How do You Troll?

[EZ1]

When you troll for crappie, how do you have your rods set up? I used to have mine out the side of the boat, could use shorter poles that way, but last year I tried spider rigging with 6 long poles out the front. How do you do it and which way have you had the most luck?

[GABoy]

We usually have 16 rods out at a time....8 in the back, and 8 in the front...the 8 in the back ranges from 5ft to 7ft....and the ones in the front of the boat are 8ft, 10ft, 12ft, and 14ft......

[JimA]

GB - is this Slow Trolling/Spider Rigging with lines all around the boat or Long Line Trolling with lines trailing out back of boat ?? I call long line 'trolling' since this is what I do most. But this year I intend to do more spider rigging with lines mostly straight down using a weight and/or cork. My temperment is better suited to long line, but judging from posts on here, slow is the way to go. How do you rig when you slow troll ? Kentucky, jigs, or something like a little Carolina Rig, or some other set-up. I've noticed at Oconee a lot of folks use floats with slow set-up. Also, be sure to post your info on Talquin - a lot of folks interested in what when on down there. Thanks, JimA

[GABoy]

GB - is this Slow Trolling/Spider Rigging with lines all around the boat or Long Line Trolling with lines trailing out back of boat ?? I call long line 'trolling' since this is what I do most. But this year I intend to do more spider rigging with lines mostly straight down using a weight and/or cork. My temperment is better suited to long line, but judging from posts on here, slow is the way to go. How do you rig when you slow troll ? Kentucky, jigs, or something like a little Carolina Rig, or some other set-up. I've noticed at Oconee a lot of folks use floats with slow set-up. Also, be sure to post your info on Talquin - a lot of folks interested in what when on down there. Thanks, JimA

Hey JimA - We did slow troll w/ 4 rods each...tournament rules only allow 4 rods for each partner during a CrappieUSA tournament...but, when we are not tournament fishing we usually fish 8 rods each out of the front and back.

When slow trolling depending on the time of year determines my jig head size, no corks.

We actually tied for 1st at Talquin this past weekend in the Amateur division....we weighed in 7 fish for a total of 12.90 lbs....our biggest fish was 2.17 lbs. It was a great time, but the fishing was still pretty tough.

[EZ1]

GaBoy, do you ever add any weight to your jigs especially when fishing deep?
Or do you double jig? I know that at times I have trouble keeping my lines out of the trolling motor.

[GABoy]

I will just double-rig if I need to get down really deep and use light line (4lb) in order to make it easier to get down.

[GABoy]

If you need to get down really deep, use some double 1/16 oz jigs and keep a slow troll going about 1.0 mph on a GPS to ensure that the line is always away from your trolling motor....and don't stop.....make really wide turns if you must turn.......

Make sure you know the topography pretty well too, just to prevent some unnecessary hang-ups and snags.....of course, it you aren't getting hung, you probably ain't catchin' fish!!