We developped some precision trolling techniques many years ago, and have since put these techniques to good use in OH, NC, NY, MI, and CO on musky, walleye, trout, bass, crappie, and pickerel. The basic ideas is that you run a spread of lures 10-30 ft deep in clear, open water behind a boat moving 1-3 mph. Once you learn the speeds, lures, and depths in a lake or reservoir, it can be a very reliable method to catch fish. We've experimented with umbrella rigs and copper line, but the most productive approach is to use diving planers to pull lures down and out to one side so that the boat can fish with 6-8 lines out at a time. Lure depth is controlled with the amount of line out on a line counter reel.
Louisiana has very little of the kinds of water this approach works well in: clear and over 10 ft deep. We've tried trolling along the beach a few times, but the days that are sufficiently calm with clear water are few and far between. Some have suggested similar approaches around rigs in the Gulf, but that would require a bigger boat. (I think the depth control would be very effective.) In the few fresh water bodies that are deep and clear, it seems fish relate strongly to structure and the technique is not good for fishing structure.
Any ideas here, or should we go ahead and liquidate our trolling gear in favor of methods that are dependably productive in Louisiana?
05-02-2015, 03:26 PM
Any use for precision trolling in Louisiana?
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