Thread: Trotlines

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Thanks for the information. I have been worndering how to jug fish, I used to fish lines when I was younger, but its been a long time.

On a lake thats has alot of open water how may jugs would you put out if you was going to be pole fishing near by for bream and perch?

Hey gonefishin, checkout (catfish1.com) It's the Crappie .com of the catfish world, register there as you did here and ask away or just browse the forums. All kinds of info on juggin...izzy

Izzy - Can you use another species of sunfish since bluegills are illegal in MO now? Pumpkinseed, Longear and Warmouth(goggle eye) are my favorite along with bullheads.

I'm a big trotline user and just got into jug fishing a little last year. I'm heading to Toledo Bend (TX side) this mid-May to fish some of my favorite spots for flatheads along with some blues and channels. One of my areas to fish is right off the Sabine River where it makes a 90 degree turn in the lake and creates a flat with about 20-25 ft. depth. The blues really like it in there and I can watch my jugs as I crappie fish. Trotlining is one of my favorite methods of fishing and I would hate to give it up...sure, I had lines cut (even though I tag all my lines and are legal) but some folks just don't like trotlines regardless. My only regret with jug fishing is that in Texas, the jug must be WHITE and to me, that just shows everyone where you're fishing. All of my trotlines are tied at least 3-4ft under the water to structure and I like it since it doesn't let folks know that a line is there...plus I use window weights for my sinkers, 3 of them to bring it down and kept it tight for good hook sets.

We have a regulation that all trotlines must be tagged on each end no more than 3 ft. from the first hook with the person's name and address along with the date it was and is legal for 30 days. This has never been a problem for the folks that trotline/jugline legally, it's those that are the weekend warriors or parttimers that set a line, bait it and then leave it there after they leave the lake/river. This does nothing but create problems with those of us that are legal and gives more power to the folks like PETA and other animal rights organizations. Not only that, but the fish that may get caught after those people leave and end up dying on the line...what a shame!

Anyway, have a great week and Easter to all. I hope to set a few throw lines in the Brazos River rice canals this weekend while visiting family! Watch out flatheads!

Chris

Someone correct me if i'm wrong. In Missouri, Goggle eye Warmouth are considered gamefish (i think). Bluegill, longear etc. are not. The only rule that i know of concerning them is they can't be over 5" when used on your lines. They change the dang laws so much, i better study up before i set any lines this year...izzy

The best way I have seen line's run is a way a old man show my dad 50 year's ago and he show me. Here in MS you can have 4 ,25 hook line's or one 100 hook line.You start with a number 21 line . Mesure out both arms spreed out then hold and pull out one arm lenth carry that end back to your outher hand and tie a not and keep doing this untill you have as many hooks you would like to use. You should have a hook every 6 feet with a foot drop leed for every hook.Now you tie one end of the line to a round spool,I think these are old house wire spools there about 1 foot round 4 inch's wide and 4 inch's deep.Start to wine on spood clockwise,when you get to you first drop put a hook on and pull it up tite to the mane .wrap mane line around hook 2 times and keep rolling on spool.Then you have it ready to go. To put it out I tie to a tree under the water and hit the trolling motor it will roll right off. Tie off to a block or tree with no slack.Now go back to where you first tied line to tree,mve out 6 feet or so and tie a weight on,I use old window weight's two.Add weight as you go down the line as where you thank you need it so it will be on the bottom.Now you need to add <I use .5 liter bottles with a 2 foot of line tied to it. Tie them to the main line where you add the weight's,that will flot the line right off the bottom.Now to take them up you just tie the line back on to the spool and roll it up wrapping the hook's on the mane line as you go.You will have to take the weights and flot's off as you go. Work's great I can take a line up or put it out really fast this way.You would have to see how good it works to realy see how good it works.Work's best with two people.I hope this is half way understandable.

izzy, I always thought we had a 5" size limit for live bait until last year while talking with a biologist from the Conservation Dept... He told me the 5" length only applied to bait taken by a seine or trap. If you catch your bait fishing with a pole there is no size limit on your bait taken that way. He was using some very large bluegills for bait that were taken on a fly rod. I looked it up and sure enough. Hope this helps.

Man i hope your wrong MJ, if not my buddies are gonna skin me alive. We chucked back some mighty nice baits last year. I'll have to get on the phone come Monday. I wish they would write the dang laws up to where you did'nt have to have a Masters degree to understand them. It seems like they're trying to confuse us just to issue a dang ticket sometimes...izzy