favorite lures or spread for yft

[no dollars, no sense]

on a separate thread i had a couple tf members mention how they run different spreads for different species. i dont have but one artificial lure and that is a cedar plug, and one spreader bar right now. i have been running ballyhoo with witches, pink for dolphin, purple and black, and naked. any have to have stuff or certain layouts that are proven producers for yall out there? i know certain spreads work different for different people, boat size, and year to year but just want to feel around on what i should do different or things i might want to buy. advice appreciated, Steven

[Capt. Ahab]

That spread will do just fine. Try to have a variety of colors for your sea witches, that way if the fish seem to be keying into a certain color you can switch 'em out. Maybe throw in a few islanders and a green machine. Put that purple and black witch deep on a planer with some piano wire and try to get a wahoo. As far as arranging the spread, I build it around the spreader bar. Put the bar in the middle about 100 feet back, short riggers a little closer, and long riggers a little further. Add a few flat lines in close and a long shotgun bait.

[coveredup]

yft are notorious for eating anything green! get some mini and standard green machines, squid chains (pink) for teasers, green machine/shell squid bars, green witches, and use jr. ilanders in front of hoos . there you have a basic spread that is sure to work if the fish are there and hungry. good luck.

[no dollars, no sense]

thanks guys, will have to add stuff to my arsenal as previously thought nice to thin the options before spending. on the topic of wahoo i have a friend that fishes out of hatteras and he swears by a purple stretch 30 for wahoo. he isn't the MAN out there so you know how that goes. i know the lures from striper fishing but wasn't sure about bringing the thing out there when targeting them- don't particularly like the lures myself. any opinions on this?

[shoot-straight]

---------------------------j islander/hoo
-----------gm spreader
------------------------------------jr islander/hoo
---naked
----------------------------------------------------------------------gm w bird or islander/hoo
---naked OR bally, drone or islander on planer
----------------------------jr islander/hoo or bird with gm (will try my bird bar here this year too)
-----------gm spreader
---------------------------jr islander/hoo

i am far (VERY FAR) from a pro, but this is what works for me, and what i have confidence in. i put this out 99% of the time for everything. inshore/offshore, doesnt matter to me. otherwise its still put out but ill tweak it a bit if i need to. i have lots of lures gathering dust that i have but never use.... its hard to pull a lure you have confidence in and replace with one you dont. confidence is huge in my opinion.

reagrding colors for my skirted hoos, i have one green, one pink/white and one black/purple that i NEVER change out. i cannot honestly say one has out produced the others.

BTW, you didnt mention where you fish out of. i do think that makes a difference. i fish outta oc and chinco with a rare oi execption.

[no dollars, no sense]

i put out of oi and will probably make a couple runs from hatteras this year too

[Capt John]

We have had two great seasons trolling only for Yellowfins mostly in the 30-60 lb range the last two summers.
On most trips the tuna were thick once you found the bait on the surface and in all honesty they ate everything we put out. Color made little difference on most trips but overall naked or a medium ballyhoo with a sea witch in front of it did the trick. Pink has been a breat color the last couple of years on Yellowfins for what is worth. I personally like the fishfinder rigs that are available from Joe Shute in MHC and other quality tackle shops which we fish in front of meat but when the Yellowfins were biting naked ballyhoo worked just fine. I also have about 20 various spreader bars but overall I hate them as they take too long to bring in a tuna and waste too much time fighting the tuna. We use very light drags and cannot do this when trolling spreader bars. Last year we ran one down the middle more as a teaser to get bring the tuna up but when the bite got going I did not like even putting any spreader out.
I do believe it is more about location than what you put out as boat fishing in the canyons to the south of us hardly caught any tuna at least during the summer months as the water was more suited for billfish and too warm for Yellowfins or Big Eyes. Keep it simple and find the right water conditions which are holding tuna and just about any spread will work. When we fished the warm water that was holding White Marlin in big numbers we hardly every caught Yellowfins as it was just plain too hot for tuna.

[TUNAMELT]

We run all meat in witches and bullet heads on every rod.

OS riggers------- sea witch hoos
IS riggers-------- bullet head hoos
2 back corners--- spreader bars w/ sea witch hoos
2 flat lines------- bullet head hoos
mid way back--------- spreader bar w/ sea witch hoo
way back-------- sea witch hoo

[coveredup]

never under estimate jr. ilander in cupped face blue/white witha hoo on the short riggers. and crystal jr bullet on the long.
#1 set up in our meat spread. also for the record, the cedar plug has caught more tuna than any other lure in history, f.y.i.

[Gotta Gaff 'Em]

Don't forget moldcraft chuggers