Dredges, options and advise

manhattan fly said:

Looking to add a dredge or 2 into the mix, looking for advise and thoughts...

Like the 9 inch bulb squid, been looking at 6 and 8 point umbrella rigs with weights? folding?, up to 11 bulb squid on em with a stinger. Have seen some decent ones also thinking of building...seemed to develope a following the last couple of years...looks like you can fill the gap w/ these buy getting down a 100 feet at 3 knots of so. Gotta think there is a bit of tension w/ a 8 point 3 pound dredge some ways back? saw some photos of them in action down about 7/8 feet and they look pretty sweet.

Thoughts?

Capt. Chris
www.manhattanfly

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Dredges are used as teasers (mostly for sailfish). They are not fished with a stinger hook. You want to be able to see your dredge behind the boat, and drop back a bait on a rod. I have not heard of them being fished down a 100 feet. Trolling anything weighing over a pound puts a lot of strain on the reel. The drag has to be set pretty high or use a rubber band to prevent the line from peeling off the reel. IMO you would be better off trolling a large spreader bar. We troll spreader bars with 5 birds and 15 - 19 bulb squids behind them. They do put a bit of strain on the reels, but they also raise a lot of fish.

Those dredges look nice, but don't know how well they work. You better know where the fish are if you are going to troll at 2 knots/hour. You are not going to cover much ground. In rough seas, those dredges are going to be hard to deploy. Try keeping those lines from tangling. I tried experimenting trolling dredges with paddletails, but could not keep them in the water at higher speeds.