Striped Marlin Lures?

[notorious]

This season seems like its going to be a banner local striped marlin season. What type of lures, colors, hook rigs, leader size, trolling pattern, etc. do you guys prefer? Hopefully we can all learn a thing or two from this discussion.
Cheers,
Hunter

[MarlinNut]

Originally Posted by notorious

This season seems like its going to be a banner local striped marlin season. What type of lures, colors, hook rigs, leader size, trolling pattern, etc. do you guys prefer? Hopefully we can all learn a thing or two from this discussion.
Cheers,
Hunter

Wow ... it would take me a whole website to cover this. Oh wait ... it already has ...

Seriously, this is a huge topic, so I'll take on one nibble at a time and start with lures. My take? The lure that gets bit is the one that's in the water. Periodically, you see what appears to be a "hot lure", but is it that it's really hot, or it's just what's being towed the most and therefore gets the most random strikes. I'm not smart enough to say, so I'm one of those guys always looking for the hot lure.

That said, there are a couple of lures I would always have handy - Zuker ZM3.5 in black/purple, bleeding mackerel, and Mean Joe Green. Probably half of what you see being caught is on one of those. If you're willing to pony up the cash ($200 a copy), then I'd have a 7Strand EAL #1 in black/purple and MJG. After that, there's a lot of lures that will work, but you don't see as many being towed - Black Bart, Pakula, Moldcraft, Williamson. They've all had success as well.

I have a couple of secret lures, too, but if I told you about those, they'd kill me ... :cwmdie:

[Stuart]

Wow, you should get a 1000 different opinions on this one!

Personally, I like using my Fish Whistles or other lures I've built. The Whistles smoke like the dickens and have a great action in the water. 11" long. Pink outer skirt with blue stripes, a blue/silver glitter inner skirt has been the hot ticket for me this year (3rd from left in picture below).

I rig them on 300 lb. test Jinkai leader, single Owner Jobu 9/0, tri-beaded to place the hook at the very end of the tail, Profish ring/grommet at the terminal end so that I can quickly change lures. I deliberately set the hook loose so that it swings, as opposed to a stiff rig. I've found that I get a better hookset that way and have even caught and released some marlin that were hooked on the top of the bill on their first strike. Amazed me, but the Owner hooks are so sharp that when the marlin slaps it, the loose hook will swing, catch, and set on the bill itself. Sure makes for a clean, easy release; just pull the hook out with pliers. No blood and a healthy, undamaged fish.

Many of the other guys I fish with swear by the soft Moldcraft lures slipped over a rigged ballyhoo. I can't argue with that set up; it works. But it requires ballyhoo. Marlin tend to try to swallow this bait whole and often set the hook deep. So, while it's effective, I think it's detrimental to releasing a healthy fish.

3rd place for me goes to the older series Star Lures, particularly the UFO pattern. Star makes a damn good marlin lure, always has. You have to weight the older ones correctly (egg sinker behind the head) to get the proper action. But when you do, the marlin love to eat 'em.

There's a huge "any given day" factor at work for marlin. Lures that are steady producers one day won't get a second look the next day. Likewise, Lures that you wouldn't think would draw a strike get hammered. Colors seem to be the most subjective issue. I've never caught a hot pink fish in the ocean, so why do marlin like to jump this color? By the same token, I've built some purple/blacks that are great bonita imitations and they either get completely ignored or absolutely inhaled. Same with the petrolero color pattern I build. Go figure.

I've got a couple hundred marlin lures at any given time. Many are my own creations. Others I've bought over the years. I love trolling them and seeing which ones catch fish. Yeah, I'm both facinated and addicted. Trolling lures are my "tackle ho" weakness. I'll fish with a pink Barbie rod and not care, but I've got to have the right lure!



I just built the bleeding dorado pattern lure below and am dying to troll it this fall for big blues and blacks. It's got a real opelu head set in resin with google eyes, 14" length. Whatever attempts to swallow this puppy is going to be BIG!!



I recently put the two lures below together by special request for someone. They are his killer colors. To each their own! The top one is also a four-pipe jethead.



Below is yours truly with my favorite older Star Lure in UFO pattern. I modified it with some mylar. I've been told it's no fair fishing for marlin with marshmellows because marlin LOVE marshmellows!! HAHA! This lure has caught a lot of nice marlin for me over the years. I've even had peanut dorado try to jump this thing and get hooked.

[kawakawa]

If you are talking about So Cal stripers you only need 2 brands of lures...Sevenstrand and Zukers. Others will work, but day in and day out, these 2 brands get the job done best.

Colors are simple- Black/green, black/purple, mackerel, bleeding mackerel and maybe pink, petrolero, flying fish, dorado, guacamaya or parrott...if you want to get creative!

Pull them at 8-9 knots with your choice of hook rigs.

My all time favorites are Sevenstrand EAL #1 black/green (MJG), EAL #1 black/purple, EAL #3 in the same colors, and everything else is a distant second. Sevenstrand 1220 old school mackerel and dorado are always good and Zuker's 3.5s will catch plenty all the time.

I have crates of Moldcraft, Pakula, custom Hawaiian, Boone, Williamson, Bagleys, Patco, Koga and every other trolling lure you could imagine. Most have caught fish at one time or another, but the EALs kick ass every time!

Regardless of what you troll up here, your goal should be to not have the fish eat the lure. You want them on the dropback mackerel, so pay attention to your wake and get the dropback to them before they get to the lure.

Anyway...that's what works for us...

Late- Kawakawa

[ConSeaMate]

I got some of those.......I'm going to try them.............how far from the back of the boat do you troll them and at what speed?

Never mind ....I just opened my eyes.....

[fishead12]

when makeing mackerel what size seems to be the best

[MarlinNut]

Originally Posted by kawakawa

Regardless of what you troll up here, your goal should be to not have the fish eat the lure. You want them on the dropback mackerel, so pay attention to your wake and get the dropback to them before they get to the lure.

Anyway...that's what works for us...

Late- Kawakawa

And works well!

I didn't used to buy into this one, but after hooking three this way last weekend - and watching KAWAKAWA's successes - I'm drinking the Kool-Aid.

I still prefer the challenge of fighting one on a lure - there's a lot more ways to lose it - but if the goal is to get the fish to the boat, you can't beat the dropback.

[FishWiz]

when makeing mackerel what size seems to be the best

10 to 12", or a little bigger if good size fish around.