Thread: Longlining with 8lb test?

Question is, are you catching any? The key is the presentation. Jig must be in the water column above the crappie. You can achieve this by larger jig or by adding split shot. You will have to play with this each day you go out until you consitantly start catching fish. Some days you are highter in the water column, but as the sun gets higher, they seem to go deeper.

Another way to get info, is to do a search on the subject.


Good fishing.

Chuck

My search told me that everyone uses 6lb test and 1/16 to 1/32 oz jigs, hence the new question. :D

I was hoping that someone out there had tried 8lb and could steer me toward a starting point.

This will be my first foray into longlining. I'm just trying to ramp my learning curve to help rule equipment out of the equation if I'm not catching any fish, so that I can focus on technique. Because of my work schedule, I don't get to put in nearly as much time on the water to play around with setup as I would like.

Originally Posted by Quackrstackr

My search told me that everyone uses 6lb test and 1/16 to 1/32 oz jigs, hence the new question. :D

I was hoping that someone out there had tried 8lb and could steer me toward a starting point.

This will be my first foray into longlining. I'm just trying to ramp my learning curve to help rule equipment out of the equation if I'm not catching any fish, so that I can focus on technique. Because of my work schedule, I don't get to put in nearly as much time on the water to play around with setup as I would like.

There's 2 more ways to get the jig up or down... 1. Speed control. Faster higher, slower lower. 2. Body size. Bigger profile bodies will have more drag & ride highter. Smaller, less drag and deeper running. I would think it could be done. Just gonna have to experiment.

I fished a couple of weeks ago with a buddy of mine, we longlined tandem 1/24oz jigs. I had Mr. Crappie Hi-viz 8lb line on his rods on the back of the boat, and I ran 6lb test on my rigs from the front. I ended up catching quite a few more fish than him, gotta figure it had to do with the 8lb test since we were running several of the same jig colors. Believe my jigs where maybe just running a little deeper.

I think 8lb is fine, just run a little heavier jig if the fish are a little deeper in the water column. You might just experiment and run a couple with 6lb and couple with 8lb.

Good Luck!

We tried it this afternoon in the 20+mph winds and I guess it was a success even though we didn't catch a fish.. we never tangled the lines, either. :D

Today was not a good day to test the waters of longlining. The wind was blowing us too fast without the drift sock and we were drifting too slowly with the sock (not to mention it is next to impossible to fine tune maneuver the boat with the sock out).

We longlined for a couple of hours for zero fish and then flogged some banks that are usually prime to get out of the wind until almost dark. Nothing to show for the bank fishing but largemouth, yellow bass and one bluegill.

The lake level is jumping like crazy. There is so much trash floating in the water, it was a real hindrance also. The debris (probably mostly leaves) was showing on the depth finder from top to bottom. The water temp. was down a couple of degrees as well, even late in the afternoon.

Wow, glad to see I didn't miss anything this week. The wife and I are planning on coming down next Friday and Saturday. Hope things stabilize and the bite picks up some by then.