Spring Trolling

[axxell33]

Yes, it's spring time.. I'm officially declaring it with temps in the 70s!

With warm temperatures and new members.. you get the same ol' question that's been asked for many springs leading up to this one. The water will warm from the surface down.. so lighter and shallower than fall seems to be the idea.

What are some of the basics of weights/depths of Spring time trolling? Any suggestions on mixing up the 6 rod spread and managing to cover the depths needed?

DNR regs rule out the use of stinger hooks. Are there any issues with running single hooks on 9" shad? The single hooks just look so small on there. Are 6" better?

Thanks for any tips/tricks of the trade!

[27 sailfish]

Don't fret the single barbless hook. As long as tension is kept on the line - fish not likely to get away.

I had no trouble last year with fish being missed due to single hook. No matter what - some miss the strike. A 30 inch Rock can eat a 2 lb Shad - a little 9 inch lure is an appretizer to them.

I'm planning to run one board with 5 rigs - 3 tandem and 2 singles. My idea is to imitate a bait school. Starting at 100 feet of line and working to 60 feet off the clips. Staggering them about 10 feet.

1 umbrella off the corner back 200 feet rounds out the 6 rods. This will get adjusted to where I see bait or thermocline. Unweighted up to 20 ozs of sinker.

If the outer shallow singles get hit - then I'll adjust and put the other board over. The 6 rods makes it slower to figure them out. If over fish and no hits - try swapping shad colors , moving lures , etc.

I've found most spring Rock fairly aggressive to hit - once over them and current moving.

If you miss 3-4 fish - it often helps top bump speed up ( yes , faster ) about 1/2 knot or so.

[TomGlenBurnie]

thanks skip, you are a kind man. Many respect you. I have seen you try to help many fishermen.

[axxell33]

thanks skip, you are a kind man. Many respect you. I have seen you try to help many fishermen.

Agree! A lot of folks are tight lip'd and don't like to share. How am I going to teach my boys if no one teaches me?


Thanks a lot for all the info.. couldn't have asked for more/better information. I like the idea of running one board.. less hassle and easier to handle. I'll keep the colors mixed and rotated at different depths. I also have one umbrella I plan to run off of the boat.. and may run another big heavy one off the boat as well. Who knows, maybe I'll get to feelin lucky and put a big spoon way out there!

If I can get out in the next few days, I'll make sure to post up how I did.

Thanks again..

[tacklemake]

Troll where the fish are.............woody

[axxell33]

No real need for a full fishing report, so Just posting how I did here..

I made it out Saturday afternoon. Had some things going on at home that pushed me behind and didn't get out of the driveway until after 3pm. Oh well, I was gonna get a line wet either way. Launched at Sandy Point and headed south a bit. I began to look over the channel edge on the west side and saw a few very nice marks. They were scattered, but there.



I dropped the single board and began to put out lines. Because my skiff only has a 6-8" draft, the one board gave us hell.. pulling us everywhere. It didn't help that I don't have a high point to anchor off of.. the last few feet of line were dragging in the water. To balance it out, I finally put out the other board and we smoothed out. For a while I ran 4 rods from one side and eventually moved 2 of them to the other. They were all parachute tandems of mixed colors. I also had 2 boat rods, one with a small umbrella and the other with a heavy 12 oz parachute trailed by a 11/0 crippled ale.

By the time all of the kinks were worked out and I got the rods out where I wanted, a lot of time had passed. I finally sat down with a drink and a snack. I began working figure eights down the channel edge. Next thing I know.. "Snap!" "Zzzzzing!"



Finally got some pullage! I got her in for a quick measurement.. a nice 34"



She was the only fish boated, as another got off later in the day. Either way, it felt good to land her on my own lures.. poured, painted, and tyed.



By the time we got the rods and boards in, temp was dropping. Water had been 54 all afternoon and was 52 on the way back in. There was no wind and water was glassy calm. Great way to end the day! I still have to rig some way to anchor my boards up higher so they'll run smoother. But for the first time I've ever ran boards myself and on my boat.. I think we did alright!

[J.A. Veil]

Way to go Brad. Any time you can catch fish when trying out new techniques is quite rewarding.

[tacklemake]

Braid did you catch it on the tackle you made................woody

[axxell33]

Way to go Brad. Any time you can catch fish when trying out new techniques is quite rewarding.

Thanks, John! It was!

Brad did you catch it on the tackle you made................woody

I sure did, Woody! I've got some spinner baits in the works now.. and a couple of other projects I'm working on too!