Doers Size Matter?:
Small Boat Trolling Issues

The consensus among offshore fishermen is that when you are trolling, the hull acts as an attractor. The fish hear engine noise, or see a large, dark shape with foam around it moving off rapidly. It looks like a school of bait being pursued, so they come for a look, see the lures and attack.

On the surface, it seems like a big boat trailing lots of lures or teasers would be more likely to attract fish than a small boat with a smaller spread. To combat this, many small boat fishermen try to make their boats seem larger by running as many lines as possible. In a small boat with outriggers or lots of strategically-placed rod holders, it is entirely possible to tow 7 - 9 lines (two-three off each rigger, two flatlines, and a center shotgun line).

To see how this can be done, check out the sidebar reference to George Poveromo's column in the July 2005 issue of Salt Water Sportsman. Another example can be found on Peter Pakula's excellent website, www.pakula.com, in his article "Small Boat Handling Tactics". Peter is a well-known small boat-big game fisherman from Australia, and designer of the Pakula line of trolling lures. His website is an excellent source of "How To" information on big-game fishing from small boats.

While running a lot of lines can be very effective at attracting fish, the downside is trying to manage all the lines. And it's not just a matter of keeping the lines clear of each other while trolling. In a skiff, you will probably have two or three people total. With only two people (one of whom is driving the boat), clearing a seven line spread after a strike will be tough, and God forbid you should have a double or triple hookup...

Another downside to running a lot of lines is that you also need some place to put the unneeded rods and rigs while you fight the fish. You can use rocket launchers, rail-mounted rod holders, or rod cluster holders (like these from So-Lo Marine) to store the rods, but daisy chains, spreader bars and dredges pose their own set of storage problems. Daisy chains can be dropped in a bucket, but spreader bars and dredges are tough to store in a small boat, period. So, a lot of lines is not necessarily a good thing in a skiff.

Also keep in mind that in some areas, you may be restricted on the number of lines you can fish. In Mexico, regulations limit you to one line in the water per angler. So a skiff would wind up with a spread containing only two - three lures with hooks. Any additional lines would have to be hookless teasers.

And finally, consider that a big, poorly laid out spread is not as productive as a smaller spread of known producers, all working properly. Among small boat fishermen, it is generally agreed that having all of the lures in the spread positioned and working correctly is more important than having a lot of lures in the water.

Of course, not all offshore fishing is done trolling lures. When the fish are in a relatively small area, and you are fishing live bait (such as skipjack, bonito or small yellowfin tuna), it can be just as effective (if not more) to be in a small boat. Some of the largest billfish and tuna caught in areas of the South Pacific (such as Vanuatu) are landed from small skiffs by local fishermen using live bait. The bait is usually caught near the fishing area, so they don't even need livewells!

When towing lures, make sure to place them in the "clear" water lanes in the wake of the boat. This can be on either side of the prop wash, to the outside of the wake, or below the surface.

But in many cases, a boat's wake is very messy - lots of turbulence and white water, and no clear lanes. What causes a wake to become a mess?

When a boat begins moving, it starts in "displacement mode". That is, as the boat moves through the water, it pushes aside (or displaces) the water in its path.

As the boat picks up speed, the resistance from the displaced water increases until the boat can't go any faster in displacement mode. If the boat attempts to go faster, it wallows around and pushes up a lot of water until it gets enough speed to pop out onto plane. Every powerboat owner with a planing hull has experienced this situation. At this point, the wake height and turbulence behind the hull are at their maximum, and the result is a very dirty wake.

Why is this important to skiff fishermen? It's important because the desired trolling speeds for tuna and billfish (typically 6 - 9 knots) may lie right in the speed zone where a skiff is trying to get onto plane. Not only does this create a very messy wake, it also wastes a lot of fuel (see below).

To get an idea of when your hull will start moving into this transition zone, enter your waterline length (LWL) in feet into the calculator to the right. Remember, this is the WATERLINE length, not the length overall (LOA).

If you're a student of naval architecture, you should know that this calculator is based on the following approximation for the maximum displacement speed of a hull :

Max Disp Speed (knots) = 1.34 * Square root(LWL in feet)

This method was recommended by Capt. Mark Wisch in the article "Tricks of the Trolling Pros" by Ron Ballanti, published in the September 2004 issue of Salt Water Sportsman magazine (see sidebar). Capt. Wisch is the owner of Pacific Edge Tackle in Long Beach, California, and author of two very popular books on fishing Southern California waters.

Here is a case where larger size is clearly an advantage. The longer the hull, the higher the displacement speed you can run before entering "no man's land", and messing up your wake.

Does this mean you can't troll at a speed faster than the maximum displacement speed calculated above? Of course not. First, this is only an estimate, your actual maximum displacement speed will vary. Second, even though you may have a degraded wake, there are things you can do to minimize the impact:

• Try changing engine trim angle - start by tucking the engine in more
  
  
• Raise your trim tabs
  
  
• Move weight in the hull forward
  
  
• Focus on using trolling lures which work well at slower speeds. Typically, these are plugs, swimbaits, skip / strip baits, or some kinds of small feathers.
  
  
• Run the lures farther back than you would in a larger boat
  
  
• Some people have been known to drag things like buckets or carpeting behind the boat, in order to knock down the wake (see Tred Barta's article mentioned in the sidebar)

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