Muskie trolling

[Chowdaire]

You can run the short leads off a board. Then you're getting out from the boat but still at the right depth. Works great for shallow walleyes not sure why it wouldn't for muskies.

[White Wolf]

6 minutes ago, Chowdaire said:

You can run the short leads off a board. Then you're getting out from the boat but still at the right depth. Works great for shallow walleyes not sure why it wouldn't for muskies.

I'm not set up to run boards. Or maybe I can and just don't know how? Something I should probably look into. Kind of snubbed my nose at them originally because I don't know anything about them, and because I'm just running a single rod that I'm holding onto. I have a down east but I lost 2 fish that hit in the holder, took it out landed 5 since that hit while I was holding..  

[White Wolf]

Ran out for a couple hours before dark after work. Big wind had the water nice green with maybe 5 feet vis compared to normal 30+. Got onto my spot and deploy ol' trusty black perch ernie with about 12 feet of line out, put rod in the holder because I needed 2 hands to drive with all the wind. Barely get to my seat and clicker starts going and rod looks like I have a snag. At the same time I was grabbing the rod decent fish came to the surface 30 feet behind the boat mouth open like a parachute, and my ernie comes flying like a bat out of hell straight at me. She gave a nice tail slap and swam away laughing at me. Drove around in frustration the rest of the night with no other bites. 

Maybe drag was too loose or too tight? What angle should rods be in the holder? I've been doing 45 on hard pulling stuff and 90 on the lighter 

[muskiedreams]

47 minutes ago, White Wolf said:

Ran out for a couple hours before dark after work. Big wind had the water nice green with maybe 5 feet vis compared to normal 30+. Got onto my spot and deploy ol' trusty black perch ernie with about 12 feet of line out, put rod in the holder because I needed 2 hands to drive with all the wind. Barely get to my seat and clicker starts going and rod looks like I have a snag. At the same time I was grabbing the rod decent fish came to the surface 30 feet behind the boat mouth open like a parachute, and my ernie comes flying like a bat out of hell straight at me. She gave a nice tail slap and swam away laughing at me. Drove around in frustration the rest of the night with no other bites. 

Maybe drag was too loose or too tight? What angle should rods be in the holder? I've been doing 45 on hard pulling stuff and 90 on the lighter 

As I was reading this I was concerned that you were going to say that the lure flew back and stuck you. I'm glad that wasn't the case.

 

Seeing them jump is exciting but it makes it so much easier for them to shake the hook. I would say the angle should be low on a short line if the rod is off the side of the boat. If you are working in the prop wash, it would be a trade off. You might want to keep it up so that the rod loads up to keep pressure and protect the line from the shock of the strike but then if the fish breaks water it could create momentary slack which might allow the fish to shake the lure or snap the line. If you keep it low with very little loading from the rod, depending on the drag setting, you could snap the line or not get a good hook set.

 

Just my thoughts. Others might have different suggestions. The rod and line you use might also make a difference. But I don't know about you but I can't afford a lot of rods.

[zach]

I'd map out that weed line and troll it up. 5 mins of trolling imo equals about 100 casts.

So what would you do if you were targeting fish hugging bottom, just outside of the weed edge in very clear 7 to 14 fow. Having to be super accurate with bait placement (within a couple feet of fish). Just cast at them? Lol that's what I want to do, but Im trying to gain as much trolling experience possible before the fall feed is on

Sent from my SM-G973U using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[White Wolf]

7 hours ago, zach said:

I'd map out that weed line and troll it up. 5 mins of trolling imo equals about 100 casts.

 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Lake Ontario United mobile app
 

 

In that dirty water shortline scenario, do louder baits jointed or with rattles produce better results? Its amazing that they are able to find a lure in that situation with so much other noise and water displacement just a couple feet away

[White Wolf]

Muskiedreams,

I've had my fair share of flying baits hit me. I usually fish alone with a 9' rod... makes netting interesting. When one pops out it tends to windmill and tries to get you in the back of the neck haha 

I'm using a Shimano TDR with 80lb masterbraid and I've been running what I think is a lighter drag. I know from jigging it's easy to rip hooks out of a fishes mouth with too much pressure. I like the keeping the rod up idea to use more of the rod. I'm probably wrong in thinking so, but loading the rod up real good just looks scary to me because I'm used to graphite rods.