Trolling

Folks,
Just joined forum and haven't been fishing much in years. Got a boat , new rods and want to learn trolling from front of boat. How do I load the line . Jigs.sinkers etc. I haved bought 6 rods 10, 12 ,16 ft. and installed front end rod holders. I know nothing about how to set them up or what to use at Lake Norman. Help. Comments will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Crappiefry.

Welcome. The easiest rig I use is just a simple Carolina rig. 1/2 oz egg sinker about 12-18" above a #2 minnow hook. If you fish real deep you can go up to a 3/4oz. You can google a "capps and coleman" rig to see a good double minnow rig. I typically dont tightline troll faster than .5mph, sometimes slower is the key. Set your rod holders where your rod tips are just above the water surface and watch for any little thump. Good luck

BTW, you can use any jig you want with either of those rigs. One more tip, I keep some tape on my rod above the reel to mark 1 and 2 feet so I can pull out the exact depth I want.

Here's a good video to get you going: Spider Rigging For Crappie.mp4 - YouTube

If there in shallows spawing fishing from front of boat,I would use 1/16 to 1/8 rigs by them self tipped with minnow and just slowly bump trolling moter along.Just remeber crappie feed looking up and if your in shallow water they spook easlily

All great info guys for a new member. I see you joined January 26th . Welcome to the forum! If you don't know there is a lake Norman social march 23rd. You are more than welcome to come. I've heard they have some good doughnuts at these socials. Lol. Be sure to put your name in for the February drawing.

Thanks, CraPPIEFRY

Funny thing about creating an artificial School of bait fish.
When I was a kid, and old man got me in with some other old guys. We put on Dry flies. And in turn, landed a Dry fly then quicly snapped it back up. Each of us did that in turn.
It created an Artificial Hatch and sometimes two or more of us had Rainbow on at the same time.

Welcome crappiefry your at the right place to learn about trolling or any other method these guys are very helpful, it's just cost some kk donuts sometimes lol

:welcome from liberty