Tech Tricks
How to rig paravanes and trolling boards BRISBANE
Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com
Anglers fishing in Moreton Bay waters will begin to see an increase in the number of school mackerel during September. Often found in the main channels, around structure such as beacons and on the outer margins
of the bay islands, school mackerel offer anglers some tasty table fare. One of the historically productive ways of targeting these silver streaks – a method which is still used nowadays by commercial line fishermen – is trolling spoons. Because spoons are not a diving lure and the mackerel are often fairly deep in the water column, a paravane or
trolling board is required to get them into the depths. Let’s look a little closer at these two diving apparatus and ways to rig them for targeting school mackerel. My first introduction to spoon lures was for securing some mackerel in the Bowen area. As a boy, with my father in our Quintrex Fish Nipper, we would troll from Grays Bay up to Innamincka Rocks
and back if the mackerel were running during our holidays. These school and small Spanish mackerel were close to the surface, so all that was required to get the lure down a bit was a large barrel sinker a few metres in front of the lure. However, because you need to get down in excess of 5m when targeting mackerel in Moreton Bay, a paravane or
diving board is needed when trolling spoons. Paravanes and trolling boards are an economical way of getting spoons and low resistance lures down deep. Spoons, such as the No.3 Halco Barra Drone are ideal for targeting Moreton Bay school mackerel, which can be common in the main channels during the warmer months. Whilst not really a
sporting method of fishing, trolling spoons is an easy way to harvest a few mackerel for a feed and will often work when many other methods fail to produce. Additionally, the paravane/trolling board and spoon combo allows you to cover a broad area of water in your search for a feed of tasty school mackerel. Get set up for some schoolie success soon.
Shallower
Deeper
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The yellow apparatus on the left has a keel so is therefore a paravane. The blue one is a hybrid and the white one is a trolling board. All do a similar job however the yellow one (called a Blueline paravane) and the white one (Yamashita N0.6 trolling board) are the more common styles. The trolling board is favoured by most of the commercial anglers as it is extremely tough and won’t snap if it digs abruptly into the bottom during trolling.
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Spoons are the most popular lure type for this application. Brands include Luhr Jensen Ripple Spoons, Macka Spoons and Halco Barra Drones. The Halcos are the easiest to find, with the No.3 my pick. Other thin metal lures such as Toby Spoons and Flashas are also good. Shallow diving minnows can be used as well. Because diving boards and paravanes flip over and plane to the surface when a good degree of pressure is applied, deep diving minnows and other lures with a lot of resistance won’t work.
Your paravane will have several towing eyelets at the front. The front eyelet will give the shallowest depth out of the paravane, with the diving depth progressively increasing as you move the attachment point further back. If you keep hitting the bottom, move the attachment point a little further forward. If you want to get deeper, move it a little further back. It’s that easy. Additionally, how far back you have the paravane behind the boat and the troll speed will also determine its depth, so there is plenty of variance available to allow you to put the trolled lure exactly where you want it.
Run right To rod
Centre
Deeper Shallower
Run left
Run right Centre Run left
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Trolling boards have less variation in their trolling depth, but generally troll deeper than paravanes due to having a larger surface area and therefore more resistance in the water. You can alter the depth a bit by sliding the attachment point back to get it deeper or forward to make it shallower – or you can just set it to the deepest setting and then shorten the distance behind the boat if you want it to dive shallower.
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Paravanes can be made to swim out to the side behind the boat, which is handy if you want to troll a couple of spoons and want some spread between them. When the paravane is sitting with the keel facing upwards, attaching the line to the left side hole will have it swimming to port. Attaching to the right side hole will have it arcing to starboard. There are several attachment points, but be aware that the widest settings will produce a shallower trolling depth.
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The trolling board only has three towing points: left, right and centre. Again, the left tow hole will have the board tracking to the port side etc. Personally, I have found these a little pedantic when trying to troll a lure to either side of the boat in turbulent current. I prefer to rig them with the central towing hole.
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Because the attachment holes are well in from the rear edge of the trolling board you will not be able to attach a snap to it. If you do want to be able to use all three rear eyelets and change the one in use readily, a simple method to rig it is as follows. Form a long loop (a little longer than the board) in the end of some 50lb fluorocarbon (your lure leader) using a perfection loop, Cairns quickie or spider hitch. Insert this through the desired hole and simply loop it over the front metal towing eyelet. Once the main line is attached to this metal eyelet, the loop can’t come adrift. 18
SEPTEMBER 2016
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Alternatively, you can simply tie a loop knot through the desired hole. If you want to change the towing position, cut the loop and re-tie in the new position. Regardless, you are wise to re-tie the loop every so often in either system to avoid the leader chafing on the edges of the hole or metal eyelet to a point where it could break.
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Using a snap swivel to attach your main line to the front metal eyelet of the trolling board may seem like a good idea, but it’s not. Most snaps are offset to one side and will therefore affect the equal flow of water onto the front of the trolling board. In stronger currents or faster trolling speeds this can make the board begin to track off course and eventually come to the surface.