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| Starting to purchase tackle for trolling. Got the rods and reels picked out now just wondering what you all like to drag behind the boat. From research im seeing smaller cranks for summer and larger for fall. Seems like a lot of guys like the believers in jointed and non jointed. Any others that you would recommend picking up? I currently have a few of each: beleivers, cranes, grannies, depth raiders. |
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Posts: 525
| Jakes, head locks, big shallow raiders are a few I like as well... |
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Posts: 864
Location: NE Ohio | the new 4" BAKER'S rock! had huge success with them last summer. |
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Posts: 944
| Believers and Jakes are good.
Muskie Trains are one of my best. The MX6 and MX9 have put a lot of 50"+ fish in the boat for me. The Diesel and MX 7.5 are good also.
The Scuba line from Big Game 7.5 and 5" are good also.
If you are trolling shallow the SS Shad and Shallow Invaders are killers.
Jeff Hanson
madisonmuskyguide.com |
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| The lake I typically fish the most is deep. there is a river channel running through the main lake that bottoms out at around 50ft. with the break at about 25-30ft so im looking to mostly be fishing the 15-20 ft range.
As far as rods go im looking at the shimano TRD in the 9'6" MH 2 piece design. Would you prefer MH or H. Anybody running one of these rods? I'm a little leery about going with a 2 piece rod. |
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Posts: 241
| Ya mon.
I troll with the TDR-80H2B Heavy Action.
It is a great rod for the money. I like the stiffness for burying the tips in the water to help fend off weeds and lifting planer boards. They are as indestructible as Ugly Stiks. They get plenty of abuse when clearing lines and tossing them out of the way during the fire drills.
I trolled salmon for years and had two-piece rods, never an issue and never had a problem with these TDR's. They are cheap enough - just epoxy them at the ferrule if you are worried. Glue the two pieces and problem solved. The foam grip takes a beating in the DE's and have help up nicely.
You won't be disappointed.
Backdraft |
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Posts: 218
| Slammers (especially the 7" deep), Legend Perch, Depthraiders, Scubas, Hookers, |
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Posts: 1529
| what time of year. baits have a time and place.?
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Posts: 20218
Location: oswego, il | Like woodie said, this is such an open ended question every answer is a correct one. Lake, structure and fish location will dictate what to troll. If the lure works being pulled behind the boat, it can be trolled. Bucktails, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits, topwater, even rubber baits can be trolled. |
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| Sorry guys I guess I was looking more for what lures you guys typically find yourselves using most often. I have a few hundred lures for casting but only use a handful that I feel confident in, I guess I just figured trolling was similar. Some of the posts above replied with lures that I would have never thought of purchasing so I got what I was looking for. Thanks. |
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | I like ernies and depth raiders. |
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Posts: 1529
| for trolling mid summer we like 6-7 inch lures. on planer boards. baits that will wander side to side at optimum speeds work best. we target the top 5-8ft . in fall we change up to straight baits mainly in 8-10 inch. straight baits give the illusion of moving slower ,thus in colder water temp periods musky will engulf. my top choices are what we make. chewies or georgies.. theres many reputable custom bait builders that tweek,to get the exact formula for big fish. |
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Posts: 431
| Back when I used to troll, 6-8inch straight ziggies did the best. The more boring colors seemed to be the best. |
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Location: MN | I don't troll much but headlocks and Palegics have put fish in my boat. You could get the 10 inch headlock if you think the regular 12 is too big for your waters. Matlocks are also a good choice.
I run the tdr and it's a great rod for the buck. The longer the rod the less stiff it is in the same weight category. My 86 mh is much more flimsy than my buddies 8 mh. Not sure if that holds true with the 2 piece. |
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| Dont give a two piece a 2nd thought, they work fine......in fact if the joint could be concealed, Id wager most could not detect a difference in performance. Its one of the myths that seems to persist but has no basis in reality. |
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Posts: 119
| I really like the big tuff shads |
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Posts: 101
| Cover6's will be hot next year! ?? get em @ Milwaukee show |
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Posts: 688
Location: Northern IL | Just curious why, If you have a dominate breakline at 25-30' in the area being fished why would you limit the depth of your trolling or lures to 15-20' of depth? |
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Posts: 540
Location: Leech Lake, Walker MN | Shadzilla or a Bulldawg with 6oz of lead 8 ft in front of the bait and BOOM !!! |
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| Because i dont know what im doing, it was just an idea. I just started reading buck perrys book about spoonplugging this morning and i have a feeling from what i learned in the first 57 pages that my strategy will change. |
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Posts: 1247
Location: Walker, MN | As far as crankbaits go, I mostly have it trimmed down to headlocks, perch baits, believers, jakes and baby perch baits.
Carry a few with a tight wiggle, a few with a wide wobble and a few with a hard tail kick. Baits like believers run good at slow speeds for late fall trolling when the water is in the 40's.
Shimano TDR 8' Heavy (2pc) is a great all-around trolling rod for almost no money. It handles cranks from 6"-12" very well. I put heat shrink over the grips for a little extra durability, and just because I think it looks cool. |
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Posts: 742
Location: Grand Rapids MN | wisskie - 1/10/2016 5:29 PM
Because i dont know what im doing, it was just an idea. I just started reading buck perrys book about spoonplugging this morning and i have a feeling from what i learned in the first 57 pages that my strategy will change.
You're not wrong by any means with your thought process. Even with a 10' difference between bottom and your bait its not much more than the width of your boat to come up and hit. That's with a fish belly to the bottom. Rarely the lakes I troll have such a steady depth so it really depends on what I'm seeing for structure and bait fish. The same goes for walleyes as I can run baits well over bottom and do better at times. Long story short is most of mine do run down to maybe 18-20' max and use those most of the time (similar basin depths) but I do have some divers that get over that when things just are not coming together.
Main baits are 9"/13" grandmas, 10" jakes, DDD, DR, and as of lately Hammer lures did well for me. I know not an exciting list. I lost my Lengand Plow this year which had nice action, used Hose Shads and they get down there, and last year lost a few fish boat side (netting alone) on the Raven crankbait. The Raven gets down in a hurry. |
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Posts: 688
Location: Northern IL | No problem, enjoy the read!
If you have questions feel free to send a pm or email. |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | I have pretty limited trolling experience as well but I like the TDR 8'H. I think a MH would be on the light side for most musky baits, especially if you add planer boards to the mix. You won't have any problems with the 2 piece construction of those rods.
I mostly troll Jakes, Depthraiders, Grandmas, Big Game Twitchbaits, Custom X minnow baits, jointed Believers, sometimes a DDD, etc. Bought a Talonz 11" Minnow bait that is pretty nice.
I think I know what lake you are on. If I was trolling when the water was less than about 75 degrees I would not rule out some of the 8-10 foot depths either. I always thought about trolling the deep river channels you're talking about mid summer when the fish pushed off the shallow structure but never really did it enough to pay off. Suspended crappie/sucker schools could be something to look for out in that vast basin area as well. |
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| DonPursch - 1/10/2016 5:29 PM
Shadzilla or a Bulldawg with 6oz of lead 8 ft in front of the bait and BOOM !!!
This intrigues me...what kinda depths can I expect with say 100' out and 3mph......go with the 6 ozs lead.
Cheers |
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Posts: 19
| My favorite lures for trolling are Boss Shads, Sledges, Headlocks, Grandmas, Ziggies and Legend Perchbaits. In the early spring I have done well on 550 AC Shiners, Rapala J13 and Musky Train MX4 fishing shallow in the spring. |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | Hose Fatty ....or maybe a Hose Fattie |
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Favorite trolling lures