open water trolling

[Andrew Erickson]

I haven't done much open water trolling but want to start doing it more. How do you go about it? Do you drive around til you find bait fish? What are prime water temps for this technique? And lastly how fast do you troll?

[SmellEsox]

We troll slow, 2.5-3.0 mph on the gps. We are usually pulling 10" Jakes, 14" Grandmas, Depth Raiders or Magnum Cisco Kids.

[Jmeyers]

My opinion is it really depends on the lake you are fishing. Do your research on the lake and check out the contour maps. I like to troll deeper break lines while many like to troll humps and open water holes. You don't need to be on the bottom,I may set different depths on each rod depending on the area I want to cover ( having a line counter reel is always a bonus for this)

I like to troll 10" Jakes as well, or other larger cranks. There are some good articles out there on way to weigh down blades in order to troll them deeper, a quick google search should pull them up. I like to match my baits to the bait fish I know are in the lake but theres no reason you shouldnt experiment with other colors.

Good Luck!

[BrianLucky13]

Open water trolling has its time and place. Dont expect to do it a lot with success at first. It can be great and it can suck. June is a good month and also in early fall. Many fish cruise around their whole lifes out in no man's land and eat whatevers out there. If you catch a fish like that you will know. I've spent thousands of hours out there and I'm sick of it. The rewards arnt enuf to make me do it anymore...

[TruthWalleyes]

Don't forget to put a bait in the propwash 10-15' behind the boat

[MuskieFever]

I have been getting into it more and more. I personably hate trolling, but it does work. The key to this is patience. Dedicate a few FULL days to trolling out in the open. Use baits with and without rattles, you'd be surprised how many strikes no rattles can get. I don't have a line counter so I reference my levelwind; how many times the line goes back an forth. Hope this helps.

[Musky Buck]

I'm with ya BrianLucky 10 4 on that, sick of it but actually love it because then I have less competition on the best spots if a few jokers are out in no mans land. I say that knowing a guide who put like 200 hours of trolling in with the best gear available and boated none last year and like 2 the summer before that. That's a gas price tag I want no part of for 2 fish in 400 hours of trolling, no thanks. This open water trolling bite isn't some mysterious magical thing, the next secret in unlocking the musky theory, your bait is wet so you have a chance. You go do that when you want to eat lunch and are tired of casting. The theory is they suspend early in the season which is true most likely or a % of them do, but you still got to make them bite and they are in that lethargic stage quite often, realize a 3 pound sucker and a musky may not feed for 2-3 days so there you are pulling baits you know muskies are seeing but rarely eating. I'd rather fish my spots in the best conditions the given week has to offer and I know I will have chances to boat fish. Good luck but I wouldn't soak too many checks into that theory, what if like last spring water temps are up by opener then your gear can collect dust until fall. If it was ever going to be a decent theory maybe this cool spring is it, report back that first 2 weeks of June.

[muskiedreams]

I like to troll open water with alot of "good structure" in the basin I also rarely catch fish in water deeper then 50 feet and i pretty much never run baits deeper then 10 to 15 feet. also you will notice over time that hard/soft bottom transitions do have fish relating to that structure even though they are no where near the bottom suppose the food chain hangs out there? I actually run smaller bait lil erinies depth raiders wileys looking for action big slow wobble vs tight fast wobble constantly changing depths colors baits I'm getting a headache already think about it lol but it can be rewarding takes serious patience hard to have faith in it but it does produce

[KING]

Troll areas that are too time consuming to cast. Cast areas that are too complex to troll.

I had multiple fish days last year in open water just trolling from bird to bird. I always see the saltwater guys looking for birds so i figured why dont I. Amazing how many funny things are out floating around that will hold some bait.

Mayfly hatch is another good one, troll the windblown mayfly line. Same can be said for any floating debris / weed line.

I've had less luck on trolling breaklines in areas i find fish casting shallower. im not sure why.

I've also had better luck slower than faster - 2.5 - 3.0 has been the best for me also. Quite a few hours in at 3.5 - 4.5 with little result. Again not sure why.

[Ice Wolf]

I like trolling further out from a pice fo structure while watching the other guys casting at it to see if they have any action. Of corse I cast at it first. I troll from spot to spot sometimes instead fo trying to beat the next guy to it. I think the deeper water is the best for trolling, them muskies could be 30' down and see your bait at the surface and come up in a flash and strike the bait. Trolling when you graph whitefish or Cisco is good. When the muskies are active you will graph huge red arches on your locater. Zipping across the lake at 50 mph you would never have seen them. I have cought large pike trolling over 40' of water when the only fish I was graphing was at the bottom of the lake, my bait only dived down to 3' them pike came up from that cool deep water to nail my bait. Pick out an area of the lake that you fish and troll over it and get to know it and stick with that same body of water through out the seasons and you could be surprised at what you find. I think of it like scouting when I am out trolling. looking for the clues that nature gives to what's going on under my boat. If you find fish try to figure out why they are there to get some kind of pattern going.

[muskiemanAD]

2 years ago I did it exclusively for about 2 months. Separated my shoulder playing softball so couldn't cast. I fished the metro and had decent success. Seemed like smaller lures worked better and the nice thing is there are bonus Walleye out there too...

[ande]

Some lakes are better for open water fish than others. I have done some open water trolling for many years. Several years ago I wrote an article for EA magazine when that was still in print that described some techniques. One thing that concerns me about open water trolling and I have first hand experience with some of likely casualties is running baits too deep in warm water. It can be very hard on fish coming from deeper water up to hit a bait. I had a good friend bury 3 50s one day that were very likely caught open water trolling in sunny warm conditions. Also, not all lakes have open water bites. I am with Brian Lucky 13. I'd much sooner cast and work structure than spend hours mindlessly trolling hoping to score a fish. Based on some first hand experience if you are going to open water troll do not run baits too deep and do not troll in warm water.

[not_nuf_time]

When we troll, we do it in about 25 to 30 feet. Looking for the bundles of baitfish suspended about 10 feet off bottom. Many times we'll find these schools of baitfish with a big ol line on the graph hovering over or around the baitfish, then hang, on good chance that fast lure cruising through gets a hit. We use mostly rattle Jakes 10 inch. Great way to get a break after casting for four or five hours.

[50inchpig]

ande, you really had a friend bury 3 50s in one day? did you ask him what he was thinking after the first one? with all due respect it's extremely irresponsible to keep fishing like that after killing one. dude shouldn't have had to finish out his day to realize he was doing something wrong. 1 could be a bad hook or a fluke, but after the 2nd one you gotta go do something else. egos kill as many fish as bad handling.

anyway, sorry for the lecture. i agree with running baits high. i do have an old EA that has a great open water article in it, talked about connecting lines through the highest and lowest contours on the lake to figure out travel routes and intersections and resting points among other things, very good article if that's the one you wrote. i'll be out over the deep by sunup on opener if nothing shows up in the weeds.

[ande]

50inchpig, the article you are refering to is the one I wrote. Thanks for the nice comment on it. In reference to the the 3 50s buried I suspect the person releasing them didn't realise they were not able to adjust to the high water temps and the depth from which they rose to hit the baits. It would not be wise or kind to go into depth on the internet as to who did it and why. My point is that open water fishing can be good when done correctly using the right techniques. Using the wrong techniques it can be harmful to the fish.