Why Am I Not Getting Bites Offshore? - Spread, Speed, and Depth Fixes

You burned $400 in fuel, ran 50 miles offshore, trolled for six hours, and came home with nothing but sunburn and frustration. The GPS shows you covered the right water. The fishfinder marked bait. Other boats were catching. But your spread produced zero bites.

This is the most demoralizing experience in offshore fishing, and it happens to everyone. The good news: there's almost always a fixable reason. The bad news: it's rarely one thing. It's usually two or three small mistakes stacking up to make your spread invisible to fish.

Here's the systematic troubleshooting process I run when nothing is working.

Is Your Trolling Speed Wrong? (Most Common Problem)

Speed is the #1 bite killer because it's the variable most anglers set once and never touch.

Species-specific target speeds:

Species	Speed (knots)	What Happens If You're Too Fast	What Happens If You're Too Slow
Mahi	6-8	Lures blow out, ballyhoo wash out	Diving plugs don't reach depth, spread looks lifeless
Wahoo	12-16	Lighter lures skip and spin	Wahoo ignore slow-moving presentations
Kingfish (lures)	6-7	Live bait dies instantly at this speed	Plugs don't dive to proper depth
Kingfish (live bait)	3-5	Bait dies, rigs tangle	Bait doesn't cover enough ground
Yellowfin tuna	7-9	Spreader bars tangle, ballyhoo rip apart	Skirted lures lose action

The fix: Check your actual GPS speed, not your knot meter. If you're trolling into a 2-knot current at 7 knots GPS, your lures are moving at 9 knots through the water. That's too fast for mahi.

Vary your speed. Don't hold a constant speed for hours. Bump up 1-2 knots for 10 minutes, then drop back. Speed changes trigger reaction strikes from fish that followed your lure but wouldn't commit. Running S-patterns accomplishes the same thing by speeding up and slowing down the outside and inside lures.

For the complete species-by-speed reference, check the trolling speed chart.

Is Your Spread Too Tight, Too Spread Out, or Running at the Wrong Depth?

The second most common problem is dimensional. Your lures are all running at the same depth, the same distance back, or crammed so close together they look like one confusing blob.

Everything at the same depth. If all four lures run on the surface, you're only covering 5% of the water column. Fish sitting at 20-40 feet never see your spread. Add an Epic Planer Bridle Kit on at least one flat line to get a lure down to 20-40 feet. A diving plug on another line covers 10-15 feet. The Complete Wahoo Planer Rod Kit comes rigged and ready for this exact purpose.

Everything at the same setback. Lines at the same distance behind the boat cross on every turn and create a tangled mess. Stagger your setbacks: 50 feet, 75 feet, 125 feet, 200 feet. Each line should be at a unique distance.

Spread too tight. If all your lures are within a 30-foot window behind the boat, they compete with each other instead of covering water. Spread out. Your shotgun lure should be 150-200+ feet back. Your closest flat line should be at 30-50 feet. Create a diamond pattern that mimics scattered baitfish, not a tight cluster.

Spread too wide. Less common, but possible. If your outriggers spread lures 100 feet apart laterally and your setbacks are 200 feet, the fish may swim between your lines without encountering a lure. Tighten up when fishing a specific structure, ledge, or weed line.

Are Your Lures Tracking Right - or Are They Spinning and Tangling?

A lure that's spinning, running sideways, or trailing seaweed catches exactly nothing. And you won't know it's happening unless you check.

Common causes and fixes:

Ballyhoo spinning. This is the #1 lure tracking problem. A rigged ballyhoo that isn't perfectly aligned will spin at trolling speed. Check every ballyhoo by holding it in the water next to the boat at idle speed before deploying. It should swim straight with a slight side-to-side motion. If it spins, re-rig it. For detailed troubleshooting, read our ballyhoo rigging guide.

Seaweed on diving plug lip. Even a small piece of sargassum on a diving plug's bill changes its action completely. Pull in diving plugs every 20-30 minutes and inspect.

Damaged or bent hooks. A bent treble hook on a diving plug creates uneven drag. Replace damaged hooks before deploying.

Wrong snap swivel size. A snap swivel that's too heavy can overload a small lure's action. A snap that's too light can fail under strike pressure. Match your Epic Ball Bearing Snap Swivels to the lure weight and target species.

Twisted mainline. Braid develops twist over hours of trolling. Twisted line causes lures to spin even when perfectly rigged. Every few trips, let all your line out behind the boat with no lure attached, troll for 5 minutes, and reel it back in under light tension. This removes twist.

Use 13" Octopus Skirts over ballyhoo rigs to add bulk and stability. A heavier skirt can mask minor rigging imperfections and keep the bait tracking straight.

Water Temp, Color, and Structure: Are You Fishing in the Right Place?

Your gear can be perfect and your speed dialed in, but if you're trolling over dead water, nothing bites.

Water temperature. Every pelagic species has a preferred temperature range. Mahi want 74-82 degrees. Wahoo prefer 72-80 degrees. Yellowfin tuna feed actively at 72-78 degrees. If your surface temp is outside the target range, you're in the wrong water.

Temperature breaks. Where warm and cool water meet, baitfish concentrate and predators follow. A 3-5 degree change over a short distance is worth fishing. Troll along the break, not through it. Stay on the warm side.

Water color. Clean blue water holds offshore pelagics. Green water means too much inshore nutrient load. The transition from green to blue (the "color change") is a productive zone.

Structure. Weed lines, floating debris, temperature breaks, current rips, ledges, and FADs all concentrate baitfish. Trolling over featureless open ocean with no temp break and no visible structure is hoping for luck, not fishing.

The honest truth: If you burned six hours with no bites, the most likely explanation is wrong water. Speed and gear matter, but location matters more.

The Checklist I Run When Nothing Is Working

When the spread goes dead, I run through this in order. Each step takes 5 minutes or less.

1. Check speed. Verify GPS speed against target for your species. Adjust by 1-2 knots in each direction.

2. Check every lure. Pull each line in, inspect for seaweed, spinning, bent hooks, or dead ballyhoo. Replace anything that's not tracking clean.

3. Change depth. Add a planer or weight to at least one line. If everything is on the surface, drop something to 30 feet.

4. Vary the spread. Swap one lure for a different type. If you're running all skirted lures, add a diving plug. Try a Black Mirror Wahoo Bullet Jet on the shotgun or an Epic Axis Wahoo Lure on a flat line. Make sure your leader material matches the target - piano wire for wahoo, Diamond Fluorocarbon for mahi. Mixed spreads outperform uniform spreads.

5. Check water conditions. Read the surface temp. Look at water color. Are you on a break, a weed line, or a color change? If not, run until you find one.

6. Change direction. If you've been trolling east for two hours, turn west. You might be paralleling a temp break instead of crossing it.

7. Slow down and live bait. If lures aren't working, stop and put out live bait or chunk cut bait around any structure you find. Run a Schoolie Dolphin Daisy Chain as a teaser to attract fish to the boat while you pitch live baits.

8. Ask someone. VHF channel 68 or 72 is the fishing channel. A simple "anyone seeing any action?" gives you real-time intel. No shame in asking.

If you've checked all eight and still have zero bites, it might genuinely be a bad day. They happen. But this checklist eliminates the controllable variables. Browse our offshore trolling lures collection to make sure your tackle box covers the full range of presentations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are my trolling lures spinning?

The most common cause is a badly rigged ballyhoo that's misaligned or lost its bill. Diving plugs spin when seaweed catches on the lip or a hook is bent. Twisted mainline also causes spinning. Check each lure at the boat before deploying.

How do I know if my spread is running right?

Pull each lure to the boat and watch it track in the water at idle speed. It should swim straight with a steady, rhythmic action. On the troll, a smooth, even pulse on the rod tip indicates proper tracking.

What trolling speed for mahi?

6-8 knots is the standard mahi trolling speed. Vary speed by 1-2 knots periodically to trigger reaction strikes.

Should I change lures if I'm not getting bites?

Yes, but don't change everything at once. Swap one lure at a time and fish it for 20-30 minutes. Check speed, depth, and water conditions before blaming the lures.

How deep should my lures run?

Cover multiple depth zones. Run surface lures on outriggers, a diving plug at 10-15 feet on a flat line, and a planer rig at 30-40 feet. Fishing only one depth misses most of the water column.