Trolling Open Water:

     Trolling is a great way to cover a lot of water and find fish concentrations of Crappie, Largemouth Bass, Stripers and Sunshine Bass.

    As always when trying to locate fish in open water look for changes in the bottom, such as submerged points, depth changes and structure such as brush piles, fish attractors or any abrupt change in bottom. Weed lines such as the edges of hydrilla patches are also good.

What You will Need:

• Light Spinning tackle




• Crank Baits




• Jig Spinners




• Marker Bouys

Lure and Line Selection:

     Lipless crankbaits such as the Rat-L-Trap are excellent trolling lures for  Crappie, Bass or Stripersl.

     A light line of 6 to 8 # test will give the lure good action and allow it to run deep. Boat speed is important. The slower your trolling speed the deeper the lure will run. (Just the opposite of a lipped lure). When fishing water deeper than 8-10 ft. go with a 1/2 oz. lure.

      If your lure drags bottom speed up a little.

      A good slow speed lure is a Jig-Spinner such as the 1/8 or 1/4 oz. Beetle-Spin. Heaver Jig-Spinners can be made with bigger blades to get deeper. One that works well is a 1/4 to 1/2  oz. Jig Head with a 4 to 6 in. plastic worm or Sassy-Shad.

      The Jig-Spinner requires light line of no more than 6 # test.

How To Do IT:

     As with drifting, eliminate featureless flat bottom. Troll along depth changes , across submerged points or along weed  and grass lines.

       Use the marker bouys to mark where you get strikes and run a figure 8 pattern around the two bouys.

       There is no need to set the hook as the speed of the lure should cause the hook to penetrate enough.

        Make sure Rods are securely in rod holders to avoid losing them over the side.

Good Fishing !