Sammy Hitzke shares some tips and tricks on how to chase gamefish from a trailer boat.

Two years ago I set myself a goal to catch a marlin on a trolled skirt from my own boat. I’d previously landed them while fishing live baits in bait schools, but for some reason those captures hadn’t quite quenched my thirst. In my mind, it wasn’t how I pictured my first catch. I wanted it to emulate what I’d seen in the hundreds of fishing movies I’d devoured growing up. I wanted the sudden excitement of a reel screaming in protest from a strike, to see the crew spring to life, clearing rods and teasers, but most of all I wanted to see a cart wheeling billfish crashing around behind the boat in a desperate attempt to shake the hooks.
I think it was the anticipation of the whole process, knowing at any moment a big dark shape could come hurtling from the depth’s, lit up 100 shades of electric blue, black and silver, hell-bent on eating the technicoloured skirt leaving a ‘smoke trail’ through the ocean. To do all that from my own trailer boat rather than a big game vessel just made the whole ordeal all the more appealing.
It took me three seasons, but finally, on the January 2 this year I found myself locking horns with my first black marlin on the troll. The numbers only proceeded to get better with various crew and myself catching 8 blacks and 1 sailfish in a season where many boats struggled to get 2 or 3. More so than just good luck, I contribute this success to learning’s from a swag of mistakes and blunders that left my scoreboard empty in previous years. The whole journey had been a massive learning curve and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Luckily for you guys, I’ve already made the mistakes, so here’s a few do’s and don’ts to consider before you go starting a tally of your own.

Sarah leaning into a nice black marlin

TIME OF YEAR
In my home ground of SEQ, the black marlin run starts to come into range when they migrate down from north QLD and reach Fraser Island/Hervey Bay around October, depending on the ocean currents. After a short stint there they make their merry way down the coast with the warm currents and can begin to show up off the Gold and Sunshine coast anywhere from late November to the end of December.
Once word of the first captures begin to filter through the fishing community, all hell breaks loose and it isn’t long before the majority of boats in the area are all out cutting laps with lures in tow. These fish will stay off SEQ for as long as the warm currents and bait is around and can be caught through to April in the better seasons. After they leave their mark on SEQ fishos, they continue their migration run down the east coast into NSW for the eagerly awaiting southern anglers to have their turn.
RODS FOR DAYS
How often have you seen big game boats trawling out on the big blue expanse with 10 or so lines all pulling lures glistening in the sun? I’m willing to bet it’s just about every single one that goes past. I’d seen it so many that I was convinced the key to a successful day was having the largest variety of lures in the water at all times. It works great in theory, but practically it’s a massive no-no.
Trailer boats aren’t blessed with enough beam (width) to successfully spread the lures far enough apart like a game boat. Even those fitted with outriggers can’t match the width of a game boat. By trolling an excessive amount of rods from a small vessel, you’re only begging to end up with a mess of tangled line once a fish becomes hooked and decides to head sideways.
I fell victim to the fatal attraction of the equation ‘more rods equal more fish’ and attempted to troll five rods at a time without outriggers. After the second fish won its freedom and left me with nothing but a big bird’s nest of leaders and main lines, I gave up on that idea and dropped back to four rods before finally settling on three. For the record, I never noticed a drop in strike rate, but I certainly saw an increase in fish landed without drama.
THREE’S A CROWD?
This statement is irrelevant in trailer boat game fishing. Quite the opposite in fact as three is the magic number. At least, it is in terms of how many POB (persons on board) you need. In the smaller sub six metre boats, being smart about your choice of crew members can go a long way to ensuring a successful and productive day on the water. Fishing with only two on board, while not impossible for the more experienced game fisherman, often means there aren’t enough hands to put to work after a lure is eaten. Once hooked up it’s all action stations to clear lines, keep the boat straight, take pictures, grab the leader and land fish, etc. For those who have done it solo, I tilt my hat to you. I can only imagine it being stressful times.
Three is the perfect number in my opinion. Not too many people to make moving around the deck a chore, but still enough hands to get everything done quickly and safely once a reel starts to howl. It is also an excellent idea to give new crew members the full rundown of what’s expected of them so everyone is on the same page. Game fishing is very much a team sport after all.
RODS AND REELS
Tackle choices are definitely one aspect that puts a lot of people off trying their luck when the game fishing season comes up on the calendar. You don’t need expensive gear or excessively large outfits to target billfish. It’s as simple as that. You’re better off just putting some thought into how you rig them instead. It works out to be a whole lot easier on the wallet, not to mention the angler holding onto the setup. To give you an example I use 2x Shimano Tyrnos 16s on 7 ft 15 to 24 kg rods and 1x Shimano Tyrnos 12s on a 6 ft 15 kg rod when I want to pull a spread of lures. They sound small and inadequate, but I’ve caught marlin to 60 kg on them and never looked like seeing the end of the spool (in saying that I wouldn’t recommend these outfits for large blacks or blue marlin).
By filling the spool ¾ of the way with 30 to 40 lb braid then attaching 50 m or so of mono as a top shot, you don’t miss out on any of the shock absorption created by the mono without having to fill the entire spool with it. What this leaves you with is a small, light and comfortable setup to fish with that holds an extraordinary amount of line. A good starting point for a topshot would be one in the 24 kg range, in either one of the hi-vis greens or oranges available. The fluoro colours allow you to trace your lines back easier so you have a better idea of which lure is where in the spread. If you want to get really fancy, put different colours on each reel. That will eliminate any chance of confusion ascertaining if lures are crossed or in the wrong position behind the boat.

Up close and personal with a baby black. This one is getting the royal treatment from the author upon release.

LURE CHOICE AND POSITION
There are so many skirt colour variations on the market; it’s hard to know where to start. However, I definitely believe there should be more emphasis made to lure style and placement than fretting over colours in the skirt. Having a varying selection of pusher heads and a variety of sizes, in my opinion, outranks a specific colour on most occasions. As a general rule, the largest lure with the biggest, most commotion causing head is positioned closest to the back of the boat and the smallest lure furthest away. Traditionally, the closer the lure to the boat, the more outboard disturbance and wash the skirt will be pulled through, meaning darker colours will create a better silhouette against the white foam. While I have no doubt this is 100% correct, I found bright and natural colours also work well in this position.
When running three rods in a spread, the two outer rods are staggered relatively close to the boat with the second lure placed about 15 m behind the first. These positions are referred to as long and short corner. The third lure or ‘shotgun’ is put between the two down the centre and sits 20 to 30 m past the long corner. The shotgun lure is best positioned just as the bubbles from your wake begin to dissipate so it’s swimming in clear water.
HOOKS
Selecting the right hooks for your skirts is another fairly hotly contested topic. Lots of people have differing opinions so I’m going to add to your confusion and add mine to the melting pot. Fish as light a gauge of hook as you can. Back in my first season, I was running skirts using the hooks they came pre-rigged with. I continually missed hits from marlin and dolphin fish no matter what I did; I just couldn’t get the hooks to stick.
After having a chat with a few different gamefishing mates of mine, they suggested I try a light gauge saltwater fly hook called a Gamakatsu SL12 to see if that changed my conversion rate. I converted four of my next five hits after swapping over.

A couple of quick snaps with Sarah’s second marlin before sending him on his way.

The outfits I was using were simply not designed to set the larger heavier hooks, but a chemically sharpened 8/0 to 10/0 fly hook on the other hand… like a hot knife through butter. However, this is where the crowd splits. On one side you get people saying that lighter gauge hooks bend and break, and that you should fish a heavier hook and run a tighter drag to set it on the strike. On the other hand you have people arguing that you have a much better hook up rate with lighter gauge hooks, and that you can fish lighter tackle.
My standpoint is with the lighter gauge community. I would rather hook and land more fish but lose the occasional one to tackle failure than never have hooked them in the first place. Also, for the record, I am yet to break or straighten any of the lighter gauge hooks on a fish. The only downside I have found is you have to keep an eye on the hook point. Being lighter gauge means the hooks tend to lose their sharpness quicker than their heavier gauged brothers.

SUMMARY
Chasing marlin from a trailer boat has got to be one of the most exciting forms of fishing available to anglers up and down the east coast of Australia. The rewards for getting everything spot on can be right up there with the pinnacle of many fishing careers. Hopefully by avoiding some of the mistakes I made you’ll find yourself swimming a billfish by the side of the boat a lot quicker than I did, all the while keeping everyone on board safe and sound.
Until next time guys, remember there are always fish biting somewhere so get out there and have a crack at them!
Sammy Hitzke is Brisbane based fisho, working in the Western Australian Pilbara region. He fishes his way up and down the East coast as well as the Wild West. Sammy specialises in land based and inshore fishing, but has been know to have a crack at just about anything that swims and even waves a wand around from time to time. Sammy is Prostaff for Lowrance, Mako Eyewear, EJ Todd and Departure Co.