| My home lake is very eutrophic. Water is heavily stained with suspended sediment - visibility was all of 6 inches last weekend. You can't see follows and are fishing blind with every cast you make. Weeds are the predominant structure here... and there isn't a straight weed edge in the entire lake. I find I can contact many more active fish (and bigger ones too) trolling than casting. And, I get far better hooksets trolling (good rod holders are a MUST!) Trolling also gives me more options for bait presentations under a variety of conditions, while allowing me to cover lots of water.
Even when not on my home lake, I prefer trolling to casting. Most guys do not troll a structure thoroughly - different directions and angles - and miss fish. They don't familiarize themselves with the details of a structure or why the fish relate to certain aspects of it over others. Nor do many anglers understand the three dimensional aspect of trolling. For pressured fish, I find trolling is much more productive. Nothing more frustrating than having lots of follows but no hitters. With trolling, they hit or they don't. Yes, you get followers, but there are ways to make them hit too!
I equate my style and approach to trolling as a derivation of the "high percentage muskie fishing" phrase coined by Mark Windels back in the 1980's as his form of run and gun bucktail fishing evolved. It works for me!
Steve Wickens |
