When you are trolling and get a fish on, do you prefer to troll back and forth through that spot, or set up shop and drop some jigs or minnows down from a stationary position? Or do you keep moving? Thanks.
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When you are trolling and get a fish on, do you prefer to troll back and forth through that spot, or set up shop and drop some jigs or minnows down from a stationary position? Or do you keep moving? Thanks.
I throw out a marker bouy and then go back and try to catch another fish by slow trolling. By slow trolling I mean with the trolling motor and only going about 0.5 mph.
By trolling to you mean going faster than 0.5mph.
There are all types of trolling. Speed difference, amount of line out and baits used.
Up in Ontario Canada when they talk about trolling for Walleyes they mean back trolling with the big motor. Going backward in reverse and dragging live bait and sinkers along the rocky bottom.
I troll for Largemouth Bass on KY lake using spoon plugs and using the main 35hp gasoline engine and going as slow as the motor would idle down to.
So when someone says trolling to me I have to ask what kind of trolling are they talking about.
Now most people that I talk to about trolling for crappie are slow trolling with multiple poles out (spinderrigging) but then some guys troll the boat sideways with the trolling motor positioned in the middle of the boat and they pull the boat sideways though the water.
Now back to your question. If I catch a fish while slow trolling I will then approach the spot from different angles. I try to stay moving but moving as slow as I can. I have yet to crappie fish with a fast troll. ie above 1.5mph. I have not figured out how to keep the baits at the right depth unless I am going very slow and using the drop shot setup or a slip bobber setup. Sometimes I will anchor and then use a slip bobber setup and cast out away from the boat and use a slow retrieve.
If I locate a good spot I sometimes will hover with the trolling motor around a marker bouy and catch more fish.
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Originally Posted by crappster
Sorry I can't answere your question about trolling for I have not got into trolling YET. I just noticed your name CRAPPSTER and made me laugh because that is what my brother calls crappie. CRAPPSTER'S :)
I will usually go back over that spot. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. What has always amazed me is that they very often seem to run in pairs. Catch one, go back and catch one more, and thats it for that spot. Other times I may catch a lot more there. This is trolling in rivers but I don't know if that has anything to do with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappster
I usually either mark the spot on my GPS or drop a marker and troll in ovals or figure eights back over the spot. By constantly moving around, you have a better change of locating the fish again if they move.
What type trolling are you doing?
If you are long lining it is not feasable to stop.
If you are trolling under floats as is common in GA., just stop when you catch one. Then resume and come back over the area in widening tracks.
If you are slow trolling ( tight lining) figure 8 the area or widen the tracks.
If you are covering a 34' span, make your passes 17 feet apart to double cover the area.
There are probably as many tactics as there are fishermen. If you want to learn to troll, go to a lake where there is a tournament, and spend the day in amongst them, watching everything they do.
Have fun
I've found that going back over em too much will spook em but if they stop biting you can mark the spot, leave, and come back awhile later and get some more.
I will keep on going and if I don't pick up any other fish in a little while I will make a large circle and head back if no other action is going on.....and again that is if you are trolling with jigs (i.e. spider-rigging) as someone referred to it as......
One more thing. I got this from an article that I read. The direction of the wind and therefore the current can make a difference. Fish will face INTO THE CURRENT. They expect food to be coming down current to them. If you go troll against the currrent you are coming up behind the fish and that may not work. I say may here. But according to the guy that wrote the article he catches most all of his fish by going With the current.
Hope that helps. Now if there is not current just approach the spot from different directions. Come from the East once time and then go back west though the spot. Then try a North South approach and then finally a South to North Approach though the spot. Use a marker Bouy to make the spot where you caught the fish at . If the line is draggin behind the boat when you get the bit throw the marker behind the boat to the spot where the fish was. Or try to remember how far away the fish was from your boat and throw out a marker bouy by the boat. Sometimes a lead weight falling though the water can spook the fish expecially after you have caugth one. So some people would say don't throw the marker right over the top of the fish.
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Originally Posted by crappster
Now that I definitley believe! Many times I have caught fish going one direction in a river and not the other. I never realized they faced upstream but it makes sense. Now if I can only remember that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Moose1am