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Posts: 29
| I WAS HOPING SOMEONE ON HER COULD HELP ME A LITTLE BIT. I HAVE NEVER DONE IN ANY OPEN WATER TROLLING FOR SKI'S AND NOTICED A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE DOING IT IN MY AREA OVER DEEP WATER. COULD SOMEONE TELL ME THE BASICS OF HOW,WHEN, AND WHERE TO DO IT. SPEED AND BAIT CHOICES WOULD ALSO BE GREAT THANKS FOR THE HELP. |
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Posts: 1529
| watch your graph looking for bait. planer boards are best. to achieve depths needed easterners that troll implement weights inline to get down to the fish. always remember muskies dont see down. try to fish a target area 5 ft. above them. speeds trolling will also affect your catch rates.. hope this helps you a bit. |
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| At a lake near me, there is a big open area of 30-35ft deep water. When the baitfish are balled up 15 feet from the surface seems to be the best time to do it. Nobody that I've seen uses planer boards, they just troll Jakes or Believers behind the boat a ways. |
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Location: Des Moines IA | We've done good running a multi depth spread, outside lines we run in the top third of the water column, inside lines middle third of the water column. We have caught fish around balls of bait fish, and when the sonar shows nothing, so don't be afraid if the sonar shows nothing for a while. The thing I like about trolling is, it's just like sittin' at the bar, with a chance of a 50!!!! |
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Posts: 1764
Location: Ogden, Ut | MuskieMike - 7/3/2008 8:58 AM
We've done good running a multi depth spread, outside lines we run in the top third of the water column, inside lines middle third of the water column. We have caught fish around balls of bait fish, and when the sonar shows nothing, so don't be afraid if the sonar shows nothing for a while. The thing I like about trolling is, it's just like sittin' at the bar, with a chance of a 50!!!!
I do something similar to Mike, but I have no real 'balls of baitfish' to deal with here; everything's pretty much random. I just try to spread my presentation to maximize the amount of water I'm effectively covering. Kind of like dragging a big rake through the water. As you become more comfortable with the technique, you will begin to refine it based on your individual needs and let successes of the past dictate the presentations you will use. Good advice above about running over the top of the fish too.
I pay attention to my graph, but I don't live and die by it. Try to identify things that may make one 'open water' spot better than another, it's not always bait-related. I can probably count on one hand the number of fish I've caught that my graph identified for me before they hit (of course, I fish a lake w/ a lot of carp, so identifying the difference in a sonar signature of them vs. a muskie is beyond me).
s. |
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Posts: 64
Location: st clair shores, MI | Out here on St Clair i run planer boards and boat rods. For boat rods my favorite set up is 1lb weight and 10ft line out on a down rod next to the prop wash and my favorite board rod set up is 2 oz and 25 ft of line out before the clip. A few other board rod set up i like to run are 4 and 30 1 and 40 and i will sometime run a bucktail on the outside board rod set up at 2 oz and 50 to 60 ft. Speed i usually troll between 3.7 and 4.5 mph.Another thing i do now and then is stall your boards by makeing a sharp turn so one board speeds up and the other slows down. Keep you eye on your graph and when you find fish keep working the area changing your set ups till you pinpoint the setup that works best.A pet peave of mine that my brother hates is when you get a fish reset you line so your bait is in the same position for example if you are running 3 board rods on one side and you get a fish on the outside rod reset that bait back on the outside rod.Dont just slide the other rods out and put it on the inside. Another thing is make sure you keep you lines clean of any floating weeds you might pick up. |
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Posts: 1887
Location: syracuse indiana | hey agarofalo what kind of rod do you use for the 1lb system man thats alot of weight...
the rods i troll with are the pm series bass pro 8ft rods and i know they wont handle that. and i use them in the propwash but would not handle that weight to get the bait down....also what kind of line are you using too....bill |
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Posts: 255
Location: MadCity Wisconsin | Ranger 620........Open water trolling is basically related to finding pods of baitfish. Look for panfishing anglers on the lake. When you see them out in 25-40' of water you know they are on to some good fishing and the muskies will be there as well. Strike up a conversation with the panfishing anglers and ask what they are catching. If its perch go with perch colored baits, bluegills go with thay color, etc.
If you dont see anglers out there make a few swings out deep and look for baitfish on your locator. More the spot with your GPS, note the depth and go at it. As the water warms up in summer the baitfish move deeper, its just a matter of finding the schools of baitfish.
Best of luck, |
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Posts: 1529
| most guys use a 10ft dipsey rod for 1lb balls. catfish rods are good also. |
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Open Water Trolling