OFFSHORE TROLLING & TEASERS

Spreader Bar / Umbrella Teaser

A bar or umbrella frame carrying many squids that looks like a small school of bait at the surface, pulling tuna and marlin up to your spread.

DepthSurface, trolled

ActionSchool-of-bait splash

WhereBlue water, FADs, tuna schools

LevelAdvanced

How to fish it

1
Decide first whether it is a teaser (no hooks, only to attract fish) or a hooked bar with a single stinger squid or lure trailing behind the middle.
2
Run it close behind the boat, usually from an outrigger or teaser line, so the squids skip and splash on top of a wave.
3
Troll slowly, around 5-8 knots; too fast and the bar jumps and tangles.
4
When a fish comes up on a hookless teaser, pull it away and present a hooked bait or lure in its place.

Note: the 'umbrella rig' used for striped bass in the Northeast is a smaller casting/trolling rig with hooked shads; that version is rarely needed here.
A hooked bar with a tuna on it is very heavy to reel; clear other lines fast and back down if needed.
Store bars hanging or rolled carefully; tangled squid leaders take a long time to fix at sea.

Setting it too far back, where it sinks and loses the splash that brings fish up.
Using light tackle on a hooked bar and losing gear to the drag of the bar plus the fish.