I've been trotlining for about 17 years and do it the way my dad taught me. Always at the bottom in 20-30 ft. of water. But a lot of people have been telling me they run their lines with little to no weight on them.

I'm fishing on a power plant lake, targeting the biggest blues I can find. I catch a bunch on the bottom between the 20-50 lb range. Can this size fish be caught higher up?

I use 3 to 7 inch bream and tilapia for bait. Will cut bait work for the big boys as well? And will I catch a bunch of smaller ones if I use cut bait? I've never used it considering I only go after the big boys but sometimes bait is hard to come by.

Any of ya'll got any tips, pointers, or advice?

If you are catching fish, keep on keeping on. I never used heavy weights, usually three 1 pound weights on a 50 foot line. I always tied one end, then stretched the line out and would adjust tension so I could feel the weight touching bottom. Tied it off and finished baiting. That kept the bait about a foot off bottom. As far as water depth, I always set in 10 to 15 feet deep. I always tied the line as deep as I could reach, not wanting anyone to see it.

I agree with ChuChu! Why fix something that isn't broke?
You might experiment a little and try something a little different, but if it's already working why change?

I reported him for trolling, maybe the mods will agree.

I catch a lot of fish deep but get hung up a lot. Just wondered if fishing up high would work as well. Figured it might save on getting hung up. I go through a lot of hooks and line the other way.

Are you saying I'm trolling?

People are just touchy about the words "trotline" and "jugline". I sent you a PM about fishing shallow.

This could be viewed as trolling because there are a lot of us who prefer to CPR the bigger fish.

CPR could be considered trolling to the ones that like to eat the big fish.

I'm not saying he/she is trolling, I am just saying why it could be viewed that way to others.

One option that I like to use from time to time: Tie the shallow end of the trotline to a fixed object. Run the other end out to deeper water and end it with a heavy weight. About 2/3 to 3/4 of the way out to the end attach a staging line with a gallon jug to it. This will hold the line up off the bottom by a few feet depending on how long you make the staging line. I like to fill the jug with some water to adjust bouyancy. To set, after baiting pull the line tight from the end, and drop the weight. It will settle to the bottom and the jug will pull the line up off the bottom and keep the line tight at the same time. Try it sometime.

Disagreeing with someone's method of doing something does not make them a troll, it jus means you don't agree with them. Last time I heard, that is permitted in this country.

No, not you, there was another post the mods deleted. He was trolling. There was a post right below Jimbos that was trolling at it's best. His post was an attack post and added nothing to the thread. The mods deleted it so I guess they agreed.

Evidently the mods agreed he was trolling. They deleted his post.

You really need to know what you are talking about before drawing conclusions. The post was not simply disagreeing, it was an attack. It was trolling as pure as it gets.