Baitmasters prerigged ballyhoo

[spurgeon]

SO IM looking to try the inshore bluefins in a couple weeks and im.really uncomfortable with my rigging skills.Has anyone ever used baitmasters prerigged horse for bluefins?They come on a 400# leader which seems pretty heavy.I plan on fishing these naked at 700 and 900 feet off the outriggers.Thought of putting an islanded in front but I trust their crimps and rigging over mine.Any advice or expierience would be very appreciated Thanks guys

[bunger79]

I always rig my on. 400# leader is way to heavy and 700 and 900 feet off the outriggers is nuts. My recommendation is google how to rig a ballyhoo. It is pretty easy and much cheaper. 130# leader is all you need. I run my outrigger line 70 - 100 ft depending on how sea conditions are maybe a little long if there is a lot of boat traffic. Also research this site on trolling spreads. There is a lot to be learned on this site and others. Also would recommend HOing or jumping on a charter. Hope this helps.

[shoot-straight]

buy (or make) some pin rigs. i couldnt rig them at all till i started using pin rigs. terminator tackle has rigs and a video how to rig them. pretty simple actually.

i am not an expert by any means, but as long as the hook is "free" from the body, and not binding the bait up, youll be fine. thats the biggest cause of spinning.

[NightFisher]

Baitmasters used to have some really good guides for rigging hoos, check their site out too. I agree with Chuck, your outriggers are for close in baits, I do run a WWB line off a rod in a rodholder on my top that is 600 or more feet back. Normally run a bird followed by a green machine on that line. Think about running a plug or spoon 15-20 feet down too, I use a planer cleated off to carry that line down.

Crimps are pretty bulletproof, get a good set of crimpers and the BillFisher crimps. Crimp em in the middle and leave the ends flared a bit. Boy, I sure miss Wahoo-in-box when I talk this stuff. He taught me and a lot of others on this board some great techniques.

[Reel Draggin Tackle]

I agree with most of the above. Watch a few videos on U-Tube, if you are near Annapolis or OC, stop by All Tackle and see if Keith still has some year old hoos on discount and give it a few trial runs. As far ar running long on the out-riggers, I think you are spot on. On both the Canyon Draggin' and the Muff Diver when we are slow trolling for big blue fin we run long lines off the out riggers, 700 & 900 feet. The short riggers have a daisy chain or a small spreader bar. We also have split bill hoos on the flats and we are running a couple downriggers with a bullet head (like an islander) over a hoo, down deep. We run the boat at 4 to 5 kts.

However..... This year the OC bite has been a bit strange. We have been taking big blues on the top with bird spreader bars and bird chains at 6.5 kts. We have not taken much to talk about on bally hoo, its all been Chartreuse Rainbow Bird bars and bird daisy chains. Yellow birds have been hot. Thursday the Muff diver put a Chartreuse chain in the water with a pink bird and it got no love while the others got tore up.

[coomes]

I 2nd what Ken said about the wfb lines, we pull 2-80s 1000ft back with 30 ft of 130#leader with a Spro wind on swivel and a pink/white Islander heavyweight and the other with a blue/white Islander heavyweight. We also pull a planer rod with a red/black Islander. When the large bluefin arrive these 3 rods catch 90% of the fish on my boat. I would recommend you buy a couple of packs of hoos and just practice rigging them at home while watching a video. Better to make mistakes at home than out on the water while burning precious fishing time not to mention gas.

Pat

Pat

[CaptNemo]

Spurgeon, there is nothing wrong with your outrigger lengths for BFT's, run them somabitches way back there for the bluefins,

as far as rigging, its not as hard as you might think, learn to make a pin rig and rubber band, use a chin weight and keep messing with them until they swim right, run one off your flat line and watch it, most times if it spinds it just needs a little adjustment of hook hole. You're going to throw away a lot of money buying those pre-rigged baits.

And 400# is way too heavy unless your going strictly for giants or big blue marlin. 100#-200# tops, blue fin in my pic was 68" 165 lbs and caught him on 100# momoi mono leader,

[Magic Moment]

I'm by no means a Bluefin expert, but the "way back", or planners were the only way to catch them a couple years ago when the 100 to 200 lbers were on the Hambone. The smaller ones we're catching now don't seem to be boat shy. I caught two tight to the boat yesterday. You also do not need big baits. Med hoos and a few spreader bars is all you need. Remember you can't keep them over 59 inces.

[Reel Draggin Tackle]

Right on Jim. They are definatly boat shy this year. We have had a few 160ish blues hit the flats over the last few weeks. The small foot-ball blues always eat like yellow fin. When they are here ya just put the bars and chains in the colors they like out there and fish til your tired.

[Kevin-Dan's Legacy]

Go on You Tube and look it up. Practice makes perfect. When you get good at the rigs you can start buying the premium hoos at All Tackle. You know your rig is good when the hoo swims naturally and brine always helps. I use 60-80 lb floro for a leader. The position of your baits depends on how the water makes your bait look. The white water looks like a feeding frenzy so put your baits where they look natural and the tuna will single them out.
My spread:
Maybe a planer or plug down deep
Flat Lines: Small Jet/Bullet heads with small hoo and one of them may be a small naked hoo. Run these just behind the white water right behind the boat.
Short Riggers: I don't always run short riggers but it kind of just adds to the spread and helps to raise fish when there are daisy chains or bars barely in the water.
Long Riggers: Find a an up-wellings at about 75-100 ft and run islander chuggers with premium size hoos.
Middle: A lot times I'll run a bar between the long riggers and flats.
WWB: I have a fifty that has 60 pound mono with braid in the last quarter of the spool. I run an Islander Flasher with a premium size hoo a bit more than half of the fifty back.
So to be basic if I were you I'd run the flat lines, the middle line, long riggers, and WWB. I usually run white/blue. But if you don't get bites, play with the spread, try cedar plugs, green machines, or put some white/pink in for YFT. Try to turn a lot. Just don't run over your WWB