Tuna Troller ..
 

I have to make a Tuna Troller for a friend .. I said I don't Tuna Fish ,, never had the opportunity .. Still wants it and I owe .. Any suggestions what to build appreciated ..

One thing I learned about Tuna is that they destroy gear even good stuff.Simple is best.If it moves around too much and is connected to a daisey chaine it will foul the rig.Needles hold up ok too Tuna plus large simple swimmers.Be carefull with swimmers with lips as offshore they pick up surface weed a lot. Ron

Thanks Ron ... good talking to you at the show ... I forgot to add ,, he wants a deep diver ? all I could think of was large Conrad ..

Oh by the way Tagger use only the heaviest riggin you can get away with. 6X hooks at least plus 500lb swivels and the big wolverines or heavier. I'd solder the stuff also so that it can't open when not wanted.We do a load of tuna rigging at the shop. I've been even doing a load of the large sluggos that the tuna love for some of the guys that are strictly tuna and off shore. Ron

Yes it was enjoyable here too. I'd try to fabricate a little heavier lip on a large Conrad but like I said things that move around a lot will foul the rig if it has more than a couple baits or on a daisey chain and they made quite a mess. Take a look at the Boone tuna baits. May help. Something with a tight wiggle works good as trolling speed is up there at times. 4 to 7 knots isn't unusual.Sometimes even faster.Ron

Any type of metal lip I figure would have to be tail weighted besides belly weighted ... Like the wood Atom 40 Troller is tail weighted .. I imagine Bob did that to calm it down a little at trolling speed ... just guessing ..

For tuna trolling you want a plug that can be trolled fast... that means shaved head and narrow lip....

shaved head ? or slope head ? I have some old Pichney Trollers .. think they were for Tuna ?

5knts at least

The Pichney troller could have been, your best bet would be to swim it with a super fast retrieve and see if it will roll out and surface. Although the Lip is similar to a Pikie 3 and Rockfish suggest a narrow lip you might have a problem. Keep in mind the dept they achieve was with wire also.

Don't know if they will be trolling the tuna gear with wire.

Sometimes when you finish making a pass with danny plugs you speed up to make another pass and they surface but that might be due to the 180 turn and not the speed.

got one at the house if you need to measure something.

I've got a boone wahoo plug if you want to copy. Hand carve and a ton of weight. Or make him a cedar jig. Pretty easy and you might be able to turn the lead on a slow lathe. Best plug I used for tuna was a Rapala sliver. Be tough to copy but you can borrow one and build something close. Let me know.

How about a big salty boogie?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Hey Eddy, I've also got a huge beater Tarp-oreno #979. Might be perfect. Cool plug, two huge single hooks and pinned rigging. Look under south bend in Vol II Fishing Lure Collectible book you have.

Sounds good George ... I'm presently unemployed (again) so I can stop by ... Taking Mom to lunch tomorrow but I can kick her to the curb for plug building .. just kidding ,,

I can't find Tarp-Oreno #979 .... i got 975,,976,,977 looked all through South Bend ????

Sorry, try Volume I, page 149. Also check out the Troll-oreno on the preceding page. Here is what I've got

shaved.. troller style.. the lip becomes an extension of the head... use the big salty gorrila lip, Dan was haveing no probelm getting those plugs down 8' on a flat line...
think deep dive Rappala... narrow elongated lip.. all in proportion to the width of the plug..

I've got to make more... I'm going to do some experimanting with heavir wood.. hoping not to sacrifice the action...

Numby ? What is the construction of that Plug .. Heavy screw eye ? I found it in other book last night . Thats 30's no .. Here's the Pinchney Troller I have but I think its a Bass Troller ... looks weak for Tuna ..

Thanks for help everyone

Yes that is the striper version. Tuna would destroy something like that. I've had big stripers do a number on them before. One of the hatd core tuna guys up here uses double wire on some of the stuff he throws together. He uses actual bowling pins as his teasers and paints them to look like mackeral and blues. He's landed some nice tuna in the 1000lb range.Ron

No, it is very heavy wire (thicker than any screw eye) that is set into a heavy swivel base (machined) then glued and pinned into the plug with a machine screw. You'd need Paul to duplicate it, but there is no reason you couldn't make do with a through wire set up of some sort.
As for 1000 lb fish, I've no idea, but you're not going to be fighting them with any more than 50 lbs of drag, and plenty of stuff can stand that pull.

Remember these...
 

I had a few at plugfest.. even gave a few away

fhttp://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/plug-building-got-wood/61795-booger-sized-danny.htmlew away..

I couldn't make that link work joe