Few questions regarding spread

[Scotthmt]

Hello everyone

I have to start off by saying how helpful this forum has been, I've been scouring posts in every sub forum, the wealth of knowledge is impressive and appreciated.

I recently bought a 26' farallon that is ca salmon permitted and I have figured out most things but am still a bit lost on a few things, if anyone could help me out it would be greatly appreciated.

I am a but lost on the spread, it seems the general consensus is run the heavies on the inside on the floats on the outside, when I do this my tagline and isolator on my heavies are in the water, I'm not sure if this a proper way for them to be, I plan on running 50's on the heavies and 30 on the floats with my 2 spool hasbra gurdies. My sticks are about 25' long, I could shorten the tagline but I would have to run almost a half a stop out of the spool for it to allow the sticks to be raised.

Onto the subject of the hasbra gurdies, one of them chatters a lot when the hydros are applied to it, not sure how to remedy that problem. (I see a post below me with a guy asking questions about the same gurdies that I have, I'll snap a picture for him tomorrow)

I have 3 fathom stop wire, would I get away with running 3 fathom leaders on all my lines? Or should I shorten everything down to 2 fathoms or less?

I am also hearing that shears or side planers may be necessary, and if so where and when should I use them?

Sorry for all the newbie questions, I've spent many hours researching and reading before I make a post, I'd rather not waste anyone's time if I could find the answer on my own, but thank you for the help in advance.

[Hans2]

Great Q's and I'm tagging to follow along.

[Scotthmt]

Thanks Hans I try not to ask too stupid of questions.

[kjwelder]

Good questions.
Everything you are asking about is either a series of compromises or trade offs... you can run the heavies aka mains on the tip/outside/end of the pole or on the inside of the pole. I personally like to have my mains on the tip of the pole to give my gear more spread and reduce tangles when running the floats. (Most tangles are caused by pulling a float when the main is angling under the boat due to current or turning the boat)

The tag line in the water is nothing to worry about. This is geometry created by the distance from the gurdy davits/blocks, the.base of the pole and the tip of the pole. Speed and angle.of.your lines will also result in different amounts of.tag.line in the water. If you speed up, your lines will flag back and come out of the water. So, if there arent other boats close by, speed up and turn out if you start to get shallow.

50 and 30 will reduce tangles. 50 and 40 will help get your float lines down if you are fishing deep. You can run straight 50 if you be careful.

Hasbras arent known for being smooth. Try rinsing with fresh water to flush off salt build up. You may be able to.adjust them. or lube the shaft, not the break.

Sorry for the punctuation errors. My phone has the space bar too close to the period... or my thums are too big.

[Scotthmt]

Thanks kjwelder

I am trying to picture what you're saying, but what I gather is that if I run my heavies on the outside with shears and my floats with 30's I will have less tangles and maybe even be able to turn the boat slightly better. Or maybe even run a lot of flashers on my heavies with less risk of the line blowing back into the float lines?

As far as leader length goes it may just be something that I will have to play with.

I really appreciate your help, thank you a ton.

[kjwelder]

Regarding 3 fathom wire: you can probably run 3 fathom leaders every mark but thats a lot of gear if you are fishing deeper like 50 fathoms. Te general rule of thumb is less gear spread out for deeper fishing. If you are catching fish and they are tangling then maybe spre
ad em out or shorten em.

[lone eagle]

you could run long flasher, short spoon alternately

[Scotthmt]

Thanks for the tips guys, I'm probably going to knock it all down to a bit less than 2 fathoms and see how it runs. I will probably alternate spoon flasher too at least until I get dialed in on what they want on that particular day. I think it just is going to come down to learning it first hand on the water with what works for me and what doesn't. I will report back when the season opens on what I did and how it worked out.

[Drew]

3 fathom spreads 3 fathoms apart is fine as far as tangling on the same line. I use 1.5 fathom wire and run 3 fathom spreads 3 or 4.5 fathoms apart for kings.

[Salty]

When fishing kings in recent years in winter or spring I seldom run more than 5 spreads a line. Less gear per line is one of the biggest improvements in my lowliner fishing over the years.

[Furuno]

If you want to avoid tangles run your gear when the boat is going straight. The most foolproff way to produce tangles is to turn sharply while letting the gear out. For spectacular tangles try fishing N Inian pass while your boat is spinning 360 in the tide rips!

[Kelper]

I'm running 4fa spreads, 4fa apart. Think that will work or would I be better off shortening up to 3fa? How far back do you want your float bags when running 4 fa spreads?

[Salty]

Far enough so they won't tangle.

[mattakfish]

I am just into my second season of power trolling and I've got two-spool hasbras as well. When I got my boat a year and a half ago, I had some similar gurdy questions and I got some wonderful advice on this forum from member fvsedna (among other folks). He's a great resource. I can also forward some of the advice he sent me last year, if you like....just let me know.

Meanwhile, couple things on my limited experience (And I just have one year so take it with several grains of salt) Adjusting the brakes helped the chattering. I also found that one set of gurdies was missing the springs that ride on the bolt holding the top and bottom brake pads together (at the outside of each spool). The spring helps keep the top brake from rubbing on the spool when the brake is not engaged. That causes chattering, especially in dry weather. VERY important to re-adjust the brakes correctly as I learned on the grounds (fortunately no injuries). Too loose and the brake won't hold.....potentially leading to a dangerous situation. Too tight and it will be hard to set and will bind up the spool even when the brake is not engaged.

[mattakfish]

Also, I run 1.5 fathom wire. My heavies are on the tips of my poles. Fishing dogs and coho, I keep my gear a bit shorter than 1.5 fathoms since I snap on every mark for those species. That seemed to work well for my first year, with no major tangles fishing dogs. I did have a few small tangles while making way-too-sharp turns for coho in the tide rips off point Adolphus. Still figuring it all out.......

[Scotthmt]

Thanks for the tips Matt, so I should try tightening the nut on the top of the spool?

Also those tips you received from another member would be greatly appreciated. I'm going to knock my leaders down to 2fa on my 3 fa line and see how it goes as I intend to run every stop until I find a reason that it is more productive to do otherwise.

[mattakfish]

It would be the top if your gurdies are mounted on a horizontal surface. My gurdies are mounted on a vertical surface so the bolt is at the outside edge of each spool. It's where the two halves of the brake come together. The bolt runs through a tab on each half of the brake and there should be a spring riding on the bolt (keeping tension between the two tabs) I PM'd you with some detailed info on adjustments that FVsedna provided me last year.

[BradPosey]

Looks like your getting plenty of advise. But I think I'll stir the pot a bit.
First I shouldn't worry about how deep the tag lines run.
On a 27' boat i would put the light leads on the tip, come in 3 of4 ft for the bow lines, make sure you put a guy wire at that point and mount it as far forward on the boat as possible. Same goes for the haul in line to the mast head. You need this to keep from snapping the pole if/when you hang up.
With that size of boat, I would suggest that while the gear is down, suck the bow line in to about 10/12ft. This will make it easer for the pilot to track.
When you run the tip, run the bow out where there is slack between the insulator and the davit. This reduces the possibility of tangling the two .
If you do this and still are concerned about tangling, put a spreader on the bow line before you run the tip.
You might think about weights, 50's are good, but, I wouldn't use not as easy working with on that size boat. If your boat has a keel and large rudder it could work good, but if not when you pull bow line it could cause your boat to crab. This can cause headaches for the pilot. I would run 40's and 25's when the fish are with in the first 30/40 fathom and switch to the heavier weights when the go to the bottom.
When it comes down to it, you'll need to trial and error so you can fine tune your own boat to work for you.
Good Luck
Brad

[Scotthmt]

Thanks for the tips, I spent 2 days out there learning. I am running my 50's on the tips and 30's on floats on the inside with shearing float boards 5 stops back. I do have issues with the auto pilot if I pull one side in and not the other so I and my deckhand have been doing it simultaneously. The only tangle we had besides snagging the bottom was setting a float out on a turn and weird current when the heavy was already out. I still haven't learned how to tell if there is a fish on, I can see the springs pump slightly if we are in flat weather on the float lines but if it's rough I can't tell and the heavies I can't tell at all of there is a fish on. We did manage to catch a few fish, knock one off and out a few gaff holes in the heads so were learning but it's been fun and I'm sure it'll be more fun when we are actually making money. Thnks for the help everyone

[Salty]

I took all my springs off about 30 years ago. One of the, if not the most worthless troll accessory. Tattle tells like the ones pictured are all you need. Attach them about a foot below your pole and adjust them so you can see the slightest bite. You will never miss the springs.