Technique 01
Big game trolling in the Canary Islands
The technique that covers water and finds fish. A trolling spread is not a set of lures dragged behind a boat: it is a moving illusion of a small school under pressure.
What offshore trolling is
We tow a pattern of lures and baits at speed along productive water. Each line sits at a deliberate distance and in a deliberate part of the wake: some in the clean water behind the prop wash, some in the turbulence, some far back where a cautious fish will commit.
The wake does the work. Prop wash creates bubbles and noise that read, from below, like bait being harried. The lures are the punctuation.
When and why
When and why we use it here
Trolling is our default for any day targeting billfish, and for any day where we do not yet know where the fish are. It lets us work a long stretch of the shelf edge and read the water as we go.
In the Canaries the productive line is often narrow, a front sitting over a specific contour. Trolling along it, rather than across it, is what turns a good forecast into a raised fish.
Tackle
Tackle and rigging
Class of gear matches the target, not the ego. An 80 lb outfit for blue marlin; 30 to 50 lb for white marlin and tuna; wire bite sections whenever wahoo are a possibility.
Circle hooks on bait, always, when release is the plan. They set in the corner of the jaw and make a clean release realistic.
On board
What it is like on board
Long stretches of quiet and then four seconds of chaos. When a fish comes up, the crew has a job each: one clears lines, one works the teaser, one puts the rod in your hands.
You do not need experience to troll with us. You need to listen for about ten seconds when it matters.
We don't wait for the fish. We follow them.
Tell us when you are coming
Send us your dates and the species you are after. We will tell you honestly what the ocean is likely to be doing.