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| What is the best way to troll in cold fall conditions, slow, fast, propwash, or deep.
Which to you prefer and why? | |
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| No one wants to jump on this one?
Jason, no standard answer for this one, other than USUALLY slowing the presentation down is important in the cold water period. I would say that there are times, even during cold water, when a faster presentation will really rack up some fish. I find that the baitfish will generally tell you what you can expect to see work best from a speed standpoint. Lots of suspended baitfish up high in the water column over open water indicates extremely active fish, and generally, aggressive predators. Low baitfish means slow it down. When fish hug the weeds, I try to keep the speed moderate - around 4 mph seems to be a good all around choice, although I will bump this up or down .5 mph to see what happens.
I would caveat the comment about slowing down to a topic I have spoken to several other guides about. Typically, when you slow your presentation down to a certain level, the attack plane of a muskie changes. A slow moving bait - say 2.5 mph or less, will often be hit directly from behind by a larger fish. However, keep that bait in the 3.5 - 4 + mph range, and the muskie will more likely hit the bait from the traditional lateral position. This is important, because of you modify baits as I do, you may have to unmodify them in order to run them very slow and not risk losing fish that hit from the backside where they may be no hooks.
I run a mix of short and long, and always one in the wash if possible. For example, nailed a couple of good fish yesterday short-lining 10" Believers with 6 to 8 feet of line out the sides at 4 mph. Fish would NOT touch anything else.
I generally mix up my colours, depths, and set-back distances until I see a pattern develop in one area or another. Then all baits adjust to that pattern.
Hope this helps,
Steve Wickens | |
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| Usualy at 50 degree water temprature I push the slow button and slow down to 2.5 mph and work crunching bottom or near bottom on 25 to 35 foot structure with big deep diving crankbaits.Best time of the day is high noon the warmest time with direct sunlight on the water,best action has been from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM for Hawgs. | |
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Pro's "The cold troll"