Thread: Trolling question

Originally Posted by macpappy

I just had this discussion with a fishing buddy of mine yesterday. He asked how I caught so many more fish than my dad last weekend(i caught 45 and he caught 8). I tood him it had to be that only use a small piece of split shot about 12" above my jig head and dad uses that big 2 oz egg sinker above his.
Most of the fish i caught i could barely see a small change in the way the line was laying. The fish never hit it real hard the whole day. I believe he was getting bites but just couldn't see it.

I agree with the "smaller the better" when going slow, but at 1mph, you won't have any trouble seeing the bite. The speed makes the rod bow up when a fish hits or holds it.

No Math, just an estimate. Then once you find out what length of line you need out to catch em just use that 16 foot trolling rod for a yardstick and it's very simple.

At that speed you either have them or you don't when they hit it.

Thanks for all the good infor...

I'm doing EVERYTHING wrong. No wonder I can't catch fish. I got bad equipment, ain't no good at math, and my english sux two. I'm bookmarking this thread and reading it every day until I catch a fish.

The guys are right IMO, the line doesn't have to be straight up and down. Just remember it's all relative, set to a depth and let the fish dictate your adjustments. Paying attention to the amount of line out is important to be able to reset to where it was when you caught a fish. When I was guiding trips offshore I used to "slow troll" (we called it bump trolling) live bait on down riggers using 16 to 160 oz weights. When I didn't have clients on board I used to don my scuba gear and dive down beneath and anchor buoy tied to back and let my mate or a friend troll around me so I could observe my lures from the fishes point of view. One thing I noticed with weights regardless of size is that even though it looked like its running in a straight line down from the rod tip, that was never the case. The closer to the bait you were the more vertical the line became meaning the line was more elliptical in shape. Now we could discuss how to calculate elliptical parabolas but it's been awhile since I last took physics and calculus. Even diving plugs did this but not near as pronounced.

The faster the speed the less of an arc. So don't fret to much on exact depths, the 2/3 rule will get you in the ball park for crappie fishing. Using the Pythagorean theorum which is basically the Bandit Depth chart will get you close when using cranks. I never fret about being a foot or two off.

I know Iam the minority on heavy weights because everyone I see on the lake pushing is crawling with hardly any rod tips bent and got a couple drift socks out and all that works. I just prefer 1mph and up no socks that works for me I like to cover more ground. To each his own

Originally Posted by hotrod1

I know Iam the minority on heavy weights because everyone I see on the lake pushing is crawling with hardly any rod tips bent and got a couple drift socks out and all that works. I just prefer 1mph and up no socks that works for me I like to cover more ground. To each his own

Aint nuttin wrong with that either, got some 3 oz weights ready to go at all times.