trolling question?

[mark mercer]

ok, ive trolled before with very little luck this way but i was wondering if possibly there is a way to do this and have it work. is there a good way to troll without downriggers or planner boards? like just throwing your line out 50 feet behind the boat with a rattle trap or stick bait and trolling slowly? if you guys have any suggestions for trolling in this method let me know because this weekend i will be in boat without either and i was wondering if troling was worth it. thanx alot

[FLAG]

What are you trolling for? I have good luck with a Rapala behind my conoe with a trolling motor for smallmouths.

[Cider]

Sure, you can troll flat lines and long lines without the aid of downriggers or planer boards.  The only disadvantage you will have is getting deep enough if the fish have gone deep.  You can add keel sinkers to your terminal tackle to help get a little depth.  Dipsy divers will also give you all kinds of depth without having a tremendous amount of line out behind you.

You will have to take wider turns this way so that all your lines follow you without hanging up.  Make sure that you use a good swivel or bead chain so that your main line doesn't get twisted up on you.  I would also reccommend using a level wind reel rather than a spinning reel for trolling.  You could use a spinning reel but it pretty much makes it useless for casting after that because your line will twist something fierce!

If you have to use a spinning reel, at the end of the day or more frequently, take off all your terminal tackle and just troll the plain mono behind you.  That will help eliminate any line twist.

Remeber to keep your trolling speed nice and slow.  Somewhere between drift and 1.5 mph!

Good luck and tight lines!

[Barleydog]

It may help if you list what and where your fishing Mark??
Lead core line is an option that seems like a lost tool in most fishermen's arsenal.  It's colored every ten ft. for depth control.
Another option is dipsy's.  They come in several differnent sizes including some that are very small for small diameter line/pole combos.

[mark mercer]

well basically ive trolled with no luck just goin for basically anything but ill be goin for walleye/ pickeral dont know if that helps but it might

[Cider]

If you are trolling for walleye any bottom bouncing technique is great.  Three-way rigging with a swivel and dropper weight designed for "walking" the bottom.  You could use live bait or crankbaits or jigs.  Lindy rigs will work great for this.

As far as trolling for pickerel?  I don't really know.  Most of my pickerel have been taken on top water action with casting cranks, buzz baits, and plugs like hulas, jitterbugs, torpedos, rapalas, rebels, plastic mice etc.

Never really heard of people trolling for pickerel/pike before.  I'm sure it is probably done though.  They are roving predators/hunters and I would think that the best thing for them is casting the stuff I already mentioned which imitates wounded baitfish and small rodents and the like.

Maybe try trolling edges of weed beds were pike/pickerel will be suspended and waiting for juicy morsels to come by.  A big flutter spoon with a single point hook on it would probably work nicely.

Anyone troll for pickerel/pike?  Esox - got any advice on the big toothy creatures??  How about you Grumpymoe?

[unreel]

Mark, good stuff by Cider and Barleydog,  in addtion if you're flat lining ( just a lure behind the boat) first check your speed and the lure action right along side the boat, before letting out line.  You mentioned 50' back,  with a motor running you might want to try different distances back.  Try stripping the line off by hand so that you know how far back you are, that way you can repeat the distance that works.  If you have a baitcaster you can count each time the line guide goes back and forth.   Adding distance, speed, the type of lure, adding weight to the line will change the depth your lure will be.  Good luck! 

[TJ]

Trolling for Pike is an excellent way to cover a lot of water. Spoons, jigs, stickbaits and Shad rap will bring a hit.
Troll the same speed or faster for Pike as you would for Walleye. A sudden 2-3 mph burst of the throtle, for a few seconds will bring a hit big time. If you want to flat line without the expence of lead core, Fireline is the next best thing. Because of the strength of diameter, lures dive deeper with less line out.

[mark mercer]

i was told by someone that fireline is bad for trolling, is that true?

[TJ]

The question is, why is it not good for trolling? Did he give you a reason?
I guess the argument could be, no stretch in your line=better feel, better hook sets?
Your lure sinks faster= more fising time, less line out behind the boat?
2-3 times higher test strength then mono=less hooks lost?

[shrimp]

I guess the argument could be, no stretch in your line=better feel, better hook sets?

Shouldn't the line have a little stretch to it so you don't rip the bait from the fish's mouth when trolling?

[Barleydog]

No stretch=fish lips on the hook?  Can be a legitimate beef!  I had found that trolling with spider wire required the use of a very limber rod.  I use 9'6" Browning downrigger rods loaded with dipsy divers to depths of 60 ft. with no problems.  The rod "gives" just enough to stop the "lip-ripping" problem.  The use of spiderwire was justified by it's thin diameter makeup which allowed it to cut through the heavy currents especially with 3-5 mph trolling speeds.  I'm not a big fan of stacking my downriggers, (usually a mess with large salmon and a 18 ft. boat) that's why my use of dipsies and low stretch superlines came into play.  One other interesing point for using superbraid line is that it eliminated line twist, even when high quality Sampo swivels fouled up do to weeds.
I would try superbraid line while trolling for walleye and pickeral, however, the use of a limber rod is a must!  Almost any trolling, downrigger, planer, or even a noodle rod would work.   Another option is the use of banana wieghts.  Banana wieghts or triangular style trolling wieghts can assist in lowering your jerk baits or other trolling baits into the strike zone.  This method works great, but you still have to use a "forgiving" rod to prevent hook pull-out.  Easy change out is done with two snaps on both the rod end and leader end of your line.
Mark, these are a few methods worth trying!  Don't give up, and give er' hell! -Barleydog

[BuckShotJon]

We have trolled this way many times for walleye/pike and smallmouths. Typically I use a rapala or rattle trap and let out about 100 yards of line. Have no idea how fast I am going becuase I have no speedometer however I know it is crawling.

Deep diving lures with large spoons also work. I run lures at top / medium and deep to see where the fish are hitting.

Jon

[suskymusky]

I troll for walleye and smallmouth  mainly in the Susquehanna river.Its fairly shallow so downriggers, etc. are not an option.I let out about 100 feet or so of line, and control my depth with my choice of lure.I use spped clips so I can change my lures quickly. I use original floating Rapalas  or Rebel crawfish for water depths to 5 feet.I use RapalaTaildancers or Wally Divers for depths of 5 to10 feet.When I'm hitting too much bottom I change lures before I lose them.I started using the Rapala dives to series for the rare times I get on lakes.They dive to 10 feet or whatever and stay there.My favorite patterns are the black/silver and natural perch.(Im like an unofficial spokesman for Rapala)

[TJ]

(Im like an unofficial spokesman for Rapala)

What does that mean? LOL