Trolling

              Trolling is an old fishing technique, formerly quite popular in both the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea.  At present, trolling still continues mainly on the Andaman side, where the open sea still ensures good fishing grounds.  Fishing is done from 5-10 m long inboard-powered fishing boats.  Two 5-6 m long bamboo, wooden or iron-pipe rods are fixed on the sides of the boat, with 3-4 trolling lines fastened at the tip and the middle of the rods.  The fisherman, who controls the boat from the stern, holds another line.  In all, four to five lines are operated simultaneously.  One line consists of 30-100 m of steel wire (08.-1.0 mm) joined with a swivel to 3-6 m of nylon monofilament (1.1-1.2 mm), plus 80-100 cm of stainless steel wire, ending in first an ordinary hook and then a twisted hook.  Fresh mackerel is used as bait.  Fishing is conducted preferably as sunrise and sunset.  The trolling speed is 3-5 knots.  The best fishing grounds are around islands, rocky underwater hills, shoals and fish shelters.  The most common catch is Spanish mackerel, but the giant queen-fish, dolphin-fish, bonito and barracuda are also caught.  The gear can be found on the west coast of southern Thailand, in Khuraburi of Ranong, and Ban Pakbara of Satun province, and on the eastern seaboard in the Gulf, in Chantaburi and Trat province.  Crews of trawler sometimes fish with trolling lines.
              Squid trolling is more popular among small scale fishermen target on bigfin reef squid (Sepiotheutis lessoniana)