New to trolling

[russelln114]

Hey guys. First off I must say that this is a pretty cool forum. I love to fish for crappie. I fish for them all year long. I do most of my crappie fishing in the evening or night. This year my wife said that she would be willing to go with me but she doesn't want to fish at night. I have always wanted to troll and now would be a great time to start. I have never trolled before. I purchased two church tx6 planer boards. I plan on using the boards with road runners, curly jigs and minnows. The road runners are 1/16 and 1/8 ounce. My jig heads are 1/16once and 1/8 ounce also. I will be trolling no more than 1mph. My question is If i want to troll at lets say 10ft do i let out 10ft then attach my board or do i need to let out more line or add some weight? Everything I read on the web with the tx6 talks about using cranks but nowhere can i find where someone talks about using jigs. Any help would be great. Thanks

[M R Dux]

I would use a small split shot weight about 2 feet above the 1/16 roadrunner and let out about 1.5 feet of line for each foot of depth for 10 feet of water and 1 mph. Adjust from there. You should try the 1/8 oz with no weight to start.

[NickD]

I would suggest you stick to one size jig to start with. 1/8 would be good for trolling since you wouldn't have to let so much line out. The one of the keys to trolling is to be able to repeat what caught you the fish. If you have the same size jigs, you can vary the distance from the back of the board to the bait to get different depths. There aren't any depth charts for jigs that I'm aware of, but at 1 mph, you would have to put a lot more line out than 10 ft. Start out with 30' on one and 50 on the other, for example. you keep changing the lead lengths until you start catching fish. Another way to do it is if you are trolling, hand hold one rod to know how much line you have to let out to hit the bottom. After some time, you will get a feel for how much line you need to let out to get a certain depth. You can also use speed to change depths, since a small change in speed will have a big impact on a lead weight.

[russelln114]

I would use a small split shot weight about 2 feet above the 1/16 roadrunner and let out about 1.5 feet of line for each foot of depth for 10 feet of water and 1 mph. Adjust from there. You should try the 1/8 oz with no weight to start.

So what your saying is that if I want to fish 20 feet down with a 1/8 oz road runner I would let out 30feet of line then attach my board?

[russelln114]

one other question. Does using a planer board affect how much line you have to let out or does using a planer board just helps getting your jig away from the boat?

[NickD]

one other question. Does using a planer board affect how much line you have to let out or does using a planer board just helps getting your jig away from the boat?

All it does is get your bait away from the boat and other lines. Think of it as a directional bobber.

[M R Dux]

one other question. Does using a planer board affect how much line you have to let out or does using a planer board just helps getting your jig away from the boat?

Yes and yes. You are going to have X amount of line out to get the planer X number of feet away from your boat then you will have X number of feet from the board to the hook. I use the 1.5 feet of line per foot of depth as a rough starting point when using a jig or roadrunner, I use the Trollers Bible charts for cranks. If I see fish on the electronics at a certain depth and they are not hitting my offering, I will vary my depth setting. I will usually start by bringing the bait closer to the board. Crappie will normally feed up and I don't want the bait below them.

[shipahoy41]

Hey guys. First off I must say that this is a pretty cool forum. I love to fish for crappie. I fish for them all year long. I do most of my crappie fishing in the evening or night. This year my wife said that she would be willing to go with me but she doesn't want to fish at night. I have always wanted to troll and now would be a great time to start. I have never trolled before. I purchased two church tx6 planer boards. I plan on using the boards with road runners, curly jigs and minnows. The road runners are 1/16 and 1/8 ounce. My jig heads are 1/16once and 1/8 ounce also. I will be trolling no more than 1mph. My question is If i want to troll at lets say 10ft do i let out 10ft then attach my board or do i need to let out more line or add some weight? Everything I read on the web with the tx6 talks about using cranks but nowhere can i find where someone talks about using jigs. Any help would be great. Thanks

Welcome from ALabama. Shoot a PM to "G" on this board. He is really good at it. Also search you tube for videos. There are a ton there.

[Shellback]

Boat speed is also an important consideration. The faster you move, the less the bait will sink. One thing I often do is say, I want my jig running 7 feet deep. I'll find 7 feet of water, then adjust my line out and speed until I see the jig bouncing off the bottom. Put a rubber band over your spool, or mark the line with a magic marker. Then head to the area you want to fish and you will know what speed to run and how much line out to put your jig in the zone.

[russelln114]

Welcome from ALabama. Shoot a PM to "G" on this board. He is really good at it. Also search you tube for videos. There are a ton there.

"G" Are you out there?