Best white marlin lure...
 

This year I want to catch a few white marlin. I saw 6 last year and could not get them to take anything. I hear the best way to catch these is to troll or cast ballyhoo. I normally have some on board but what do you think is the best proven white marlin lure? I want to get a few and have one out all the time this year.

eels

I heard that too... When start seeing them with with some reliability I will take a few live ones with me. That would be fun to cast an eel at them.
I would ask about rubber eels but I have little luck with them. Lots of people swear by them but I have dragged them 100's of miles and never had a hit on one, nor have I seen a fish (besides bluefish) eat one on other peoples boats, so I have basically given up with the plethora of rubber eels. I have had hits from bass from the shore and caught a few smaller fish but I don't fish sluggo type lures much. My confidence is ruined and once that happens they don't come up in the queue that often.

Pitch a scup back to em is what I heard. My goal is to land one this year.
We raised one last year but couldn't hook up. We were running bally on witches and dropped them back.

The problem with a lot of the live stuff is you need a livewell (eels excluded). we don't have one, and with the fuel costs, ice guys etc.. the extra weight of 50 gal of water doesn't make sense.

a lot of guys just pitch a bally.

Of course we don't have that problem. The Blackfin doesn't seem to raise many!

I saw two last year a few miles S of the fairway buoy on my way to LI. They were within a few yards of the boat, I could see them plain as day. I got one to follow a small green machine spreader bar but after a 1/4 mi it slipped away into the deep.

I do know of a couple guys who were running to that same area almost daily for a while and hooked up casting. And later in the season I saw them very close to MV but they wanted nothing to do with me. I am going to spin cast an eel into the spread and I am going to drag a dredge or two as well.

EELS and EELS.

Thanks...I will carry a doz eels with me from now on and give it a shot. I also will pick up a few trolling lures that appear to have had some success.

I am looking forward to this summer...I think we will have some warm water for a loooong time this year. I look forward to the day I can post a photo of a New England marlin caught on a spinner ...after that then the fly rod!

Live bait, eels or scup. Trolling lures, I have caught them on a small Joe Yee head that I rigged with yellow and white skirts as well as the area Rule hi-speed lures in the smallest size.

Eels have been like bananas for me. If they're on the boat, no white marlin seen.

See a white marlin one day, have eels the next day, and no sign of them anywhere.

But that's supposed to be what you do if the opportunity presents itself. I wouldn't know...

Take 3-4 live scup. They can live all day in a 5 gallon bucket if out of the sun and you change the water once an hour with your washdown hose (just leave it in the bucket and flick it on for a few minutes ever 1/2-1 hour. Whites eat them like candy. I even had a Blue marlin chase one down one very warm summer off the fingers years back, for that matter. Missed it but got a real good look at her, could have touched her with the rod tip. Obviously you need to spot the tail, idle up to it, and cast from the bow. The marlin will sense the fish in the water and come a good ways to get it. Watch that the momentum of the boat does not carry you over the scup (that's what happened to me with the blue). The fish get excited and it often takes them several passes to get the scup.

I think a dredge would be a horrible thing to hook a white on. They are not heavy fish and give the best account of themselves on light tackle (even #30 tuna rods are too much). We used a Penn ss850 and that was more reel than needed.

I used to get a few trolling on a smoker green and yellow feather with a strip bait of skipjack belly. Tuna loved that as well. I'd only pull one of those in the spread but most of the marlin I caught trolling hit it over other stuff.

When I was a kid guys also used to troll eels with a hootchie skirt on the head. Tried it once or twice with no result.

When there were lots around, some guys would try casting eels, but scup were clearly better and simple to get and keep alive.

I should have added that I used to regularly target them south of the Block in late June/early July. I trolled using skip rigged ballyhoo. caught a bunch of them and some tuna as well.