Thread: Trolling speed

.7 is about as slow as I ever troll, but I do cut the trolling motor on and off to trigger hits and cause the jigs to fall. I especially do this if I am trolling and troll over a ledge into deeper water I will shut it down for a second or two and let the jigs drop. If I am wanting to troll at a deeper depth I will either go to heavier jig or I usually just add a very small split-shot.

Last month we were trolling the channel at lake talquin......was using double 1/8 and single 1/4's..........The fish were 22 feet down and we were trolling around .7 mph.......and catching fish.

Trolling jigs....we normally use 1/16 jig heads with a variety of sliders, curly tails and anything we think they may be interested in. My buddy is the slow speed operator of my boat (he does a fine job) and I think the slowest we troll is 0.7 mph. I liked the comment of stopping the motor for a second or two to let the jigs fall some. We noticed that the outside rod would get lots of action when we would turn into it. So the jig was dropping due to the slower speed. We have one season of trolling behind us so we are still in the learning phase.

Originally Posted by MePreach

but I do cut the trolling motor on and off to trigger hits and cause the jigs to fall. I especially do this if I am trolling and troll over a ledge into deeper water I will shut it down for a second or two and let the jigs drop.

SHHHHHHHH... ^^^^^^^

I hardly ever fall below .8 mph and sometimes up to 1.4 mph. The extra speed sometimes triggers the bite but you have to go heavier to get deeper when pulling this fast. I typically am shallow when going that fast. I mainly just keep letting line out to get deeper. I do the above mentioned by MePreach though. IF the bite is tough and I can see I am runnning over schools of fish, I will run over the school to the point I think the baits are almost were the fish are, turn off the motor until speed falls to about .6 mph (depending on depth and jig size) and then turn it back on. They seem to hit the bait as soon as it starts rising.

Yea I agree on the turning thing. Catch a lot of fish on poles dropping in a turn.

I'm going to give long lining a shot this weekend and was wondering if any of you could point me in the right direction on weight/ line out/ depth. I searched but there were a lot of contradicting results. To eliminate the thousands of variables here's what I'll be doing: .8 mph, 6 lb mono, 1/8th jig heads. I figure some of y'all have to use this exact set up. My target depth will be 15 to 20 feet. Thanks - JP

Originally Posted by sjprkr1

I'm going to give long lining a shot this weekend and was wondering if any of you could point me in the right direction on weight/ line out/ depth. I searched but there were a lot of contradicting results. To eliminate the thousands of variables here's what I'll be doing: .8 mph, 6 lb mono, 1/8th jig heads. I figure some of y'all have to use this exact set up. My target depth will be 15 to 20 feet. Thanks - JP

Sounds good, but I'd have some 1/16th jig heads. I don't even have 1/8

I have slowed down as slow a .4-.6 after a hard cold front! Also a little more line out,With 1/16. But I have a 1/12th yet to be tried? Thinking it will reach the 11'-12' range.Off on thing with trolling motor is the deal!Especially on brush piles,Also slow zig zag has been really helpful when I didn't know what they wanted? My o2 LB