Thread: long lining

This should be interesting, I would say get in the boat with someone who does it. I do it different than most but it works and you can cover more water.

Rees has great advice.. and you can learn a lot from going with someone "seasoned" in pulling longlines... but remember this. every boat does NOT pull jigs the same. friend of mine that got me started on this told me this and he's never spoken truer words,, you gotta do your homework to learn your depths.. it takes time, lots of patients, and lots of jigs. the one thing you are for sure to become is one heck of a fast loop knot tier!

first basics you'll need is :
1. electric steer trolling motor
2.good map card
3.LOTS of jigs
4.floats on your rods(I learned this the expensive way)
5. two people.. long lining alone can be aggravating alone
6. patients.. LOTS of patients...its not a method you'll become consistently successful at overnight

this is my advice.. I am not and do not claim to be a professional long liner.. however, I have become confident enough in the past years that the advice I giving you is legit! I still learn new tricks to this technique every year.
first you need to go to a lake that has slick flats or shallows up gradually. Enid is perfect for this. Barnett is not the lake to learn long lining in!.
Rigging:
I use 6lb mono. double rigs.. I tie loop knots 36-48'' apart, top jig will have 4-6'' tag and always put lightest jig on top and I use stroll'rs!!

make you a list like this..

1st. single 1/32
2nd. double 1/32
3rd. 1/32 and 1/16
4th. single 1/16
5th.double 1/16
6th single 1/8.. and so forth (you get the point)

casting distance.. I use as for as I can throw the rig I have rigged.. whatever the weight is..reason I say this is because I use all the exact same rods, reels, line, ect., and that's exactly how I threw them out when I recorded my depths and that's the easiest way to stay consistent with your long lining depths, and trust me... it matters. For example: if I see fish at 11' deep and rig up to put my jigs in their zone, cast my lines out on my side and my 7 year old son cast his lines out on his side.. chances are im gonna catch fish and he will not... he didn't cast them the length I did when i recorded my depths and he's to shallow!

Speed. I recorded mine at .8 when I first started. I like that speed,have good luck with it, feel confident with it and at .8 all my maps on my electronics always stay true.

pull from deep water to shallower water and watch your poles. when they start dragging bottom write down that depth beside what your rigged with on your list.. continue with each setup

that will give you a good starting point, then you can go back and make list with different speeds, baits, etc

when you finally get that part done and go to the fishing part, remember this.. different speeds can/will yield different results. if you pull through fish, and get no hits but are certain you're in their zone...slow it down, or speed it up.. turn left and right.. this will let you know if they want it faster or slower.


hope this is some help to you. do some searching on here and on MCC's site. there's some good articles about long lining that will help and give you even more ideas.

Excellent read Dee, great help there!!!!!

What Dee said plus....To go shallower speed up a little......to run deeper slow down some.....lots of trial and error at first.

Does anyone use line counters? I'm new to long lining jigs also and have been using the cast out technique as well, but this year I bought a couple of line counters in an effort to make it more of an exact science. I guess it will also depend on how accurate the said counters are, but I will be keeping detailed records on speed, depth, and jig weights in a log book to make it as much of a science as it can be this year. Also, I will check the accuracy of my line counters after every outing to make sure they are calibrated correctly.

Snubbys..I don't pulling jigs only pulling crank baits

Originally Posted by Snubbys

Does anyone use line counters? I'm new to long lining jigs also and have been using the cast out technique as well, but this year I bought a couple of line counters in an effort to make it more of an exact science. I guess it will also depend on how accurate the said counters are, but I will be keeping detailed records on speed, depth, and jig weights in a log book to make it as much of a science as it can be this year. Also, I will check the accuracy of my line counters after every outing to make sure they are calibrated correctly.

I kinda do and have done fairly well. I use nothing but 1/4 oz jigs, 2 on each line. 1/2 oz of weight at 1 mph will run half as deep as the line out (in theory). In other words, if you have 10 feet of line out your bait should be running 5 feet deep. Not much line out but I peg a cork above it to set depth and then let them out off the side just like pulling cranks, short pole less line to the cork, long pole the most line to the cork.

10-4 Dee, I got the idea from a guy in Tennessee who pulls cranks and jigs and has good success with both. After researching the subject there isn't a whole lot of info out there. I did find one really good article on the Magnolia Crappie Club website. I may be confused on the difference between long lining and pulling being new to it and all. The friend from TN is supposed to take me out this summer to show me his methods when the time gets right for it.