5 hrs trolling no bite!! what am i doing wrong??

[burqax zghir]

 hi guys today i trolled for five hours but not even a nibble on the lures.
i go out from Xlendi in gozo and normally i troll about 1 mile out from tac-Cenc but today i even went to Dwejra.
i started at 5:00 using Rapala clown on one line and a blue strike pro lure on the other i stopped at 8:00 to do some bottom fishing which wasn't very productive either . i continued trolling at 10:00 using tumbrell line (as last week i was lucky enough to catch a nice tumbrell) and a predapro rig with Vopi.
what am i doing wrong, arent my lures good or isnt it a good time to troll.
i have a small 13 foot boat with 20 hp do you think i should go further out.
ps.(sorry for the bombardment of questions but im new to this type of fishing and i'd really appreciate any advice)

[ciappinu]

This time is not ideal for surface trolling along the shore, and even worse if you go far out. At this time of year you are targeting mainly barracuda, serra and Sawrell ta l-Imperjal. In one month or so chances of catches will be much better adding cervjol and possibly lampuki to the list + some other pelagics which do come close to the shore especially in September.

If I where you, at the moment I would troll weighted live bait close to dropoffs....

[Granitu]

This time is not ideal for surface trolling along the shore, and even worse if you go far out. At this time of year you are targeting mainly barracuda, serra and Sawrell ta l-Imperjal. In one month or so chances of catches will be much better adding cervjol and possibly lampuki to the list + some other pelagics which do come close to the shore especially in September.

If I where you, at the moment I would troll weighted live bait close to dropoffs....

I disagree with surface trolling - sawrell are quite abundant this year again. - my opinion always

Saddled bream is ever present this summer too - its fun to troll for them - my opinion always

As usual, thin line guys - anything over .20 is too thick in my opinion - trolling with a .16 vs .30 - i noticed that makes a hell of a difference. Speed depends with what you troll with. but vary speeds every now and then. - my opinion always

Trolling with live bait i agree - garfish is the best bait (my opinion) at the moment although very scarce - besides to troll with live bait he has to 1st start catching quickly live bait - my opinion always

[Kevin G]

big sawrell ta  imperjal around ( estimated over 3kg) but didn't got any bite on troling, with a small fish lure and an elongated spinner.

[malvizzu]

hi guys today i trolled for five hours but not even a nibble on the lures.

I know the feeling my friend. I too trolled for 5 to 6 hours without any bite at all. It's so frustrating. I too troll round the coastline, leaving Xemxija (Vecca area), to Fekruna, to Ghardira, to Mellieha, to Gozo fliegu, out to tuna fishing pens (going round them a couple of times), up to Bahar ic-Caghaq, on to Gillieru area and back to Xemxija (Vecca area). It's a good thing my outboard is a very fuel efficient one.

Saturday late afternoon had 4 bites from Saddled Bream – 2 on board, 1 lost by the boat and another just a strike. All were small and so catch & release. SOOOOOOO FRUSTRATING. I'm seriously thinking of selling my boat and do some shore fishing when I have some time due to my work commitments.

[burqax zghir]

thanks guys mela issa forsi narma al kahli

[skip]

Trolling with live bait i agree - garfish is the best bait (my opinion) at the moment although very scarce

@Granitu - Passed by SPB fishfarms at 02:15 on Saturday, turned on the Spotlamp and loads and loads of Garfish were flying around jumping out of the water. Everywhere we put the Search Light the garfish lept out of the water. We weren't geared up to catch them as we were just passing by going offshore but it was a pretty amazing sight. Looks like the Tuna over there have a lot of fresh food to eat!

@burqax zghir - Hang in there, as frustrating as it gets

[kris]

Agree with skip...loads of garfish spotted jumping out of the water at around 5.30pm near san tumas fish farms

[Granitu]

Trolling with live bait i agree - garfish is the best bait (my opinion) at the moment although very scarce

@Granitu - Passed by SPB fishfarms at 02:15 on Saturday, turned on the Spotlamp and loads and loads of Garfish were flying around jumping out of the water. Everywhere we put the Search Light the garfish lept out of the water. We weren't geared up to catch them as we were just passing by going offshore but it was a pretty amazing sight. Looks like the Tuna over there have a lot of fresh food to eat!

@burqax zghir - Hang in there, as frustrating as it gets

In our area we are finding but not as abundant as previous years. Good to know that means I was looking for it in the wrong area.

Thanks guys appreciate it.

[Granitu]

hi guys today i trolled for five hours but not even a nibble on the lures.

I know the feeling my friend. I too trolled for 5 to 6 hours without any bite at all. It's so frustrating. I too troll round the coastline, leaving Xemxija (Vecca area), to Fekruna, to Ghardira, to Mellieha, to Gozo fliegu, out to tuna fishing pens (going round them a couple of times), up to Bahar ic-Caghaq, on to Gillieru area and back to Xemxija (Vecca area). It's a good thing my outboard is a very fuel efficient one.

Saturday late afternoon had 4 bites from Saddled Bream – 2 on board, 1 lost by the boat and another just a strike. All were small and so catch & release. SOOOOOOO FRUSTRATING. I'm seriously thinking of selling my boat and do some shore fishing when I have some time due to my work commitments.

May I ask what lures are you using? I wish to help you out you are definately doing something which can be done better. Especially if you are catching small saddled bream.

[malvizzu]

My favourites are the White Grub and a small minnow from MegBite of around 4cm which at times I found really productive. Never had any strikes with redheads, white feathers or small squids (klamaretti). I usually troll at around 2-3 knots. As regards line out to sea, I use 15 qamiet of .30mm monofilament as main line and 3 to 5 qamiet of .18mm florocarbon. Sometimes I use no weight at all or a 5gr weight. Never had any luck with a decent big fish. My usual catches are in the region of 20 to 25cm. There were a couple of times were I caught 12 to 17 sawrell, 10 cervjol and around 8 kahli on different days but this seems to be something of the past now. As regards to lampuki, never had any luck with them. Only last year I caught my first one which was around 750gr. There were plenty of lampuki under the boat but no strikes at all.

[burqax zghir]

aw guys xtrajt strike pro lure xi 5 cm silver qisa vopa kont ha narma ghal-kahli bi tliet qami .20 mono u imbghad inkompli bit .30 fil qasba xtahsbu??