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| Going to start trolling soon..just wondering if theres any websites out there strictly with tips etcccc on the art of trolling maybe a video...growing up in WI and normally bass fishing my entire life, i dont know to much aboouth this...any help would be greatly appericated...thank guys |
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Posts: 688
Location: Northern IL | SVT,
You are on the right track so far! There is a a huge difference between an art, and dragging baits around aimlessly looking for bait fish. There are reasons to troll, trolling teaches us the bottom make up of the lake and teaches where to cast. If your desire is to become a better fishermen then learning to troll properly is your 1st step so you might as well learn from the greatest troller that ever was:
http://buckperry.com/ |
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Posts: 1636
| If that was a joke it made me laugh 
SVT...give me a call. |
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| If that was a joke it made me laugh :)
right...'cause no one ever catches muskies on Spoonplugs.
for you members of Muskies Inc., try a Lunge Log search by lure on "spoonplug".
only 815 muskies caught and registered on that lure, almost all trolling.
that's the kind of joke i want to hear.
a relevant comment by Steve Worrall from a different thread:
Desire to always learn, acceptance one doesn't and never will 'know it all', ability and willingness to adapt to new waters and conditions...
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Posts: 20211
Location: oswego, il | Brandyn, I know Jerry and if you of his succeses, or most any of us for that matter, we might just sell all our musky stuff! I have met other spoonpluggers and, yes it is a different way of thinking and fishing than what we are used to but it is a real eye opener to hear them tell you where they are catching fish, compared to where we may be fishing for them. |
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Posts: 1636
| I didnt say they dont work. Have fun with your spoonplugs :)
Edited by Reelwise 10/9/2007 8:44 PM
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| 2 guys to talk to about trolling for musky; Joel Michel (Tuffy1) and Dennis Radloff (Sterling Guide Service). These guys know their stuff when dealing with these toothy critters in a MAJOR way. Info about Dennis AND Joel can be found at www.sterlingmusky.com. Awesome guys, awesome fishermen and teachers of the art of musky "hunting". |
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Posts: 146
Location: where the fish are... | read something interesting about long line trolling in essox mag. didnt finish the article tho. Ryan see you in the morning bud |
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| Reelwise - 10/9/2007 8:07 PM
If that was a joke it made me laugh
SVT...give me a call.
Ill give you a call man....just never really done it before, well never really done it the right way I guess i sohuld say... |
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| gregg thomas has a video out, "weed fishing" or something like that. covers trolling very well. |
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Posts: 28
| spoon plugs are not the only thing you can troll me and my buddy got out biggest fish (51in) trolling jakes over deep water at 3.0mph |
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Posts: 82
Location: Cottage Grove, Mn |
"Spoonplugging" by Buck Perry |
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Posts: 35
| The 2007 fall issue of Esox Angler magazine is full of trolling articles. |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Gregg Thomas' Blueprints to Musky Success - Weed Fishing
This is a very educational video... Gregg goes in depth with trolling tactics (rod setups, etc), and explains the important relationship between submergent vegitation and muskies.
I do not think you can find a more comprehensive and demonstrative video on the topic than this. Mad Muskie Productions makes it. m |
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Posts: 226
Location: W. PA. | There's a lot more to trolling than most people think. It's much more than just pulling a couple lures while you have lunch. I break trolling into two categories, open water trolling and structure trolling. Whichever you plan to do it all starts with the same thing, a basic knowledge of the water you will be on and good equipment.
You don't want to use your expensive casting gear for trolling. Those $200 graphite rods will snap once it gets cold. Dipsy rods work well out the sides and the orange eagle claw rods or ugly sticks are cheap for out the back. Line counter reels are a must. The Okumas and Diawas both hold up well. You need good rod holders also. Stay away from the plastic ones, get some down easters and you won't have to worry about one breaking and losing a rod.
When structure trolling the most important thing is knowing where your lure is. It's just like pulling your boat, you have to swing wide on the outside turns. If you're trolling up along a point once you get to the end you can't just turn and go down the other side. The lure is still behind you and when the boat starts to turn so does the lure. The lure crashes into the point like your boat trailer would hit the curb. Inside turns are the opposite, you want to go in further than you want the lure to go and then make the turn or the fish hanging on the edge never see the bait.
The other aspect of lure presentation is depth, this is more important when targeting deeper suspended fish. The old adage "better 20' above 'em than 5' under 'em" is absolutely true. Another thing to consider is the baitfish. We never like to run right through the bait, stay above and below them. Running these large lures right through the middle can break up the bait pods and be counter-productive.
The last point I wanted to mention is electronics. Most of the modern gps units can handle 1000 waypoints and icons, use them. When you're trolling along a complex edge or reef mark a waypoint on each turn, hump or whatever. If you miss one turn around and go back over it and mark it. This is a pain but you only have to do it once and it's there forever. Once you have it marked you can run that edge perfect every time, repetition is the key for trolling.
The reservoirs we fish out East are filled with structure, old railroad beds, road beds, stump fields, laydowns, creek channels, you name it. Knowing where the fish are likely to be and staying on them is how you catch fish consistently trolling.
So many times, especially in the fall, we'll fish the bait all day and not see a hook. Then all of the sudden there are arcs everywhere and you catch 2 or 3 fish in a half hour and it shuts down again. You just have to stay with it until the feeding window opens.
Like most guys I'd rather catch a fish casting than trolling but I play the odds. I'll take 2 or 3 trolled fish to a skunked day casting anytime  Hope this helps you somewhat, there are so many little things that can make a difference but you never put them together until you spend time doing it. Read all you can and put it to practice. You'll be trolling up the big girls in no time.
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Posts: 1504
Location: Oregon | I live in Oregon and we troll alot here for Salmon. One thing I have found that dramatically improves my catch is to watch my trolling speed on a GPS. I have a hand-held GPS that I place right beside me while trolling and I watch it all the time! If it's the slightest bit breezy the wind will trick your eyes into thinking you are going slower or faster than what you really are. Learn to use the GPS and once you have the speed dialed in stick with it! Generally troll faster when the water is warm and slower as it cools.
Good luck!
RM |
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| wow thanks alot guys...great help on this site.. |
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Posts: 227
Location: New Brighton, MN | How about planing boards? My boards seem to slip off the line pretty often with big muskie lures like Jakes and Ernies. Do I need to lock them on tighter somehow?
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| Mine used to do that all the time as well, so I changed out the original clamps with larger and better-made ones. They should be available anywhere you can buy planer boards. Since the swap out, I haven't had a problem whatsoever! |
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| Here's the link to Cabelas just to show you what I'm talking about . . .
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.j... |
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Posts: 227
Location: New Brighton, MN | For $15 a clip, I might as well try to jimmy-rig a tighter spring in there.
That's pretty pricey. I'd rather spend my $$$ on lures. |
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Posts: 272
| Spending that per clip is not necessary. The red ones work just fine. I posed a concern about them, with reference to them burning a groove in the peg, in a different thread (maybe even this one, can't remember)......I'm about 99% sure that I had my spring tension set too light, so the line could slip a little in there. Put new ones on, slid the spring to the tight setting.....golden. Not saying the grooving is gone forever, but it has stopped, or nearly completely stopped for now.
Red ones are approx 9 bux a pair. A friend of a friend found a board floating the other day that had those pads like in the Cabela's link....which means THEY ain't foolproof either.
At least put one red pad in front, or you'll be chasing castaway boards all day, and on EVERY fish you catch. A muskie WILL pull the line through the black pads the yellow OffShore boards come with. I promise. |
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| anyone ever hear of night trolling? and/ or in really dark dirty water?....mono over braided line? ....
Can you start trolling at Ice Out?
Are there any good rod/real combo kits like the ones from Bass Pro with the counters on them, are they any good?
How much line is useally set out? How is the rod for the prop wash bait set up? How far back does it go?...
I know useally you fish the breaks when trolling. How about the shallows come spring? Or even open water?
I have soo many questions when it comes to this. BUT 2008 Im going to be doing it alot. THANKS EVERYONE!!! Im still a young guy trying to learn it all. THANKS!
Edited by SVT 2/25/2008 9:34 PM
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| like these combos?
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/index/index-display.jsp... |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | SVT, you can definitely troll from ice out to ice up. Sometimes it is easier to locate where the fish are concentrated in spring. When I'm trolling in spring, I tend to run very short lines and work pretty shallow water. You want to keep your baits just above the new weeds for the most part and don't be afraid to go fast.
We troll from 2.5 all the way up to 5mph in the spring. Great way to cover shallow flats. Don't be afraid to fish open water as well though. We get quite a few fish on prop wash baits fished over the basins in early spring. The fish that haven't moved up onto the flats are out there feeding, and not down that far.
When I'm fishing baits in the prop wash, I usually have them from about 3 to 10' out. Most of the time, you see the fish jump before you hear the clicker going out on the short lines. It's pretty cool. I loooove short lining jointed believers in the spring, but SSRs work good as well as shallow raiders.
One big thing about fishing shallow in the spring is you're going to work your butt off. Make sure that your bait is right where you want it. Keep an eye on the tips for weeds that have fouled the bait. It takes 2 seconds to clean the baits when running short lines, so do it. Also, you'll see some pretty cool stuff when you are running baits on short lines. Many times (depending on water clairity) you'll see the fish hit if you're watching the baits.
Lots of stuff to try. Get out there and just do it for a day. Also, those BPS reels aren't so bad. I only have one, but it's been holding up for a while. Also, check out the Okumas. The Magdas are good for a lower price, and the Convectors are great as well, and they are just a little more if I remember correctly, than the BPS reels. Shoot me a pm if you have any trolling questions. I'd be more than happy to help ya. |
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Posts: 227
Location: New Brighton, MN | Are "short lines" considered about 30 ft?
Any other lures you like to troll with? bucktails? topraiders? super shads? |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | Short lines meaning from the lenght of a leader (my shortest for this are about 3' to maybe 15'. When I'm running short lines, that's about all I have out, but depending on the situation, there may or may not be wieght added.
Also, I do run bucktails and spinnerbaits as well, but mostly minnowbaits, cranks and jerkbaits.
Edited by tuffy1 2/26/2008 1:41 PM
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Posts: 1636
| I would like to try trolling spinnerbaits. Anyone have any tips? This is something I have never done. Thanks for all the input on this thread. |
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| tuffy1's post summed it up well. For big pike also, the biggest mistake I see people making is trolling way too shallow and way too slow early on. Our ONT Opener is 3rd Sat in June. Weeds are real good by then most years, and trolling well away from them or any other cover can be very good. I second tuffy1's call on the jntd Beleivers too, they just seem to run at the right depth and have the right moves. Like woodie said too, some real goofy, hot colours can be good on any kind of water. Those baits catch muskies from June to December up here, no question about it. Legend Outkasts, 10" Jakes, Shallow Invaders and DepthRaiders all work too. The Super Shad Rap might be the best of them all some years. We do more and more trolling early with Super Topraiders and stuff every year and haven't connected yet, but I think we will. The water's normally around 60-63/64 degrees. Spinnerbaits work awesome for bird dogging fish out of heavy cabbage. They so much lower maintenance than plugs. They're always close to the boat. To check them, just pop the rod out of the holder (I have 5 S-10 Salties on my boat) and bluge the bait up to look at it. At least once a year you'll get bit doing this, it's wild, even with smaller pike. The Super Shad Rap's dynamite in the weeds. Real tight axis of wobble and only two trebles make it come thru really clean most of the time. Even in filthy water (Moon River Basin, Lake Nippissing) plain old perch is our best colour. Baits like Outkasts wander a little more in the weeds but their action is so hard they clean themselves pretty good after contact with cabbage weeds. We use 80 and 100 pound super braid as well as 63# dacron in the shallow slop. In the shallow stuff, one guy runs the outboard and the other guy works the rods, constantly cleaning, checking or shaking off the smaller pike. Over deeper runs, many of the fish we get never show up on the screen, the reel just squaks and its game on. You know it ain't bottom when it's 40' deep and you're down six or eight. I use the SEalines in the little 27's and larger 47's, they are my favorites for all trolling, but the Accu Depths are decent too. My buddy uses Magdas and Convectors and loves them too. For trolling, all the reel does is hold/retrieve line, the rod and holders do all the work, in my opinion. I wish all the fish I caught casting were hooked as well as the ones caught trolling! Most times they're on there good. We run a lot of wire later in summer and into December too with baits like 10" Hookers, Plows, Perchbaits, Ferris Baits, 13" Believers, 14" Jakes, 13" Grandmas, Hose Baits. Lunge Locker Bubble Shads (anybody who has any of these old babies to off load I'm all ears) even little baits like Ernies, Cisco Kidds and Depthraiders. You can get down and stay down 25'+ easily, even with lots of bottom contact, pauses and inside turns. I think trolling's a lot more work than casting, and if you check the Ont stats the last ten years from big-fish water like Niagara R, French R, Georgian Bay, Ottawa R, LSC or the Larry, a disproportionate number of the mangum fish are caught trolling. If you have the option to do it, definitely give it a shot. Trolling surface lures also really opens your eyes to how lures track and respond to boat direction! |
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Posts: 227
Location: New Brighton, MN | Wow. 3-15' is ALOT shorter than I have ever trolled. I guess I assume they won't like the engine noise. Dacron, ever use planing boards? I got a few, but havent' used them a whole lot, cuz they seem like more trouble than they're worth lately. I just haven't gotten a hang of them. I got a few smaller, shallower baits for this spring (6" jake, baby shallowraider, jointed Bomber Long A, 8" jointed believer, super shad) and i plan on trolling them around some shallow 5-10' flats with nice weeds. i'll just run short lines in random S turns until I either run out of gas, or catch somethin. Is it worth it to use planing boards in this situation, or just cast them 10-30 ft off the back of the boat? |
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