Going to set out my first trot line when the weather warms up any tips or advise. I was planning on putting it where the river runs in to the lake.

In about a month

Yea Thats when i was planning on setting it end of feb. begining of mar. depending on weather.

What lake??

Best advice I can give you is take your time.

I am not giving away the main secret here but I will tell you this:

1) Make sure you are in an area that the flatheads travel (provided you want flatties).
2) Make sure you have plenty of weight on each end. Tying to trees is not considered weight. YOu want the ends of you line on the bottom. I use sacks of concrete that I have allowed to get wet and cured whole in sack form.
3) Run your hooks at every 3'. Stretch your line out in the street or yard and use a black sharpie marker to mark each 3' so you know where to tie your stagings.
4) Use your garage door rails (overhead doors) to tie your line at 24" above the floor.
5) Tie your hooks on and leave plenty of line for the stagings, then tie one onto the main line and make sure it is 2" off the floor. Measure that and cut all your stagings to that length.
6) Use a plastic solo cup and fill it up with concrete, put an eye bolt (small) in the bottom of the cup. Use fast set concrete and mix it dry so it isnt all soupy. You want it to dry fast so you can keep that eye bolt from coming loose on you.
7) Tie the eye bolt to the main line wiht a staging and make sure it is matches the distance from the floor to the main line.
8) Run the weights after every 3rd hook. Plus one at the very beginning and one at the very end.
9) Get a swim noodle and cut a section off it that will float the main line but not pull the weight off the bottom. This will keep your hooks about 2" off the bottom.
10) Build a "fighting line" and a "snagging line" - The fighting line should be a heavy D Ring with rope on it. The snagging line should be a line with a weight and a large treble hook on it to drag and find your line when you go to run it. Tagging your line should be thought of but only has to be tagged withing so many inches or feet of the first hook (check regs). It does NOT have to be visible to the general public, if I recall.

That was just building the line. Dont use store bought junk, build your own of you are doing it, do it right.

1) To set it out, find the right place.
2) Put a long line with some floats on it so it will float up and you can find your main line once you drop it off. Never set a main line with stagings and hooks on it already. That is asking for trouble, hooking yourself, tangles, cussing and anger.
3) Drop the first end off the boat.
I choose to set mine out when the wind is blowing in the direction I want the line to run so I can use the wind to move me instead of the engine.
4) Get to the other end and drop it off the boat. Before you drop it off, make sure you have a "fighting line" attached to it so you can pull it and stretch it tight tight tight tight.
5) Go back to the beginnign and start tying your stagings and hooks to the main line at each of your marks.

Now, I think that is everything. It is very time consuming to do it right. I had an old "lineman" teach me this method. He has caught several flatties over 100# on his lines. I will not name lake or location though.

The real secret to this is knowing how to tie your hook to your stagings. That is the secret I cannot give out. Sworn to secrecy. Doing it right and being in a flathead trail and you will catch fish. I suggest sticking a cork on the end of your hooks if you are not checking it at least once a day because if you learn to tie the hook on right, it fishes 24/7/365 whether baited or not.

Now, go see if you can figure out how to tie the staging and hook and getcha some.

great post pyleofcats

Carry a knife on your side incase you get stuck with a hook

I got a PM about what is the snagging line and fighting line for.

The fighting line is used to put on the main line when you feel a big fish. You are not going to be able to wear out a big fish enough by just holding the main line by yourself, you dont play it enough and the fish can break loose. YOu have plenty of line on the D Ring and just let the fish swim and pull it back in and let it swim, just like a drag on your reel.

The snagging line is to drag the bottom of the lake to try to hook your main line to pull it up and check it.

Remember, your line needs to be marked within so many feet of the first hook but I do not recall that it has to be visible on the surface. I never made mine visible. You had to get the main line up in order to see who it belonged to. But it WAS always marked.

I'm sorry, I disagree! Sounds like possibly the hardest most cumbersome way to set a trotline I have every heard!

I have made some of my own trotlines and they work great. I also use the ones you can buy at walmart/academy. Caught cats up to 82 lbs on the store bought ones(NOT using the supplied stagings and hooks). We tie to trees all the time and se no problem with it.

Good luck if you want yella use live bait have fun bring help and streatch a tite line.

matt

+1 Sounds like possibly the hardest most cumbersome way to set a trotline I have every heard!

I never said it was easy. It is just how most all the old time liners do it. Or at least the ones I know. Doing your homework and figuring out the trail is probably the hardest part of it all.

I also like 5-6 feet between each stagging so that you have some space if you have 2 or 3 big cats caught next to one another. Having staggings only 3' is the minimum distance required by TPWD regulations, but just not enough space if you are in some really solid catfish, especially big blues and flatheads.

Tying a stagging to hook and swivel, simple and effective.
- double your stagging line (nylon only), tie a over-hand knot in both ends and together. Burn the tied ends to keep them from fraying out. Put the looped stagging through your swivel and pull and then through itself so the knotted end is at the swivel. ALWAYS, ALWAYS thread the loop end through the FRONT of your hook (over the point, not from the back to the point of the hook), learned this one from a professional lady bass angler. Doing so, you will increase your hook set by 50% since the hook will automatically turn when it comes up against the fishes mouth and set itself. This is where Tru-turn hooks got there design.

Try it out, both ways and pull the hook over the side of your hand and see the difference it makes. You'll be surprised!

I catch a lot more fish on single hooks by always tying them from the front instead of the back.

Good Luck my friend!

Granger, thanx for all the info!

Agree with pyleofcats,
Dont knock it till you have tried it.
The idea of keeping the whole line parallel with the bottom
and only a few inches off the bottom seems awesome.
Have actually sketched out ideas with juglines that would keep all the lines along the bottom, but then I ran out of room in the freezer doing it the way I have been doing so I put my engineering on break and figured if it works why fix it??

I grew up trotlining with my dad. I started juglining about four years ago, and have not put out a line since. When I'm setting my jugs out, I target bait, active fish, channels, and ledges just like I do when I am R&R fishing. For me it has been much more productive than setlining because if I don't get bit, I just roll up the jugs and change locations. Much easier than setting a new line, plus by being able to move my jugs, they are productive anytime, not just when the water is warm. Just my .02!

I used to set lines like pyleofcats; but after having them cut by trollers and others so many times, I finally went to jug lines totally. I put out stationary jug lines, 5lb weight on the bottom with 4-5 drops depending on the depth. Has worked great the past 3 yrs. And I catch blues and yellows with no problem. Rarely leave them out for more than two days. Usually catch enough fish in 1-2 trips, I've got plenty for several weeks. Easy to put out and easy to take up. A lot less trouble than my trotlines were.