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Posts: 120
| Which crankbaits do you guys like the most for trolling? I want to get into trolling and I'm looking to see which lures I should try getting. I imagine it likely doesn't make much of a difference, but wanted some more input. |
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Posts: 210
| I'm very fond of the big Hex baits and will occasionally pull a 22 long or a Jake. I gifted a pair big cisco pattern Jakes to a camp owner in Ontario last year and they did very well with them trolling late. It seems that if I am pulling a Matlock and a Hex the Hex seems to get bit.
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Posts: 120
| What size hex do you use? The primary forage around my area is mostly shad, panfish and perch, although there are walleye and carp. I've been trying to use lures more similar in size and shape to the forage, but I've also heard people say matching the hatch isn't always a good idea when it comes to musky fishing. |
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Posts: 1496
Location: Brighton CO. | All of the above plus Ernie, Depth Raider, (both jointed/straight) shallow Raider, Musky Candy, Believer, (jointed/straight), Rapala Super Shad Rap., Countdown Rapala, Legend, Triple D, Len Hartman's Bug, Smittybaits, Cobb's, Bagley db08, Spinnerbait ..... |
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Posts: 120
| chuckski - 10/27/2024 11:13 AM
All of the above plus Ernie, Depth Raider, (both jointed/straight) shallow Raider, Musky Candy, Believer, (jointed/straight), Rapala Super Shad Rap., Countdown Rapala, Legend, Triple D, Len Hartman's Bug, Smittybaits, Cobb's, Bagley db08, Spinnerbait .....
Do you think I should just get a wide variety and troll one of each? I'm new to trolling and just trying to figure out what's going to work best. |
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Posts: 1496
Location: Brighton CO. | Put something in front of them and hope they eat. I've been doing this for 50 years so I have more stuff then I need. |
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Posts: 577
Location: deephaven mn | they all can and will get bit. Jakes Grandmas Slammers and Believers all have caught lots of fish,
Super Naturals are really good too as they wander side to side as well as wobbble the Phantom Hex is similar.
but the cost 3 times as much. Size can matter on certain bodies of water too. Muskies eat prey of all sizes caught them on crappie minnows and 14" baits too. Its just testing and trying if you get bit on one bait put a similar bait out too.
a pattern might develope in a day but might take several days to appear. lean towards gold on cloudy days silver on sunny or natural on sunny bright on cloudy. thats the fun of it trying and testing trolling done right can be very productive.
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Posts: 1262
Location: Walker, MN | Yep, there's no silver bullet. Experiment with size, speed, action and color...see what gets bit. Patterns will change too, so you are trying to hit a moving target. Learn to enjoy the process and the fish will come. |
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Posts: 398
| I have had success with all of the options presented. My first choice are the Supernatural baits. They are pricey for sure but they do differentiate themselves. I agree with others who recommend trying different options, size and color. Starting out that might lead you to try some of the lower cost options. Another custom brand that I have had a lot of success are Ridgeway crank baits. Again they are pricey but they have incredible colors and finish. Finally the more you troll the more you rely on baits that have heavy duty lips because you will usually be bouncing off the bottom at some point when you troll. |
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| Water you are working makes a difference too. When motor trolling was allowed in her in N. WI, tried a couple different things in the river between the lake I live on and the next in the chain. River is shallow and weedy, outside the channel in the middle. A lure that works well for prop wash trolling for me is an 8" jointed Believer, with the snap in the first eye, so it runs higher. Set up like that, with 10 feet of line out, minimum fouling and have caught a number of fish on it. Still can't believe fish will hit right behind the prop but they do.
In deeper water, have had luck with Jake baits, Slammer. |
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Posts: 146
| 50 cal, jake, mattlock, and rapala super shad for weed choked lakes. |
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Posts: 168
Location: Alexandria, MN | As much as I love all of the named options, the 10" Believer has been my most successful trolling bait. Straight model - though the jointed ones are good, too. They're loud, buoyant, and they have a nice "wander" to them. |
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Posts: 406
Location: SW Ohio | This is a great discussion on trolling baits. Our local lake exceeds 100’ for the lower half and over 40’ for the upper. We have a lot of points, a few humps and at least three major 200-300 yr ridge lines. The lower north creek area is a winding 8-15’ with stumps on both sides. The creek itself is 3-10’ right now (winter draw down). Most of the fish caught trolling are in open water, and the predominant forage is shad.
Catching fish trolling has eluded me for the last couple years. I run Jake’s, grants, boss Shad’s, extreme, and Bucher depth raiders. and variety of other lures with no success. Both with my main motor and my kicker at 3-4 mph.
Is speed, lure or depth the most important aspect of trolling? I know it’s a combination but something has to be the first. |
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Posts: 542
Location: NW WI | Does anybody actually fish their "Gringos"?
I |
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| 7.62xJay - 10/31/2024 1:05 PM
Does anybody actually fish their "Gringos"?
I
I got mine through the vet auction and it is on the wall in my shop. To me, it is a combination of art and craft, so don't think I will fish it. |
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Posts: 1359
| I've got two hanging on either side of my tiger replica, that I won't use for the same reason North of 8 mentioned. I do have a smaller one that I have used and caught a fish with. |
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Posts: 1293
Location: WI | Keep it simple. Pick a couple and get black/silver or firetiger, white, common colors that work. I have caught way more fish on Grandmas than others, but sometimes they want a tighter wobble like a Depth Raider, or wide like a Believer. Supernatural Baits are great, but I wouldn’t go spending a lot on a lure if you’re new to trolling.
I have some expensive baits in the boat, but find myself usually sticking to Grandmas, Believers, Big Games, spinnerbaits. Option paralysis is a thing, keep it simple. |
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Posts: 406
Location: SW Ohio | Bought two 9" Classic Grandmas on Tuesday from our local BPS (finally have a decent musky selection). Fished one on Saturday. 1/2 hour of trolling and 1/2 hour of casting and it was sinking already. Took it back and got an exchange. We'll see if the other two leak this weekend. I like how it trolled so I hope they work out. |
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Posts: 3904
| Maybe start with 3 baits, one for shallow (Unweighted Suick, Glide Bait, Shallow Raider, etc), one for mid depth (Jake, Grandma, etc) and one for deep (Depth Raider, Believer, Tripple D, etc).
You can absolutely catch fish trolling a Suick or a Glide Bait. With the Suick, sweep the rod tip forward and stall with slack while moving the rod tip to the rear. With a Glider you can hold your rod tip high and twitch, making the lure "slurp the surface".
My most productive trollers are modified Grandmas and Jakes. I drill a hole, add water till the bait wants to suspend, plug the hole with epoxy then add lead thread to the rear hook shank so the bait stays flat on the stall. Originally did this to make suspending twitch baits, but they also troll deeper and catch fish. I also sweep forward and stall while trolling, the fish almost always strikes on the stall.
(jake grannie pic (2).jpg)
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 jake grannie pic (2).jpg (176KB - 34 downloads)
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Posts: 424
Location: MN | I've tried to find an "answer" to this question by looking at lunge log data for various baits, in particular the size distribution stats. Note the numbers below are slightly out of date, but reflect all of the fish entered trolling specifically for each bait at the time I crunched the numbers.
Bait Total Mean Median %45+ %48+ %50+ %52+ Supernatural 826 42.1 42.0 29.1 13.6 8.2 2.7
Believer 2102 39.0 38.0 16.8 8.7 4.6 1.6
Jake 4683 38.9 38.5 15.4 6.8 3.4 1.0
Grandma 4036 38.0 37.5 12.1 4.6 2.2 0.9 Depth Raider 2142 37.9 37.5 11.7 4.5 1.8 0.7 I also checked this for two lakes where there were a decent number of entries of each (LOTW and St. Clair). Same conclusion. The main difference in those lakes is Jake and Grandma are closer together.
My takeaway is that for convincing big fish, Headlock, Mattlock > Believer > Jake ~ Grandma > Depth Raider and other small cranks That's all in general - of course if you something specific to your body of water, maybe small cranks work better (e.g. super shad raps on Green Bay)
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Posts: 958
| While I have caught plenty of muskys on the baits mentioned I prefer wood baits for trolling and have caught way more 50+ fish on wood than any plastic baits. I can tune them to wander more or have erratic action.
The Muskie Train baits have put a lot of big fish in my boat,
If you have a lot of big forage, then the MX9 is a good one have caught several 50+ on them
Don't be afraid to run smaller baits also. Especially if you have a lot of panfish in your lakes, The Muskie Train Diesel is a small one, but A big fish killer have put lots of 50+ in the boat on them and has been my best bait period for pike over 40"
I got to test the new stretch Diesel that is coming out at Chicago show and did quite well on that also casting and trolling it put several 50+ in the boat and my PB tiger.
Other good small ones are the crazy train and mx6.
Slammers are very good casting baits for me they twitch well.
Jeff Hanson
madisonmuskyguide.com
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| When motor trolling was again allowed in northern WI lakes, one of the first baits I tried was a shallow invader that had working casting. I had read they worked well as a trolling lure. Tried two different ones, at different speeds but action just not there. Seems like it should be a good slow speed lure for trolling, given the tail movement but not for me. |
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Posts: 1359
| North of 8 - 12/10/2024 12:16 PM
When motor trolling was again allowed in northern WI lakes, one of the first baits I tried was a shallow invader that had working casting. I had read they worked well as a trolling lure. Tried two different ones, at different speeds but action just not there. Seems like it should be a good slow speed lure for trolling, given the tail movement but not for me.
Caught my biggest Vermilion fish on a shallow invader. Try faster trolling. We were cruising along about 5 mph. Also caught some nice fish on them on Bald Eagle and White Bear. All going along at a good clip. |
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| TCESOX - 12/10/2024 5:58 PM
North of 8 - 12/10/2024 12:16 PM
When motor trolling was again allowed in northern WI lakes, one of the first baits I tried was a shallow invader that had working casting. I had read they worked well as a trolling lure. Tried two different ones, at different speeds but action just not there. Seems like it should be a good slow speed lure for trolling, given the tail movement but not for me.
Caught my biggest Vermilion fish on a shallow invader. Try faster trolling. We were cruising along about 5 mph. Also caught some nice fish on them on Bald Eagle and White Bear. All going along at a good clip.
Thanks for the help. I know I never went anywhere near that fast, probably topped out at 3.5. |
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