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Oct 14, 2024

Offshore: Ten Tips For Trolling Trackers - The Fisherman

Wide and side trackers have taken the mid-range tuna trolling world by storm, here’s a 10-pack of tips and tricks to make you more successful this season. For anyone who trolls the mid-shore grounds

Wide and side trackers have taken the mid-range tuna trolling world by storm, here’s a 10-pack of tips and tricks to make you more successful this season.

For anyone who trolls the mid-shore grounds for bluefin or yellowfin tuna, the terms wide tracker or side tracker has become common. However, such was not the case back in 2017 when Sterling Tackle first introduced them to the offshore game for the first time. An innovative design that took a spreader bar with a bird and placed a planer or keel on the underside of the bird to make the bar plane out to the side of your normal spread, you could now work to the outside of your wake in calm water. Since then several manufacturers such as ChatterLures followed suit with modifications and their own tweak on the original design.

I am on the ChatterLures pro staff, but have also run the Sterlings, and both are excellent products. Since the inception of trackers I have done a lot of testing and experimenting to see what worked and what didn’t. Whether this is going to be your first or fifth year using side/wide trackers, I guarantee there is still something to learn; here are some of my observations and tips.