What's happening on my plug end?

[MuleSkinner]

TumbleWeed, I use braided Fireline, so same as you. Love to feel every twitch, and can generally tell if small weed pieces on lure. Wish I could put a camera back by the lure.

[Guest]

Is your Rap running true? If your lure is off a little, it could be slowly heading off to one side, and doing flips. Or.... could be fish hits, like you say. When in doubt, it's always a missed fish.

[MuleSkinner]

I am not experienced in pulling shad raps for walleyes. I have been trying it more lately in a shallow lake I fish, with some success.

My question is, travelling about 2.7 mph, when the line suddenly goes slack, is this a fish hitting, outswimming the lure? Or just a weird jump off a weed? This happened several times last time out, in the same area of the lake. There was no weed on lure, no “weed hit” or “fish hit” feeling at all, just suddenly slack, and it pulled cleanly after it tightened up, and it wasn’t the bottom either. I tried quick jerks, no luck. Any ideas what to do when this occurs? Change speed, mark spot, switch to live bait, or is it weeds or northerns?

[TUMBLEWEED]

I assume you are using mono?? I'm not
sure, it could be a weed or fish. I
have switched over to one of the new
braided, superlines. I can feel every
little twitch of the rapala now, and won't ever go back to a mono for trolling.
The fish usually set the hook themselves
making hook-ups easy.

[erikwells]

When pulling plugs anytime I feel anything different from the plug diving I slam hooks. I have had outings where the fish were hitting my plugs from underneath or trying to catch up hitting it from behind. I have brought less experienced anglers out before and caught many fish doing this while they can't figure out why they are not getting bites. They don't always try to pull the rod out of your hands. If you really want to experience this try pulling plugs trout fishing. Good luck.

[MuleSkinner]

Sounds like I need to practice my Quick Draw McGraw, and maybe switch to a medium action (stiffer) rod? I think these are fish I'm missing, they're all walleyes, and getting bigger and bigger as I read these replies.

[Borch]

I don't know.... I use the fireline fusion. Even when I do get one that pushes it forward it's usually preceded by a light "tick". I've had walleyes push it forward say a foot or so.

I've had pike push it so far forward that I set the set and still couldn't catch up. ihad to get out of my seat and take a set forward to catch up.

I'd start first by running your lures right next to the boat with 3-4 ft of line out. Give it an occasional pull to see if it breaks one way or the other. If it does you'll need to do some tuning.

As far as moving up to a stiffer rod. If you're using one of the superlines don't go stiffer than Med. You'll lose more fish. I'll like a light Med. for using the superlines and I loosen up the drag. I also keep my thumb off the spool(I use baitcasting gear). My fish catching has gone up tremendously once I did these things. A lot less of the, "How'd that one get off"

I love the superlines for trolling lures around weeds. It's easier to tell it you've picked something up and easier to rip it off it you have with a sharp jerk.

Best of Luck!

Maybe they are all 10 pound walleyes

[MuleSkinner]

Borch, I appreciate your suggestions. I do use a bait casting reel too. I am confused by your "I also keep my thumb off the spool" part though. Do some people troll fast with open spools?

I hate practicing the Release before and without a Catch!

[Borch]

When using mono guys often clamp their thumb down on the spool of their baitcasting reels so that the drag doesn't slip on the hook set. This helps drive the hooks in better because of line stretch that mono has when long lining cranks. Works great for mono. But usually rips the hooks out when switching to superlines which have practically no stretch. It was the second most difficult thing for me to learn after making the switch. The first was backing off on the intensity of my hook sets.

Another thought as to why you occassionally get slack is that you might be picking up some float weeds/debrise. The shad rap will often surface then(Frequently it will clear itself after flipping on the surface).

Best of luck and keep your line tight.

[Guest]

When you feel that slack feeling, look back and see if your crankbait is cruising accross the top of the water. Someone asked if it was running true, it could be running funny and coming up sideways. When it breaks the surface you get that slack feeling. Then it catches and dives down again, giving you the feeling that everything is fine.

[MuleSkinner]

Thanks for all the replies. Will put these ideas to the test next time I'm pulling cranks. And I know for sure some of the lures in my box run crooked. Had always thought this just added variety. Now I'll be checking the ones I use more closely for trueness.