Trolling question

I tried my hand at trolling over the weekend. Had set up with double jigs on mine line. One about 12-18 inches above the other tied with loop knots. The first day I pulled two rods and caught two large crappie. Both over a pound.
Then on Sunday I tried again with the same setup but with 4 rods. The line on the two outside rods seemed to be floating on the surface of the water regardless of the speed I was going. I kept it between .7 and 1.1. Caught 7 fish in the hour, 2 large stripers, a bass, and the rest were crappie. All those fish were caught on one of 2 inside rods. Am I doing something wrong?
I know it’s not the best time of the year on my lake to troll but its an easy time for me to learn lol


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You need some weight on those lines.....try a 3/4 Oz egg weight about 12 to 16 inches above your bottom jig...just loop the line thru the weight about 3 wraps....
12 to 16 inches above your weight put your top jig on with a loop knot.

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Originally Posted by "G"

You need some weight on those lines.....try a 3/4 Oz egg weight about 12 to 16 inches above your bottom jig...just loop the line thru the weight about 3 wraps....
12 to 16 inches above your weight put your top jig on with a loop knot.

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Does it matter that most of the fishing on my lake is in 18ft of water. Fish are close to 12ft deep?


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How much line did you have out and what size jig head?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tlefire

How much line did you have out and what size jig head?

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2 jigs. 1/16th each. Ranged from 50-125 feet. Line was on top the whole time. Only on the two outside rods. They are 8’ rods coming off the sides going straight out, the other two went straight off the back


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I’m not a trolling expert by any means, but if the rod tips are the same distance off the water and the cast lengths are relatively the same the baits should be running about the same depth IMO.


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Are you using a mount to put your poles in or are they laying flat in the boat?

When I'm Pushing jigs at around 1mph .... I use 1oz trolling weights. If I want my jigs to be 12ft deep I let out 20ft of line (below the surface). This is all based on the right triangle theory that says your jig will be 3ft deep for every 5ft of line you have below the surface ... "IF" your line is close to a 45deg slant (hence the 1oz weight).

I prefer Pushing over Pulling/Longline Trolling for the reason of the amount of line you had out vs the amount of line I would have out to equal the same depth of the jigs. It also means I don't have to drag the fish back to the boat over such long distances, and I can make much sharper turns without worrying about the lines crossing/tangling. To get good separation between the trailing lines I sometimes use a 6ft rod, a 10ft rod, and a 14ft rod per side (but usually I'm just using two 14ft rods out each side and setting them in the holders so that there's a couple of feet of separation) :twocents

This is what I’ve experienced when trolling out the back and sides of the boat whether it’s for crappie or striper. The side trollers ride higher in the water column because the water is harder. The rods out the rear behind the boat is going thru softer water because the boat agitates the water molecules.
And there’s always a favorite rod by fish. Same color, same length, same depth and one pole will be a favorite.

Were you using braid or mono?
What lb.?