Tournament methods...a few questions

[Texeye]

How long do some of you tournament fishermen(women) troll, without success, before you abandon that method and go to another?

Say you hammer a big fish first thing but don't get a hit for another hour or two...do you give it up? What is success in a trollers mind? One fish per hour or can it be measured like that?

Have a Merry Christmas!
Texeye

[ebijack]

there are soooo many veriables! i've trolled for 4 to 6 hours without a bite (but am marking fish !!!) then in 15 minutes we'll have a 2 man limit. it doesn't give you a chance on those days to dial in a true pattern. it's fun, but doesn't help in trying to figure out something that will last for a few days. experience and gut feelings are what drive me to run or stay. i do change colors/baits/speed/depth constantly all day long. then if nothing looks like it's going to work i will leave.. that is if i already have confidence in other spots.

It all depends on what you have confidence in!

If you are only catching 15"ers rigging, bouncing etc but 4lbers trolling it is pretty easy to put your eggs into one basket.

Depending on the waters we fish and the laws we like to at least get our limit. Then we do not mind trolling all day without a buit in search of a lunker. Tough to stick with the same plan with zero fish all day.

One thing to keep in mind when trying to put something together is speed, you can troll though a ton of marks running cranks at 1.5 and get one or two fish and then go through the same fish with spinners and inline weights at 1.2 and smoke 25 fish, speed is a huge factor when trying to figure out what's good. some days you can run spoons and double willow spinners and crush fish you try to slow down and get big fish to bite with cranks a little slower and you may not get bit as well. If I'm on fish and don't pull anything within 20 minutes after changing speeds I will change my leads then switch the whole program and try something else, walleye are always willing to bite for the most part it just depends on what, I find when they like spinners they will eat spoons when they go on cranks they like everything, I like cranks because it triggers fish and tells you they are hungry.

[Texeye]

I agree. The variables seem endless, and since I have no confidence in trolling it is hard to stay interested. How long is a reasonable time to try your favorite lures and set up before you either try differing your speed, depth or lures? One pass over marked fish?

This is a little off topic, but in trying to become a better troller, would you recommend staying with one brand of lure? Say Rapala for instance, and learn the depths and speeds of the shallow lures down to the deeper lures? I get so many types of lures out it only seems to make matters worse.

Thanks guys.
Texeye

[walleyesrus]

Keep it as simple as possible. Try a couple different profiles and a couple different depths and change it up. The key is finding fish first just don't start trolling at the ramp and expect to catch fish. I'm sure in Texas as it is in Missouri we don't have the walleye density they do on the great lakes so the ability to cover water can make a huge difference in the number of successful days on the water. When I teach people to troll lead core they are way to worried about the exact depth a lure runs and the exact depth you get from the lead and they make it a huge complicated math problem when all you really need to do is get somewhat close if your water is at all clear fish will move a good ways to bite a crank. Be careful though once you start catching fish it's addictive. I am getting so I have to force myself to do anything else, but we're still catching fish trolling in Missouri long after I would have given it up in the past.

[ebijack]

like walleyesrus says, keep it simple! if you search here on WC, there are alot of articles and previous chat's with enough info to fast forward your learning curve. there is still no better way to learn any technique than to fish as "co" angler in any of the tourney's out there. really you'll learn more in one day than you can in years trying it yourself. or hire a guide on the waters you want to fish is another..
if you want other info.. i can send you some short articles i wrote for one of our local clubs. i try to keep everything simple. that way it helps me to work on dialing in the best program for the day. everyone runs just a bit different..speed/line out(due to counter differences)line type, bait differences etc etc. and some baits just DON'T work for some people where others are killers... you have to learn what works for you. just look at "go to bait" on the fishing page.. that's a brief summary of how everyone is different.
hope that helps

It depends on what you know from pre-fishing and what's happening around you. Most spots are community holes, and if fish are being caught, stay! Thats when it's time to change colors, speed, direction change, or a random hesitation, with your bait. Getting them to bite could be as simple as slowing way down or stopping your bait.

Keep in mind, walleye are constantly moving around, even while you're fishing, and if you know they are in the area, and the bite is off, move around to see if you can find them. Schools will move to holding places while resting and then move to feeding places when the feed bag is on. If your pre-fishing is good, you can target these movement areas, between feeding and resting. Usually, when one team is pounding them, when the bite is off, they found the movement path of the fish. Walleye will feed when they move.


Also, I've seen large schools of fish leave an area. Understanding when this happens will help you decide when it's time to go! Pre-fishing is very important and will give you the knowledge if your spot has the fish to win and if you should tough it out and fish the slow bite.

we had this same problem several years ago only we were trollers learning to jig and rig. when we were pre-fishing we would locate our trolling fish, and then go jig or rig for other fish. when tournament day would come we usually would jig for the first half of the day, if we were not catching fish we would then go trolling, we were confident that in a short period of time we could catch our limit. the main thing is you have to have confidence in every aspect of trolling, and the only way to gain this confidence is to spend time on the water. the one suggestion that i have is when you go fun fishing, go trolling, sometimes it is hard when you know you can catch more fish with a different presentation, but you already know how to do that presentation. keep an open mind and keep it simple. as far as lures go we always start with four different lures and let the fish tell you what they want. good luck

One way I learned to troll was to only take my trolling gear with me. I have done the same with other techniques. It will make you stay with something when you do not have your fall back techniques to use. I don't ecspecially like to troll, I would rather catch them jigging, rigging, casting, anything other than trolling, but trolling is so darn effective and the quickest way I know to learn a new body of water. Get yourself a good set of tools to start with. Start with one of the trolling books that show depths. Then get yourself a couple of good line counters (I prefer the Diawia sg27), load them with 10lb berkley xt. You will then need a couple of trolling rods, look at the Cabelea's depthmaster series. I use the planer board rod for my trolling needs. Get an assorment of snaps, no snap swivels. Look at the Rapala line of Shad Raps, you will need to cover the various depths so get an assortment of sizes. Stick to basic colors, firetiger, black back shad, blue back shad, perch, and redhead/white body. Don't worry about all the fancy colors for now that will all come later. Now all that is left is to get out there and practice. You might pick up a copy of the spoonplugging books by Buck Perry and read those. Good luck