How fast is too fast for trolling live baits?

[Uncle_Tomas]

Originally Posted by SoCalEDC

I don't think I could outrun any of the fish I target if i wanted to. They all eat the nomad at about 4-4.5mph and that's when im working fairly hard since that thing creates so much drag.

My primary concern is killing the bait or causing it to spin. If I am trolling a live bait I can probably manage 4.5mph with a fairly relaxed tempo, and that's ideal because I can cover a lot of ground, but if the bait is dead or spinning like a flasher it negates the purpose lol

I would say keep it simple and don’t over complicate things.
You are trolling nomads at 4.5 mph because they don’t have the right action when trolling slower.
Live mackerel already comes with desired “action” so the speed in my opinion is not that important. Do mackerel move around at 4+ mph most of the day?? They don’t.
I believe both of my YT out of LJ ate my mackerel while slow trolling or drifting.

Good luck!