Trolling for Esox

[Guest]

I was trolling the other day for big northerns or muskies and I did not have any confidence that I would hook up with something. I usually cast, but I like the idea of covering lots of water. I was wondering if I could get some help about; when and where to troll, how deep, presentation tips, structure, speed, baits etc.
Next time I troll I want to have a little more confidence in what I am doing. Thanks guys for all your help.

Please practice CPR...Catch Photo Release

[Aquaman01]

We got a smaller (24") northern on a rattling shad-rap swimmin' at about 6' down in a 15' deep narrow river, about 1 mph, 58* water.

Only thing we've ever caught trolling.

------------------
Aquaman
<')}}}}}><{
Peace and Fishes

[Steve Foss]

We've had really good luck trolling for pike over the years, up to 15 lb-er with a 20-plus to the boat but not landed.

Lots of smaller ones, too.

In all trolling applications, it's important to use S turns, since almost all our hits come when the bait on the inside-turn side of the boat slows down and falls a bit. We use rod holders and stick the rods out straight sideways, not up, to accentuate the speed-up-slow-down affect.

Minnow baits make the best all-around pike trollers. I use some old big Rapala floater-divers, not sure of the number, but were 8 inches long before I cut off the back two inches, leaving two trebles, and put red fingernail polish on the bottom of the tail. Read a mag article 25 years ago about that. It changes the action of the lure to something jaded fish haven't seen, and the red mimics a baitfish with tail bitten off. I have a blue/silver, black/silver and perch, and all are scarred and bitten to death from pike teeth (never lost one yet, lucky to have good leaders), not to mention the occasional set of walleye teeth and bass sandpaper. Works well as a casting bait, too. If they're sluggish, you can twitch it over cabbage pockets, and hold onto your rod!

The other bait that is my go-to when it's slow is a chartruese bass spinnerbait with the skirt cut short and tipped with a 4-inch sucker minnow. The sucker-spinnerbait outfishes non-tipped sbait or one tipped with powergrub 3-1. No leader needed.

Both baits are OK in weeds, the spinnerbait much better, of course. Using superlines allows you to feel any slight deadening in lure action from weeds and makes it easy to snap the rod to get the weeds off.

Spring, early summer, early fall through ice-up, all sizes of pike might be shallow, and that's where I troll then. I troll slow, from 1 to 2 mph according to the E-Trex. In summer, from mid-June through mid-September, I'm targeting big pike at or below the thermocline, which runs about 20-25 feet down on the 50-foot-deep lake where we have our cabin. I used the same minnowbaits on 3-way swivels with bell sinkers, the old-fashioned spoonplugs, or some deep diving musky baits like Mann's 30-plus. Big pike need cooler water, and while you can catch the hammerhandles all summer long in the shallows, fish over 10 pounds or so head for cooler water if they can find it. In mid-summer, I might troll as fast as 5 mph.

I also target sunken islands that rise just above the thermocline in summer, as well as the spot where main lake points drop to the thermocline. If you're in a lake too shallow or windswept to stratify, check with the DNR to see if there are coldwater springs that come in from the bottom, introducing cool water and oxygen.

Late September-October is the blessed time in northern Minnesota for big pike. Once the water cools, the big girls come in shallow to gorge. That depends on the lake a bit. On the perch/minnow lakes, that'll happen. On lakes with coldwater bait like cisco and smelt, it's a little tougher to predict.

Have fun, and have confidence. Sooner or later it'll happen.

------------------
"Worry less, fish more."
Steve Foss
[email protected]

[muskieboy46]

I have had luck trolling with bass spinnerbaits over weed flats. I didnt catch any last year but i caught 4 two years ago in 1 week. Only 1 was 40+ though. I fish all day but have had the best luck as the sun goes down. What lake are you planning on fishing? Good luck.

muskieboy46

[Aquaman01]

stfcatfish - great info - thanx!

------------------
Aquaman
<')}}}}}><{
Peace and Fishes

[Coach Dog]

stfcatfish,
Great info.! I am looking to do some deep trolling this summer. The top 5 pike I've caught all came by trolling deep water (20 ft plus). But my arsenal only consists of trolling deep cranks like deep rattlin fat raps, shad raps, and other cranks. I noticed you mentioned using a 3 way along w/ a stick bait. This sounds effective and I would really like to give it a try. How do I gear up for this? What size weights, leader length, line #, etc.? Any help would be appreciated. Also, do you normally stick to "hot" color lures? I haven't had much luck w/ natural colors, just firetiger and parrot. But I admit it is a confidence thing as these hot ones are the colors that I stick to most. Thank you, Coach Dog

[Steve Foss]

As for colors, the lakes I fish are clear, so I favor natural patterns. In murky or stained lakes, fluorescent patterns often work better, especially with poor light penetration in deep water. Plus, pike even in clear wate love chartreuse.

Get bell sinkers from 1 to 2 oz for the three-way rigs. It's usually enough just to put them in front of fish off the thermocline, since they see so few lures. Location is more important than speed in these cases. But if you think you're gonna troll really fast, bring along some 3 oz or gang them up to add weight. Also, since pike aren't boat shy, you have less line out to get to the right depth if you're using heavy weight. Just gotta experiment a bit.

I like to run three feet of line between the 3-way swivel and the wire leader and about a foot of dropper line off the bottom of the swivel. The dropper is lighter weight line, because if it gets hung in the rocks, better to lose a few pennies' worth of sinker than $10 worth of lure.

So I've got a total of about four feet between the lure and swivel. I'd have more, because I want the lure as far back as possible on the off chance the fish are spooky (not likely for big Esox, but you never know), but if you get more than 4 feet it gets awkward to land the fish with most 7-foot rods. Not an issue for a two-person boat, but I'm usually fishing alone.

------------------
"Worry less, fish more."
Steve Foss
[email protected]

[guideman]

Hey Guys,
It's also a good idea to use a longer leader when trolling, especially in the weeds. The leader will pick up most of the floating weeds, and keep them off your bait. Use rodholders and keep the tip of the rod in the water, this will keep your bait clean, even in heavy weeds.

Snap weights are also an option, when fishing deep for pike or muskie. They can be used without all the hardware it takes to run a 3 way rig.

------------------

Terry "Ace" Sjoberg
Ace guide service.
aceguideservice.com
218-753-2612
[email protected]

[Steve Foss]

Yup, forgot all about snap weights. Started doing this kind of fishing before snap weights were around, and never updated my thinking (can you say dinosaur?)

Definitely less hassle that way.

Probably the only real application left for the three-way rig with breakaway dropper line is in rocky areas if you're tapping bottom.

------------------
"Worry less, fish more."
Steve Foss
[email protected]

[Steve Foss]

Another good technique for thermocline mid-summer pike is vertical jigging. You can use a Northland bucktail jig in 1 oz or heavier and tip it with a powergrub or sucker minnow, and drift over deep basins near main lake points and humps, bouncing that jig above and below the 'cline.

Same type of technique when drifting for suspended summer crappies, just bigger baits and tackle.

This works best in lakes without a lot of surface area. The bigger the lake, the more productive trolling is vs vertical jigging.

------------------
"Worry less, fish more."
Steve Foss
[email protected]

[Coach Dog]

stfcatfish,
Thanks for the info. The 3-way rig sounds like a winner. I'll definitely give it a shot. I fish some smaller lakes around Grand Rapids that are deep and very clear. This method should produce well in these lakes. Thank again, Coach Dog

[Guest]

Landed this fish trolling 2 years ago on Tonka... You can see the lure in the photo (jake)... We were trolling later in the summer in deep water over suspended baitfish. They were stacked about midway down near the thermocline. I think trolling is an effective technique for northerns and musky paticularly in open water. I like to cast, but admit trolling does have it's advantages.

[This message has been edited by fishnAddict (edited 06-23-2003).]