Wanting to start "long lineing" but...

[skiptomylu]

When I long line troll (been doing that since about 1978) I mostly do it in the spring and around Hydrilla if I fine it where I am fishing. I mostly use a 1/32 oz. Roadrunner or jig and try to stay in water about 6' deep for the most part, but once they move into 12' or a little more I still do the same thin, but also start including 1/16 oz. When they are this deep and the wind is blowing a bit too much I change to trolling right beside the boat with a 1/8 oz.

Been at this a very long time and all you need is a variable speed trolling motor and set it on 3 to start and adjust for wind and the fish of course. I just cat it out as far as I can and let it pull behind the boat. I don't use a lot of rods and catch all I need.

If the wind is at you side be sure to pull you jig on the same side the wind is blowing from so you can keep the line out of your big motor prop.

This will work and I do know it! Don't know of anyone that has been long line trolling for crappie any longer than I have. May be someone, but I don't know him.

Skip

[DoubleDuty]

I actually think that I may be fishing to deep after reading some of the post. May just be that I am putting my lures under the fish....if that's possible. I normally use 1/6 and 1/8 oz jig heads when trolling.

DD

[Wiskers]

Thanks for all the input & questions guys.

Skip, what types of lakes are you fishing? What would you say is the slowest you troll & the fastest you troll? Do you use curly tails & if so how big are they. Any specific brand you like? If you use curly tails do you rig them tail up or tail down? I'm into detail! :D I've found that if you rig them tail up it tends to push the jig down & if you rig them tail down it tends to make the jig rise/fall slower. I often adjust how I rig curly tails when I'm casting depending if the fish want a slooooow fall or a little faster fall. Sometimes seems it makes a difference. I've tested this theory before fishing with friends. We will rig different from each other & sometimes 1 of us will be hooking up more often. Same line, same size jig, same rod & reel, same curly tail, same retrieve.

[skiptomylu]

Thanks for all the input & questions guys.

Skip, what types of lakes are you fishing? What would you say is the slowest you troll & the fastest you troll? Do you use curly tails & if so how big are they. Any specific brand you like? If you use curly tails do you rig them tail up or tail down? I'm into detail! :D I've found that if you rig them tail up it tends to push the jig down & if you rig them tail down it tends to make the jig rise/fall slower. I often adjust how I rig curly tails when I'm casting depending if the fish want a slooooow fall or a little faster fall. Sometimes seems it makes a difference. I've tested this theory before fishing with friends. We will rig different from each other & sometimes 1 of us will be hooking up more often. Same line, same size jig, same rod & reel, same curly tail, same retrieve.

I pretty much just fish Toledo Bend since I live on the water here. No I don't uses curly tails (almost never use soft plastics even though I have lots of them) and just use my hand tied jigs. Speed I would say from .8 to 1.2 max something like that. I judge by setting the troll motor over the speed, but I can see it if I watch my sonar/GPS. I almost always use 3 of the 0-10 on the troll motor and have done that like that on way more than one boat.

In the spring when fishing the 6' depth contour line I use my hand tied Roadrunners 98% of the time. About the only thing I do is from time to time I will let my rod go back some to make the jig drop or hesitate for just a second and then bring it back. Lots of time I get a hit when I do that. Also if I can find a spot that I can go back and forth over and over where I can catch a few each pass I will just keep doing that until they stop. Also you would find that the bites happen at the same spots along your path, but they don't stop like if you are stopped fishing for them after getting a few. It takes a pretty long time for them to stop and more likely its because the crappie have just stopped everywhere.

Nothing has the action of marabou for a tail. Something come close if you look hard enough, but lots of products will say it's like marabou, but most are not even close.

Skip

[Black Crow]

When I long line troll (been doing that since about 1978) I mostly do it in the spring and around Hydrilla if I fine it where I am fishing. I mostly use a 1/32 oz. Roadrunner or jig and try to stay in water about 6' deep for the most part, but once they move into 12' or a little more I still do the same thin, but also start including 1/16 oz. When they are this deep and the wind is blowing a bit too much I change to trolling right beside the boat with a 1/8 oz.

Been at this a very long time and all you need is a variable speed trolling motor and set it on 3 to start and adjust for wind and the fish of course. I just cat it out as far as I can and let it pull behind the boat. I don't use a lot of rods and catch all I need.

If the wind is at you side be sure to pull you jig on the same side the wind is blowing from so you can keep the line out of your big motor prop.

This will work and I do know it! Don't know of anyone that has been long line trolling for crappie any longer than I have. May be someone, but I don't know him.

Skip

I long line exactly this way. I started long lining after reading one of Skip's posts over on the jig forum once.

Like I said, I do it just as he described. I use 1/16 and 1/32 oz Road Runners and I pull 4 of them behind the boat. I Have most success with the 1/16 RRs though since they run a little deeper. I also keep the boat moving at about .8 - 1.2 mph, which is usually a #2 setting on my TM.

I fish deep lakes in Middle Tennessee and the crappies around here have started to move deeper. So here recently I've been experimenting with pulling Bandit 200 and 300 Series crankbaits. They have been working great cause they really reach down to them and they have a lot of action in the water. You won't catch the numbers with cranks, but you'll catch bigger fish with them. When I'm running cranks I usually set my TM to #3 to make up for the additional drag (I have a small boat and the cranks really do pull on it pretty good :D). I have been meaning to get some 1/8 oz RR heads from Skip, but I keep forgetting to order them. When I do remember to do it, I am gonna try running those for deep water crappies. I think they'll produce similar results as the cranks.

I use P-Line CXX X-Strong line in 6 lb test. It is strong enough to pull hang ups out of just about any mess I get into. I run my RRs and cranks behind the boat as far as I can cast. I don't worry about precise distance. I should also mention that the P-Line is extremely far casting for being as strong as it is.

I use the same colors as I would use on any other approach. Chart, flo green, flo orange, black, red, white/pearl, and blue.

I try to focus on sandy flats, channel breaks that divide deep and shallow water, and mouths of coves.

[skiptomylu]

Black Crow glad to see you are still doing well trolling. I think it's one of the very best ways to fish for crappie mostly because it works, LOL! The lake I fish keeps me from going to crank baits though as there is so much wood where they are now. If I find them some place that I could get away with it I sure would do the same thing.

Think about it for a minute, it works, you don't have all the casting and saves your shoulder ( mine are shot) it is relaxing and is a lot of fun as well. I also think you catch bigger fish. The last thing I will mention is you can take a kid fishing that has not much experience and he will catch fish.

Skip

[AtticaFish]

I've just recently started trolling with cranks. So far the fish favorite has been the Rapala jointed Shad Rap, but not the favorite of my wallet!! Natural colors, I fish very clear open water flats mostly. The shad rap suspends and have found I get alot of strikes if I dramaticaly slow or completley stop my boat... stop and go, slow and go, stop and go.... I run 2 poles and alot of the time get bites when I stop the boat to reel in a fish.

I agree with Black Crow, cranks have been producing larger fish for me as well.

[DonDon]

roadrunner would run at 0.7 MPH? I see where you estimate that a 1/32nd would run around 3 feet deep, a 1/24th at around 7 feet, a 1/16th at 10 feet so I would guess a 1/8th somewhere around 14 feet deep or so? That sounds anywhere close? MAN this crappie fishing requires to much thinking. LOL

[STUMP HUNTER]

I used some 1/8 a few weeks ago and as for as I could tell they were running 12 to 14' deep with the boat moving at 1.2 mph. The reason I believe this is at times I had to turn the boat and was going over 16' depths without hang ups but a few times I hit 14' water and had to speed up to keep my jigs from hanging up. I'm new at long lining so I am also learning.

[DonDon]

just getting all the info I can before I get the chance here in the next couple weeks. THANKS