Long Line trolling instructions
Have a lot of folks PM'ing me asking about how I long line troll so I'm going to attempt to explain my methods. Keep in mind this is all self taught and I learned it from watching and talking to others. I'm no expert and I'm sure there are plenty of you reading this who catch a lot more than me. One thing I can say though "right or wrong this method has been working for me for over 15 years". In all these years I've never gone into an area that I've seen others catching fish and been unable to catch some as well. I always catch enough each year to fill the freezer so that I can eat crappie once a week all year.
I sent some pictures I took of my set up to GCD so he could post here for me.
BOAT SET UP: I have 16 rod holders in my boat, eight in the front and eight in the back. I usually only use 6 though (12 if someone's in the back of the boat). My holders in the front are set up so when I put my rods in they are in a straight line (even) and sticking straight out the side of the boat. (GCD will post pics). The ones in the back are facing back with 2 on each side at a slight angle so when you have 3 poles on one side the lines are about 2ft apart going into the water.
RODS, REELS and LINE: I use 6lb test. I try to use bass size reels because you catch a lot of bass, catfish, and strippers and they can tear up smaller reels. I use 6 poles in the front of the boat. I have 2 6ft poles, 2 9ft poles, and 2 12ft poles. I fish one of each out each side of the boat. The 6ft pole goes in rod holder closes to me then the 9 ft in the next then the 12ft (see picture). I do this so all my jigs are 2ft apart on each side. Then if someones in the back they have to small rods going straight back and 2 rods on each side of them spaced so jigs in water are 2 ft apart. This lets me cover about 28ft of water with a jig every 2ft. It's pretty effective at finding the fish if your close to the correct depth with the jigs.
DEPTH: I put a bobber stopper on each pole then slide it down the line until I have 40ft of line from the jig to the tip of the pole with the bobber stopper at the reel. To do this I put the stopper on, feed it to the reel then I hook my jig to something and back up holding the stopper as it slides down the line until i have 40ft of line from the jig to the tip of my pole. Then when I first start fishing I cast out until the bobber stopper just comes of the reel then I know my jig is 40ft back. Then from there the depth will depend on speed, jig size etc.. I almost exclusively use a 1/16oz jig. You can let out your line, run slow on you trolling motor, go in to shallow water and when you see your poles begin to bounce you know your hitting bottom. This will give you an idea of how deep you are until you get use to it. Most of the time with my configuration I'm 7 to 9 feet deep. Then you just adjust from there if your not catching fish change your speed, amount of line in and out etc. I have found that a 1/16oz jig in 10 to 15ft of water going as slow as you can with your trolling motor without stopping will catch fish. I might go a hair faster but usually leave my line where it is. Now these bobber stoppers can be irritating. I use the flat ones with 4 holes that you weave your line in and out of. They stay in place the best, but if you let them past your eyes they sometimes will catch and when you reel in the bobber stopper will hang on the eye and move so your pole is not at the right depth anymore or they will catch as your casting forcing you to feed out line by hand. Like I say they can be frustrating, but my experience has shown your better off knowing how far back you are than the casting and guessing.
SPEED: As stated above to me slower is almost always better. When the water warms up you can go a little faster and sometimes need to, but when the water is cold the slower the better (In my opinion you can't go to slow in cold water).
JIG COLOR: I prefer Dark bodies and chart tails, but My fishing holes are a little muddy to murky. In the afternoon when the sun is full blast on the water sometimes light colors work better. To me the go to color is Black body and Chart tail. I will have this on 4 of my 6 poles and change only if a color on one of my other poles is doing well. I will rarely have none in the water though.
MAKING TURNS: With up to 12 poles out and 40+ feet of line out you have to be careful making turns. You need to make wide turns so the lines don't get crossed up. The wider the better. If your in a small cove speed up a little when making a tighter turn.
REELING IN FISH: Need to make sure when you catch a fish you try to keep it down and keep your pole in the same line you hooked the fish otherwise it will go across your other lines. your not always going to be able to do this, but if you try you will have less tangles.
DEPTH FINDER ALARM: When fishing new areas I set the depth alarm on my fish finder according to how deep I'm fishing so If I stray into shallow water I'll get a warning. If you do get in shallow water speed up so your jigs will rise until you are in deeper water again. For example if I'm fishing in 10 to 15ft I'll set the alarm at 9ft to give me time to get back in 10 ft or more of water before I get hung up on bottom.
FINDING FISH: MY NUMBER ONE SECRET TO CRAPPIE FISHING IS............... Watch other people. If you see someone catching crappie and you use the above method you will catch them as well. Basically in March and April, this method will work in just about any cove or general area where crappie will spawn or hang out before and after the spawn. I've used this method with fish in 3.5ft of water to 20 ft of water. If they are shallow you will need to speed up and let out less line but if will work. The ideal scenario is to find fish in 2 or 3 areas in a cove and just do a circle trolling through them.
Like I said I'm no expert, but this works for me and it is pretty easy. Hope this helps those who have been PMing me. Just send a PM if you have any questions and I'll try to help. Besides I don't see to many people on Logan Martin doing this so If I could get a few more folks into it then I can use my NUMBER ONE SECRET MORE OFTEN (see someone else catch them and join in) there a lot easier to find if someone does it for you.:D
