If you are just getting into trolling, the fastest way to start catching fish is to run smaller lures. Here is what I tell less experienced fishermen about lure size, leader, speed, and keeping the spread simple.
The exact lures I ran on our last ahi trips and why each one went out: how I match my line count to my crew, pick colors off the week's reports, and read the teeth marks an ahi leaves on a lure head.
A wing gives the lure the wide flat profile of a flying fish, and that extra movement gets bit. Here are the exact sizes I cut for every lure we run, the relief cut most people skip, and how I tie wings on so the knot disappears.
Most guides pick leader by species. I pick it by lure size: 300 pound test on all the big lures, 130 or 200 on the small ones depending on the season, and every leader cut to three arm spans.
Every boat bites differently. Here is my baseline spread, 320 feet on the riggers and 200 on the corners, and how I compress or stretch it depending on where the ahi bites come.
A bullet runs anywhere in the spread with that skittery side to side S-turn. An invert runs straighter, pops, smokes, and stays down longer. Here is how I choose between them, and where the cut face fits in.
Ahi don't behave the same way year-round. Water temperature, bait migration, and current patterns all affect what's working on any given day. Here's what we've learned about matching lures to conditions in Hawaiian waters.
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