open water trolling

[dafishinman18]

I have heard a lot about fishing for free roam muskies in open water. I typically just cast around weeds and structure but was wondering how often open water trolling actually works? What kind of depth do most guys run their lures and do you try to relate near structure?

[50inchpig]

i'll do it early and late in the season when fish don't seem to be in the weeds much but i won't say i've got it nailed down yet, been doing it quite a bit this year so far. use baits that run shallower, like less than 10 feet. some will say smaller baits and some will say larger baits and i err on the large side. if you search old posts on here there are also some other opinions/good info on the open water thing.

by far, toughest part about it is to go do it. staying near structure doesn't matter, if i see lots of baitfish on my graph i'll work that particular area a little harder.

[Musky Buck]

My gut tells me not a lot of this is going on early in the year unless people tire from casting etc. I think the deal is post-spawn fish won't hesitate to roam over open water while water temps are still cool, not sure how active these open water fish are, but if you're not finding or seeing much in normal casting areas hey why not. I would say if trying it make sure you're not fishing under them and most likely not trolling to fast. You don't see many video's about it or many doing it, I think it's a tactic that can produce, but a vast majority of MN musky anglers aren't driving to the lake thinking that's what we'll do all day. The bread and butter is casting, the trolling is an option, but hey with the amount of casting pressure I just might try an hour a trip to check it out. Phone call. Ok, I'm going with a phenom guide next week and he said there is a 0% chance we will be trolling for whatever that is worth, Guide # 2 friend of family said the same thing, well he said I've been fishing this lake for 45 years, if you want to troll come see me in November. Stuck in his ways, you have nothing to lose by trying it Good Luck

[DHost21]

Ive been doing a lot of both casting and open trolling ang the luck is on the trolling for me. I run my lures at like halfway down to start or where i see the baitfish on the graph and its been working awesome. 4 to 5 mph seems to be the speed for me too. Give it a shot when your arms get sore or back gets tired from casting its definitely worth a try

[10,000 Casts]

We troll more and more every season. Muskies will suspend all season on some lakes but like mentioned above, early and late season are best for open water. I think prime spots get pounded and the fish will react and some will move out to deeper water in July and Aug. On lakes with cold water forage, the big girls will chase them all summer over the deep sections of the lake. ex. Mille Lacs, Vermillion and LOTW but good luck finding them, I know people have tried and they are never in the same spot and you never know which way they went in order to stay on them and finding them once would be like a needle in a haystack. (state record fish)

We run our baits primarily about 14-16ft down, we've caught fish over 90' in the middle, 30' over and around points and humps, off of shelfs and everywhere in between. Muskies can and will be anywhere depending on the time of year and conditions. The more time you want to put in, the more Muskies you should catch, it's as simple as that.

[RuKiddingMe]

It's a mind game for sure, tough to stick with something that seems mindless, until you are dragging a shallow bait over 30+ FOW and your clicker starts screaming and you know you didn't contact weeds. Getting that first open-water / no mans land fish is the hardest part. But like this year so far it has been a lot easier to concentrate on open-water fish when you aren't seeing any Muskies relating to the weeds/structure/depths we are conditioned to.

[Fred_Bear]

I want to start doing more open water trolling as well. I tried it for the first time last july trolling mag rapalas and believers... Within 2 minutes of my first time doing it I caught a FAT 42" over ~36 fow. Put in around 12 hours trolling open water the rest of the summer and never got another rip. Sure is tough to stick with open water trolling when there's no action. One thing I can say is the open water fish I caught was the best fight I've had from a musky yet and definitely not the largest fish I've caught.

Couple questions: On lakes with no cisco population, do you still troll the deepest water in the lake? I rarely find perch, crappie, and sunfish suspended much deeper than 25 fow so why would active fish go any deeper than that? The lake I've trolled on has a good number of small ciscoes so I've hit up to 90' still marking baitfish but I'm assuming they had to be ciscoes. Are there any MN guides who do a lot of open water trolling? With open water fish is it better to let a lot of line out and get away from the boat or will the fish still come right into the propwash?

[goblueM]

small bluegills and crappie often school over open water, I see that a lot actually

[50inchpig]

fredbear i don't know if your questions about line length and finding the deepest basins have any solid answers. i know i tend to see more bait over deeper flat structure and suspended off other sharp structures than i do over the deepest water in the lake.

there was an excellent article in one of the last esox angler mags put out. i'm sorry i don't remember the author. talked about taking a map of a multi-basin lake and connecting the basins through the deepest water possible to help you dissect the lake and highlight the transition points where you'd be more likely to contact fish.

[Jmeyers]

Trolling is always a good end of the day attempt. I usually cast all day and come end of the day when I'm tired from thrown dogs and burnin cowgirls It's nice to throw a diver out there and give it a shot. Had pretty good luck on tonka trollin around specific hazard bouys...

Depending on where I'm trolling is how I measure the depth but I'm usually comfortable trolling with a 6-10 foot diver and then adjust if I feel myself hitting the bottom

Good luck!

[SmellEsox]

If you hit several of your good spots casting and see nothing, start trolling open water. Jakes, Depth Raiders and Magnum Cisco Kids are good baits to try.

[brad coin]

well you guys sure missed out on a world of info last nite,,

Kevin Cochran muskie guide spoke at our TC Chapter last nite on this very subject 'open water trolling'

some of the key points

68 degree water temp or less,,,he trolls open water when the spring water temps are less then 68 finding that the weeds and overall biology in the shallows havent progressed enough he also finds that just spawned fish use open water has a kick back recovery sanctuary..above 68 water temp he casts the shallows/breaklines/weedlines and very little summer open water

hardley ever deeper then 7 ft- 15 ft to run baits,,worst thing to do with open water trolling is to troll/cast under the fish.

the MAST system,,,Kevin feels people dont use masts enough they allow you to troll big baits fast

some of his fav baits,,14 inch frankys.14 inch jakes,15 inch big game minnow baits and the lrge willeys

you can get a real education about this by hiring guides such has Kevin or Josh Bovorosky who also trolls open water alot

[muskiemanAD]

I have been doing this for years and have had decent luck on metro lakes. It is pretty cool when you see a big arc on the graph then a few seconds later here the drag ripping out. One thing I have changed over time is just because you are trolling over deep water doesn't mean you need the deepest diving lure in the box, shoot a dcg with a bottom bouncer attached to it can be deadly!

[Musky Buck]

I think a bit to on early season, even opening day where there's 3 boats on every spot and no one is figure eighting/no one is catching anything/ everyone realizes they are lethargic/spawning scars etc. but everyone is thinking the big feeding window has to happen and it rarely does, maybe 1 shot at one per boat lets say, why not hit that open water where they see 0 baits, your chances in the abyss are just as good when the fish are not active while casting, save your energy for a peak time or moon phase or localized weather change to resume casting, cover some water especially if you are committed to staying on that water for much of the day, and don't give up saying well trolling sure worked, never again, realize we caught about as many as we would've casting most likely.

[Baitchaser]

Just curious as to what others do in a situation when you have more than two guys in the boat and you want to troll. I have just been having two guys off either side and then the third sitting in the back seat of the boat right in front of the motor and basically trolling their bait right in the prop wash. Anybody ever use planer boards while trolling the big musky baits or would you say I should keep doing what I am? I am heading up to leech June 24 with three guys and I think we wanted to try some trolling. Thanks.

[Jmeyers]

well you guys sure missed out on a world of info last nite,,

Kevin Cochran muskie guide spoke at our TC Chapter last nite on this very subject 'open water trolling'

Really wish I was there! I debated whether I could make it or not and I chickened out... I'll be there next month for sure

[muskiemanAD]

Just curious as to what others do in a situation when you have more than two guys in the boat and you want to troll. I have just been having two guys off either side and then the third sitting in the back seat of the boat right in front of the motor and basically trolling their bait right in the prop wash. Anybody ever use planer boards while trolling the big musky baits or would you say I should keep doing what I am? I am heading up to leech June 24 with three guys and I think we wanted to try some trolling. Thanks.

Get yourself a planner board if you have 3 in the boat. I do that in my boat and it gets as much or more action than the rods in the holders. Just make sure its a big enough one to handle Muskie baits!

[50inchpig]

most shallow running cranks and dawgs work well behind planer boards, even the little yellow boards. if i had 3 people i'd probably run two boards and hang one rod off the back of the boat, would be a nice spread. keep in mind you can also spread baits out vertically, if you have two rods on one side of the boat, run something a little deeper and run something a little shallower on a longer line. i have to believe the strike zones are much bigger in deeper water than they are in the weeds, so it may not be so crucial to spread your lines out horizontally.

[rymcneil]

How far back from the boat do u guys usually have your baits??

[SDS]

My go to spot is a 500 acre bay on a 5000 acre lake where fish suspend all year long. Dawgs, cranks, blades will depend on the water temp and wheather. Weed fishing is great but if I fish for hours without seeing fish I know right where to go. Just last night boated a 42 inch fish in 40 fow on a dawg, about 30 minutes after moon rise. Open water is key at times.

[dcraven]

Open water trolling is different on every lake. Each lake has its own personality. Run your baits anywhere from fifteen feet back to one hundred feet back. Use one planer board and one line straight back if two in the boat. Use two planer boards and one straight back with three. Some lakes the planer boards outfish the straight back line. Some it doesn't matter. I wrote an article in In-Fisherman a few years back on it - check it out - "high-riding muskies" or something like that. Every lake has open water areas where they bite more frequently just as the lake has on-shore spots that are better.

Typical set up for three in the boat - one bait 15 to 30 feet back in the wash - a bait that runs about three to eight feet down. One planer board out each side about fifty feet out and fifty to one hundred back. I like Jakes on these in open water forage colors. I like 25 lb test mono for a number of reason which all result in more fish landed. Four foot leaders in wire or fluoro... 3.5 mph I rarely troll in August since more fish die here as thewater heats up on Leech Lake.

Dcraven

[DHost21]

Wow awesome info dcraven! I have always wondered what distances to troll my baits back at! Sounds like you know what youre talking about. Cant wait to go out and try even more new things