Thread: COMBO TROLLING 5/31/17

Jim and I fished Lake Oconee yesterday and had a productive day. We began fishing at 6:30. The skies were overcast and the water temperature was 78 degrees. We trolled through the woods and the bite was slow at the start. After a while we started catching lots of 9-10 inch fish but still had nothing in the cooler. As the morning progressed the bite and size began to improve. By 10:00 we had 17 fish in the cooler. Around lunch time the wind increased and it sprinkled rain. The fish quit biting for about an hour until the wind and rain passed. We kept fishing until 2:00 and ended the day keeping 37 good fish. The biggest fish was 14 inches and we didn't keep any under 10.5 inches. Most of the fish were 11-12 inches in length. We probably caught over 75 fish in all. As usual Jim pushed 1/16 jig heads and curly tails weighted down with a 3/4 oz sinker. I pulled 1/16 oz and 1/32 oz doubles and also 1/16 oz singles with 1/16 oz split shot. Wildcat is still the best fish catcher for us. We trolled 1 mph. The fish were holding in the timber from 10 feet to the bottom. The water temperature was 80 degrees when we quit. I love to fish overcast days. We plan to fish again one day next week but will probably do the noodle thing for catfish. Someone once said, "variety is the spice of life."

Originally Posted by jim.b

Great report!!! Got a question? When you troll in standing timber do you fish above the trees?

This is a hard question for me to answer and I hope others will chime in so we can learn from their collective knowledge. Additionally, this response refers to black crappie.

The tops of the trees are not all the same depth under the water. Some tree tops may be a few feet under the water while others may be much deeper, so the short answer is yes and no. I'm not being flippant but sometimes the fish are near the tops of the trees and sometimes they are deeper. I fish about the same depth as always yet I make shorter casts with the long lines which causes the bait to run shallower. In late spring I rig with 1/16 oz and 1/32 oz doubles instead of 1/16 oz doubles. I probably would catch more fish if I fished deeper and I know I would be tying on more jigs. I believe you can catch fish throughout the year with the long lines but it gets tougher in summer and winter. To compensate many fishermen in this part of the country change tactics. They may do one of the following:

1) jig fish over brush and timber
2) push minnows over brush and timber using less weight and trolling much slower
3) fish at night
4) long line over brush and timber early in the morning with light wire hooks, take what you can get and get off the water once the sun gets up
5) Shoot docks

You can catch them if you can get to them. They love the woods. I was at Bass Pro some time back and i was watching the fish in the aquarium. I noticed all the fish were suspended or moving slowly at different depths except the crappie. They were holding tight to a wooden feature in the tank. Hmmm. The FBI would call that a clue.

It's a good question. I hope this helps.