Yes I'm a closet troller. Trolling is not boring when it produces trophy fish of any game fish species. It is more effective than casting when presenting a bait at a prescribed depth. Successful trolling is a learned skill which helps you with all fishing endeavors. Heck you can even troll top water baits successfully. Just ask Katie aka @Swamp Girl I like to drift fish for smallies with jerk baits. I can target specific depths from 8-25 feet with ease. When the wind doesn't work I use the trolling motor to maintain a specific speed between .5 mph up to 1 mph or so. Throw in a few stops for good measure. Lots of times you will get bit when stopped. I always troll or drift with the wind at my back so it pushes the boat forward imparting extra action to the bait from the surge. When you are casting to a specific spot why not troll to the next spot when your ready to move. Having a bait in the water consistently catches more fish. And when your tired from casting or slinging heavy baits like A-rigs or musky sized baits or deep diving crank baits that wear you out just troll. Trolling is an art and a science for me.    

3 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Just ask Katie aka @Swamp Girl

 

Heck, yeah! I have caught many four-pound lmb trolling a loon-colored Whopper Plopper in the dark and I owe them all to Dwight. Before Dwight suggested it, I had never considered the possibility, much less the effectiveness of trolling a surface lure. I troll when I'm paddling to wherever I'm going. That way, I'm fishing all the time. And it is so exciting when a big girl smacks my Whopper Plopper and my rod bends so much with the weight of the bass and the forward motion of the canoe that I think it's going to break. No hook-setting needed!

 

In the day, I troll spinnerbaits and underspins when I'm on the move. Once, I caught two on two rods at the same time. You can troll spinnerbaits at night too. Here's a bass caught this way:

 

Y'all ever heard of spoonplugging?

 

Buck taught a lot more than what structure is & how fish relate to it. He taught how to fish it effectively with depth control, speed control, & other factors. 

 

I'm maybe the only one here that still believes those things are still applicable to every technique.

 

Crankbaits are a subject rarely addressed here in spite of how effective they are.

5 minutes ago, Catt said:

Crankbaits are a subject rarely addressed here in spite of how effective they are.

 

I love crankbaits and own scores of them, but I struggle to use them without fouling them with weeds. Ten feet deep is about the deepest water I fish, but even then, it's not a full ten feet as five feet of it will be weeds. I look over the side of my canoe and I can see them and I also see them on my crankbaits' hooks.

9 minutes ago, Catt said:

Y'all ever heard of spoonplugging?

 

Buck taught a lot more than what structure is & how fish relate to it. He taught how to fish it effectively with depth control, speed control, & other factors. 

 

I'm maybe the only one here that still believes those things are still applicable to every technique.

 

Crankbaits are a subject rarely addressed here in spite of how effective they are.

I too love crank baits. They are probably the top of the list for most used bait throughout the year. I’ve never heard the term spoon plugging. 

1 hour ago, Catt said:

I'm maybe the only one here that still believes those things are still applicable to every technique.

Ummm, maybe one of only two 😉 

 

I don't troll as often as  I used to but when I do,  I do it without shame.  😊

On 1/14/2025 at 12:27 PM, Tennessee Boy said:

I don't troll as often as  I used to but when I do,  I do it without shame.

 

Heck, yeah. It's silly to waste travel time by not trolling. Of course, some of you have 250 HP engines, so trolling isn't an option. 

I watch trollers like I watch the birds. A lot of times they will catch one and just keep going. I boogie over , run over the spot with my sonar to throw my marker buoys, and then catch a bunch. I’m a parasite. 

3 hours ago, padon said:

i dont troll per se but i will drift big flats on windy days and use the trolling motor to help correct course to cover where i want to fish.

I drift fish a lot on structure. Nothing wrong with it  

15 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

Heck, yeah. It's silly waste travel time by not trolling. Of course, some of you have 250 HP engines, so trolling isn't an option. 

 

I don't really agree with that.

 

When I am bass fishing, there is location A.  I throttle down to it, and start fishing it.  Then I go to location B.  Throttle down to it, start fishing it.  You get the point.

 

Trolling from point A to point B is covering vast, open, featureless deep water.  I'm not saying there's no fish there, because I'm sure certain types of schooling fish roam those areas.  But I'm not trolling half a mile across it at 3 mph to find out.  I am going to the next spot to fish that instead.  My fishing time is limited each and every time I'm on the water.

 

I am looking for specific structure that may be holding bass.  Not open water schools.  Trolling does not aide me in locating those areas, so its silly for me to waste time doing it.

 

Another item to consider it that each state may have different rules on trolling.  Some states allow multiple lines, some only allow one.  Before you just toss out a bunch of lines to troll, you may want to consider that.

 

Boat control in a bass boat with a console while trolling is miserable.  I've tried.  This is why certain boats are better for it and certain aren't.  My boat is designed to make casts from the front deck using the bow mount for control.  Tiller style boats are very popular here in MN, and they can fully utilize trolling much better than I am able to.  I fished out of one for 10 years when I was younger.  Back trolling, crank bait trolling, spinner rigs, lead core, and down riggers.

 

3 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Yes I'm a closet troller. Trolling is not boring when it produces trophy fish of any game fish species. It is more effective than casting when presenting a bait at a prescribed depth. Successful trolling is a learned skill which helps you with all fishing endeavors. Heck you can even troll top water baits successfully. Just ask Katie aka @Swamp Girl I like to drift fish for smallies with jerk baits. I can target specific depths from 8-25 feet with ease. When the wind doesn't work I use the trolling motor to maintain a specific speed between .5 mph up to 1 mph or so. Throw in a few stops for good measure. Lots of times you will get bit when stopped. I always troll or drift with the wind at my back so it pushes the boat forward imparting extra action to the bait from the surge. When you are casting to a specific spot why not troll to the next spot when your ready to move. Having a bait in the water consistently catches more fish. And when your tired from casting or slinging heavy baits like A-rigs or musky sized baits or deep diving crank baits that wear you out just troll. Trolling is an art and a science for me.    

Drifting while casting is not trolling.

@gim: Most everything you wrote is true. What isn't? I catch a LOT of bass trolling open, featureless water because my lure is constantly in the water and a long ways from me, thus maximum stealth.  

54 minutes ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

I watch trollers like I watch the birds. A lot of times they will catch one and just keep going. I boogie over , run over the spot with my sonar to throw my marker buoys, and then catch a bunch. I’m a parasite. 

If only that worked!!! I go back to where I caught one trolling all the time and work the area casting thoroughly, never get a bite. Troll back thru and they will bite 

 

that’s why they just keep going when they catch one haha

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

If only that worked!!! I go back to where I caught one trolling all the time and work the area casting thoroughly, never get a bite. Troll back thru and they will bite 

 

that’s why they just keep going when they catch one haha

 

True story. I was fishing below a narrow stretch of swift, shallow water in Ontario. If I cast into the shallows, I caught pike. At the drop-off and along the edges, I caught smallies. Where the current plowed into still water lay walleyes. I'd caught a few, but guessed that there were uncaught fish, so I cast a crankbait into the dying current with no luck.

 

On a whim, I backed off and set up a trolling run through the weakening current. Fish on. I did a 180 and caught another. I caught 17 walleyes in 17 passes, all by trolling and exactly where I'd failed by casting. I think trolling gave them the speed and depth they wanted. 

Fishing from a pedal kayak, I almost always troll when I'm moving spots if I'm fishing a lake.  I've got some nice bass over seemingly featureless spots while trolling.

1 hour ago, Tackleholic said:

Drifting while casting is not trolling.

I never said anything about casting sir. As long as your leaving the lure in the water  continuously you are trolling no matter how you propel the boat forward.

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Heck, yeah. It's silly waste travel time by not trolling. Of course, some of you have 250 HP engines, so trolling isn't an option. 

Might work in a bog that's 12 ft wide.

 But I would never make it to my next spot before dark.

A-Jay

 

 

11 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

But I would never make it to my next spot before dark.

 

That's exactly what I was getting at with my previous post.  Just isn't very practical nor an efficient use of my time out there.

 

Thank you

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

True story. I was fishing below a narrow stretch of swift, shallow water in Ontario. If I cast into the shallows, I caught pike. At the drop-off and along the edges, I caught smallies. Where the current plowed into still water lay walleyes. I'd caught a few, but guessed that there were uncaught fish, so I cast a crankbait into the dying current with no luck.

 

On a whim, I backed off and set up a trolling run through the weakening current. Fish on. I did a 180 and caught another. I caught 17 walleyes in 17 passes, all by trolling and exactly where I'd failed by casting. I think trolling gave them the speed and depth they wanted. 

Thats how it goes for me nearly every time 

3 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Might work in a bog that's 12 ft wide.

 

I do fish some rivers that are 12' wide...and less. 

Yeah, I have on occasion. If I can't seem to figure anything out, I've been known to troll around some to try and find them. If I find a few, I quit trolling and start fishing for them. 

1 hour ago, WCWV said:

Yeah, I have on occasion. If I can't seem to figure anything out, I've been known to troll around some to try and find them. If I find a few, I quit trolling and start fishing for them. 

Moving a lure with the boat is fishing.

Trolling is the standard technique tuna and marlin fishing, trolled thousands of miles.

Tom

I troll using my outboard, my Tohatsu 40 hp has variable idling speed control from 650 to 950 rpm’s. 

 

Lures: 10-25' range

Bill Norman or 6 th Sense 

Reel: Abu Gracia Ambassadeur 5500C 

Rods: 7'6" - 8' 

Yes all the time especially my younger co workers. Makes a day on the job site go by way faster. 😉