Thread: When Long Line Trolling Would You Rather Use Curly Tail or a Paddle Tail?

I myself like a curly tail better. The thing about a paddle tail you are getting vibration from the tail which you already have in a blade on the jig head. If I was running a plain non bladed jig head then I would consider a paddle tail, but to me with a bladed jig head it's a mood point, and the curly tail has more action that is visible to the fish. Long Line Trolling is a reaction bite so you want the max amount of attention as you can get to your bait.

Its been years since I have been able to troll and consistently catch while doing it, but last weekend I ran a chartreuse road runner with a curl tail lemon meringue shoved on it and it was the only thing they seemed to want to hit. I ran the road runner on a steady first speed with no wind and we picked up 3 pretty random, but they wouldn't even nibble a blue/grey color or a acid rain with no spinner jig. Also picked up a 12 inch large mouth trolling over a and off a point going from 8ish feet back into 20-25feet. I've always felt that the motion from curl tails was more appealing but then again Im not a fish LOL Id try a road runner for sure though if they just arent biting. They have that little spinner and never know, might get a bass. Weekend before last my girlfriend caught a channel cat on it while trolling and that was the only thing that we got that day!

Why not go 50/50 and let the fish show you which one they want ??

Ima go out on a limb here and guess you'll catch fish on both.

1/16 oz roadrunner pro with a Charlie Brewer slider is my most common bait of choice for longlining.

I'm a big fan of the triple ripple curly tail.

When I troll jigs I’m using 8 rods, sometimes more. To start I use a little of everything. I’ve had days that the spinners, both road runners and beetle spins, didn’t draw as good a bite as a no spinner curl tail. Also had days when a baby Shad with no spinner caught fish well and were good to have in the spread. Just like colors working better than others, spinners are like that too so give em a taste and let them tell you what’s on the menu.

For me it's curly for stained water and paddle for clear water.

I'm a fan of the paddle tail. To me it seems they have a more realistic movement in the water but with that said they both work extremely well. If your not getting bit on one, try the other.