(Originally published Sep/Oct 2017)
By Capt. Rickey Wheeler
If you have spent any time at all offshore fishing, especially for billfish, you have surely used a dredge at one point or another. Dredges have been extremely popular among billfishermen and have proven to be a deadly teaser. Pulling dredges is not a new tactic, but they have taken a while to catch on due the amount of labor required to rig them, and the skill needed to pull them. With the advancements in electric reels, dredge accessories, and artificial dredges, dredges are becoming a more common teaser for many species.
Dredges have proven themselves again and again among billfisherman around the world. Whether they are trolled in the canyons off the eastern United States, in the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Central America, or anywhere for that matter, the dredge has proven to be an amazing fish-raiser. Word is spreading rapidly that these teasers raise much more than just billfish. Dredges have come a long way, and there are so many options out there for artificial dredges. In my opinion, it is tough to beat adding natural baits to your dredges, especially for billfish, but artificial dredges have become pretty amazing and so lifelike nowadays that they are more effective than ever.
Other than having the proper dredges to pull, knowing how to pull them is even more important; you can’t just fire them out in your spread and hope they raise
