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Posts: 39
| Hi guys..recently I have been trying to learn more and more about fish roaming open water and I would really like to gain knowledge on how to catch fish trolling open water. The main reason for this is so I can bring my grandpa fishing because he loves fishing but could not cast a big lure all day long. It would be nice to add to my arsenal also for everyday fishing. I have never done it but I know the goal is to find bait. But what I would like to know is how guys that do it often go about it. Do you find bait fish and mark them and then troll? Do you troll relative to any structure? Also, what depth do you typically start out at? Basically any info would be awesome and I would really appreciate it! Thanks! |
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Posts: 787
Location: Delavan, WI | your best bet is to get Tom Gelb's book as it focuses on this subject |
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Posts: 271
Location: davis,IL | That's a loaded subject. Yes, I would say read all you can about it, but I will tell you this....it won't really start making sense till you get out and spend time on the water. Have the best electronics you can afford, and instead of racing from spot to spot all time, run at trolling speeds and watch your graphs closely. The key here is to try and see for yourself how baitfish relate to structure, the more you see on the water the more what you read about it will make sense. I can tell you that sometimes everything you have read on the subject will seem dead on....other times not. Pay close attention to details, weather, water, temperature,(air and water) and time of year. While I personally have not cracked the "open water bite" to my satisfaction, I have put some decent fish in the boat trolling open water. |
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Posts: 386
| I troll A LOT more than most people do in the area that I fish and learned it from a guy that's been doing it for 30 years. I'm not sure on your location but on my local lakes, it's all about the bait....imagine that. I don't structure troll much, but the 35-50' flats around deep holes see my time the most. Sometimes bait is deep, like over 25' down. Those are the tough days. But when you get a good overcast cloudy day with a decent wind, watch out. That bait will usually ris to 15-20' and things can get crazy. I troll a lot this time of year until the surface Temps get to 70 and then start casting. Start trolling again around October 10th. |
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Posts: 455
| I have never have found a body of water where open water produces better than structure trolling. Unless the whole lake is open water. (LSC) Also smaller lakes with limited open water are more productive. Follow contours and deep structure and you will catch more most often. Just won a tourney trolling structure yesterday. Others were in open water. The fish are out there it`s just easier to contact them on travel routes or shoals where they hang out. |
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Posts: 116
| A mistake I made when I started was that I overwhelmed myself with too many lures. I have long since narrowed it down to 4 or 5 lures styles although I might carry many different colors of each. I took the time to learn exactly how each style runs and how deep. There are so many things to learn by spending time doing it but for me my first bit of confidence came from knowing how deep my lures were running. That's the easy part. The hard part is knowing where to run them in the water column based on all of the known factors you have for that day. The crazy part is that the very next day, the same spot on the same body of water everything can and often times is totally different. Get yourself a few linecounters, pick a few proven lures and start playing around. It could be fun for the two of you to learn together. |
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Open Water Trolling