You can troll any time of year with any species related bait...if you put your lure @ the right depth. I don't do it other than when I'm saltwater fishing with others, but you always read about it like it's a new phenomenon... My brother in law's father, recently deceased, used to sit for hours explaining how they would troll with beetlespins and even crickets! in bar pits and channels for sacalait, when people were hiding from the heat or cold. He was nearly 70 and said he did it as a kid for many many years, so you do the math. Technology hit and old stories are forgotten or lost.

Adam