trolling out in front of the boat

[Foxy Jig]

hey guys, hopefully some of you can enlighten me a little bit here

have always trolled out the back of my bass boat..fast, slow, in between you name it

recently i put some new rod holders at the very front of my boat and plan to spider rig out the front with long rods (12-16 ft) like so many ive seen before in tournaments and in pics

my main concern is what type of rig and how much weight you guys use when doing this..seems if it was too light the jigs could end up in the trolling motor..is the goal here to keep the line vertical?..also what kind of speed do you use here in combination with the weight of the jig?

thanks for any replies..ive already learned a lot from this site

[Moose1am]

Slow speed. < 1.0 mph. I like 0.5 mph as measured by gps unit.

Lots of fellows use the long graphite poles. 10ft 12ft and 14ft poles but you can hand hold a 7.5ft long pole at the front of the boat. I do. I sit at the front and have the depth finder mounted up front where I can see it while looking straight ahead of the boat. That way you can get right over the top of a brush pile and hold over that spot while vertical tighlining or moving (hovering) slowly over the brush pile.

I use about 1/4 oz lead weights on top of my 1/16oz jig. At times if it's windy and the boat can't stay slow I may go up to 1/2 oz lead weights. Depends on the lake. I have heard others say they use One Oz lead. My poles are light weight graphite and they get heavy after a day of dragging 1/2 oz lead though the water for 8 hours.

There are many ways to troll and I am sure that others will tell you how they do it thier way.

I don't fish with more than two poles at a time so I normally don't have a problem with the line getting into the trolling motor. I bet that he other guys i here that fish with multiple poles will give you some tips on how to do it.

hey guys, hopefully some of you can enlighten me a little bit here

have always trolled out the back of my bass boat..fast, slow, in between you name it

recently i put some new rod holders at the very front of my boat and plan to spider rig out the front with long rods (12-16 ft) like so many ive seen before in tournaments and in pics

my main concern is what type of rig and how much weight you guys use when doing this..seems if it was too light the jigs could end up in the trolling motor..is the goal here to keep the line vertical?..also what kind of speed do you use here in combination with the weight of the jig?

thanks for any replies..ive already learned a lot from this site

[crappieseeker]

How about everyone who has pictures of their boat spider rigged, post the pics for the rest of us to get some ideas.

[Barnacle Bill]

I fish 8 poles on the front of my 16 ft boat with no problems. If this weather ever breaks, I'll try to post of picture of it rigged.

[whiplash]

hey guys, hopefully some of you can enlighten me a little bit here

have always trolled out the back of my bass boat..fast, slow, in between you name it

recently i put some new rod holders at the very front of my boat and plan to spider rig out the front with long rods (12-16 ft) like so many ive seen before in tournaments and in pics

my main concern is what type of rig and how much weight you guys use when doing this..seems if it was too light the jigs could end up in the trolling motor..is the goal here to keep the line vertical?..also what kind of speed do you use here in combination with the weight of the jig?

thanks for any replies..ive already learned a lot from this site

I use 14 ft. WM polls out the front here in FL. ,6 in front and 4 in back and sides the 2 polls out in front catch 80% of the fish --- using 1/8 oz. roadrunners with different color tubes --very seldom go over .05 [gps] but we ,re not fishin over 5 to 7 ft.
whiplash

[kunes]

dp--I got your message on the other board. We'll nitestalk sometime soon. Get that boat of yours rigged up and we'll do some trolling too. I tried using my downriggers and it worked pretty well but it's a 2 man operation for sure.

[hawkeye]

dp,
I will also try and post pics of my set up when I go next time. I have two adjustable Driftmaster rod holders in front that hold four rods a piece. The adjustables are better in the front. In case I have a partner, I have two fixed holders in the back that hold two rods a piece. Here is a article and pic of spider rigging.

http://www.in-fisherman.com/magazine...f0403_Crappie/

[whizkids]

Most guys in NC and SC use 3/4 oz sinkers in the winter and troll no more than .3 on the GPS. In fact most slow trollers use another type speed indicator.
Whether the baits get into the trolling motor or not depends on the length of rod and speed. I don't recommend anything less than 14 ft.
If you have a 14 ft rods fishing 10 ft. deep no amount of speed will put your bait into the trolling motor.
Ideally you don't want your bait to get under the boat, but at some depths I don't know that it matters.
You can move at .5 on the GPS with a 3/4 oz. sinker and fish 20 feet with 14 ft. rods and the bait will not be under the boat.
I ran my on unoffical experiment and I don't find sinker size a detriment to the bite in most water. I used 1/2, 3/4, and 1 oz.
In dead calm and bright sunlight it may make a difference.
I use 14 ft. Wally Marshalls and while 1 oz. is an exception, they will handle that sinker at slow speed.
In my opinon you need enough weight to keep the rod tip still, so you can see a small nibble. The fish will not aalways hook themselves like they generally will when long lining. Sometimes the bite is a release of pressure on the tip.
In choppy water a small sinker will alloy the rod tip to jump erratically. In cold water conditions that is not usually a good thing.
Ron Capps and Steve Coleman popularized slow vertical trolling, by winning a lot of money with the tactic. I recommend their book as a place to start. I am not a big fan of their two hook rig, but for younger fisherman it may work well. They keep me in a tangle all the time. The book is $9.50 from the address below.

Winning Crappie Secrets ... Slow Vertical Trolling

http://www.monstercrappie.com/Products.cfm

Good fishing.

Wayne

[PanMan_VA]

How about everyone who has pictures of their boat spider rigged, post the pics for the rest of us to get some ideas.

I'm not spider rigged, but can troll eight rods at a time with two people in the boat. I only use four to six rods when I'm alone. I use 14' rods up front, 9' rods in the middle, 6' rods aft, and 5' rods from the back. This way, the lines don't tangle and stay clear of the trolling motor when turning.

Pictures of my boat and a few nice fish can be viewed at:

http://members.cox.net/keith.w.davis

Next time I'm out fishing, I'll get some pictures with the rods out for my website.

[GABoy]

I will troll 16 rods at a time....8 in front and 8 in back....I don't have any pics of it fully set and trolling, but I will work on that......

We troll at any speed between 1.3 - 2.0 depending on the weather, depth you want to be at and jig head size, etc.....lots of variables.....