Trolling The Hill (Drill Instructor, HELP!)

[procraft1780]

Hey Drill Instructor, glad to hear your still having success on the Hill. I went out Wednesday to Little River (SC) area to try trolling but only landed one crappie. From what you said, I see that I wasn't fishing deep enough. I was keeping my jigs in the 7 to 10 foot range. Water temp was 53 degrees and it was very, very muddy so I thought they would be up pretty shallow. Guess not.
I was trying something a little different than what I've heard or read about trolling. I put a #1 split shot about 12 inches above my jig to try to keep them a little more vertical. I put a bobber stop on the line (without a bobber) 10 feet above the jig head to try to mark my depth. At a dead stop I dropped all my lines until the bobber stops were at the waterline. Once I got moving and the lines started moving up I estimated my jigs were about 7 foot deep. If I wanted to run deeper, I let out line (while still moving) until the bobber stops were back at the waterline. This was my first real attempt at trolling and I didn't have much success. Do you think the split shots on the line spook the fish? I used several color combinations of Hal Flys, Road Runners, and Slidders. I started off with just the jigs by themselves, then I tipped them with minnows. The one crappie I caught was on a solid yellow Hal Fly tipped with a minnow. It's a good thing I was by myself, my wife wouldn't have been able to stand all the boredom with no fish being caught.
Other than the fact I wasn't trolling deep enough, does the rest of my setup sound okay? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[drill instructor]

Hey Procraft, good to hear from you. With the trolling, I never use split shot, I mainly use just jigheads 1/16 or 1/32oz. I use 4-6lb line nothing bigger for trolling. Sounds like you need to make a trip to the Crappie Shop for some jigs and jigheads. If your serious about trolling you have to get some rod holders, there are many types out there most are okay. I don't prefer any special type, just get the ones that works for you. Check out some of the other trolling rigs out, there will be alot of people trolling from now until May. Long Cane, Buffalo, Bakers, Soap are usually full of trollers. All are great places. I don't won't to be long, but e-mail me if you want more details. [email protected]