# Trolling rigs



## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

l have a few pic of the type of rigs we are using for trolling dead baits, 
4 and 5 are for pilchards,slimies, gar and small baits which work well on the mackerel. 
You can use strip sheet lead instead of the barrel groved sinkers and wrap it around the gang hook.you only need enough lead to make the bait swim straight and not spin, the speed you are paddling makes a difference to the way it moves in the water as well.
You can buy or make the rigs to any size to suit baits like Tailer, Bonito,Mullet and Yakkas.
Try to match the bait to what the fish are feeding on in the area you are going to fish. 
l rig the bigger fish up the night before,dental floss and a big needle helps pull the mouth and gills in tight to make it look life like, give the back bone a good flex before you put it in the water and have a practice troll with the bait beside the yak to see what speed the fish works best at, when set up right they swim with a reel fish like action

There are some very good trolling rigs which you can buy from the bait and tackle shops.

Davo's Bait and Tackle has the Spaniard special and other good rigs [pics 1 and 2] 
Aussie Jigs make a good one as well [ pic 4 is a modify Rig ]


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

This is the rig l landed the Spaniard on 
Steven hooked a marlin on the same type of rig 
Hope this can be of some help in catching a big fish


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

Hey Stu,

very handy post this, I will be sure to make a few of these up.

mate just wondered what strength wire you recommend, it says .80 copper wire i think, do you just buy this in the tackle store etc

also what sort of rig would one use with a live yakka for instance


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## sitonit (Dec 29, 2006)

Excellent stuff, thanks a lot I will certainly be using some of those ideas to modify my trolling set ups.


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

also one more question,

do the skirts have to be pink, 
i see they are very popular but do other colours work just as well

ie: orange, blue or yellow


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Ben l got it from a electrician, they have heeps of scrap copper wire all different dia .60 to .80 mm is strong but flexable enough to push up through the mouth and then bend back down over the nose.file a point on the end this make it easy.
l use 40 to 80 lb single strand s/steel wire with Haywire twist knots or
7 strand s/steel wire with a no 8 knot to tie on the trailing treble hook to the front trolling eye.

l have some spare copper wire if you can't find any.

Pink works better than other colours,
sometimes l remove the skirt if the water is very clear it seems to spook the mackerel at times.
Hope this helps


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