I break the trolling into two main sections, but the lures etc described in the first are all purpose, and can be trolled anywhere. Regardless of the lure or location, there are two important things to remember when targeting pelagics on the troll.

Do not confuse this with lake or impoundment trolling, or trolling mangrove creeks. This is a whole different ball game.

One is that trolling needs to be fast, 8-10 knots. The fish we are targeting use speed as a major hunting advantage.

Any bait fish swimming out there that saw one of these monsters bearing down, would be trying to get away as fast as possible. The more the fish thinks the bait is getting away, the harder the strike will be. If they have too much time to think about it, they may figure out that its not real.

If something seems to be trying to get away from a predator, it’s probably food!

If the lure is staying in the water, then you are not going too fast.

The lures should be run close to the boat, generally within or close to the wake (wash) produced by the boat. Your boat is the big cavitation teaser.

The white water at the back of the boat is an effective fish attractor.

The wash certainly does not scare fish away, and actually attracts them. I have caught Marlin, Wahoo, most Tunas, Bonito, Kingfish, most Mackerels and Trevallies on very close lures. And not all big ones, the smallest being a hand sized rainbow runner, but fish from a kilo or so and up. For some reason this is deadly on the dreaded Green Jobfish.

If the lure is staying in the water, then it is not too close.

Firstly is the section inside the reef and generally in the 30-50mtr depth. Most of the outer reefs have large areas like this. You can target pelagics in this area by searching out bombies and other structure, current lines or following birds.

You can expect to encounter Trevallies, Jobfish, Wahoo, Dogtooth & other Tunas, plus a wide range of other pelagics. Trolling is done quite fast, 8-10 knots.

My favorite lure for this area is the Laser Pro. Depending on the conditions, trolled close, right under the wash. If the conditions are forcing you to run the lure further back, I suggest a switch to my second favorite lures.

These are smallish (5-8in) skirted lures, generally with tinsel under skirt. The lure head is short, and quite heavy (made from metal), with a cupped face. The cupped face provides traction for the lure and will keep it in the water in a wide range of conditions. The weight in the head helps get the lure down that bit deeper.

These also should be run as close as possible to the boat. The tinsel colour works best under the wash, where the light reflected by the tinsel is bounced off the wash.

And thirdly, but by no means least, is the Giant Trembler. These will run in any condition you are every likely to come across. They also catch a lot of fish and are the Tuna and Trevally specials.

Regardless of the lure, trolling around 8-10knots with the lures within the wash area of the boat, produces good numbers of strikes.

A few things are worth noting: The closer to the edge (sea below) the better this trolling will be. This includes areas near gaps in the reef, places with direct access to the open ocean.

Submerged bommies and structure seem to produce more fish than exposed (ie breaking) bommies and structure.

This is for the areas around the reef, with access to deep, deep water. It does not matter if you are trolling in 50mts, as long as the chasm is just a stones throw away.

You can apply the same technique and lures as above out on the edge as well.

They will produce excellent results. If possible, up size your bibless lures.

This is where the big ones hang out.

It generally takes good conditions to be there in your 4m tinnie, so I think its worth that extra effort on the fishing side. That is why I always carry some large skirted lures. This is prime Marlin territory and I usually cannot wait for the chance to get out there.

Large skirted lures, anywhere from 10in to 14in are the go. Lures with aggressive actions and designed to be run in all conditions (though you could fork out for a calm water set and a separate rough water set). Generally short head shapes and cup faced. The more aggressive and deep diving the lure, the better.

This action makes them highly visible when run close to the boat.

You can drop the speed a bit here, if targeting billfish. Probably running around 6-8 knots.

Because of the quality of the fish out there, you can not afford to have sub-standard rigging on these lures. Top quality rigging and strong, sharp hooks are essential. Unfortunately this does not come cheap.

Because of the quality of the sharks out there, you may soon find you cannot afford beer because of the Lure Budget Blow-Out. Its always disappointing to loose a lure to a shark. If your had seen hundreds of pounds of Marlin bursting into the air, with your lure in its mouth; you would know how I feel.

It could be that staying hard to the edge will produce better fish. Venture too wide and you are in the domain of the Rampaging Hordes of Yellow fin Tuna. I can't wait for the chance to research this idea further....

The third area (I know I said only two main sections above, this is an idea, not a section), is trolling from the mother ship. Conditions usually dictate that you troll either deep running bibless lures i.e. Giant Tremblers et al, or skirted lures.

I have trolled Laser Pros, with some success, from the mother ship. You do need good, calm conditions. Its just easier to run bibless or skirted lures.

The rules regarding speed above can be ignored. You are usually moving from place to place and have no control over the speed. But traveling goes on for many hours, plenty of time to experiment and get a lure working well.

These ships produce huge wakes and prop turbulence. This will attract the interest of large, roaming pelagics. Make sure you have lures in close, and they will standout against this background noise.

See Fishing on the Edge above for more ideas.