Longlining Questions?

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Originally Posted by gabowman

Ive found that when the water is still cold the fish want something without alot of movement...thus the sliders. Im already having good luck with curly tail grubs too. But almost everything Ive caught the past few weeks have been pulled at .7 mph too. I think whichever style of jigheads is youre preference. Whether ball head of minnow head jigs you need to cast them out and head for shallows to see at what depth they start hitting bottom. You will need to do this with various weighted heads so you will know how deep theyre running when youre seeing fish on your graph. Ive done this with 1/32nds and 1/16ths as that is all I pull. BUT, Ive also did this speeded up, slowed down, and also adding splitshots. It's the only way you will know where youre jigs is running when youre trying to pull them right over the fishes heads. Ponyheads are GREAT when the fish become more aggressive. That extra flash will no doubt get more attention from the fish!;):)

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How deep can you get 1/16 oz jig heads to run at .7 to .9? If the fish are sitting deeper, say 15 feet, do you just add a split shot rather than running a 1/8th?

With my rod tips only a few inches off the water a 1/16th running at .7 mph is running about 9'-9.5' deep an at .9 mph theyre about 7'-7.5'deep. Everybody's MMV depending on their setup. If the fish are sitting deeper (15') I'll either add a split shot the size of a 1/16th jighead to each line or I'll pull double 1/16ths at .8-.9 mph. That will get them down to about 13' deep. 1/8ths would probably do the same thing but I dont have any and havent "learned" how deep they run.

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Originally Posted by gabowman

With my rod tips only a few inches off the water a 1/16th running at .7 mph is running about 9'-9.5' deep an at .9 mph theyre about 7'-7.5'deep. Everybody's MMV depending on their setup. If the fish are sitting deeper (15') I'll either add a split shot the size of a 1/16th jighead to each line or I'll pull double 1/16ths at .8-.9 mph. That will get them down to about 13' deep. 1/8ths would probably do the same thing but I dont have any and havent "learned" how deep they run.

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Good information. I have found I can turn my Active Target backwards and see the depths the jigs are running. I built a depth chart when pulling double rigs for stripers this winter. So I know exactly how much line to put out at 1.3 mph to reach certain depths.

As I start to long line this spring, I plan to build a similar chart for my crappie jigs. I want to know exactly how much line to count out to reach certain depths with various weight jigs at .7mph and .9mph. I plan to rig every rod with the same line so the amount of drag from the line in the water is always the same from rod to rod. I start counting my number of "pulls" (from the reel to the first eye) when the jig is in the water with the rod at the level it will be sitting in the holder.

Sounds like a good plan but I didnt get that technical. I just went with a "good throw". Ha!:) That's cool that your active target can see your jigs and how deep theyre running. That will save you alot of time "learning" different jig weights. Once you know the depths of certain weights you can "guess" what the depths of some of the faster speeds should be. As an example: you see the fish holding at 8' deep and you know your 1/16th jigs runs 8' deep at .8 mph. To attract biting fish you may run at 1.0 mph to have the jigs above them. Remember, just because you see fish on your graph doesnt mean they will all bite, but your presentation has to be above the fish. Below them and you go home without any fish to eat.;) Just remember, this aint rocket science.

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Originally Posted by gabowman

I like chart green and yellow, bright orange, pink, and royal blue. I use those different colors as contrasting colors to the curly tail grubs I fish with. I also use unpainted during (and around) the spawn.

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Would you mind explaining to me why unpainted is used around spawn time? Thanks

With fish moving to the shallows this time of year is there a minimum depth that longlining should be utilized, e.g. 5 ft? I suppose a 1/32 oz jig could be kept about midway through the water column at 5 ft. Does anyone use even lighter jigs to stay shallower?

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Originally Posted by cglarsen

Would you mind explaining to me why unpainted is used around spawn time? Thanks

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IMO this is the time of the year that crappie become most aggressive and will hit almost anything. Besides, I'm not completely sure whether the painted jig heads catch more fish....or more fishermen.:)

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Originally Posted by cglarsen

With fish moving to the shallows this time of year is there a minimum depth that longlining should be utilized, e.g. 5 ft? I suppose a 1/32 oz jig could be kept about midway through the water column at 5 ft. Does anyone use even lighter jigs to stay shallower?

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I think some people run some 1/64 jigs but I dont. I can let out half as much line and speed up to around 1.1 mph to keep my 1/32 jigs off bottom. My boat needs atleast 3' of water to run in. My previous boat was a flat bottom skiff and I could run so shallow the trolling motor hit bottom first. I pulled some jigs so shallow that I had to add floats to each line to keep the jigs off bottom and I caught fish doing so. Like I said, when theyre that shallow theyre aggressive, but there are still plenty of fish in the 3'-5' range (even 10'-15' range) so you dont have to get that shallow to catch fish. They dont all lay eggs at the same time.

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Originally Posted by gabowman

I think some people run some 1/64 jigs but I dont. I can let out half as much line and speed up to around 1.1 mph to keep my 1/32 jigs off bottom. My boat needs atleast 3' of water to run in. My previous boat was a flat bottom skiff and I could run so shallow the trolling motor hit bottom first. I pulled some jigs so shallow that I had to add floats to each line to keep the jigs off bottom and I caught fish doing so. Like I said, when theyre that shallow theyre aggressive, but there are still plenty of fish in the 3'-5' range (even 10'-15' range) so you dont have to get that shallow to catch fish. They dont all lay eggs at the same time.

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Thanks. Yeah I'm going to stick with 1/32 and 1/16 weights and doubles to get all the depth combinations I'll probably need with variable speeds and also not fish very shallow water.

Another question: is line twist an issue for anyone? I'm considering using a barrel swivel with pre-tied jigs to swap out/retie more quickly as well and this would eliminate line twist I think.

Positive note - I finally caught some crappie longlining yesterday :) Appreciate all the help here.

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I do gt line twist but usually that isnt that much of an issue as I'm always breaking off lines due to hangups so my reels usually gets line changes fairly regular. IMO swivels might help as long as youre not hanging up. I also find the charlie brewer sliders causes more line twists than the southern pro fat grubs do but ymmv. Line twist happens but isnt usually a big deal to me.