long line troling

just want to see if anyone ever had much luck with long lining and how to go about it

Besides flipping docks and casting, long line trolling is the only type of crappie fishing I do. I am sure many will argue against it because most like to spider troll but I have had so much luck doing the long lining that I always figured why switch. I run 12 poles at a time. Six up front with me and six in the back. My front poles are 14', 12', and 10'. They have even longer but I am to cheap to buy them and what I have been doing is working. My back poles are 7' and have them angled differently to keep them running two foot apart.

I am sure your first thought is how to keep from getting tangled. It is pretty easy actually until you hook up on a large bass or striper. If that happens, get your other lines in or prepare to re-tie some jigs. I troll as slow as possible. The slower your motor will go the better you will do. Wind is your enemy ecause boat control is needed and on windy days, I am usually in trouble unless I can find some area that is out of the wind. This goes for all fishing though. When I make a pass and want to turn, I usually reel in my inside pool on the outside. It tends to get tangled if not. Always be prepared for a tun fish because we almost always hook up on a turn fish. Once I hook a fish I will pull him straight in. If she gets across a line, I will either lift way up or down to pull the fish across or under the other lines. Once I re-cast, you can either make a god cast or reel the other two lines in and start with the inside pole.

If you want to make some money bet your partner in the back because the outside poles will catch more fish almost everytime. I have fished with guides and not and no matter who is controlling the trolling motor, the front always catches more. I wish I could say it is a talent thing but it is actually the fact that crappie will fan out away from the boat as I pass and then start to come back in afterwards. My 14' poles are hit more often then not before any other pole. You catch a one pounder on a 14' pole while trolling and you will think you have moby dick on the line. I also leave my back lines a little farther out giving me better odds to pull fish from them.

I love fishing this way and catch a lot of fish doing it. You get fish on the stumps or up on the flats or staging waiting to move up in the shallows. When I pass over stumps you can figure I have a jig in the face of every crappie in a area about 33' wide as I pass. I may have to turn around a lot when I find the fish sitting on a certain brush pile but who cares. I once caught a boat limit and never moved the boat more then 50 yards. The fish were sitting on a point and depending on the sun or clouds would stay right on top or move off to the edge. I would go over and make a long sweeping turn and hit it again. My wife and I did this all day one day and caught a limit doing it. Good luck.

Thanks for the informative post about long-line trolling. I know that other threads have tried to clear this up, but I'm still not really sure about how long-lining is different from spider rigging. Is spider rigging just having the lines straight down in the water, whereas long-lining the lines are at an angle? It seems like both styles have the same basic principle: fan out as many rods as possible and move slowly through the water. How far out do you trail the baits behind the boat? Are the baits on the front rods further back than the back of the boat? Also, what kinds and weights of baits are you using? I think the standard crappie jig is 1/16th oz, do you have to use any extra weight to get it down?

Thanks for your insight!

thanks for the post i have never tryed it but can't wait to that helped me alot im a spider riger and just wanted to give it a try thanks agine

Spider trolling isn't trolling at all. It is pushing jigs. It is where you see the guy sitting on the front of his boat with multiple poles out dropping line straight down. Long line trolling is trolling like you normally think of trolling but with a ton of rods in at once. Both have their advantages during certain times but a lot is just what eac person is used to. Jig size all depands on the conditions and watertemperature. If I went this weekend I would be trolling 1/16 oz jigs. As the water warms and they mve farther up the creeks and towards a shallow staging area I will move to 1/24 oz. When they move real shallow I switch to 1/32 oz. I cast each pole out as far as I can on a normal cast. I don't break my back doing it, just a normal cast length will do. There is nothing more fun then trolling and having four poles bend at once. One in each arm. Stepping on another and one you have under your butt just to catch some good eatting crappie. The big thing to remember is that you need lots of jigs. I use the JR Jigs out of JR Marina at Weiss Lake. I usually stock on about $50 dollars worth per year. If you aren't breaking line you arent where the fish are.

I don't troll this way much here at home. I guess it would work. I have thought about it several times and guess I just need to give it a go. I have been bored at times and threw out a couple of poles and trolled. I can't say I have had much if any luck doing it.


With that said...my grandparents used to have a fish camp on Lake Istokpoga in Florida. We used to go down the first 2 weeks each and every March growing up. Man you talk about memories. All the folks we knew or fished with down there fished this way. The lake is huge, to me at least. the lake is only 6" deep on average. but you can't see across it most places. We would motor to places we had caught fish [lined up on landmarks] troll till we got into them and throw out a marker. Then we just made passes by the marker. We would go passed it 50 yards or so and make a big sweeping turn and run back by. The grass sacks would fill up fast! They called them "specks" They were dark colored and thick! As I got up in my teens I could go by myself. Grandpa didn't like the wind as he had had a stroke by then and had his problems getting around in the boat any way. I would brave it and go by myself. I thought I was something. They would let me go as long as I promised to not go up in the feeder rivers and creeks as they were full of gators and moccasins. Every year someone local would have a problem with a gator and my grandparents didn't like them and would have a fit if they found out I had been up in the canals and feeders. Didn't go up in them much but would do a little bass fishing from time to time when I could get away with it. I caught my first 9# bass down there on a purple worm. The bass fishing was awesome but so was the speck fishing!


That brought back some memories..... Think I'll give the trolling thing a shot...

I've done them both. Myself, I prefer spider rigging over longlining. I like to target specific structure and drop-off's. By tightlining, or pushing jigs, boat control is much easier. Both methods are really good ways to catch fish. Just depends on what you personally like best.

I've heard guys talk about how far to cast it but Im still a little confused. Once the bait hits the water how do you know how much line to let out? Do you Let the bait sink for a few seconds or let the jig hit the bottom and pull up. Im a little confused. Any information would be great! Heading to Lake Weiss on Monday and it seems like this is the only way to fish down there.

I went from spider rigging to long lining although I do spider when the wind is calm. i too like to target specific structure. I find that boat control is MUCH easier when you get to move with pace. I use 8 poles out the back fanned out. I typically use 1/8 oz jigs if the water is over 10' and 1/16 if over 5' then 1/32 if shallow but I do very little shallow water trolling. I spool all my reels with the same line so jig depth is consistent.

My typical 'run' goes exactly like this:pick a trolling line (based on known structure), move to the upwind end of it, turn the boat right, throw out the wind sock (if wind is above 15mph), start trolling motor to maintain .8-1 mph, then cast out jigs about 25-30 yrds and put poles in holder. The speed of the boat controls the depth the jigs sink to. And YES, it is a BLAST when you get 3-4 fish on at once.

I typically don't turn but reel up and start the same run over if successful. I do like JB's front/back technique. I have been thinking about that lately. With my buddy seats int he back and single in the front I could fish three people at the same time then.