Why don't you troll? No, I'm not talking about being ornery on the Internet. I'm talking about trolling for bass. You all know I troll and I sometimes wonder if I'm the only one at Bass Resource. Now, I understand why zoomy bass boaters don't troll, even though all bass boaters have a trolling motor and could troll with little effort.

For me, just paddling along, enjoying the birds while trolling, is ever so lovely and THEN a rod snaps back and it's ever so exciting.

So, if you don't, why don' cha?

If you do, when you do you do it and why?

Trolling has to be done going slow and most people in motor boats don't want to slow down and stay in one area, so honestly trolling isn't much fun if you're in a motorboat but there are people who troll in them. Stripers, catfish, northern fisher-people troll and lots of southern crappie fishermen troll for crappies. It's just a choice or style of fishing you either enjoy or you don't. I've been trolling for stripers and it was relaxing more so than beating the banks or drop offs but I wouldn't want to do it all the time.

Very difficult in a mod v bass boat with a console. Precise tracking along a contour is difficult, and I don't have rod holders either. Not about to start drilling holes in my gunnel for it. The boat is designed to cast from the deck.

I used to troll for walleyes a lot years ago. Regularly. We used flat lines, planer boards, and down riggers. We'd also back troll with live bait. I found it to be extremely boring even though it was effective. We always used a tiller which made is significantly more efficient.

Part of this may be the fact that trolling is banned in bass tournaments too. A fragmentation of permitted lines used varies by state so allowing it would create a patchwork of rules that changes based on the venue. Same with an A-rig.

My parents fish a state walleye circuit every season and they do a lot of trolling in their 2090 Warrior.

My brother and I fish small lakes...9.9 hp or less so we mostly troll. But..we realized that we used to catch more bass in his old boat that we could easily anchor. So he now has anchors on his new boat. We have much better luck when fishing wacky's, drop shots, etc... if we are anchored.

I have a 16.5 foot Lund Deep V and fish big water a lot. Now and then I will troll cranks when trying to locate bass. It is sometimes effective. I don't use rod holders since I don't do it a lot, just hold a rod and my partner does the same. Occasionally will pick up a walleye, northern pike, or drum to break the monotony.

I always troll when moving from one area to another. Why not keep a bait in the water? I use a small boat with electric motor so it's simple to do. A depthfinder helps to fish a certan contour.

Plus it is relaxing, until one tries to break your rod!

1 minute ago, Lottabass said:

Plus it is relaxing, until one tries to break your rod!

Because I become snagged 100 percent of the time , or get a piece of moss, leaf... hanging on , killing the action. I can cast all day at gnarly cover with a minimum of snags maybe zero.

3 minutes ago, scaleface said:

or get a piece of moss, leaf... hanging on , killing the action

I hate when that happens!

Technically I guess I troll. I fish shallow most of the time and keep the boat moving at .3 to .5 mph because we don’t catch many fish from the same spot. When fishing Shaky or Ned the bait tends to swing behind the boat and sometimes I just leave it there for a while which frequently gets me a fish.

I troll cranks when it’s about 8-12 feet and I can hit the bottom with them. Well I’ve tried it all over but that’s when I seem to catch them

I did catch a nice meanmouth trolling a tiny grub in the middle of nowhere this spring in a kayak, no clue how deep it was

I use to troll a lot in my 2 man when I was a kid. I get bored trolling now but I do troll for other species, mainly pulling spinner rigs for walleye.

A guy by the name of Buck Perry used to. Made a whole system of it . Seems to be a lost art if done right

I tried after reading our 15.6 lb lake record LM was caught trolling crankbaits. But the constant battle with surface floating Eel Grass put my fire out.

I do troll for Blue Cats.

I've trolled for fish off and on forever. Trolling a fly for trout, salmon, For blues and stripers in the salt, and for freshwater bass. Certain times when your feeling lazy, or bursitis is acting up, or you just want to look around and enjoy the scenery , trolling is great.

I have never trolled for bass. I haven’t caught bass trolling for musky at 5mph. To troll right takes different gear rod holders etc. just not something I’m willing to do for bass.

@Susky River Rat , I just hold the rod in my hand

That gets old pretty quick.

Operating an outboard, watching a graph, staying on a contour, etc. There's a lot of things you need 2 hands for in a boat and holding a rod while trolling inhibits that.

I wouldn't even consider trolling without rod holders anymore.

1 hour ago, bowhunter63 said:

A guy by the name of Buck Perry used to. Made a whole system of it . Seems to be a lost art if done right

I agree it is a lost art and it is as challenging as to do it well. Kayak fishing especially in it's early days before trolling motors entered the picture. I'd troll whenever I moved from spot to spot. I troll, it works!

FM

Only time I can remember trolling was fishing for Blue in the salt.

Never tried it for bass and seems like trying to keep at a certain depth and avoiding snags could be an issue.

Trolling for Strippers and Crappie is pretty common around here.

Always assumed that trolling was primarily for fish that are suspended or roaming off the bottom. I guess if I was trying to catch schooling or suspended bass it might work. Also assumed that you needed a kicker as a TM might not get you to that 2-3 mph range at least consistently?

I can do about 1.7-1.9

Upstream with my 50 horse. Going downstream I use the trolling motor often and can get a jointed rattling suspending shad rap down about 15 ft and it will stay there no matter how slow I go

The “problem” I encounter most (other than snags and debris) is catching 3 ft long drum that make me think I have a world record

Canoe/kayak trolling is awesome, I think if I had a graph on one it would really slay the fish

Before I had any electronics on my kayak, I trolled a crankbait much of the time in order to determine depth, bottom composition, and find structure or cover. I also landed many bass while learning my lake. After I bought a fish finder, with mapping ability, I was able to map and place waypoints on my lake. Now that I have the complete lake mapped, and have many favorite locations marked, I only occasionally troll while pedaling between waypoints. Sometimes I will troll crankbaits over some rock structures while trying to mark bass on rocky structure. If I catch a bass or observe some good marks, I will usually stop and cast to the structure.

I am often surprised at the number of bass I catch in the middle of nowhere trolling a rattle trap mid water column. I have stopped and tried to cast to these bass in the open, without success, then resumed trolling and hooked more bass. One time I never made it to the spot I wanted to fish, because the bass kept hitting my rattletrap on the troll to my waypoint.

If I fished out of a boat with a motor, most of my graphing would be done without any lures in the water, and I would travel to fast to fish while traveling from spot to spot. Because my travel speed in my kayak is an optimum speed for trolling crankbaits I often will troll one when both traveling and graphing.

Troller here - yes, it’s a lost art, at least in the bass world…because sometimes you simply can’t reel fast enough to trigger a bite (among others). Also great for covering long breaklines like channel edges/drop-offs that can run for miles, or roadbeds that might cross an entire lake. If you pay attention while trolling, you’ll also find plenty of good casting locations, fish holding cover, or unique bottom features to return to and fish however you’d like.

1 hour ago, gim said:

That gets old pretty quick.

Operating an outboard, watching a graph, staying on a contour, etc. There's a lot of things you need 2 hands for in a boat and holding a rod while trolling inhibits that.

I wouldn't even consider trolling without rod holders anymore.

You should upgrade to a motorized kayak, it's easy! Hold the rod in your left hand, right hand covers throttle and graph if needed. Steer with the foot controls