First Time Need Help

[Impulsefishing]

Hey all I have been Offshore fishing for 3 years now and I worked on a charter boat part time last year. I am on a private boat now and we are going on an overnighter, I have never done one before and would like to stick something out to try and catch a swordie. Could you guys help me out and give me some info the rigs and what kind of set up I need to do this? Any help would be greatly appriated!

[swordfish123]

First, you pretty much need a 50 lb setup. Basic rig:

1) 50lb mainline to bimni twist and 300lb ball bearing swivel
2) 15-25 ft of 300 lb leader crimped with chafe gear, loop on one end, 9-11/0 Mustad 7691 or 7731 or Owner Jobu hook.
3) Bridle rig a tinker mackeral, or other such live bait, or rig a squid. Go to the rigging gallery and check this out.

Attach a 2lb weight that can detach if possible. Attach a light stick or Electralume or other such light. Drop down to a desired depth (50-350). If you are fishing multiple lines, attach a balloon with a rubber band and let it out at staggered distances from teh boat. Stagger teh depths too.

Set your strike drag at 15-18. Set the drag just so it wont take out line when you are drifting. Once the fish starts taking line, increase drag to strike and hold on tight.

Thats all i got time for right now, i could go on for pages and pages, hope this gets you started
-captain steve

[Impulsefishing]

Thank you very much for the info, now on the leader I read somewhere, to use 30ft of cable leader. Is that what I need, or is mono going to be ok? How do I attach the light stick with out chafing the leader and how do you guys do the detaching of the wieght? Thanks again!

[Impulsefishing]

ok I found everything in the rigging section thanks for all the help

[Shark Tagger]

use wind-on leaders.. they are safer and easier to release and boat fish. You can reel the fish all the way to the boat without have to leader much at all. Just make sure your angler is level winding or you may find youself not being able to get it all on the reel.

Good Luck.

ST

[Impulsefishing]

I use wind on for tuna and marlin fishing so I know how to do that. My new question is, if I do that then I assume that I need to use a rubber band for the wieght and the light stick? I take it that I need to be quick on breaking the band for the wieght and light stick with out pulling the hook from the fish or is there another way?

[Sea la Vee]

I've found that a number 64 rubber band works eqully well for 1lb. and 2lb. weights. Try to find the type of light sticks that clips directly onto your line - they work great.

Also, you want to secure the Electralume lights in a way where they don't come off - each one is about $35. I attach about a one inch diameter loop of mono through the top eye of my snap swivel. Then I clip the light to the loop. That way, it does not interfere with the action of the swivel... and it remains spaced the right distance from the bait.

hope that helps.[/i]

[swordfish123]

for the rubber band technique...

take the #64 rubber band (whole) and send it throug the loop on the weight. Now send one end of the loop through the other end, you now have the weight hanging from one big loop.

Ok, now take your main line above your swivel and above the bimini twise knot (or above the wind on leader conection), and hold it in your hand. Take the loop of the rubber band with the weight on it and wrap it around the leader, as you wrap, go up the leader, so its like barbour pole style. Do this 3-6 times, depending on the weight size and how hard you want it to be to pull off, so you now are left with a loop that has been wrapped around your leader a couple times. Then take the weight and pass it through that loop. Pull tight, it should not slip hardly at all. Test your technique before you get out there, you dont want it to be too hard or too easy to snap off.

By placing the weight 30 or so feet away from the bait, the fish will not feel any resistance when he picks up the bait., so your rig kind of makes an L shape in the water, with your bait floating off to the side. When you put your biats out, just work slow and get all your leader floating away from the boat before you attach a weight and send it down to avoid tangles.

As Sea La Vee said, if you buy Duralume light sticks they will have a nifty little clip on them that attaches right to your leader easy as pie. As for electalumes, they have a longline clip, also very easy, just make sure you understand how it disconnects so you dont get confused during some chaos. If the electralume slides around on the 300 leader, you can clip it on to the dacron on the wind on, it holds better, though some im sure will say you are flirting with disaster by having it by the wind on connection.

To attach flashers, i use a small snap swivel and just attach it to the loop on the big ball bearing swivel.

Good luck, feel free to IM me with any questions. These guys on the forum answered them all and taught me, so i gotta do the same for others.

-Captain Steve