Offshore trolling lure basics, head by head, with Roddy Hays and RJ Boyle at RJ's shop. The video builds a four lure beginner spread for 50 and 80 lb gear, explains why cups come before slants, and shows why a smaller lure hooks more blue marlin than the big head that raised them.
Trolling Lures Basics for Offshore Fishing with Roddy Hays
Trolling Lures Basics for Offshore Fishing with Roddy Hays
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Instructor:
Roddy Hays
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What four lures make a good first blue marlin spread?
Offshore trolling lure basics start with a few heads that run in most seas, each with its own job. The beginner spread, built from Roddy Hays's lures for 50 and 80 lb gear, pairs a clean tracking head on the long rigger with cups of two different pulls and a slightly angled head that pops and dives in almost any weather.
One rule runs through all of it: "The higher you put it in the rigger, as with most lures, the deeper it will reciprocate in the cycle." Which head goes in which position is in the video.
Should a beginner run cup face or slant face marlin lures?
Start with cups. As a general rule, cupped heads are "a very good bet" in calm or rough water and high winds, because the leading edge and the cup "generate stickability." Cup faces are good for beginners with a reliable hookup ratio. Slant heads, with more action, are for more experienced fishermen.
Jets add forgiveness: in four to six foot seas they loosen the pull and keep the lure smoking. The Hawaiian tube, with its 45 degree cut, is a flat water lure and not one to learn on.
Why does a smaller marlin lure hook more fish?
Big heads raise fish, but as the video puts it, "your hook-up ratio is always going to be better with a smaller lure." The goal is a fish that comes to the big lure, fades off and eats the small one. Blues swam past huge heads to eat small lures Hays built for New Zealand striped marlin.
Inside the video
- Filmed at RJ Boyle's tackle shop in south Florida, head by head
- Head lengths and ratios, and why a longer lure is more stable
- The super plunger and a two day run on the short rigger at San Salvador
- The Piper, a cup face with 90 degree jets that "sticks in the water like glue"
- Sharp edges versus graduated edges, and what each does for the hookup
Questions About Offshore Trolling Lure Basics
Which marlin lure works on the high line in flat calm?
A long, straight running cup lure, which is what the beginner spread puts on the high line in flat calm. In Bermuda, one of Hays's long cup lures run on the shotgun rod caught a blue and a white marlin, and the boat finished third in the series for the year.
Why do jets help a marlin lure in rough water?
In four to six foot seas, a solid cup head pulls very hard. Cutting jets into it relieves the pressure, so the lure still smokes without fighting the rod. Hays builds the same cup shape in two versions, one for rougher water and one for calmer.
Is a tube lure good for beginners?
No. The tube is a Hawaiian lure, cylindrical with a 45 degree cut, built for very flat water, where it throws a rooster tail. It is difficult to run well, and the video steers beginners toward cups first and slant heads once they can read how a lure swims.
Do red eyes on marlin lures matter?
Hawaiians swear by a red eye in a white head, and Hays is not one to argue: if a customer wants a red eye, it goes in. The video's view is that action matters more than the eye, and underwater footage shows a ball of air around a running lure.
Rigging Your First Marlin Lures
Picking the heads is the first step. For how Hays sets the hook, sizes it to the lure and builds a single hook rig at the same bench, watch rigging trolling lures for offshore fishing with Roddy Hays.
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Captain Roddy Hays is a big blue marlin legend and the creator of Legend Lures, the handcrafted trolling heads he designed while fishing Madeira for giant blues in the 1990s. Grander after grander fell to his lures, from Madeira to the Great Barrier Reef. In his In The Spread videos, Hays teaches offshore trolling lure fundamentals for marlin, tuna, and wahoo, including how head shape drives action, how to match lures to conditions, and the single-hook rigging that holds up in a marlin fight.
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