Off Shore Tackle Tadpoles!

[wicklundrh]

One of the most often asked questions I receive deals with summertime fishing. Most fisherman find it easy to catch large amounts of fish when they are at or near spawning peaks or in late fall when they are foraging for food and will hit anything that looks inviting. During the summertime however, many people find it difficult to actively find and target fish.

Trolling can be one of the best fishing techniques during the dog days of summer when the fish are scattered over vast areas seeking cooler waters while trying to exert as little energy as possible to catch a meal. The name of the game is to cover lots of water and put your baits in front of as many fish as possible.

In the early years of trolling, the fisherman was limited on how he would get his bait to the desired target depth. Usage of heavy weights, trial and error, and guessing all played a part on getting a bait to a desired depth. In today’s modern trolling world, we are surrounded by tons of different tools that give us a distinct advantage over the fisherman of yesteryear. In many cases, it gives us the advantage over the guy fishing to the left or right of us. Most of them have not taken the time to learn these new tactics, have fear of “technology”, or have not had someone explain how simple and easy these new practices can be.

Downriggers, lead core lines, jet and dipsy divers, bottom bouncers, drop weights, inline weights and copper line all play their part in helping the trolling fisherman get down to the desired depth. Unfortunately, many of these systems can be expensive, cumbersome, and require specialized equipment in order to properly utilize them. Another disadvantage of the above mentioned tactics happens after the fish takes you’re offering. In most of the above cases, you are left with a device on your line that detracts from the fun of it all; fighting the fish!

The team at Off Shore Tackle has been around the trolling industry for a long time. They know all too well about the effects of cranking in hundreds of yards of copper and lead core line simply because they needed that much out in order to reach a target depth. Being innovators, it didn’t take them long to come up with a product that aids in getting a bait to a desired depth in a more efficient manner. This product doesn’t need any specialized equipment, can be added to your existing trolling rod platform, aids the bait in getting to a target depth much quicker, doesn’t negatively affect the fighting of a fish once it is hooked, and is light on the pocket book. I’m talking about the OR36 Tadpole.



The OR36 Tadpole from Off Shore Tackle is available in 4 different sizes: 1, 2, 3 and Magnum. To simplify what the number system means, the bigger the Tadpole, the less line it will take to reach a target depth.

Before we begin, I feel it is important to note that the practices I will describe are carried out with the help of planer boards. Planer boards aid the fisherman by getting their offerings out and away from the boat, help avoid tangles, and allows the fisherman to cover a wider path of water. In places like Michigan, spider rigging and pushing and pulling jigs or crank baits can often be ineffective. This is attributed to our crystal clear water that often sends boat weary crappie to the depths of Davy Jones Locker. Planer boards get the baits out away from the boat and allows the angler to target fish that have not been spooked by the boat.



Out of the package, the Tadpole comes with two Duolock snaps. One at the top along the ridge (which attaches to your main line) and the other at the tail (where your leader attaches). One of the first things I do is to take the rear Duolock snap and turn it around. Out of the package it is not conducive to quickly make leader changes. By turning it around you can utilize the snap as intended and affix other terminal tackle to it.

Attaching your main line to the Tadpole can be done in a multitude of ways. All of my trolling rods are setup with Duolock snaps attached to the end of the line. I utilize the Duolock to attach my main line to the included snap on the top side of the Tadpole. I have found no real reason to add a barrel swivel to the top end of the Tadpole because they don’t seem to twist in the water or cause line loop issues. On my leader end, or the part that runs from the tail of the Tadpole to my bait, I run a SPro barrel swivel. In most cases, I prefer to run a size 6 swivel.

It should be noted that the leader end (part extending from the Tadpole to your bait) should be no longer than the rod you are using. I like to make mine about one foot shorter than the rod I will be using just to make up the different for any rod bend. If you make your leader too long you may have to extend your rod high above your head in order to net your fish. I keep a ready supply of premade leaders in different lengths on board at any time.

Unlike other diving aids on the market that require the angler to set an arm, calibrate the trip strength, and trip the diver when you want to retrieve your line, Tadpoles were designed to require no such device or cocking mechanism. To make the Tadpole dive simply put the snap in the “V” shaped grove located at the top. This can be done by hand before it enters the water or once in the water. To set in the water, simply slacking the line slightly will automatically set the Tadpole into the dive position. When the fish hits the bait on the terminal end, the Duolock will slid from the dive position to the front nose. This releases all of the downward dive angle pressure and allows you to fight your fish. In the unfortunate event that you lose the fish, simply slack the line backwards and it will reset to the dive position.



Bait selection is based on the type of fish you intend to target. Spinners, crawler harnesses, floating jigs, and lipless crankbaits all work well behind Off Shore Tadpoles. Although they were not specifically made to run big lipped crank baits (they have a tendency to trip the Tadpole and not allow it to dive) we have found that smaller lipped baits such as size four and five Berkley Flicker Shad, smaller Bandits, and even small floating Rapalas work well behind the Tadpole.

Trolling depth is achieved by the amount of line you have played out from your rod. We utilize properly calibrated line counter reels to ensure we have the exact amount of line out in order to ensure we are running at the correct depth. When trolling, I wouldn’t be caught dead without my Precision Trolling App. This allows me to know exactly how much line to play out in order to hit my target depth. All of the Off Shore Tackle Tadpoles (as well as several of their other products) are available for download in this App. It will precisely tell me how much line I need out in order to hit a target depth while running a specific speed. No more guessing!

[wicklundrh]

Putting it all together:

I was originally asked by a fellow member of Crappie Dot Com to come up with an explanation on how to effectively utilize the Off Shore Tadpoles while trolling. Unfortunately, fishing tournaments, normal work, a business, and hunting season all slowed the process of this article. I’m sorry it took so long to finally put pen to paper and finish what I started so many months ago.

It is mid-August, the temperature here in Michigan is a balmy 90 degrees. As I pull out of the harbor I take note of the water temperature on my Lowrance HDS 10. The surface temperature reads 85.4 degrees! The local kids are enjoying the cooling effects of the water as they play in the beach area. I know I need to find cooler water if I’m going to come up with enough fish for a fish fry.

I accelerate my Suzuki and soon I have my Alumacraft Competitor cruising at 45 miles per hour. The breeze feels good on my SPF 1 million lathered skin. After traversing through four different channels and five different lakes I finally reach my destination.

I assume the crappies will be hiding in the shade under the lily pad field at the Northwestern edge of the lake. I turn on my side scan sonar and slowly cruise past the pads. It doesn’t take long to decide that the crappies are not here. Where are they? I move out in to the main channel of the lake where the depths reach nearly forty feet. I take notice of the surface temperature again; 79 degrees. The water is much cooler out here. Slowly, hooks start to appear on my screen. Some of them coming at a depth of thirty feet, some as high as ten feet below the surface of the water. With such a wide depth range, today is the perfect day to troll some planer boards for crappies!

This lake is crystal clear and I’ve had very little luck pushing jigs, long lining jigs, or straight trolling lipped crank baits. The fish are spooked by the boat long before my offering finds them. I turn my boat into the wind and set my Minn Kota Terrova 80 at 1 mile per hour. I make sure to set my auto pilot so that I am aimed right down the middle of the deepest section of the lake. I want to know what those fish are down around thirty feet and suspended a little more than ten feet off the bottom. Knowing the light doesn’t penetrate as well, I want a bigger profile bait to attract bigger fish. One that makes a little noise would also be nice. I select a Berkley size 4 Flicker shad. I affix it to an Off Shore Tackle OR36 1 Tadpole behind a 4 foot leader. Utilizing my Precision Trolling app, I know that it will take 49 feet of line to reach my depth. Because a flicker minnow will dive slightly behind the Tadpole, I played out 45 feet of line. I then attached it to my OR12 planer board with tattle flag and sent the whole offering out the port side of my boat. Before I could even get it in to position, the tattle flag started dancing. This indicated that a fish was hooked on my offering. I reeled this in and was rewarded with a 13 ½ inch crappie. A fine way to start the evening.



Over the next two hours the above scenario would play out time and time again. I was only able to get two rods in the water. One of them being my flicker shad offering and the other being a floating jig head on a three foot leader with a two inch Big Bite Shad as bait. I was running this setup at fifteen feet down or exactly twenty feet of line played out from my OR36 Tadpole to my rod tip.

I boated thirty four fish this evening. Without the aid of Off Shore Tackle OR36 Tadpoles, there was little chance for me to get my bait into position and know exactly how deep my baits were running. There are other ways to get a bait down to the specific distance I was targeting. One requires a massive amount of line out to reach the target depth. Others require drop weights, sinkers, and a ton of guess work to hit a target depth. There was zero guess work with this setup. I knew exactly how deep the fish were and exactly how far I needed to run my Tadpoles in order to reach that depth.



Trolling for crappies has grown in popularity over the last few years. Many anglers are adapting to the utilization of planer boards in order to spread out their lines and get them away from the boat. One of the biggest issues when tournament fishing is time. You cannot get it back. Every time I have to let a crankbait out a hundred or more feet in order to reach a target depth, time is lost. I would much rather let out 20 feet of line to achieve that same depth! The OR36 Tadpole helps me achieve the depths I am looking for with the least amount of line played out in order to reach that depth. Over the course of a day, I might be able to get that same bait into the water thirty or forty times more than the same guy running a hundred feet lead. Hopefully, that extra time in the water equates to more fish in the box!

[Roy]

Great article. I really appreciate the time and effort you spent in putting it together. I learned allot and want to give what I learned here a try later this year once the water warms up. Thank You!

[sinkermaker]

Excellent article on using tadpoles. I will get some for striper fishing this summer. Thanks for posting

[Cray]

Thank you Rich. I know it took a lot of time but it really explained everything well. I really appreciate the time and effort.

[wicklundrh]

Sorry it took so long Cray. I wanted to make sure everything was just right. Glad it was what you were looking for.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

[skeetbum]

Good job on the explanation. I wondered how well they worked and how versatile they were, now I know.

[Crestliner08]

Awesome read! Thanks.

[genec]

thanks for the report,would love for you to make us a video of using it and fishing it,if you ever get the time

[Speck Beck]

Me too

Mike