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Tackle Tips: Quick Loader and D.R. Blue Marlin

February 21, 2022 By InTheBite Digital Editor

targeting blue marlin

Eight Eights — D.R. Blue Marlin

Based out of Singer Island, Florida, though rarely at her homeport, the 72-foot Viking Eight Eights is on a constant quest for billfish releases. “Our normal schedule is with the boat 21 days. Then we take 10 off and come back for another 21. Out of the 21 days we’ll probably fish anywhere from 15 to 18 days depending on weather and what’s going on,” says first mate Kyle O’Conner.

In 2020, captains fishing out of Cap Cana reported 91 days where they released five or more blue marlin and 15 days with 10 or more releases. “Last year we got to the Dominican Republic July 1 and in two and a half months we caught 100 blues. We had close to 500 billfish releases and 300 tags for the 2020 season,” O’Conner says.

Man-made FADs highlight this world-class Caribbean fishery, with plastic jugs and styrofoam insulation banded together with scrap seine netting and palm fronds, then strategically tethered to the seafloor in efforts to attract forage and predator fish. Targeted with 30-pound outfits, juvenile blue marlin swarming the warm waters of the D.R. are intelligent and accurate feeders, at times displaying finicky tendencies. Here’s how they are fooled on the Eight Eights:

Rod Blank: BlackFin
Rod Builder: Bill Buckland
Guides: FUJI SiC
Thread Wrap: Green/Orange diamond
Butt: AFTCO #1 unibutt
Reel: Shimano Tyrnos 30
Main Line: Berkley ProSpec 30 lb.
Leader: 100 lb. pink fluorocarbon
Hook: 9/0 circle hook
Bait: Baitmasters medium ballyhoo
Skirt: MoldCraft Junior Hooker
Rigging: EZ Swivel

ballyhoo for the quick reloader

Ricardo Núñez — Quick Loader

Whether it’s washing the boat or rigging ballyhoo, the best deckhands are fast and efficient in everything they do. Dredge fishing for billfish typically entails naked swimming ballyhoo pulled from the transom corners, but outrigger baits are often outfitted with a small lure head like a MoldCraft Junior Hooker or Squidnation Slammer to create a larger profile and also help ballyhoo track better in rough seas.

When fishing a chugger/ballyhoo combination, the use of Ringer Swivels to firmly mount and expose circle hooks is a widely popular method. Some mates use an open-eye rigging needle as a makeshift puller to bring the chugger head into place over the O-ring, but a more streamlined approach utilizes a quick reloader fashioned from a length of #19 wire leftover from dredge teaser pin rigs.

With a tiny clasp bent into the end, mates can hook the O-ring and force it out of the lure head to accommodate a circle hook. The simple device not only allows for easy storage and organization of multiple chugger heads, but more importantly enables mates to simplify the process of adding skirts to rigged ballyhoo.

Steve Kenealy was first mate on the 86-foot Merritt Reel Tight and spent countless hours rigging ballyhoo on the docks of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. “We first started using the quick reloader down there about two or three years ago. We can go through a pile of baits when the sails are snapping and this simple tip helps automate the rigging process. It’s a great little device that was introduced to us by a local mate named Ricardo Núñez.”

The best mates know that the more systematic they become in their daily tasks, the less energy is required. Like poking out the eyeballs of a ballyhoo, where you could do it one fish at a time or line up multiple fish on an arrow shaft, this quick loader makes performing a repetitive task easier than ever.

Filed Under: Featured Stories, Fishing, Tackle, Techniques Tagged With: Ballyhoo, Dredge Fishing, fads, fishing tackle, Offshore Fishing

Billfish Love Dredges

November 2, 2021 By InTheBite Digital Editor

dredge on boat

By Kevin Deerman

Most of the tournaments in the Gulf of Mexico are won catching one big fish. Boats set up to handle a dozen or more live tuna with high-velocity pumps often head straight offshore. However, dredge fishing for release numbers dominated our tournaments in Texas this summer as the inshore bite remained strong throughout the season.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Equipment, Featured Stories, Fishing, Fishing Accessories, Gulf of Mexico, Tackle Tagged With: billfish, Dredge Fishing, gulf fishing, texas triple crown

Tackle Tips from the 90-foot Jarrett Bay, Jaruco

August 4, 2021 By InTheBite Digital Editor

Staff Report

Modern dredge fishing has evolved tremendously, with multi-tiered teasers complementing intricate pulley systems mounted to towering outriggers. Mono has been a reliable choice for dredge line and outrigger halyards for years and is still popular today, but woven superlines comprising ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers provide significant benefits including high strength, low stretch and resistance to flex-fatigue and abrasion. Here’s how superlines are in use for outrigger halyards, dredge leashes and bridge teasers on the 90-foot Jarrett Bay, Jaruco.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Stories, Fishing Tagged With: Dredge Fishing, Jarrett Bay, jaruco, Offshore Fishing, Tackle Tips

Know the Limitations of your Boat and Crew

January 14, 2021 By InTheBite Digital Editor

jumping billfish

By Peter B. Wright

Most amateur anglers and crews would be much better off not using dredges or multiple teasers, even though many of the top professional teams pull them most of the time. Teams that consistently win tournaments almost always have expert professional captains and deck hands. These crews have skills and abilities that most amateurs will never develop. Amateur crews who pull multiple teasers and dredges may have forgotten one basic truth. Teasers and dredges do not catch fish – at best they can only help attract them. Baits and lures with hooks, however, can and do catch fish.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Advice, Careers, Featured Stories, Fishing Tagged With: bait fishing, Dredge Fishing, fishing advice, fishing teaser, peter b. wright

Master Baiters: Bait Snobs Know the Difference

October 8, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

Photo courtesy Ric Burnley

By Ric Burnley

For the most part, the playing field is pretty even,” states pro skipper Captain Andy Kubiak, “the one difference is bait.” Dock talk and the internet spread new techniques and tackle like wildfire; secrets don’t stay secrets for long. Today’s professional crews are seasoned, synchronized and sober. So, victory or defeat are determined by the details. “Having the best bait can be the difference between winning and losing,” Kubiak insists.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Stories Tagged With: artificial bait, Bait Fishing Tips, Dead bait, Dredge Fishing, Live Bait

Tower or Not

April 3, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

two guys in the tuna tower of a sportfishing boat

By Captain Scott “Fraz” Murie

I’ve been asked questions about towers several times lately. The question I’m getting most is, “Do I need a tower?”

I’ve spoken with several crews and owners about this topic. Some say they never use their tower and others say they use it all the time. The answers I’m getting to the tower question are all over the place.

I believe there is an advantage to having a tower, but that having a tower today is not nearly as advantageous as it was back in the days before electronics. The advantages back then included things like spotting fish on a rip, sight fishing cobia, or spotting birds and bait.

Nowadays, when you’re dredge fishing and you have a designated spotter (or tower man) he can see the dredge in the water (and a fish approaching it) from the tower way better than he could by being on the bridge or in the cockpit. I must admit, however, that I personally don’t climb the tower nearly as much as I did when I was a young man. That said, I do like having someone up there scanning the waters as much as possible.

Another question when talking to the crews and owners is, “Do tower boats catch more fish?” That’s a trick question because it depends on what you’re fishing for. I can tell you this, I see plenty of boats without towers that consistently find themselves in the winner’s circle and they can be hard to compete with.

Back in the day, towers were a huge advantage when fishing for bluefin tuna off Cat Cay in the Bahamas and when running the flats reading the water.

With today’s electronics things have changed. This is especially true when it comes to the use of sonar. When using the sonar, your head is glued to the screen—adjusting and readjusting.

With that said, now I can use the sonar to see what’s ahead on the rip or what’s below near an object like an oil rig. I can see bait on the surface and below the surface. I can see birds miles away with my radar. So, the question was, “Do I need a tower?”

The short answer is no. It’s all in what you want. Some owners want them because they think they look good; others think they’re ugly. The fact of the matter is that if you’re not going to use it, save the tens of thousands of dollars it costs to outfit your boat with one—not to mention the knot or two you gain at sea without one.

I do however believe that towers are a must for enclosed bridge boats. Enclosed bridges should have towers just for visibility if for nothing else. Beyond that, towers are a matter of personal preference. With today’s technology and electronics, times have changed. The advantages of a tower are not near what they used to be.

There was a time when I personally couldn’t imagine a boat without one. I could hook a fish in the tower and climb down with the rod in one hand. Those days are gone. I’m perfectly content with my cushioned helm chair right on the flying bridge.

– That’s my two-minute warning. Fraz

Filed Under: Boats, Design, Featured Stories, General News, News Tagged With: Dredge Fishing, tower, tower boats, tuna tower, two minute warning

Tackle Tip: Clip Your Teasers

September 24, 2015 By InTheBite Editor

Dockside

Send us your tips to win a pair of these SMITH Dockside Sunglasses. Send to info@inthebite.com

Tim Richardson tackle tipClip Your Teasers

Capt. Tim Richardson, Tradition

One Star
 * Supplies Needed: Blacks and/or Roller Troller release clips

Capt. Tim Richardson’s been fighting the weed as well as the marlin this year during his season in the Dominican Republic so he came up with this way to run his teaser halyards through release clips off the captain’s chair on the bridge. This way the lines are right in front of him so all he has to do is give the halyards a shake to clear any grass. It’s also easier to grab when teasing a fish in by hand. He uses a Roller Troller for the regular squid chains but recommends a Blacks red clip for the Flippy Floppy Thing due to the increased amount of drag it produces in the water.

Filed Under: Tackle Tips Tagged With: Dredge Fishing, dredge reels

StripTeaser Dredge Action

September 18, 2015 By InTheBite Editor

Check out this Costa Rica dredge action on a StripTeaser from 2013. Its worth watching.The Author states “Fishing Aboard the SailsCall, Costa Rica. For more than a decade, I’ve been trying to get this shot. In the late 1990’s, underwater video cameras were big, clumsy and hard to handle. I tried for hours to get a shot of a lit up billfish hot on a teaser. I failed.
The GoPro camera paired with a Troll-Pro housing created a breakthrough that made the shot possible. I placed the housing in line with a dredge teaser and a large weight, trolled on the 2nd wave off the port outrigger.
It finally happened. February 18, 2013… hours of pulling a strip teaser dredge paid off with a fabulous 44 seconds of billfish action! Enjoy.
 

Lit Up Sailfish Underwater from SailsCall on Vimeo.

Filed Under: Featured Stories Tagged With: Dredge Fishing, dredge video

Top 5 Dredge Videos

September 17, 2015 By InTheBite Editor

Dredge Em Up! Here are a few cool dredge videos to mesmerize yourself. Are you filming different camera angles and showing different views of your dredge? Send us your dredge v [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Stories, News Tagged With: Dredge Fishing, Dredge mullet, how to run a dredge for sailfish

Dredge ‘Em Up: Blue Marlin

April 27, 2015 By InTheBite Editor

Feat_dredge_spreadDredge ‘Em Up: Pro Tips for Catching More Blue Marlin

by Dale Wills

“What did one dredge say to the other dredge? It looks like your having a ball! Isn’t that the point of the modern day dredge teaser. But what changes when the targeted species is a blue marlin?”

That feeling of time standing still on the bite is something that doesn’t change regardless [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Stories Tagged With: Dredge Fishing, Dredge Marlin Fishing

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