Trolling with gas outboard vs trolling motor . . . ???

[Old plug]

Slapping the water. Well i do wish that was never posted. It can be a  very deadly Crappie trick still fishing for crppie. l learned that from a guy down on Clear Water Lake when I was in my 20's. 

[dan hufferd]

Yep, What they said, I use a trolling flap on a 75 hp merc, and then I use the course lock feature on my trolling motor (just to steer the boat) I don't have to drive the boat much, just fish. It is awesome !

[LoweSTX175]

9 hours ago, powerdive said:

WEC, some good advice here. We have won walleye tourneys on Stockton, trolling bottom bouncers right under the boat in 11-12 feet of water with a noisy old 25hp gas motor....from a huge bathtub of a Lund boat, with bags out on both sides. Doesn't seem to bother the fish, so long as there's at least a ripple on the water.

For bouncing, 45 degrees is the point of diminishing returns--the absolute max limit for line angle, not the usual protocol. Ideally, we always wanted our lines to be as vertical as possible for best feel, quickest deployment, and fewest snags. Also, rarely should you drag your bouncer, but just drop the the rod tip to check/contact bottom and lift back to run just inches up. You can use a 2-oz bouncer to fish 30 feet, but you will have to let out a little more line due to increased water drag.

If you snag while trolling with a gas motor (cranks and bouncers), just quickly pull up your other lines and turn around toward the deep side, and motor back to the snag.  Get right on top of a bouncer and gently work your rod tip around till it pulls free. For cranks, continue on past the snag on the deep side, tighten the line, and it'll usually pop free in the opposite direction. Good luck!

For cranks go and get you some old spark plugs and some swivels to make yourself a "plug knocker"....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI9aMpZX22wd

 

PowerDive is also dead on.  Make sure to set the drag.  I have broke multiple rods trolling.  Also I try to be a cordial troller around those who are jig/pitching towards the bank.  The funny part is you will be surprised at how many suspended fish there are in the spring in 35 FOW at about 15 foot.  Its not uncommon to get upset that too many boats are lined up on that 17 foot contour and being forced into deeper water.  Several times I've ended up with people turning their heads because we were the one's putting the hurt on the fish. 

 

 

[LoweSTX175]

9 hours ago, dennishoddy said:

In our Oklahoma lakes, I troll with a 75hp merc.

Adjust depth with the type of lure. Of course you can only go so deep without lead line, etc.

The striper/hybrid/sand bass guides slap the water with fishing poles, paddles, or use aux trolling motors with special blades that only beat the water and not provide propulsion to simulate feeding frenzies. Motor noise does not appear to hinder the bite. Possibly enhance it?

We've done well on lake Texoma doing this.  We only troll this lake and actually have been known to pick up the trolling pace to about 3.5 mph with lipless cranks.  I also love the "sand bass" reference.  I always get corrected by the locals down there!

[oodlesiggy]

Just to throw my 2 cents in here. Make sure your crankbaits are tuned to run straight. A lot of the times they won't run straight right out of the box. I'll take my spincast rod and make a few cast before trolling to make sure they are running straight. If they're running to one side or the other you're not going to accurately reach the depth you're looking for, and if you're running more multiple rods from the same side of the boat you'll risk getting your lines tangled. Another helpful thing is to download the precision trolling app for your phone. It will help you to learn how much line to put out to reach your desired depth. It may not be 100% accurate but it'll get you in the ballpark. I use 10lb mono for my trolling rods, or you can use fireline to get your lures to run a bit deeper. The trolling app lets you choose what line you are using to be more accurate on how much line to let out. Also make sure you have a full spool of line on your reel. I like to use the same reels and same line on both of my rods to keep things as accurate as possible.

[rps]

Lots of very good, accurate information in the previous posts. Mike (powerdive) definitely knows what he is talking about. For a different perspective, and hopefully some help, check my articles on here about trolling and bottom bouncing.

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/table-rock/trolling-for-walleye/

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/white-river-walleye-on-worm-harness/

[powerdive]

12 hours ago, rps said:

 

To be honest, I no longer live or fish in the Ozarks...I've moved to sunny South Florida. So I don't mind being a little more open with walleye info. Here's a story.

Many of us who came up through the Missouri Walleye Anglers Assn learned about walleye fishing in this area, either directly or indirectly, from John Estes. He's a grouchy old codger from Kansas, but he's had a place in Stockton for decades and was one of the top walleye fishermen on the lake for many years. He invented the Glyde Ryde boat seat suspension system and sponsored quite a few walleye tournament pros back in the day (P&K, Gofron, Brumbaugh, Takasaki, etc.). Unfortunately, John had a stroke and can't fish these days. He was a major in Special Forces, served two tours in Nam, received a Purple Heart and the Silver Star, has full service disability and suffers from severe Agent Orange exposure, but it's the inability to go walleye fishing that's really, really taking him down. Nobody ever loved it more.

Anyway, John was my tournament partner and mentor. He told everyone I wasn't as dumb as I looked, which I have to take as a compliment. (Told you he was a grouch.) He taught me a lot, but the most amazing thing of all was this.

We were pre-fishing a tournament in late summer, and had found some good fish on a spot that the rest of the field had come to call John's Throne. John considered it one of the best spots on the lake from July into September, and yes, we'd won 2 or 3 events on that spot (including the one where the outdoor reporter from the Springfield News-Leader rode with us, and published the story and pics, if you remember that). The other guys would see John's boat "sitting" on that spot, and--well, respect his privacy.

It was a long, shallow bar bordered by deep water, near a major campground, so there was quite a bit of boat activity in the afternoons. Tournament morning came up sunny, with hardly a ripple. The day before, there'd been a decent breeze; we'd checked through and found tons of shad and hooks, and quickly caught a few walleyes (bouncing) to make sure, then left to check other spots.

That morning, there was nothing to see on sonar. What had been loaded the day before, now looked completely barren.

But we stuck to the plan (sit on the Throne), and fished it through a couple times, with no luck at all. John said, "I KNOW they're here. They haven't gone anywhere. The problem is the shad." (He'd always told me: find the bait, find the fish.) He told me he believed the shad were still down there, just spread out in a layer, belly to the bottom, so tight that you couldn't see them on sonar. (He said he'd seen it on an Aqua-Vu camera before.) If we could stir them up, get them to rise up, the walleyes would also come off the bottom and start to feed. He explained that the fish wouldn't waste energy, and the shad were too labor-intensive for them to find and scoop up off the bottom. So it was time to cause a commotion.

I scoffed. My dad, an old river rat, had always told me you had to be quiet. Wrong...

I tilted up the kicker, John put the 150 down, and for the next 15 minutes he buzzed around in huge wake-making circles and figure-8s over 12-16 feet of water, just making a mess of things out there. "And now we wait..."

Sure enough, within a few minutes, you could see a bunch of stuff low on sonar. Within half an hour, there were balls of shad at every level, loose stuff too, and hooks everywhere. It was unbelievable. We caught our limit and though we didn't win, we did place in the money that day.

 

[dan hufferd]

13 hours ago, rps said:

Lots of very good, accurate information in the previous posts. Mike (powerdive) definitely knows what he is talking about. For a different perspective, and hopefully some help, check my articles on here about trolling and bottom bouncing.

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/table-rock/trolling-for-walleye/

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/white-river-walleye-on-worm-harness/

RPS has helped me a lot with his shared info'.

I haven't seen it posted in this topic or maybe I have over looked it ; I would add this to the bottom bouncing technique, unless you are fishing on a flat where the depth is fairly constant, it would be a good idea to hold the rod at all times, regularly dipping to check your relationship to the bottom. Also this will allow you to follow the bottom as you cross points and other structure.

Say the top of the point is 14 '  but 50 ' on either side. By holding the rod and crossing the point you can let line out to say 35' deep, then slowly reel in as you cross the point ticking the bottom regularly, then follow it off the other side and down to what ever depth you feel is right for your set up. In this way you will be able to reach fish that may be staged up along the face or edge of a transition.

I have not had much luck putting my poll in a rod holder and driving, unless I am after suspended fish in deeper water, or on a very regular bottom.

I am sure you will find all this out soon, trolling works good for spring crappie too. Wait for the sun to come up and just troll down the middle of a cove. That is when I use the poll holder. 

[nomolites]

2 hours ago, powerdive said:

To be honest, I no longer live or fish in the Ozarks...I've moved to sunny South Florida. So I don't mind being a little more open with walleye info. Here's a story.

Many of us who came up through the Missouri Walleye Anglers Assn learned about walleye fishing in this area, either directly or indirectly, from John Estes. He's a grouchy old codger from Kansas, but he's had a place in Stockton for decades and was one of the top walleye fishermen on the lake for many years. He invented the Glyde Ryde boat seat suspension system and sponsored quite a few walleye tournament pros back in the day (P&K, Gofron, Brumbaugh, Takasaki, etc.). Unfortunately, John had a stroke and can't fish these days. He was a major in Special Forces, served two tours in Nam, received a Purple Heart and the Silver Star, has full service disability and suffers from severe Agent Orange exposure, but it's the inability to go walleye fishing that's really, really taking him down. Nobody ever loved it more.

Anyway, John was my tournament partner and mentor. He told everyone I wasn't as dumb as I looked, which I have to take as a compliment. (Told you he was a grouch.) He taught me a lot, but the most amazing thing of all was this.

We were pre-fishing a tournament in late summer, and had found some good fish on a spot that the rest of the field had come to call John's Throne. John considered it one of the best spots on the lake from July into September, and yes, we'd won 2 or 3 events on that spot (including the one where the outdoor reporter from the Springfield News-Leader rode with us, and published the story and pics, if you remember that). The other guys would see John's boat "sitting" on that spot, and--well, respect his privacy.

It was a long, shallow bar bordered by deep water, near a major campground, so there was quite a bit of boat activity in the afternoons. Tournament morning came up sunny, with hardly a ripple. The day before, there'd been a decent breeze; we'd checked through and found tons of shad and hooks, and quickly caught a few walleyes (bouncing) to make sure, then left to check other spots.

That morning, there was nothing to see on sonar. What had been loaded the day before, now looked completely barren.

But we stuck to the plan (sit on the Throne), and fished it through a couple times, with no luck at all. John said, "I KNOW they're here. They haven't gone anywhere. The problem is the shad." (He'd always told me: find the bait, find the fish.) He told me he believed the shad were still down there, just spread out in a layer, belly to the bottom, so tight that you couldn't see them on sonar. (He said he'd seen it on an Aqua-Vu camera before.) If we could stir them up, get them to rise up, the walleyes would also come off the bottom and start to feed. He explained that the fish wouldn't waste energy, and the shad were too labor-intensive for them to find and scoop up off the bottom. So it was time to cause a commotion.

I scoffed. My dad, an old river rat, had always told me you had to be quiet. Wrong...

I tilted up the kicker, John put the 150 down, and for the next 15 minutes he buzzed around in huge wake-making circles and figure-8s over 12-16 feet of water, just making a mess of things out there. "And now we wait..."

Sure enough, within a few minutes, you could see a bunch of stuff low on sonar. Within half an hour, there were balls of shad at every level, loose stuff too, and hooks everywhere. It was unbelievable. We caught our limit and though we didn't win, we did place in the money that day.

 

Awesome story PD - I hope you are well!

 

Mike

[blacknoseddace]

First of the new year and all this talk has got me pumped! Yep, 60 horse 4 stroke is hard to beat for trolling.