How To Troll Fish In Lakes
How to Troll for Fish: A Multi-Species Guide to Technique
Written by: John B
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As anglers beyond America will tell y'all, trolling is i of the most effective ways to catch fish. And from the Nifty lakes to the Gulf of United mexican states, the Florida Keys to Alaska, fishermen are proving that true year afterward yr. Some fishermen remember trolling is besides elementary to count every bit "real" line-fishing. They're wrong. Learning to troll effectively is as much an art equally it is a science. Whether you lot're spider rigging for crappie and trying to run a pocket-size armada of jigs just over a brush pile or precision trolling for walleye and working the speed of your boat and your downriggers to create the perfect presentation, I tin can promise you that it isn't anywhere about every bit like shooting fish in a barrel at it might seem. If you want to improve your trolling game, we're here to help, so keep reading! Tabular array of Contents (clickable) Related: Trolling is a line-fishing technique in which a lure or bait is pulled backside a boat. Trolling for sailfish is the adventure of a lifetime! Every bit diverse every bit it gets in the line-fishing world, this can range from pulling a tiny jig through the water from a jon boat, to towing a crankbait from a kayak, to running a walleye spinner behind a downrigger, to trolling with alive allurement in the open ocean. Trolling for walleye is the ascendant summer technique. Crappie, walleye, barracuda, wahoo, salmon, tuna, sailfish, and marlin: those are only some of the species for which trolling is common. Y'all can even add largemouth bass to that list on some occasions, and it'southward clear that everywhere yous fish, and for almost annihilation you lot'd like to take hold of, trolling is an option! Spider rigging is just trolling by another name, and it's one of the most productive means to fish crappie in summertime. The answer is simple: it works! Typically trolling is the solution to a trouble. When there's lots of water and the fish are widely dispersed, sitting still and casting won't result in a catch. Let's discuss a few examples. When the summer heat really turns on, lake water will heat upward to the betoken that fish start to feel stressed by the rising temperature every bit well as the diminished oxygen content. Crappie respond to this by spreading out rather than clustering in just a few spots. Hunting the likely spots for them - pilings, stumps, castor piles, and the like - simply won't produce many fish. Instead, you demand to cover a lot of water, offering lots of options, if y'all promise to catch a few overnice slabs. Spider rigging adult every bit a technique that allows for slow trolling at multiple depths with a variety of lure options, substantially allowing you lot to notice the fish and figure out what interests them. A similar thing happens with walleye in the summer. While quite tolerant of common cold h2o, they simply can't stand it one time it warms up. That drives walleye deep during the summer, and when you're looking at miles and miles of water, casting is just not going to get the job washed on the Great Lakes. Instead, anglers plough to trolling, using a variety of techniques in conjunction with deep-diving lures to reach precise depths and create perfect presentations. Another great example is offshore fishing, where you're working lures or baits at depth and hunting long submerged channels - or the tops of underwater mountains where deep, food-rich h2o is pushed toward the surface, creating the perfect conditions for a thriving pelagic ecosystem. When you're after species like tuna or sailfish, trolling a lure or alive bait is the most effective manner to make a long, expensive trip out to deep water a fishing expedition rather than a lord's day-baked boat ride. Obviously, the tackle yous demand is going to depend on the species y'all're chasing, and yous wouldn't pitch a fat mackerel to sailfish on a crappie rod anymore than you'd work a brusk, stout conventional rod for walleye. For crappie, we similar a rod like B'n'M Poles The Stick. At xiii feet, yous've got enough of length to keep your spider rigs from tangling when y'all get a fish on, and y'all'll have more than enough leverage to simply elevator a fat slab into your boat. I like to pair these rods with a small reel like a xx-size Pflueger President and never look dorsum. Since yous'll be buying every bit many as half-dozen rods and reels, price and performance matter, and this combo has you coerced on both fronts. Keep in mind that spider rigging demands uniformity. As Barry Morrow, a crappie guide on Oklahoma's Lake Eufaula, explains, "The key is to make sure the rods are withal. All the rods should be the aforementioned length, power, and activeness, and they should be adjusted to the same height in the rod holders then that y'all are able to decipher the motility of the rod tips to detect bites. If you are using different types of rods, they're all bowed differently and respond differently to strikes, making information technology more hard to interpret rod-tip and line move." Don't mix and match your spider-rigging tackle; indistinguishable your set-upwardly, and you'll have a lot more than success. Equally yous'd look with slabs, minnows are always a popular bait pick, and rigging each of your rods with a fathead is going to go a long manner toward ensuring that y'all take hold of your limit. The best lure options are probably jigs, and heads equally small-scale as 3/sixteen to 1/8 aren't uncommon. Just be enlightened that yous can't go as lite as you would when casting considering the ultra-light jig heads in the i/32-ounce range merely won't fall when you're trolling. Sweetened with an excellent soft plastic trailer like the Bobby Garland Slab Slay'R, Bobby Garland Mo' Glo 2-Inch Baby Shad, or Strike Rex Mr. Crappie Chow, and you tin can nearly count on a fish fry. First-class soft plastic trailers like these, combined with the right jig head, produce astonishing results. Virtually anglers running a spider rig want how-do-you-do-viz line to aid them keep track of bites. Our favorite is Reaction Tackle's 6-pound hello-viz yellow. It'south great for seeing a strike, ties deeply, and can really take a beating. Amazon If yous want to know more nigh the best techniques and tips for spider rigging, we've got you covered. Just check out this article: Spider Rigging For Crappie: Are you Geared-Up for Spinning a Spider web? When I'm trolling for walleye, I'm looking for a few things from my rod. First, it needs to slide in and out of a rod holder easily, and it must have a tough handle that'south long plenty for serious security. Second, I desire a bare that has enough flex left in information technology that when my lure or allurement detaches from a downrigger, information technology snaps dorsum, setting the claw. And finally, I desire plenty of length to avert tangling and a blank that's going to handle a big walleye. That sounds like a tall society, until yous try the St. Croix Eyecon. Only the best walleye trolling rod currently bachelor, yous need to give this rod a try. For precision trolling, I reach for the Shimano Tekota 500 Line Counter. It has the drag, capacity, speed, and torque to friction match any walleye out there, and the line counter helps me get my downriggers correct where I need them. My trolling line of option is Stren Original in 12-pound test. It's not going to let you downwards, offering superior knot integrity, great stupor force, and tons of chafe resistance. Lures like Rapala's Shadow Rap Deep 11, Bandit'southward Walleye Minnow Jerkbait Deep, and the Moonshine Lures Original Spoon are nigh incommunicable to trounce. Skilful lure choices like these make all the difference when yous're trolling for walleye. Of course, a high-quality downrigger like the Scotty 1106 Depthpower is essential, too. The eye of this 'rigger is a powerful motor that tin can enhance a seven-pound weight at about four feet per second or a 15-pound weight at a flake more than iii feet per second. There's not much divergence in that location, and you'll be impressed with the power the #1106 tin generate, especially when you're trolling deep. This motor is complemented by a fully adjustable clutch so that you can customize your descent speed. We've had a lot to say about downriggers, and maybe this Scotty'southward besides large for your gunkhole or also much for your wallet. Simply if you lot want to know nigh other excellent options, check out this article. It'll help y'all find the right choice for your gunkhole and budget: Best Downriggers Explained and Our Favorites Reviewed Recall that precision trolling demands that you calculate the corporeality of line you lot have out, the speed of your boat, and the weight on your line. A simple mode to do this is to use the '50/l' rule: let out 50 feet of line, attach your weight, and allow out 50 anxiety more. The slower yous troll, and the more weight you use, the deeper your lure will run. Merely take a await at the chart below: If you want the full rundown on precision trolling techniques, cheque these articles out: Walleye Fishing Tips: How to Fish for and Catch Walleye In All Seasons How To Use A Downrigger: Tips and Techniques to Primary Deep H2o Trolling The techniques used to troll for salmon are very like to those used for walleye, merely the tackle is a bit more robust. My favorite rod for trolling for sockeye, steelhead, chinook, or coho is undoubtedly Okuma Guide Select. Expect 10-anxiety, half dozen-inches of carbon cobweb with the ability to fight large fish, long tough handles, and premium guides. The moderate activeness on this rod is perfect for using downriggers, and information technology has enough of popular when your lure or bait gets striking. Lure options vary quite a bit depending on where you're fishing for salmon, so it's always wise to check with local anglers if yous're fishing unfamiliar waters. Popular choices for salmon trolling include Mepp's Flying C, the Abu Garcia Salmo, and the amazing M Slam Bucktail. Amazon My choice of a reel to pair with this rod is the Shimano Tekota 600 Line Counter. A line-counting reel is an essential tool when trolling for salmon, and with a little math (or a proficient chart), it tin can help you figure out simply how deep you're running your lures. My choice of line for trolling for salmon is Berkley Trilene Big Game in the thirty- to twoscore-pound test range. It has the knot integrity you need and stupor force that tin accept a hard hit and tough fight without giving in. The techniques for computing the running depth of your lures or bait is identical to what you exercise with walleye. You tin follow the "50/50 rule" or break out your smartphone for a footling loftier school math. If you lot know the angle of your line and how much of it you lot have out, y'all tin calculate your depth using trigonometry. And you lot thought you lot'd never apply math like that in real life! You tin calculate your depth using trigonometry. Over again, we strongly recommend that you read through our article on precision trolling technique. It will demystify the outcome of weight, speed, and line length on lure depth and actually help you become a handle on precision trolling for salmon. How To Employ A Downrigger: Tips and Techniques to Main Deep Water Trolling Offshore anglers hunt a multitude of species. If you need i rod for all your offshore trolling, attain for EatMyTackle's Black & Blue. Information technology'due south but superior in every respect when you're trolling for big fish in deep h2o. Paired with an appropriate conventional reel, you lot've got a winning philharmonic for whatsoever you lot're chasing. Yous're really spoiled for first-class choices here, and from Penn'southward Fathom Lever Drag, to reels by Avet and Daiwa, you lot can hardly go wrong. A few 8-inch Rite Angler Pre-Rigged Tuna Dart Trolling Lures or Tuna Flashers are always a skillful idea. Amazon And variations on this theme, like Loftier-Speed Wahoo Lures, will concenter enough of attention from multiple species. Amazon Loftier-speed trolling lures similar these attract lots of bites. But that's the issue in providing advice: the range of species you might be angling for is so diverse that there are simply a few general tips we can give. Ane is that in addition to a stout, short rod and a powerful reel, you'll need very heavy braided line like KastKing SuperPower in 100-pound test or Reaction Tackle Pro Grade in 150-pound or higher test. You'll besides need as robust leader textile, large hooks for alive bait, and a wide array of lures depending on where and what y'all're fishing. While there's certainly more to say nearly trolling, we promise that this commodity has answered some of your questions and helped you to capeesh but how much try it takes to do well. Easily 1 of the about pop line-fishing techniques anywhere yous tin can become a line wet, the effort you spend learning the ins and outs of trolling will definitely pay off. As e'er, we'd love to hear from you, and so please leave a comment below.
What is trolling?
Why Troll for Fish?
Trolling Tackle and Techniques
Spider Rigging for Crappie
Precision Trolling Tackle and Techniques for Walleye
Trolling for Salmon
Trolling for pelagic species like tuna, wahoo, sailfish, and shark
Final Thoughts
About The Author
John B
If it has fins, John has probably tried to catch it from a kayak. A native of Louisiana, he now lives in Sarajevo, where he's adjusting to life in the mountains. From the rivers of Bosnia to the coast of Croatia, you can find him fishing when he's not camping, hiking, or hunting.
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