trolling jigs in deep water

[T.C.]

I usually lonline jigs, but i normally do this in water less than 15ft. Anyway, this is my first real year of winter crappie fishing. I normally deer/duck/coon hunt but since im in the Navy now i dont live back home and hunting isnt available to me like it used to be. Here is my prob: I wanna troll jigs in deep water but as all of you know longlining is sometimes a guessing game on how deep your jigs actually are (unless ya been doing it for many years). When i longline shallower water i dont have a prob but this past weekend i tried to troll in the 25-30fow depth. The fish were holding in the 18-20 fow range so i needed my jigs to be running close to that depth but I couldnt guesstimate how much line i needed out to get them way down there. When i normally longline i jus cast as much line out as i can and then strip out a lil more. But with being in deeper water in the winter i think i would have to let out my whole spool to get the jigs deep enough. So my question is what do some of you fellas do when you troll in deep water? I wanna be able to control my depth pretty accurately. I hate having out 200-300ft of line out and "guessing" how deep my jigs are running. I wanna be able to know for sure. I figure either way im gonna have to have alot of line out though, b/c to get good action on my jigs i need to be running atleast .6 mph, any info will be a big help

[BenFL01]

More weight, same distance. If you don't want to use heavier jigs, then put a split shot 12" up from the jig. Try tandem 1/8 oz road runners, they should run pretty deep.

[T.C.]

yeah i know to add more weight, but im still guessing how deep im running. when i spider rig, i use my rod as a ruler and i go so slow that my line stays vertical and i know exactly how deep my bait is. Im kinda lookin for the same things but with jigs. I wish there was a chart that showed if you go this speed and have this much weight you will be fishing this deep. Is there anything like that out there?

[STUMP HUNTER]

I run some 1/8 this time of year too. At .7 mph with 35 to 40' of line out using 6 pound line the 1/8 jigs are running 11' deep. Like BenFL01 said, running two 1/8 jigs should get you in the zone or step up to 1/4 oz jigs. Be careful not to get your jig running under the fish. Good luck.

[Dongotto]

Go to an area that has a bottom depth of 20ft. Let out your line estimate either by a max cast, or mark your line with a marker. Run your speed just like you are fishing and play with your line amount until you start to bump bottom then mark your line and go fishing. Next move out to 25 and in to 15 and repeat. Now you have a pretty good feel for how much line to let out for a given weight and speed. Really won't take long and if you take notes of what your doing you won't have to do it unless you want to make a change to jig weight and speed.

[Crappie Gobbler]

This time of the year when the fish get a little slower and deeper. I slow down to .5mph and run tandem 1/16, 1/8, and then tandem 1/8 jigs. I play with speed and wieght more than I do length of line. Sometimes they want it a little slower so I liten up on the jig and play with the speed. When they want it faster and use more jig wieght and pull faster. I will change to AWD jigs or a lighter action tail to keep good action at slower speeds.

[feelay]

Try spider rigging.

[Tracy Swanson]

s.y.g. you got some great tips from all the fishermen that will work if i was you i would do it like stump hunter said do it he know his stuff when it comes to long lining he puts them in the cooler quite often

[baitman]

I hit the water just after 7am and headed for yellow creek. I found 411jump up there giving trolling a try and catching fish. I dropped my lines in 18 feet of water and started trolling at 1mph. Wasnt long and the fish started coming in the boat. Looking at the graph I could see the fish were still holding close to the bottom. I was running my jigs 50-75 feet back with double jigs on each one. I had a 1/16 and a 1/8oz. I ran up in to 16 feet of water and dialed my speed down till my jigs started bumping the bottom. Speed was .8mph. Hot colors today was dirty snow and bubblegum. Also caught them on chart. colors.
I trolled on the right side and in the middle of the creek from 300 yards before the power lines to the 1st cove on the right when your coming in the creek. If you havent tried trolling your missing out on a great way to locate fish. Find someone that does it and go out with them. It can be very addicting.

Nice morning on the lake


This is what I was looking for. watch your rods when you go over a small school like this because you can pretty much count on getting bit



Mid morning and still like glass


more on next post

[baitman]

This


= this




I brought home 30 fish and caught over 60 for the day with only 1 bass in the mix.