Spreader Bar length back?

[Los Lobo]

I have heard conflicting reports on how far back to put a spreader bar. This weekend I put in just far enough back for it to be in the fading prop wash. I got a white marlin slashing at it and an albacore smashed it. I also had it on my flat lines which kept it at or just below the surface. Both ways conflict with what I have heard which is, "tuna don't like it in the prop wash but do like the spreader dancing on the surface". Anybody's opinion would be educating to me at this point.

[longfin2]

short rigger, just far enough back so that the lures stay in the water and the bar stays out of the water. Makes it easier to get away from whitey, then he'll nail your flatline bait. I also keep em in close because I believe that they are what fish initially come up on. If I run them far back, then my close baits become useless. If I keep em in close then my baits behind them are prime for multiple hookups. Just my opinion[wink]. Ticket last weekend was a GM bird bar down the middle just behind the two GM bars on the short riggers. All three caught yft though.

[chilli]

I run three bars... two off the long riggers and one down the middle just behind the long rigger to form an inverted V. The squids are rigged with floats so they stay on top of the water...

All my other baits expept for a GM/Bird combo are fished inside the bars. With a spread like this two things happen.

1) If a bar gets pulled first, I can be pretty certain that I am going to get one or two hits... Not more. Usually... If one bar gets hit then my eyes are on the other bars and GM... Thats where the next bite will be...

Another benefit is grass management... Bars tend to shake off grass pretty well, Bally do not... Especially nakeds... It would only make sense then to put your more weed resistant baits further from the boat where it is harder to shag grass off them and keep your baits that need to be constantly tended up close and personal where you can cator to thier needs and dump the salad...

2) If a flat, chair or short rigger rod gets hit, I can be pretty certain that the rest of the inside spread is going to get lit up. It a few seconds of pandamonium getting all my hits tight, I can then look up and start watching my bars out the back... They're next. Even if they don't hook up running them off the back is an advantage. They float so while fighting a fish they almost never have to be cleared. Just last weekend while fighting the tuna that took 2nd in the poor girls I had two hits on the bar that was left out...

I feel that running the bars back gives me several layers to the spread. You have the boat and teasers looking large and in charge. You then have your flats, short riggers and chair rods which are all skirted ballys or nakes, then come the bars which again appear large and in charge. By putting the smaller ballys in the middle I make the spread look like a fragmented bait pod with easy picking in the middle. This channels most of my bites onto the ballys which have the highest hook up ratio... It maximizes my chances for good clean hookup and it make them occur in an area close to the boat where I can easily see what is going on and react....

[longfin2]

Thats bass ackwards! No, just kidding, I guess everybody does there own thing for there own reasons, unfortunately GMs are hard to float! BTW, what did that big BF eat? was it WWB?

[chilli]

Lance that BFT at a hawain eye in blue & white off the short rigger. His buddy (we had two hooked up of the same size) at a witch blue and white off the chair even with the short riggers.

I do fish spreaders bassackwards... I don't catch as many fish on the bars as I do on other baits... But I do catch more fish with the bars in the water than I do with out... I use them to make other baits more appealing... I don't like catching fish on bars. They are harder to pull on, harder to leader and more expensive if they break off. I would much rather hook them on a bally and I do that more often with the bars off the back.

[longfin2]

Thanks for the BF info. Nice to know theres a couple out there that aren't shy. I actually like catching fish on the bars, it crushes their spirit trying to run with all that crap behind em and you can get em in faster. Plus, when they get hit close and we slow the boat down my long rigger hoos are still out there and I can either leave em in or jig em back to the boat (get a lot of extras that way!) Anyway, I'll be at that same spot on saturday and maybe I'll give you're method a try (but I doubt it [grin]). Let me know by Friday if you're gonna be back out there and we'll conduct a little experiment. LOS LOBOS, thought you were confused by conflicting reports before? I'm sure this is really helping!

[goldman]

I run my one bar on each flatline and one in the center of the spread b/w flats and shorts or shorts and longs (depends on the boat, where the white water turns clean)

I had many bites on the spreaders in the flatline positions this year. I think you just need to put it out there, move it around see what works best for you. There's no right or wrong answer here.

[longfin2]

Well said Goldman, short, long flatlines, just get the things out there. If I could afford it, I'd run them on every single rod when tuna fishing!

[TerpHeels]

Just food for thought...different bars run different, very profound of me huh? 3 chain bars are much lighter and run nicely in the long position. 5 chain (most production bars) are heavier and can't be run in long position, least not on a small boat. Check out CanyonRunners site for some good info.

[goldman]

Terp, You are absolutely right. My large 5 chain bars with my Squidnation.com Mauler Squids gets run in close to the boat. I also have lighter smaller bars that only have 3 chains, which I make with bulb squids. These get run in the longer positions and are most effectively run there.