Trying to learn together

My oldest son is home from college on Spring break so was determined to go fishing this past weekend regardless of cold front, rain, wind, etc. So he, my other younger son, and myself headed to Lake Marion since it was a little closer to home. Normally we go to Wateree. We are really trying to get this trolling (tight-lining and long-line) thing figured out. I'm not trying to stick 16 rods off the boat for now until I learn how to control the boat, depth, etc. We headed to Jack's Creek on the advice of a friend. Wind was tough and didn't mark any fish. Water temps were about 58-59 mid-late afternoon. No luck on fish, so no pics, but did have a great time with my boys just the same. Would have loved to put them on some of the action I read about on here, but we aren't giving up, we'll figure it out. Between learning decent areas to focus on and the trolling techniques, I figure we best pack our lunches though because cooking some of what we catch we might go hungry. A lot of good info on here, look forward to getting the hang of it. We are headed to Wateree Friday and hopefully Saturday, maybe we'll catch enough for a sandwich at least... lol If nothing else, we are all 3 developing a higher level of patience

Welcome to the boards FishinDad! Even though it can seem like an uphill battle trying to figure out trolling at the start, stay patient and determined, and you'll be filling a livewell or cooler soon.

One of the big keys this time of year is finding water with a little stain to it, but not muddy. Clear water trolling is extremely difficult, and I usually only night fish where it's really clear.

You don't need to overload your boat with rods to start. Just make sure you troll a variety of popular light and dark colors, and friends and I have been having about the same success with 1/16 oz jigs with and without split shots. If you need a short list of popular curly tail colors, feel free to send a pm.

Trolling is an extremely effective method as evidenced by the larger and larger number of people out there doing it. I've seen people catch a nice mess doing nothing but trolling with two zebco 33's, so it doesn't have to be complicated.

I don't know if you'd be able to attend this or a future crappiefest, but it would go a long ways towards jump-starting you in the right direction, as people are very helpful in showing you where to troll and how to go about it. Even if you can't make it, just ask questions on this board. There are some very knowledgeable anglers here and nearly everyone is willing to help someone just getting started.

Good luck and keep at it!

William

well said FOM just keep at it ask questions no questions are dumb not asking is tho

fishindad, welcome... you've pick good way to learn to catch crappie; just one of the hardest lake in the state to try to learn on. But, to your credit Jacks has and still has fish in it, even though you may have not caught any. Keep at it it want take long and you'll be see rods bend, ONE THING I NOTICE WE reside in the same small town, North,sc. Good luck and keep at it you'll be glad you did.

When I long line jigs or minnows and corks I only fish with five rods at most. Last time out I only trolled three rods. Long lining jigs.

Welcome to Crappie.com and the Carolina Boards. Hope we can help you learn the whats to do and learn from our mistakes the whats not to do :) Lot of good people here willing to help.

Ronnie

Welcome to the boards FishinDad.:)

Welcome to the board. No better way to spend time than with your boys on the water. Like already stated, if you and the boys could make it to the Crappiefest at Russell Saturday it would give you a jump start just talking to different guys and seeing how different boats are set up. Plus I've never known a young man to pass up a hamburger or hot dog.
Anyway, welcome aboard. Great bunch of fellas on here.
SeaRay
PS
We use to travel in our RV and one of our favorite stops was to eat at the Piggly Wiggly in North on our way to Florida and back. They have this great restaurant in the store which has a variety of good county cooked food plus you could pick out any steak from the store and they would could it for you. All it cost was the price of the steak plus $2.50 which included fries, salad and tea. How could you beat that??

Guys I sure appreciate the welcome and the words of advice. I will see if we can make it to Russell on Saturday as it sounds like it would be an enjoyable event.

I want to mention something that I particularly noticed about the suggestions I was given from you all. Nobody said I had to go out and spend a wad of money on specialized equipment in order to get started with this method of fishing. That was impressive. Most times that's not the case, someone usually gives a shopping list of rods that have to be bought and gps guided trolling motors. We all know that any activity is sometimes made easier/better when using better equipment/specialized for that task and I'm sure as I develop these skills I will be adding those to my bag. But it was something that caught my attention in a positive way and I wanted to mention it to you all.

We will try to make it to Russell SeaRay, sounds like a fun event.

Oh, and the Pig is actually in the next little town down from North - in Neeses. And yep, they still do the steak deal only it's closer to $3 now.