Artificial for Trolling

[Gibby]

I do not use trolling as a main strategy in the bays/marsh but I do like to troll when moving between ‘spots’. Have to travel the distance anyway and occasionally will catch a fish when trolling with an artificial. I typically use either a spoon or a Mann-1. Curious on what baits do other people use, and if you have a hints on how to deal with floating grass that would be great.

[Neumie]

Not something I do, but a hunchback or footloose crankbait would mix it up some. Try switching out to single hooks to cut down fouling on floating grass.

[Angler]

I like to troll an Artie when moving a longer distances between spots too.

The bait choice depends a little bit on the situation. Mostly factoring depth and water cleanliness. I’ve had the best luck with motion and noise so I like a choice of spinners with different blade sizes depending on paddle speed and current. One brand I can think of is Redfish Magic, tho I catch way more Trout on em than Redfish LOL.

It takes a little practical experimentation to sort out how fast you can paddle and keep the spinner happy. A buddy can help by eyeballing it while you paddle. Also, mind the amount of line you have out too. Each bait seems to have a range that is “just right” for the area you’re in. Oh, and use real decent bb swivel, especially on spoons which also work really well for trolling, again size depends on speed so having a range of choices in the box helps.

Deep trolling, like in the ship channel, has produced some nice fish with heavy jig heads and gulp but this setup will get hung and snag often, at least for me. So I tend to keep my trolling well up from bottom in deeper water.

[Angler]

Oh, and don’t forget to splash those spinners with some fresh water at end of the day. Those contraptions generally don’t hold up well if left salty. And don’t be afraid to take a page out of the Bass fishing pros and tweak those spinners to get the movement and noise you’re after. Some pliers can sure come in handy for modifying hooks, hook sizes, blade angles, etc.

[Prof. Salt]

I troll some vast areas just to allow me to put in some paddling miles while catching trout and reds. The Brown Flappin' Devil works great, especially when rigged on a Black's weedless jig head. My other rod usually has a 3" Usual Suspect minnow. The baits have different looks, sounds and sizes - and when one keeps getting hammered I'll switch out the quiet one and pull the same bait on both rods. If you're crossing a large area of 2-5 foot depth this is absolutely worth trying.

[TroutSupport.com]

Yeah, I would think a DSL on a 3/16th head or maybe even a 1/4 would do well trolling the drop off in 4-6' paddling between areas.

[karstopo]

I've watched saltykat troll tsunamis and gulp swimming mullet to great effect. We fished together in some deeper water areas and he would cover water pretty slowly in his Hobie PA. He picked up nice trout that way and maybe some redfish too, I can't remember on those. No grass in those areas to contend with.

I used to toss out what ever paddle tail I had on at the time and troll moving from one spot to the next if there was some significant distance to cover. Places like Christmas Bay, Salt lake in the BNWR, maybe Bastrop Bayou. Only Christmas bay had any significant grass. I remember having to occasional pull up the paddle tail to clean off the grass. Having smooth knots helps to cut down on snagging floating grass.

It definitely produces fish, trolling. Even semi-casual trolling when traveling from spot to spot. I think the best results I had was in Cedar Lake Creek in the San Bernard refuge . Paddling from the launch on the creek there to the ICW is a long paddle. Might as well troll along. At about every bend once I got downstream some would produce a speckled trout, but if I stopped to fish, I'd get nada. Something about the trolling produced results. Paddling across Salt lake in the BNWR, I picked up a mid slot on a paddle tail about dead center of Salt Lake.

I haven't really trolled much with flies and the fly rod. I have left out about 20-30' of line out when moving to reposition some and picked up a few fish that way. I've drug along a fly in the surf behind me some distance when wading from spot to spot and gotten a take of two that way as well. Guaranteed not to catch fish if the lure isn't in the water. Trolling may not be my favorite way to fish, but its pretty good in some situations. Check out or search some of saltykat's posts for good trolling insights.

[shoffer]

I troll frequently, but more in Winter. It is one of my favorite ways to fish. I troll a soft plastic (DSL 4 inch usually) tipped with Fishbites on a 1/16 and 1/8oz jighead (or a 1/8oz and one on a 1/4 oz (if the water is deep enough) to cover more of the water column. Once I get a hit, I sometimes stop and fish, but more often, I keep trolling around to get more hits and study the bottom structure on my sonar so I can see what might have caused that fish to be around that area.

Here is a video of that trick in the winter. 19 trout in one hour:



Sometimes I troll a Yo-Zuri or other crankbait that will move in 2-4 feet of water also.

In freshwater, I troll for bass frequently, usually deep diving crankbaits. If I expect to be in more shallow water, I use shallow cranks, but try to vary the diving depth on each rod to cover more of the water column and see what depth in which they might be hanging out.

This is much easier to do with a pedal drive or motorized yak. I think it would be a huge pain with a paddle version.

Best tip I could give you is troll with a lot of line out. 50-75 yards at least.

[karstopo]

Trolling wasn’t trouble with a paddle craft. I trolled from my Tarpon 140 or the Commander 140. Mount a Scotty rod hold on the side rail, turn it to face to the rear about 45 degrees and it’s as simple as that. The rod remains in one’s field of vision at all times and I just paddled along until I got a hit. Usually, the fish self set the hook.

Hands free just like a pedal drive until the moment the fish hits.