I have never set them out before. But going to set out a couple on Texoma in a few weeks. Do people just set them where they think will be best for fishing first? Or do you set them where they won't be in the way for other fisherman. This might be a dumb question on my part. But not sure how people normally go about it. Just doesn't seem right to set it spanning the width of a river inlet as other boats might get into it. Or paralleling a bank where someone casting a crankbait would snag it

I can tell you me experience as coming from both sides. My dad was a jugger and he always told me to respect other fisherman when setting jugs. Don’t place them in boating lanes and don’t set them in a manner that restricts how other fish. Perfect example of how inconsiderate some people can be was in full display Saturday up at Texoma. There was a jugger that had a string of 100 jugs stretched all the way across the red river inlet. If you’re familiar with this area it is large and there are numerous anglers that are up in there trying to fish. It was very inconsiderate for a single guy to run jugs all the way across an entire area that so many guys were trying to fish. Just my opinion but it’s guys like that with a lack of consideration for others that gives juggers a bad name. I drug right through his line because there was no other option, but I had to reel up 4 rods to keep from tangling his jugs. All I could think is what an inconsiderate disrespectful person. Boaters and anglers should be considerate of other boaters and fisherman. Respect and common sense which many are lacking in both departments these days unfortunately.

One of the single biggest problem I see with both jug lines and trot-lines is they leave them out and not run them. Heck I get wanting to fish, but to set these lines out and then when your not going to be able to get back to them for more than a couple days, just how I was raised and in my opinion here, at the very least take all the hooks off.

Nothing worse than getting into a trotline that has not been ran in so long that the fish it keeps catching are dying and then become the bait at some point of the body of the dead fish Bio remediating and the next fish comes along and is hooked and so on.

These lines not tended to kill many fish and continue to catch and kill fish, so it should be the responsibility of you guys to manage them, run them at least once a day and if you can't take them up. You might be surprised of how many guys don't, and just how many fish are caught, and allowed to die snagged on these lines and the cycle just keeps repeating over and over.

Just my opinion here fellows but we really need to be better stewards of our water than we have been. Heck of our planet. Yes, this is a very sore subject of mine that I can really get all torqued up over. So you fellows just think about this please is all I am asking.

Coming down from KS. Going to set them out Friday afternoon. Check them Friday evening, Saturday morning, Saturday evening and then Sunday morning and pull them. Going down to striper fish. But my oldest son wants to give them a try. So we are doing a couple to see how it goes.

I'm not familiar with Texoma, though I've set jug lines with my dad on Lake Lewisville a fair bit. We put our name and phone number on them, and try not to leave them for more than 12 hours (shouldn't need too much more time than that if you put em in a decent spot in my opinion). Other than that, keep a good bit of space between jugs so boats can pass and people have room to fish without getting snagged on your lines. If you find a large flat (especially one with standing timber) this shouldn't be a problem. We've put out as many as 50 jug lines in one sitting, but this was in an area with basically zero boat traffic.

I helped my dad and step brother set out a line a few years ago. Did really well with it, checking it every few hours and pulling fish. We pulled the boat for some repairs in the Camp Ground, and couldn't get it running again. So we had no way to go retrieve the line.

I still carry guilt for that, and probably always will...

C. Bob,

Yes, that is the very problem with these sorts of lines. Things happen, heck; life happens... It was two summers past I was out fishing with my cousin and his wife, and we were anchored up in a really good looking spot I saw, using live perch. We had been there maybe an hour and I caught what turned out to be a nice blue.

The problem was the fish got all tangled up with something that had lots of give and take, if you will. Loosened the bow anchor rope while I stayed on the fish, thought it was bigger than it ended up being lol. At any rate get over to where I could get the fish to the boat and what had happened was it wrapped me up in a trot-line, the give and take lol.

What followed made me just sick. Released my fish and then worked at getting my line untangled from the trot-line. While doing so, I told my cousin that this line had all this green slime all over it and it had not been ran in a long time. Then I felt a fish on it, nice fish too. Things going through my mind, not my line, not my fish and not my business...

But, then in the back of my mind, that line had not been ran in a long time, that fish was most likely going to die if I didn't release it. Really bad position I was crossed up in. I just pulled the trigger and started working my way down the line toward the fish. Come up to the first hook and found the first of many, dead fish that had got hooked and just died right there, some of these hooked fish had started to bio remediate to something that resembled bait.

I cleaned ever single hook as I worked my way down the line. We release 4 or maybe 5 really nice blues, I have no idea how many hooks that had dead fish that we unhooked and hooks that had something left after months of hanging in the water dead that looked good enough to be bait and was catching the next fish. This freaking line was in a really great spot, darn near every hook had something on it. It was that worst thing I had seen in years.

Guys, I doubt I ever forget it either. Make matters worse, I didn't cut that line and take it to the trash. I doubt very seriously I ever forgive myself for that. I really had no right doing what I did. More than that, doing so I involved my cousin and his wife, which is bad. Just really sits heavy on my soul I didn't go through and remove that line, no telling how many fish it had destroyed. One of the worst things you can do in this environment we all love and try to do it right.

I use to run lines like this, lots of fun as you slide ever so slow, one hand of the next. Then you feel the tug and then see the line swim out to the side. Heck I get it, it's addictive as any of the rest of our sport of fishing lol. It is like oh good grief, get me the net and really easy lol... These lines are great fun, it's just like with the rest of our sport, we have to be responsible for this stuff, and we really have got to be at our best to manage it to the 9's, so that it's here forever. I don't want this to all disappear.

My dad always told us you gotta watch your jugs cuz they have a tendency to want to swim off and will be miles from where you set them if your don’t keep an eye on them. Some guys don’t mind losing a jug here and there. Every cove in every lake we fish is littered with lost jugs and many of them have been there for years. When a big fish grabs a jug he takes off and tries to find something he can rub or break the line off. I’ve saved lots of fish that were tangled up like this with the tag on the jug weeks old and the fish emaciated. I think it would be a great idea if the game warden would spend a day occasionally going around to coves and running the lost jugs and then give a littering fine to the jug owners. This might get more guys to keep an eye on their equipment and stop trashing out our fisheries. I have a feeling that due to the sheer amount of lost jugs floating around in our lakes that the regulations will eventually be changed.

I only run 5 jugs at a time they are bright red with reflectors on them so they stick out also put my info on them (I am 80% sure its the law). I will set them then go fish for a 2hr or so then go back and check them and reset them if needed. I will set them about 50 yards apart and put them in a spot where they wont drift into the main lake. Last time I was out set 5 jugs and came back about 2hr later for 4 of my jugs in the same area all had fish on them, well where is my 5th one? I looked and looked finely gave up and went across the like about 1.5mi to try my hand as some green fish, roll up to my spot grab a rod and look up "HAY what's that!" it was my jug had a solid 10lbs blue on it.

Those jugs that are getting drug off, are they weighted down any? I made up some wieghts to hold them down a little in hopes they don't get drug off very far. I took 16oz pop cans and cut the top off. Went to the local tire shop and picked up the old used junk wheel wieghts. Melted them down and poured the pop can cans full. I cut some 5/16 chain to put in them. They are right at 14lbs each. FYI, if anyone tries this. You will have to wire the chain down to the bottom of the can before pouring the lead in. Otherwise it will just float in the liquid lead. I am using 2.5gal jugs so that if they get drug out to deep water, the jug will still float.

One thing I love about fishing in Alabama is the jug fishermen here are very respectful. We always stay in sight of our jugs even though not required y law, and we never get in the way of other fishermen. I generally won't even jug on the weekends because there are so many more fishermen out. I even stay out of the way of other jug fishermen.

I make mine with 24in x 1in PVC filled with A/B foam and caped, then about a foot of red pool noodle on top. For line I use 115lbs twine with snaps to wire leader to the hook and a 10oz sinker. They do drift a bit but I want them to move around a bit. I have found we get more fish that way a bit quicker.
Also at night I found these cheep little LED lights that I stick on the tops of the jugs so you can see them.

Shouldn't be a problem, I doubt you'll be setting lines in boat lanes or where folks run jet skis. I used to fish Texoma a lot with my wife's dad, mainly for sand bass.

I snagged a jug a couple months back and it had about a 12 pound Blue on it. He'd been there a minute because the hook had started to wallow out the hole where he was caught. Probably would have worked himself loose if I hadn't helped. Rowdy, I have no problem freeing them from a set line that hasn't been run and is obviously abandoned. I snagged a couple on Lavon in the past and pulled in what I could for the trash. Now, these were old abandoned lines with rusted hooks so I know nobody was running them. I will set jugs and go fish and then run the jugs and pull them. I've never left one out more than overnight to be picked up after daybreak. Wyatt loves setting jugs. We need to do that more...

WE as in not you? How does an unbaited trotline keep catching fish? It might occur to you that a jug line costs some $6. bucks to build a good one so I don't abandon any juglines. A good trotline set up properly costs a good bit more than that so no I don't abandon them either. However I have seen both left in the water and even so if they are tagged properly are still private property. Messing with them is close to stealing. I have seen bass fisherman steal juglines and destroy trotlines by cutting them. Personally I consider large bass tournaments a far bigger issue than a few trotlines left out by people unable or unwilling to pick them up.