Long Line Trolling During the Summer

[GCD]

I know some people have said they do this, and I just started and have already had good results!

I don't care anything about fighting the dock owners,Crappie, and Bass guys to shoot the docks... y'all can have my share of them!

I know a lot of people use this for a shallow water presentation in the spring, but it works in the summer too!

I upped my jig weight to 1/8 oz on 3 rods and used 3 with 1/16. Earlier in the day I caught fish on the 1/16 in 16-20' of water, but as the sun got higher in the sky and the temps rose to 90* the fished moved deeper and I started catching them on the 1/8 in 20-25' of water.

Jig body color seemed to be pretty important, I tried some dark colors and they didn't even get a sniff... but yellow and white got chewed up real good! I also caught a few fish on yellow and green, but it seemed like they would only bite that one when the sun ducked behind a cloud for a few minutes.

Trolling speed was best at 1 mph, if I went slower I would only catch small Crappie... if I went faster I would start catching too many Stripers. A varied speed seemed to work pretty well too, trolling at 1 mph and then slow down to .8 and then bump it back up to 1 mph... this would usually bring a hit as I was slowing down or just starting to speed up.

It took me most of the day to find the fish and presentation they wanted, but after I figured them out I caught fish at a decent rate.

Ended up with 12 keepers and was fairly pleased with myself.:D

[BigD]

Man, I really need to crack down on myself and learn how to long line. It seams you get the big ones that way.

I wonder if anyone here on this site has used led-core line to fish crappie and walleye at the same time? A friend just showed me a pic of a guy yesterday who only uses led core and plugs to catch both.


D

[GCD]

Get some 2" Southern Pro Hot Grubs in various colors and 1/8 oz. jigs and have at it!

A GPS that will read speeds under 1 mph helps too.

My 1/8 oz. jigs were getting down to about 11 or 12', I plan to use 1/4 oz. when the Crappie go deeper.

[gabowman]

GCD, I've been having some good success tying on two 1/16th jigs about 18" apart. With my rods low to the water theyre running about 12' deep at .8mph. The crappie have went deeper than that here now so I added a small split shot to the lines and went back to catching. With double jigs I figure you got double chances and twice the colors out there for them to choose from. Be warned though.....more tangles, but then that's just part of it.:rolleyes:

Congrats on a good looking cooler of fish.

[STUMP HUNTER]

Nice catch GCD. Good cooler of crappie.
I too used 1/8 while the water was in the 50's and the fish were holding on the bottom. Moved to 1/16 when the fish got in 10' range and 1/32 as they spawned. The last time I fished (3 weeks ago) the 1/16 was the best but now the 1/8 jig is the size I would use too.
Congrats

[GCD]

GCD, I've been having some good success tying on two 1/16th jigs about 18" apart. With my rods low to the water theyre running about 12' deep at .8mph. The crappie have went deeper than that here now so I added a small split shot to the lines and went back to catching. With double jigs I figure you got double chances and twice the colors out there for them to choose from. Be warned though.....more tangles, but then that's just part of it.:rolleyes:

Congrats on a good looking cooler of fish.

Those tangles are something else eh?!!! Those little Stripers get exasperating sometimes, they always get into at least one more line if not 2. I can get most of the tangles out, but had to brake out the scissors on one.

I think I'll try the 2 jig setup when they go a little deeper and use an 1/8 on the bottom and a 1/16 above it.

Nice catch GCD. Good cooler of crappie.
I too used 1/8 while the water was in the 50's and the fish were holding on the bottom. Moved to 1/16 when the fish got in 10' range and 1/32 as they spawned. The last time I fished (3 weeks ago) the 1/16 was the best but now the 1/8 jig is the size I would use too.
Congrats

Do you ever move up to a 1/4 oz.? I know Crappie can be pretty size picky and just wondering if a 1/4 would be too big? I might just go with 2 1/8 oz. jigs instead.

Thanks for the kind words y'all!

[STUMP HUNTER]

I have not tried 1/4 as the 1/8 has worked for me but I'm not against it I did try 2 -1/8 and didn't like the way they pulled. Changed over to the 1/8 road runner using a bobby garland 2-1/2'' stroll'r and they worked great while the crappie were deep.

[skiptomylu]

Way to go GDC! Congrats!

It works when you can find the fish, LOL! Also is great in the fall and actually that is when I first started long lining back in the late 1970's. I was mostly fishing a spot that have very deep water on two sides and a ridge type wall that was under like 14'-15' down with water way deeper on both sides. The ridge, concrete wall had Hydrilla growing on it really thick, but pulling a 1/32 Oz. Roadrunner back and forth over this place was just deadly. Average 60-70 per hour back then with 2 people fishing 1 pole each.

So it will work any time you can locate them and offer your jigs in this style of fishing. It would be hard in the flooded timber here, but I feel sure there are places I can find that will pay off. I have in late spring when deep water was right next to a flat caught crappie in 20' or more of water trolling and still with the small Roadrunners.

Skip

[skiptomylu]

I have not tried 1/4 as the 1/8 has worked for me but I'm not against it I did try 2 -1/8 and didn't like the way they pulled. Changed over to the 1/8 road runner using a bobby garland 2-1/2'' stroll'r and they worked great while the crappie were deep.

Deeper crappie and request is why I started carrying the 1/8 Roadrunners.

[BigD]

Get some 2" Southern Pro Hot Grubs in various colors and 1/8 oz. jigs and have at it!

A GPS that will read speeds under 1 mph helps too.

My 1/8 oz. jigs were getting down to about 11 or 12', I plan to use 1/4 oz. when the Crappie go deeper.

How much line are you letting out? What size line? Thanks for your help my brother.

My gps reads to .03 mph. I use my trolling motor for stealth.


D