I do agree with most of the above. This particular crew in the video ran 12 lines which they clearly could not control. I fish 7-8, and on occasion will put out a 9th rod. Any more then that I would not advise unless you rig your boat correctly and gain experience. I only remove any lines that are potentially in the way. You always want to leave your rods in whenever possible, since you will often get multiple hook ups. If it means removing 1-2 rods from the spread I will do it to ensure we land the already hooked fish. This crew in the video ran into more issues because of rod holder locations. They had no room to fight the fish off the transom and lost fish due to it. Anglers were trying to reel rods in to get them out of the way which should never happen when they are hooked up.
When I fish 8 rods, I fish 2 off each rigger. Usually bars on the short and daisy chains on the long. I've had better luck this way, some guys fish it the opposite, it really depends on the wake your boat throws while trolling. Try both, but always the same on each side to see what works best for your boat and model. Flat lines are a skirted ballyhoo, and either a jet or naked ballyhoo. I use flat line clips attached near my transom. This keeps these lines low and out of the way. I then fish two rods down the middle, one short and one long. Short is usually a green machine bar and long is usually a big 13" bird with a deep green machine. I rig these on flat line clips attached to my hardtop. I run my deep rods off my top rod holders on the hardtop so when a fish is hooked, the line remains well above your head. I fish my long riggers off the lower hardtop rod holders. My short rigger lines off my fwd rod holders, and flat lines off the aft rod holders. This allows the center of the boat to be void of any rods or anything to get in an anglers way. No matter what rod hooks up, I can simply pass it over or under another rod and it will be fought directly off the transom, unless the fish is big and runs to a side, then I simply adjust my trolling direction to keep him off the transom. If the fish needs to be chased, I clear all lines quickly and land the fish asap so I get back in the water. All my spreader bars are rigged by myself and are rigged with floats in them, if I slow or stop the boat they float and prevent tangles as long as a rod is passed over or under quickly enough. If your bars do not have floats in them, they should be removed. It really comes down to team work and having a plan. We start by planning to have rods positioned where they will be least likely to tangle with another once hooked. Once a fish is hooked, we have one crew member watch the lines near it and if he feels one may be in the way he assists in adjusting line positions to avoid a tangle or if it really posses a problem, reels like hell and removes the rod until it can safely be put back in. Another guy always stays on the wheel and the crew always communicates. If we have 3 or more fish on, we usually try to clear the inside lines and fight fish. We will leave one guy at the helm and have the others fight fish. When leadering a fish, the boat is slowed and the helm man goes to leader and gaff the fish. On one trip we have 6 rods go off out of 8 when trolling bluefins at the Glory Hole. All fish were roughly 30-60lbs. We landed and released all the fish due to quick thinking. Before anyone picked up a rod, we cleared the remaining lines. We then kept one guy on the helm, had 2 fight fish and one sacrifised himself and went between fighting fish and helping to pass lines over or under one another to keep each line tangle free. We kept the boat moving to keep the fish as close to off the transom as possible. One by one we landed each fish. Yeah we were a little lucky that none came off, but we also benefited from having a game plan and nobody being selfish. On that trip we did not even have an experienced crew, my self and 1 other were, and we had 2 novices onboard. Before we set the spread out, we explained to them how to work it and assigned a job to each, making things less confusing. If everyone talks and stays calm and sticks to whatever your game plan is, you can land most fish in most conditions.
I agree that having more rods in the water helps, just as the canyon runner mentions. A boat that is under 30 ft should stick with 7-9 rods. If it is your first trip ever, go with 7 and once you can put a fish or two in the boat and feel confident, go to 9. If you fish 9 and have never done it before, it may be overwhelming until you land a few fish. I fish 3 bars at all times and 2 daisy chains, this makes the spread feel bigger without making it too complicated. I agree that you can back down with outside bars in the water as long as you back down straight and someone has a clue where they are in the water. also, they need to have floats to stay on top, if they sink, they will usually become more of a hassle then it is worth to elave in. I have done this on other boats, but have not had a situation that warrants this on my own boat yet. As for a center rigger, it would help and I have thought about investing in one, but mid season this year I rigged 2 clips on my hardtop and it worked very well for my crew and I. It kept the lines high and out of the way, as well as down the center and was a lot cheaper. Honestly, I would make a trip before I invest in a center rigger and see if it is really necessary. If you feel you will make enough trips to really warrant spending that kind of money then go for it.
