Thread: Longlining Questions?

CK, I watched a guy pushing with long poles out front, like a spider rig setup, and was going at a steady clip too. I believe what I saw that day was a person longlining off the front...pushing @ 1 mph. I'd never seen that before that day and cannot recall ever seeing it again. I asked him was he catching anything and he told me he'd caught around 60, but most were small fish. Around here when you see a spider rig setup the person fishing isnt moving very fast at all...moreless just bumping along. T^hat guy had to have his lines weighted down in order to keep 'em down.

On a particular day of spider rigging I ran out of minners and all I had with me were my pushing poles (which I was spider rigging with). The fish were biting so good I didnt want to stop fishing. I'd already caught about 40 fish off minners before running out of bait. I cut hooks off some of them and added jigs with curly tail grubs. I turned my T-bars around some and started pulling the jigs as if I were longlining from the sides of my boat, except I never removed the 1 oz. sinkers. I didnt have the lines casted out, rather measured out about 20' deep. When reaching speeds @ 1 mph (guessing) the lines were back towards the back of the boat which probably put them about 10' deep. Anyways, long story short, I caught another 20 fish before quitting (as said before, the fish were really biting good). And that was done with a hand controlled trolling motor. I dont remember the speed I set it at. I just put it on a number that felt about right and left it there.

All that said, I'm sure you can figure out a way to make what you have work to fish the ways you wanna fish. It might take more effort, but it's still possible.

I do both, longline and push. The beneift to pushing is when you run over a school of fish you can turn on a dime and go get right back on the fish. I push 8 /18' poles with 2 oz on the bottom of line between .8 to 1 mph all the time. That weight will keep it down and the long poles get the bite even when the fish are only 5 feet deep. The deeper the fish the better control of spider rigging or pushing. Hope this helps.

Herewego, do you think you catch as many fish pushing as you do pulling?

Originally Posted by gabowman

Herewego, do you think you catch as many fish pushing as you do pulling?

Both have there time and place, longlining is good when the fish are up and down to 15' maybe 20' but you have to go to heavier jig to go deeper. With longlining you need a little more room to operate and works great on flats in open water, creeks or coves big enough to make your turns. I longline out the front and back of boat.

When pushing you can fish from 5' to 50' deep without changing out weights or jigs as long as you have enough weight to begin with. You can fish the tightest pockets, smallest coves, necks, or nooks spider riggin where longlining or trolling/pulling cranks behind the boat is limited at best. The best part is for us old heads is you can sit in that chair and do it all up front. You can catch them pushing when they are scattered or when they are bunched up it does not take as long to catch your limit. The longer the pole out front the least likely to spook fish with tm or boat.

When the fish hit the banks I put up the long rods and tight line jig and floater fish which is about to start. Hope I didn't confuse anyone with my wording.
BTW, I hope to get back down to my home state of SC and fish all those lakes I did as a kid and young man someday.

Originally Posted by Herewego

I do both, longline and push. The beneift to pushing is when you run over a school of fish you can turn on a dime and go get right back on the fish. I push 8 /18' poles with 2 oz on the bottom of line between .8 to 1 mph all the time. That weight will keep it down and the long poles get the bite even when the fish are only 5 feet deep. The deeper the fish the better control of spider rigging or pushing. Hope this helps.

Herewego. Thanks for the post. I also use weight on the bottom. You gave me confidence in that way. I was almost thinking the weight on bottom spooks them. I like the weight on bottom so when I fish the bottom it is easy to tell you are there. When you fish with jigs which do you use. I use tube but I see a lot of pullers like the curly tail.

Originally Posted by CrappieKidd

Herewego. Thanks for the post. I also use weight on the bottom. You gave me confidence in that way. I was almost thinking the weight on bottom spooks them. I like the weight on bottom so when I fish the bottom it is easy to tell you are there. When you fish with jigs which do you use. I use tube but I see a lot of pullers like the curly tail.

I use tubes and curly tails tipped when longlining. Pushing I use a hair jig either lead head or no lead lead with just hair on hook. At present I am just using 2 hooks with minnows and fishing stained waters. Remember when pushing jigs you need to keep it moving. With minnows not so much. The weight on bottom works fine, the Kentucky or Capps and coleman rigs work good also. When fish are on bottom the lead bumping is the wtg, the fish look up anyway. Tight line and wackem and stackem.

Question since you guys have a long lining thread, the March winds make it difficult on boat control, do any of you use drift socks? If so, do they get in the way of lines and landing fish?

Herewego, I have two 30" socks and according to how much wind we are having depends on whether I use a sock or two socks. I have mine rigged to barely clear the back edge of the transon of the boat so when I'm longlining the 5.5' rods sticks over the top of the socks. Either netting a fish or lifting a skidder, the socks arent in the way.