W.B. trolling?

Not a novice (70 something) and sandys are about a third of what Ifish for.Like MR. Christian Ihave visitors from time to tim
e a fish,any fish.Lately my batting ave. is bad.I am looking for ideas.
TROLLING
lures ?
line wt.
length back.
boat speed
or?
Thank's in advance

If trolling try a hell bender and put a three foot trailer on back hook with a pet spoon. Small pet spoon. This great setup for trolling for sandies / hybrids.

Buy a white Bomber Model A lure that dives 6-8 feet. It outfishes everything else on every lake Ive been on including Texoma. Must be white and must be Bomber, not a look-alike. I cant explain the difference, it just works. Keep speed between 2.5 - 3 mph and make sure the line is at least 50 feet behind the boat and to the side if possible if you are using the big motor. shorter if using an electric trolling motor.

I'm assuming you don't have downriggers? If not maybe try trolling crankbaits. Most important thing however, is finding the fish more than having a perfect technique or method and gear. Most people chose to troll because they literally have no idea where the fish are and are blindly driving around and its pure luck if they catch fish (I witness this every time I'm out fishing as evidence by them driving randomly around the middle of the lake and for miles at a time while I'm hitting a 100 yard area and killing it). You must find the fish and then troll and pick at them and focus on that exact area or contour of a point, hump, ledge. I don't troll crankbaits often because I down rig but most people let line out 150 feet or so behind their boat attached to a deep diving crankbait (15-22 feet) and drive 2.5-3 mph. Sometimes going with the wind is best because you have better boat control and speed control. The lighter the line the closer you will get to the depth the lures are designed to dive so consider using something like 10-12 pound fluorocarbon to achieve maximum depth from the crankbaits.

Focus shallow! At my lake, there is a point that holds fish. If the fish are on the deeper parts of the point (20 feet or deeper) I can NEVER trick them into biting my downriggers but can get them to always bite live shad. The fish that are shallower on the top of the point (15-17 feet) are easily fooled with crankbaits, casting or downrigging. Not sure why this is the case but I just know its a "rule" after spending the last four years picking at them. Not sure if the shallower fish are more active and aggressive or perhaps they have better visibility and can chase my artificial bait easier.

I hope that helps get you in the ball park! Remember, LOCATION is everything!

Barry Stokes of Fox Sports and Outdoors has an awesome video at my local lake talking about trolling crankbaits that is not only fun to watch but very informative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLbWCkM-Feg

GOOD INFO thanks guys.

That's exactly what we use when trolling for sandbass as well and we have good success with it on lake tawakoni

We've been using this on lake tawakoni

White/dark green is the color of choice on my lake

thank"s all Iwill giv it try.

Me too! Thanks all!

i love trolling for white bass- especially w/ my kayak - seems the motion of paddling really sets them off and I'll hook double the number from the kayak than i do from my boat. That said I usually start with two lines - one pet spoon and one mepps #3 (silver agila) - if i'm not getting hits consistently i'll swap one of those out for a deep diving shad rap or different size mepps. I do occasionally try others - but those have been my consistent producers so i'll always have at least one of those.

To the points made above though... just trolling is pointless - you need to troll with a plan to hit in/around points, drop-offs, and structure where the fish may be. Time of day & weather also impact what areas will produce.

With that said trolling is a nice way to be on the water with a bit of movement to keep the bugs off. One of the reasons i do it some much on my kayak is that I can fish + paddle at the same time... so catching fish is somewhat secondary (though not entirely ). Trolling with a plan is a good way to find out/figure out the pattern that fish may hold on the lake - especially in a slower boat (though you probably won't catch as many as if you knew exactly where to target).

To your specific questions above - i've already mentioned lures.

I usually run one line braid and the other mono/flouro - the braid is used for deeper diving baits (since more likely to get caught on structure... at least gives me a chance at getting it back). I've found that the mono/flouro sometimes does make a difference - probably due more to how it impacts lure movement than the visibility. Line weight is anything from 10lb to 20lb - you could technically go higher - but i double up w/ finesse fishing when i'm not trolling + i set my drag on the lighter side to avoid line breaking (haven't had a fish break off in over a year yet). You do have to watch your line for fraying.

Speed/length/lure weight are all inter-related - and will be determined by how deep i want my lure. speed is usually 2mph to 3.5 - sometimes rarely close to 4mph (usually when they are schooling with top water action - when i do find a school like that i usually just stop and start casting). the slower/more line you have out the deeper you lure will go (within limits). The flip side of this is depending on how active the lake is you may NOT be able to let out as much line as you like.

Last tip - when trolling - WATCH YOUR DRAG - you want a lighter drag set - when a fish hits you are setting the hook with the movement & weight of your boat... if your drag is set to tight all you'll end up with is fish lips w/o the rest of the fish - which leaves you w/o a fish and a fish w/o a pair of lips (and dead).

hope this helps - just practice & be prepared to lose some lures and you'll start to sort it out.

I’ve never found the need to troll anything else but a 6XD