How to Rig Plugs for Trolling

Swimming plugs catch all kinds of inshore and offshore sport. When trolled, these lures excel at masking floor, which in flip expedites discovering fish, penetrating lively water-column sections whereas exuding engaging swimming actions and vibrations, and solidly hooking predators that purchase the phantasm.

So simple as towing a swimming plug behind a ship would possibly sound, particular rigging ways and supplies maximize their motion, longevity and strike potential. Relying upon boat velocity and goal species, I exploit every part from monofilament to cable. Decide the most effective dimension and magnificence of plug to your supposed goal, rig it accordingly, and watch your success fee soar.

Mono Chief and Trolling Lures

For inshore sport corresponding to striped bass, snook, tarpon and bull redfish, mono and fluorocarbon leaders supply low visibility, higher swimming actions and, most significantly, a better variety of strikes. They’re additionally used to coax extra strikes from offshore sport, together with toothy predators corresponding to bluefish, king mackerel and wahoo when metallic leaders don’t produce.

A first-rate instance occurred years in the past off Venice, Louisiana. Billy Wells and I got here throughout a buoy floating offshore. Realizing wahoo would probably be swimming under, we trolled skipping ballyhoo previous the buoy and caught some dolphin. After the dolphin chunk chilled, we retrieved the floor baits, and dropped again a single Rapala Magnum 30 on a 130-pound fluorocarbon chief. With simply that one outfit, we made a number of passes and scored 5 wahoo.

We might’ve had six, however that remaining strike claimed the plug. Had we been utilizing a metallic chief, we would have scored only one or two wahoo. On this case, buying and selling 5 wahoo for a swimming plug was a fairly whole lot.

“Little doubt, you’ll get extra strikes utilizing a mono or fluorocarbon chief as a substitute of wire for wahoo and different offshore fish,” says Harry Vernon III, of Miami’s Capt. Harry’s Fishing Provide. “Loads of occasions, wahoo race up behind a plug, engulf it and miss the chief. But generally they’ll strike the pinnacle, and there goes your plug. It comes all the way down to how badly you wish to gamble to get strikes. I personal a deal with store, so I can afford to gamble with lures.”

Vernon prefers 200-pound mono for critical offshore plug trolling, which he claims additionally works on Bahamas yellowfins. Nonetheless, for smaller offshore and inshore sport corresponding to dolphin, blackfin tuna, bonito, cobia, striped bass and snook, 100-pound is good. In clear water, dropping to 80-pound and utilizing knots in lieu of metallic sleeves on connections elicits much more strikes.

“One essential bit of recommendation: When attaching mono or fluorocarbon on to a plug, use a thimble or, on the very least, a chafe guard, corresponding to a small piece of clear plastic tubing, to slide over that portion of the chief,” Vernon says. “The depth of the plug wobbling creates friction across the chief connection. Ultimately, a straight mono chief wears out, and bye-bye plug. Additionally, when crimping mono or fluorocarbon leaders, copper, zinc or aluminum sleeves are nice for the job. Sleeve materials right here isn’t as vital as with cable leaders.”

Wire Leaders with Lures

For catching toothy predators on plugs at sluggish to average trolling speeds, single-strand wire stays widespread. A fundamental, time-tested chief for education king mackerel and bluefish, it additionally works properly for snook, tarpon, bull redfish and striped bass in tannic and roiled circumstances, the place it blends in with the darker water. Skinny-diameter wire slices by means of even sturdy currents, serving to a plug run deep.

With trophy-class fish that engulf their prey slightly than sever it, single-strand wire typically beats mono or fluorocarbon leaders for hookup ratio. Single-strand slides simply by means of a fish’s closed jaws, pulling the lure and hooks in opposition to its mouth. With heavy mono or fluorocarbon, clamped jaws typically pin the chief in place, stopping a hook-set.

To make an efficient single-strand-to-plug connection, kind a loop with a haywire twist. Nonetheless, a single loop simply deforms and creases from the strain of the plug, which restricts the motion. The wire also can kink and break from the surplus vibration and turbulence.

For a extra steady connection, use a spoon loop. After operating the chief by means of the attention of the plug, wrap its tag finish a number of occasions across the loop you simply shaped, passing by means of the attention of the plug a second time as you wrap. Then full the reference to a haywire twist, when the tag finish meets the operating line. For many purposes, No. 10 single-strand wire (round 110-pound) creates an excellent compromise between chief integrity and eliciting strikes.

Whereas the spoon wrap stiffens the connecting loop and retains it open, permitting the lure to swing freely, the only strand of the chief stays susceptible to kinking. A doubled single-strand wire chief provides most rigidity and longevity. That is merely two equal-length sections of No. 7 single strand laid aspect by aspect, twisted along with extensive wraps, then haywire-twisted, one finish to the lure and the opposite for a connecting loop.

Cable is the Strongest Fishing Chief

Probably the most sturdy chief over a variety of trolling speeds, 270-pound cable resists kinking and bite-offs, and excels at faster wahoo-speed trolling. Use a thimble to hitch the chief to a plug, and crimp with 3/64-inch zinc or copper sleeves to keep away from galvanic corrosion. Then defend the connections in opposition to saltwater intrusion with shrink-wrap.

“We’ll use cable on our swimming plugs principally within the Bahamas,” says Vernon. “The fish there aren’t as pressured, and a frontrunner that stands out extra doesn’t actually matter. But for many of our South Florida fish, I nonetheless favor mono.”