Fishing has always been a part of my life. I grew up king mackerel fishing at the Florida Gulf Coast any time I could. I came to realize bait presentation was a big part of our success in those early days. We were fishing with dead cigar minnows and just daisy-chained a couple of J-hooks together and that was the rigging. We trolled those baits beside the boat and tweeked and re-rigged until they swam perfectly. We didn't drop back any crappy baits.
I have never wavered from my belief that bait presentation is a critical component of offshore success. Practice and perseverance helped me to get increasingly better pin-rigging ballyhoo, but I always felt there had to be a better way. I used everything that came on the market to help my ballyhoo troll well.
Starting in 2018, I decided to see if I could build a better mousetrap. I believed two things were critical for a successful design. First, it had to work and optimize the way baits trolled. Ballyhoo and cigar minnows were the target baitfish because that is what I used in my own fishing. Secondly, it had to be easy to use. I had come across things in past that worked, but they were difficult and slow to rig.
First One Ever!
I remember distinctly the day we dropped the first TrollTrue lures back in the spread. I knew they would swim well and would catch fish, but there was no substitute for that first ever strike. It was a modest size mahi, but it was the culmination of a lot of work.
If you are happy with how you are rigging dead baits, then TrollTrue may not be for you and that's fine. If you are not happy with your baits, our lures provide an easy and reliable alternative to pin-rigged ballyhoo for anglers looking to just get offshore and catch fish. Anyone can rig ballyhoo and cigar minnows using our lures and rigging method.
When TrollTrue was launched in March 2019, my goal was to share my experiences and my frustrations with what was available to get my baits to run like I thought they should. Since then, I've been able to share TrollTrue with hundreds of anglers literally around the world. In that process, I have met many interesting people and heard may great stories. Along the way, I think we have helped people better enjoy their time offshore. My lures are proudly made in the US and hand painted to deliver the performance you demand offshore.
Capt. David Rose