# Mulloway trolling tactics



## fisher (Aug 30, 2005)

I just saw Josh's post on his great fish caught by trolling a live bait. I've done a lot of fishing in my time but I've never worked out how to effectively troll a live bait. Can anyone shed some light on tackle set up and tactics for trolling of live baits for mulloway? Each time I've tried I've found that the bait generally swims to the top and basically gets towed on the surface - hardly prime mulloway territory. Do you troll the live bait under a float, or on a running sinker rig? any clues appreciated. I might just give the Port River mullies another crack this winter....


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

The answer can be the breakaway sinker rig if you're slow trolling.

Find or make a 4-6oz sinker with a swivel on top. Best ones are homemade balls, snappers or teardrop shapes. Pyramids can get caught up and twist the rig up. Cats paw an elastic band through the sinker swivel and attach to the leader about 1.5-2m up the leader from the hook.

When you get a hookup you wind the sinker up to the yak and yank it off before winding in the fish. Another answer is to install a down rigger.

To set the rig, line your yak so that you are running down a drift path, drop the rig till it hits bottom and quickly wind it up 4-5 turns so the livey sits about 1-2m off the bottom. If you have a fishfinder sometimes you can set the rig to the correct depth using that.


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## josho (Nov 3, 2007)

Mate the trick is dead slow. I use a running sinker about the size of a 10 cent piece if that. Now when you are trolling them i set my bait out a long way as it gets less pull by the kayak there for it will be trolled slower. Also when pinning your bait i do this strait through the nose of the mullet with a 7/0 circle hook. This allows the mullet to be pulled forward in the water as that is a must and still swim freely. I have my short rod down on the same bit of lead and rig but this one has more pull so its a midwater bait the other one sits just above the bottom. Mulloway will feed close to the bottom, midwater or even on the surface but all this comes down to is going out there and actually giving it a crack yourself and just looking at why it isn't working and try and imrpove it.

If u have any more questions on how i do it pm me

Josho 8)


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## water_baby (Oct 26, 2005)

fisher, my spider senses are tingling. not thinking of the port now that we have hit winter weather?? ;-)

you're not alone... some of us are very keen to pop that cherry in a big way this winter :twisted:

as for your question, im thinking of just a running sinker above the swivel, but the breakaway sounds tempting too. gonna need to get acquainted with some new methods, also trolling a medium-large HB (xrap or similar)...

let us know if you want company mate, would be good to catch up again


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## GregL (Jul 27, 2008)

A rig I use for kingies from a stinker is as follows:
Swivel tied to a length of leader (60-80lb), (about 6" or so) and thread a large streamlined inline sinker (4-6oz) onto that, then another swivel. Then have the rest of your leader and the hook (circle) tied to that.
We use that when drifting/ slow trolling and it works a treat - keeps the baits down deep in the strike zone.
The only issue with it for jewies I suppose is that it is not a breakaway sinker system, and if you don't want the jew to feel the weight of the sinker then it may not be for you.
Nevertheless, it may be worth giving it a go if you want to keep the baits off the surface.
Cheers,
Smeg


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## Guest (Apr 23, 2009)

Yep Kraley, I've been thinking about adding a Scotty downrigger to my yak for exactly this reason. By hook or by crook, I'm joining the Mulloway club this year dammit!


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## fisher (Aug 30, 2005)

Thanks for your replies everyone - now to put it all into practice!  
Hey Aaron - haven't seen or heard of you for awhile. Yes, a session in the Port River might be on the cards - just need to get the motivation in place again and put some thought into the plan. Theres an area where I've seen some nice snapper taken,- and I know there has been good mullies around there as well, so I might even try along that stretch of river.
Fishnut - I'd like to catch up one day to see how the downrigger works and pick your brains on this trolling caper.
cheers again! -


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## yakattack (Jan 12, 2008)

Hi guys i am a big fan of the downrigger for yak fishing. I have tried many systems over the past summer breakaway sinker,fixed sinker and more recently the downrigger. All work however i find the downrigger makes it a lot easier to get the livie exactly where you need it. Also when you get a hookup the mainline breaks away from the down rigger to be weight free, therefore the fish feels little or no drag as it would from an attached sinker.I have one of those little scotty lake trollers it works a treat you can even see the bomb on the sounder so you know where your bait is at. I am yet to crack a jewie from the yak however i am looking forward to trying out the downrigger system for them to see if it works. Livies and also some larger style rapala x raps downrigged also. I will post up my downrigger setup on the rigged kayak forum over the weekend if anyone is interested.

Cheers Micka


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