In The Spread

09/01/2026

Running to the spot with some of the best. Good times with good folks. Maddy Mac put us on!

08/26/2026

Have you ever had crabs? 👀 Blue crabs 🦀 are the shizz for big 'ole moker black drum, the dirty mattress of the sea.

08/25/2026

The best tuna trolling lure in your box won’t catch fish if it’s running in the wrong place, at the wrong speed, or with the wrong action.

That’s the point behind our latest In The Spread breakdown on trolling for yellowfin, blackfin, and bluefin tuna. Instead of chasing a single “magic” lure, we look at the proven categories that consistently raise fish: high-speed hard plugs, trolling feathers, cedar plugs, skirted lures, daisy chains, and spreader bars.

More important, we explain how to make them work.

Learn how head shape changes lure action, why sea state should influence what you pull, how to position lures throughout the spread, and when to adjust speed before changing colors. We also break down how water clarity, available forage, and tuna species affect lure selection—from blackfin in the Gulf to yellowfin offshore and bluefin farther north.

A simple cedar plug running correctly can outperform an expensive lure that is swimming badly.

If you troll for tuna, this is the practical framework for building a spread, diagnosing a slow bite, and making smarter adjustments on the water.

Read the full article and sharpen your tuna trolling program before the next trip offshore this season and beyond.

https://inthespread.com/blog/tuna-trolling-lures-yellowfin-blackfin-bluefin-421

08/05/2026

Ever trolled all morning in flat summer water and gotten absolutely nothing?

Good baits out. Structure under you that held fish two weeks ago. Water temp that looks perfect. And the rods just sit there.

I have had that day off Miami, out of Hatteras, and running the edge in the Gulf. The answer is almost always the same. The fish are there. They are just not where your baits are.

When the summer heat kicks in, kingfish, wahoo, and tuna drop thirty or forty feet down where the temperature, oxygen, and bait all line up. Everything you pull on the surface rides right over the top of them.

A trolling planer is how you get down to them without changing anything else about the way you troll.

My new article breaks it all down:

-> What the size numbers actually mean
-> How deep a planer really runs
-> Why a big planer cranked tight rips hooks out
-> The two-line spread that comes through every turn without tangling
-> Wire and bait choices when toothy fish are around

All of it comes from real time on the water

If you troll offshore and you're tired of leaving fish under the boat, give it a read. 👇

Planer fishing puts baits in the strike zone where kingfish, wahoo, and tuna hold. Sizes, depth, rigging, spread setup, and boat handling explained.

07/24/2026

You know the moment. The fish are up, the slick is working, and the yellowfin are eating everything in the water except what you throw at them. Chunks vanish. Lures get followed and refused. Then somebody drops a lively blue runner over the side, and the whole surface opens up.

That is the day live bait was made for. Our newest article breaks down how to work it, from the first bait in the well to the last fish behind the boat.

We get into the baits that actually hold up under pressure, from blue runners and goggle eyes to speedos, pilchards, and live mackerel, plus how to match size to the fish you are after. We cover keeping bait alive, hooking it so it swims where you need it, and reading the water column to put it on the fish.

Then the good part. Live chumming to manufacture a feed, the Gulf prop-wash trick that packs bait into a tight knot, and how to hold a whole school behind your own boat once they commit.

Read the full breakdown here:

How to fish live bait for yellowfin tuna. Choosing baits, keeping them alive, hooking them so they swim, and live chumming that turns a school on.

07/13/2026

Fish relate to a temperature break you cannot see from the deck, and where it sits decides their depth and their mood. Here is how the thermocline forms offshore, how it moves with the season, and how to fish it on purpose.

https://inthespread.com/blog/fishing-the-thermocline-how-it-moves-fish-and-bait-414

The thermocline sets how deep tuna, billfish, and wahoo hold offshore. Learn how it forms, shifts by season, and how to find and fish the break.

07/02/2026

Most anglers check the weather before they leave the dock. The ones who consistently find fish check the ocean before they plan their season.

El Niño and La Niña are not just weather patterns. They are ocean-atmosphere events that reorganize the thermocline, suppress or intensify upwelling, shift bait distribution, and determine whether your target species are where you expect them to be or somewhere else entirely. I have fished through both phases across enough water to know that understanding this cycle changes how you approach a season, not just a single trip.

When El Niño deepens the thermocline, fish and bait spread through a larger portion of the water column. Surface trolling spreads become less efficient. Bait disperses. Marlin go deeper. La Niña compresses everything upward. The shallow thermocline stacks bait near the surface, mahi and sailfish concentrate on the edges, and aggressive surface presentations come back into play.

On the Atlantic and Gulf side, El Niño typically quiets the hurricane season, which opens offshore windows that La Niña can slam shut. That timing matters as much as water temperature when you are planning late summer and fall offshore trips.

The new article on In The Spread walks through exactly how each ENSO phase reshapes ocean conditions from the thermocline up through the atmosphere, which species respond how and why, and the specific satellite tools you need to be monitoring to find productive water in any ENSO environment.

06/03/2026

A properly brined and rigged ballyhoo will troll for hours and catch every offshore predator in the Atlantic. A poorly prepared one washes out in minutes. This reference covers selection, brining, eight rig families, spread placement, and species matching for sailfish, marlin, tuna, mahi, and wahoo.

https://inthespread.com/blog/trolling-ballyhoo-as-offshore-bait-412

Why ballyhoo is the standard offshore trolling bait, plus selection, brining, eight rig families, and species matching for every Atlantic pelagic.

05/22/2026

There are some nice redfish on the chew in the Gulf. Homosassa is on fire. Capt. William Toney is wrecking fish.

04/29/2026

Whether you are fishing live bait, lures or jigs, your leader system better be up to the task of handling the savagery of a wahoo strike and subsequent fight. I published a new article articulating the many nuances for whatever your fishing technique, so you can fish smarter.

Build wahoo leaders that hold up against serrated teeth. Wire, cable, fluorocarbon, and titanium specs for trolling, live bait, and jigging.