Highspeed Trolling

It is not for everyone! However, the Yahoo Wahoo sure seem to like it!

Back in the old days while I was making about a 100 trips per year to the blue waters off Savannah Georgia, I always pulled some sort of a lure. The first lures we pulled were not made for high speed and they certainly didn’t look like it either. Even though these lures looked drunk and jumped from right side up to downwards they did worked. I do have to admit that when actual high speed lures became more available they worked just a good. And to be honest it certainly gave us fishermen less heart attacks. The old style lures did some many crazy moves sometimes referred to as didoes! All onboard would be “eyes locked” as they watched these lures preformed crazy summersaults and erratic moves. Talk about being on the edge of your chair, well, these old time lures had that effect. While have a conversation with Daniel Owsley it made me think about the good old days of high speed trolling…

Daniel Owsley is real recreational offshore fisherman and he takes it seriously. While fishing a blue water day in the 2016 NE Florida Wahoo Shootout he and his blue water fishing team had quite a fish catching day. And strategy for this fish day was simple they went into the high speed trolling mode. Most people might think that basically pulling lures around in the ocean requires no strategy at all. Well, you couldn’t be more wrong!

Back in the good old days…the strategy was so simple!

In the fishing fifties…

My father always said, “You are going to catch more fish with a lure in the water!” Now when my father started fishing his top speed trolling or not his top speed was 12 knots. So therefore anything could be pulled as a lure from a float to a spoon. However, when our boat speeds went from 12 to 15 to 20 knots changes in the trolling department had to be made.

In the fishing nineties…
When I played the high speed trolling game I basically just put my lure out and pulled it all the way from the Snapper Banks area to the blue water spot I was headed for that particular fish day. My strategy was a simple one and it went like this. I pulled the lures and hopefully I triggered a big fish bite on this 25 to 30 mile run. We didn’t get a hit or catch a fish on every 30 mile run, but when we did it was a big fish for sure. We caught while making way to the blue water fishing grounds some of the biggest “smokers kings”, Bull dolphins (Mahi Mahi), and Yahoo Wahoo’s that I have ever seen.
My boat Miss Judy Too, single engine diesel, made way at a solid 17 knots meaning teeter toddle ring from speeds of 16 to 20 knots was the norm. In most cases I pulled two lures, which I have to admit provided my fishermen with some very interesting catching thoughts. No one, even me, might have mentioned it, but we all secretly were wishing and dreaming that something would hit one of these lines. As I am writing this I can remember not wanting to watch where I was going, but was more interested in where I had been. With the strike zone at my aft it was all I could do to keep my eyes on the horizon to the east. I did notice one thing; just about every time I turned back to take a look see everyone else was already in that mode. So when I turned around all I saw was the backs of the fishermen’s heads.

Back to February 2016 Daniel Owsley and his fishing team..


So when Daniel’s team made a high speed trolling call it was definitely a strategically planned fishing event. They had gone through the planning of when, how, and why to know exactly where to high speed troll. And they were very successful! They spent the entire fish day high speed trolling at about 14 to 16 knots. And here’s the interesting thing, when they got a hit or a hook up they did not slow down, but they would speed up! They speed up hoping for another hook up. This reminds me of prospect fishing with a flare. Prospect fishing is what you do when you get a hit while trolling at regular speeds of 5 to 6 knots. Once you get a hit or are hooked up those manning the rods are supposed to drop back all baits in the spread. Normally this act is good for another or more solid hook ups. And I called this prospect fishing. Now, Daniel explained that once hooked up at 14 to 16 knots and they then speed up to 21 knots! This just about when they hook up another! I call this High Speed Prospect Trolling!
Daniel sent me a few names of the high speed lures that he has been pulling. I did a little checking and came up with these web sites. These lures are expensive, but if rigged properly and while using the right pulling gear loaded with enough line you should at least 80% of the time get your $50.00 plus lure back! And the way I looked at it is this..if you do loose one just think about the story that it has created. I remember this one time where I lost a $50.00 high speed trolling lure. I heard one customer tell another, “Did you see that reel, it was smoking! I thought that fish or whatever it was, was going to rip the rod holder right out of the side of the boat!” From over my shoulder I listened as the conversation went from there and it even got more interesting. Although we missed the fish, we certainly didn’t miss the fish story that was created! Heck, I bet when they start talk about fishing, this story still comes up today!!