trolling live ballywhoo

[anotherbarrelMrHooper]

can anyone tell me the best way of rigging up a live ballywhoo,to troll behind a boat.
so it stays alive(ISH)

[STAN M]

Tried others but not them. If you hang about I`m sure Dave (Panama Jack) will give you all the info and links you will ever need.

Could well be a bridle rig between the eye sockets but Dave is the man :punk:

By the way, welcome to the forum, was over there (Villa Real) in September for the white and blue marlin chappies.

[anotherbarrelMrHooper]

Thank you for the reply, ihope your fishing trip was more successful than me and my friend,
We spent the whole summer trolling for Mahee, Mahees
Foul hooked one mullet,and the boat spent the week in the mechanics
when they did turn up!

[PanamaJack]

can anyone tell me the best way of rigging up a live ballywhoo,to troll behind a boat.
so it stays alive(ISH)

Um .... not as easy as it might appear! They're a somewhat fragile creature and, although they can be caught on sabiki rigs, most are caught using cast nets which damages their mucus coating. Unlike species like google-eyes they can expire quite quickly in the livebait tanks. That where sabikis can have an advantage providing you don't touch them excessively.

I guess the only places I've seen them used for livebaiting is in the Florida Keys and further up the Atlantic coast. There they're a great bait for Sailfish. But I've also caught an Amberjack on one - we attached a sinker and lowered it over a wreck.

The norm though is to just hook them on a smallish J hook, on a lightish trace - 60 to 80lb mono, through the lower jaw. You then either cast at 'showering' bait on the reef edges or drift fish with them under kites. They can be slow trolled but that means SLOW, knocking the engines in and out of gear - it's more of a controlled drift.

Other than sight casting or kite fishing though I think they're a dead bait par excellence when trolling. One way I use, and I'm sure you could google up others, is to firstly gently press the stomach cavity and then poke the eyes out - just help to stop it spinning. Break the lower beak off so they're both the same length and soft (copper) wire the jaws together then just create a bridle by the gill covers, figure of eighting with some light dacron and tie in a small egg sinker under its 'chin'. We then just slip a small, free moving, circle hook in the bridle above its head.

The weight keeps it just sub surface but enables it to effectively 'swim'. It's a straight fast vibrating action that really turns Sails and Dorado (Mahi Mahi), and the occasional Marlin, on.

Perhaps these two links might also be of use - http://www.floridasportsman.com/features/s_9912_overlapping/ and http://www.thetacklebox.com/Sailfish.htm?

BTW where are you planning to fish?
Dave

[Patudo]

Yup - where are you fishing and what are you going to be targeting with these live ballyhoo baits, as I've never seen or heard of ballyhoo in the South Portugal area? There may be sauries offshore, which are somewhat similar to ballys, but I don't know how you would go about catching them. Perhaps you are thinking of using garfish (which are available in South Portugal) as a bait? I guess you could use those alive - they certainly seem to be quite a lively bait. Most live bally rigs I've seen are a single live bait hook up to 8/0 size through the hard part of the lower beak and trolled very slowly, but garfish have a double beak which would make hooking them a little more awkward.

If you're going to be targeting white marlin, I would recommend trying either a live mackerel or scad or a live very small skipjack tuna if you're going to be fishing with livebait, as they would be easier to use and should be easier for a marlin to eat. Bullet tuna or small frigate tuna may also be available, especially inshore and would also be excellent livebait.

[PanamaJack]

Yes, both Patudo and I picked up on the same point. What I'll do though is to transfer it from the Asian to the General International forum.

Just to add to it though here's a link about Ballyhoo deadbaits on circles that may be of interest. It's got inputs from the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Oceans - http://www.big-game-board.info/general-forums/tackle-talk-english-version/417-rigging-ballyhoo-with-circles/.

Back to one of the initial points



We spent the whole summer trolling for Mahee, Mahees
Foul hooked one mullet,and the boat spent the week in the mechanics
when they did turn up!

Have you perhaps thought about trolling lures? Dorado (Mahi Mahi) respond very aggressively to them. Whereas I’ve found, particularly with smaller fish in the 5 to 10lb range, they’ll mutilate (longish) baits and often fail to hook up even if they attack it a second time.
Dave

[anotherbarrelMrHooper]

wow, thanks for the information. i have visited the suggested links and now have a small folder of very useful info.
So when i go on my boat trip to the mentawais in may, I will not be un-prepared.
I have been told to use rice and fish guts to attract balywhoo, before catching them with small fresh water hooks.
regards
Anotherbarrelmrhooper

[marktheshark]

They'll take bread too ... I chew and chuck in bits of bread roll to chum them up then use a 14 hook with artificial bread, which stays on the hook for ages. Bring in a shoal and you can catch as many as you like very quickly this way.
But others are right: they're very hard to keep alive, even with an aerator. And check out that bright green crap ... I reckon that's what they put in Starlights!
Let us know how you get on in the Mentawis ... sounds a good place to go.