Originally Posted by
crappiepappy
... it is what it says it is :p --- fishing straight down, with a tight line (no float, no casting/retrieving, no boat movement) ... or what my grandparents used to call "still fishing"
(ie - sitting still and fishing straight down over the side of the boat).
IMHO ... if you're boat is moving, or you're using a float, then you ain't tight lining.
... cp
I guess any of my past references about tight lining will have to be discarded since I hardly ever fish anchored or tied up since my boat is usually moving about.
My preferred way of fishing is using tandem jigs and usually with a rod in each hand and hanging those jigs off of each side of the boat and slowly moving around. If I'm marking fish at 15 ft I will have 12 to 15 ft of line pulled off my rod tip plus the distance my rod tip holds above the water. Generally I like to have the line hanging straight down from the rod tip because I will know at which depth I'm running my jigs. While working open flats, channels or channel edges I use two rods but will use one rod when working closer to and tight into brush or bouncing jigs on the bottom and into the rock crevices in riprap.
I consider it trolling or maybe flat lining if I'm letting the baits trail at some variable distance way behind the boat as it moves through the water something I usually do trying to target walleyes and will catch some crappie while fishing for the eyes but have probably caught more legal eyes while actually targeting crappie.
At times when tight lining I have found that the crappie will prefer a faster moving bait and then I will move around fast enough that the line doesn't hang straight down from my rod tips. Fishing this away the line is still tight enough that a good thump can be felt when the jig is picked up.
Early on during my crappie fishing education I thought it would be nice to learn spider rigging or crank bait trolling with the rods placed into holders but discovered for me it was more important in feeling the thump than just getting fish into the boat. Now a competitive tournament type fisherman just would not be very successful with that kind of attitude about fishing.
So now I'm looking for a descriptive name for the type of fishing I am doing even though that method's results can usually best be described with the familiar phrase of 'sucking hind teat'. :D
Then again, I can't remember just which it was, either Jerry Blake or Daryl Morris coming up with the phrase 'hovering' which at time describes what I'm doing even though I don't use minnows except during the summer trying for the shallow summer slabs around standing timber.
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