 2 - 3rd wave, next rodd holders on the gunnel are normally your short outrigger ines, generally 5 - 6th wave, long outrigger are nomally 8 - 9 wave...then you can run a center rig WTFB as they like to say here...lol

3. If you running single line outriggers they probably clip onto the gunnel somewhere on the side of the boat. Your release clip should be on the line that you can pull up and down through the eyes on the rigger. You can either cut the line and add a 2nd release clip halfway down the line or get some outrigger line kits and create two lines on your outriger pole, one through the 1/2nd eye, the 2nd line through the 3rd and 4th eye. you will need two anchors on the gunnel one for each. I like to work my outrigger from longest out first and then the closer lines, keeps lines tangle free (most of the time ...), You can buy outrigger line kits from west marine off greatneck road.

4. Let me know when your in town. I can probably take a look at your stuff. My boat is at Taylors landing. I've fished most of my life down in Florida and the Bahama's, so this particular area is fairly new to me, but basically, fishing is fishing it's just knowing the spots and the times the fish come through that you have to learn....Bob