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Posts: 10
| Hi guys, looking to try trolling on green bay this year, dont have much of a clue what I need for equip. I.E. how long of rods, action, cheap or expensive, what kind of line to run, how long of leaders, how big of baits, or certain patters that outperform others, can I used my boards that I use for walleye(offshore), trolling speeds, I have been looking on the internet and reading old musky hunter mags but havent come up with a lot of "basic" starting points, more tips and tricks I guess, but I need to first get the equip. Also not sure if my rod holders will suffice, I have some attwood rodholders but I compared them to a folbe and they seem less sturdy. Not sure how much of the weight is absorbed through the rod. I've only been trolling for muskies once and it was unproductive, so I dont know a whole lot, only know what I've learned from trolling for walleyes. Any help or info is very appreciated. |
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | Greg thomas has great video "Spring time Muskies" that will get you going. The only real difference would be line count. |
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Posts: 14
| how do you go about finding that video? I tried looking it up under videos and also looked on youtube with no avail. |
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Posts: 1185
Location: Wishin I Was Fishin' | Hire Denise Radloff or Brett Jolly, they will show you how to do it. Confidence in what you're doing is worth the price alone. I'd offer my services but I don't have a captains license. There are way to many details to write a response. Many people say trolling is easy...those are the ones who don't do it. |
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Posts: 968
Location: N.FIB | www.muskytackleonline.com has the gregg thomas video,the weed fishing video that he put out last year is the one you want about trolling,very detailed.Both videos are great and not just another video,but a video you can learn alot from.
Edited by CASTING55 6/8/2009 7:20 PM
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Posts: 21
Location: Sturgeon Bay WI | You by all means can sit in your living room and watch videos or hire a guide, or just get out and use some trial and error-
Here is some of my setup, which I have been using on the bay the last 4 or 5 years for musky-
Rods all 7.6-8fters, secured with scotty rod holders. I have all types of rods out..LOL.. cheap is not all that bad, you just have to have your DRAG set right!! --Let the outside rod/board out first on each side and work your way to the boat. You mention you have trolled so I will skip this.
Reels, have line counters, mine are cheaper Daiwas, work very well!
Line I use, mostly cortland or any heavier braid - 80-100lb, with a HEAVY fluorocarbon or steel leader. The key is to have your drag set properly, seems somewhat light, but you dont want to much strain when that fish hits. You can tighten it up as you need once the rod is out of the rod holder, and the boat is in nuetral.
Baits on Green Bay vary, depending on where you are fishing. IMO, I dont use a really huge bait here. Smaller crank baits have done really well for me! Bright on the lower bay/river, more natural the farther you head up to SB.
As far as your boards, you should be fine with those. If you have trolled walleyes for a bit, you have the basics, just translate each variable properly for the situation. Some of Green Bay is trolling shallow rock, some shallow weeds, some deep open water. So you will have to change variables as you go along.
Its seriously trial and error, you can get good at anything until you get out there and try it over and over. The key with trolling is repeatability!!!!!!!
Here is a pic from last week, on the Fox, with my good buddy!!!
Edited by MuskyHavoc 6/9/2009 9:49 AM
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 foxrivertrolling.jpg (68KB - 480 downloads)
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| Question....
Does anyone ever have any luck trolling at night time thru early morning.... 9pm-6am?
Seems like most fish hookups are in daylight/dawn/dusk times.
Thanks!
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Posts: 155
| Just get out there and do it,Experence is the best teacher...Otherwise I, recomend Shep... |
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| Please take note that you can troll too deep, but you can never run the lines too shallow....BR |
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Posts: 7113
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | One thing I've found is that you don't need to break the bank when you're gearing up with rods and reels for multi (talking 6-9 at a time) rod trolling for muskies. You can spend more than you imagined if you WANTED TO, but for minimal amount, you can get quality reels and rods without paying an arm and a leg. I know alot of people will recommend the Diawas, but I can only speak to my experience with the Okuma Magdas. They're inexpensive (note I didn't say cheap) at $40-45 per and in my boat over the last three years they've been almost bulletproof. Yeah, I broke two, one I sat on (caught my fall from going in the drink) and broke the handle off and the other I spun the drag knob all the way off and into the water it went (no one said I was careful in the boat).
For boards I use yellowbirds with the beefed-up OR-18 clips so I can use superline and pull larger lures. I also like to put a heavier duty back clip on just to make me all that much less worried about losing a board in high winds or high seas. For board rods I have two sets of 10' Okuma Mooching rods. The added length keeps the rods away from my other lines. For the reel I use Magda 45s as the larger spool makes for easier cranking of the heavy boards.
For my down rods I use either an 8' Okuma MH classic rod or a Shimano Heavy TDR 8'er. I like the Magda 30s for a down rod.
My funky monkey with muskie trolling is that I run downriggers with 7' Okuma Classic Rods with Magda 20s. It looks cooky having riggers out on a body of water as small as the Fox Chain in IL, but it allows for much quicker/violent turns without fear of crossing lines.
Good luck!
God I love trolling! |
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