The Basics Of Trolling
Published: Tuesday, May 12, 2020
By: Dan Armitage
Dragging a bait behind a moving boat is a technique known as “trolling,” one of the Great Lakes’ most common fish-catching tactics for our most popular gamefish. In some circles, it’s considered the lazy man’s way to fish. I admit, its hands-off, plop-a-rod-in-a-holder-and-see-what-happens attitude is part of the appeal of trolling, and one I have been known to enjoy when I am as interested in a leisurely boat ride as I am in catching fish. At other times, trolling is my “go-to” method when I am serious about locating and catching fish, when it becomes as active and aggressive as any fishing tactic out there.
Trolled baits can be artificial or live, often a combination of both. For example, walleye anglers troll nightcrawler harnesses that mix live bait with spinners and colorful beads; trout and salmon fishermen trail spoons often draped with a minnow; and crappie anglers often pull live minnows impaled on a tiny lead-headed jig that has been dressed with hair, feathers, or a rubber “twister” tail.
To catch a variety of Great Lakes species, my favorite artificial lures to troll are floating/diving minnow-imitating lures such as those made by Rapala, Bandit, Smithwick, Reef Runner, and Bomber, to name a few. These “crankbaits” float up to the surface when the boat stops, which can help eliminate snags on the bottom, and feature an angled plastic lip to drive them down to a variety of depths when pulled. The curve in the lip creates an automatic wiggle that most gamefish can’t resist. Also known as “stickbaits,” you can buy models that are made to run at depths from 2-20 feet down when trolled behind a boat, as well as versions that suspend or sink.
No matter what bait or lure you troll, by using weights, lead-core lines, bottom bouncers, diving planes, and downriggers, you can ply the entire water column from surface to bottom.
Reaching Wide
Trollers optimize the horizontal presentation spectrum by placing seven foot-long rods straight out off each transom corner in rod holders, and fill in between the two with a few more rods placed across the boat’s transom, each dragging a bait.
To reach out even more, walleye and salmon-seekers often use in-line planerboards snapped onto the line above their rigs. The wedge-faced plastic boards clamp onto the fishing line anywhere from 20 to 75 feet above the bait, and the water “pushing” against the planer’s angled face as it is dragged forward by the boat forces the board and the line it trails far out to the 
side. When a fish strikes, the line is reeled in up to the board, which is unclipped, allowing an angler to bring in the fish.
Reaching Deep
Most lures and weighted baits will go deeper when more line is placed between them and the rod tip—to a point. When too much line is out, water drag will limit how deep it can go, even when weighted or used with a diving lure.
When using weighed baits or sinking lures, simply slowing down the trolling speed will add depth to your presentation. When towing big-lipped, deep-diving crankbaits, slowing will make these floating/diver lures run higher. With such lures, simply speeding up and/or adding a few split shot to the line a foot or two above the lure will often add the four to six feet of extra depth that may be needed to put the lure in the strike zone.
Another way to increase any lure’s depth when it’s being trolled is to decrease the line diameter. You can switch from 20-pound-test line to 10, and may get five to ten feet more depth out of the same lure. That’s one reason why the new “super” lines are popular with trollers. The micro-braided lines’ smaller diameter allows for more depth without sacrificing their strength; they are thinner than comparable-test monofilament lines.
Reaching Speed
No matter what type of lure or bait you are dragging behind your boat or what speed you have chosen, don’t fall into the rut of simply running the boat straight forward and at a static speed. Less aggressive fish will often follow trolled bait—and for long distances—while deciding whether it’s something they want to eat. The longer they watch the bait, the more likely they are to detect something “fishy” about the offering and refuse to attack it.
You can often trigger strikes from following fish by simply changing the speed or direction of the lure. Trolling in a zigzag pattern and/or throttling up and back down at intervals can make the bait “swim” in a realistic pattern, looking erratic enough to fake fish into thinking it’s the ‘reel’ thing—and about to get away!
It’s easier to troll with the wind; boats are easier to steer with the wind at the transom and the breeze keeps the boat moving forward and the lines trailing behind when the engine is cut to land a fish or change a bait. However, if you are marking fish on your fish finder but can’t get them to bite by going with the wind, try pulling baits into the wind and waves, or across them, to see if that triggers a strike.
Trolling is also a great way to locate actively feeding fish, after which you can anchor up and fish with other methods or continue to troll back and forth through the school.
About the Author
Dan Armitage is a popular Great Lakes-based outdoor writer and host of the Buckeye Sportsman show (buckeyesportsman.net), syndicated weekly on 30 radio stations across Ohio. Dan is a certified Passport to Fishing instructor and leads kids fishing programs at Midwest boat and sport shows, and is a licensed Captain with a Master rating from the US Coast Guard.
>> READ: Great Lakes Fishing Report >>
This article first appeared in the Launch Issue (May/Jun) 2020 of Great Lakes Scuttlebutt magazine.
tags: Boating 101, Fishing
