[Jimmybro]

I am trying to get into trolling and yesterday went out from Wellington Point hoping to bag up with my new koolie minnow rainbow trout 76 after reading how good they are. How pissed off was I when I got snagged straight away and my leader broke off-not a good start!
This had me thinking-in my enthusiasm did I start trolling too early with the water not deep enough-probably in about 2 metres at the beginning. Also I thought my braid was 6 lb but when I checked it was 10lb. The leader was 10lb so I reckon this would have been a contributing factor to the leader giving way.
I also thought about the speed I was doing, tried to peddle fairly slow and looked as though the lure was moving well- was I going too slow or too fast? Was trying to keep to slow walking pace.
Not to be deterred I carried on with a similar lure but eventually I got snagged again and lost that after catching a couple of fish on it.
What was the main problem?
I really like the idea of trolling but not if I keep losing lures at that rate.
All advice is greatly appreciated

Jimmybro

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I don't do a heap of trolling so I can't give you a lot of advice but I'll try. Your right about depth especially at wellington point as there's a heap of weed near the bottom. The other thing to be cautious about is the bottom structure. When you're trolling its preferable you're not trolling to close to rocks on the bottom because you'll get a snag and lose your lure straight away. If you're targeting bream or flathead at wello (particularly flathead with the koolie's) then I suggest you try and stay over the banks where there's not a lot you get snagged on. If you are going to target snapper or other reef dwell9ing species then try and make sure you're using a lure that doesn't dive to deep. It's hard to tell if you have a low tech kayak but if you're using a sounder then make sure you're staying at the right depth for your lure and the fish you're targeting.

 

[paulo]

Lures are marked with their swim depth. A sounder will tell you how deep you are. Match the lure to the sounder. Get the general depths from charts if you dont have a sounder.
When you are snagged, freespool, turn 180 degrees, pedal\paddle back past the lure and try to wrest the lure from the snag in the opposite direction to which you snagged it.
Try to bounce your lure of the snag by jigging your rod rather than locking the drag, pointing the rod at the snagged lure and giving it you hardest tug. Go hard as a last resort.
Remove the treble on the belly of the lure or change the trebles to singles.
Troll a soft plastic with just the one hook that faces up not down like a treble.
Buy a lure retrieval tool like Tackleback, etc. Painful to use but may pay for itself if you fish in a snaggy area.
Doubt you are trolling a koolie too fast. A lure will kick up sideways if you exceed its troll speed limit. You should be fine trolling all but casting specific lures from the yak.
Dont give up!!!

 

[Thegaff]

Try trolling at differnt speeds, I find that can help on some days.

 

[Thegaff]

Some days you just cant get a break. I remember I lost 4 hb's and 3 sp's to the one patch of reef, most people would of given up before that but i was sure there was a beastie living there....there wasnt.

 

[avayak]

I go for suspending or floating hardbodies. The sinking types get snagged if you hook up on the other rod or pause for any reason.

 

[Jimmybro]

Thanks for all the advice, doesn't sound as though I was doing too much wrong. Wellington point does look asbthough has lotsbof snags on the sounder. Just pissed off to lose my brand new koolie after looking forward to using it all week. To top of the day I also didn't use lip grips and dropped a 40cm snapper like a bar of soap back into the drink. Apart from that what a sweet day it was out on the bay.

 

[nickdec]

Watch the rod tip, you usually get a few warning bends as it starts snagging on weed or the bottom
depth changes, I reel in some line, that raises the lure up, allows you to keep going. Tackle back is the backup plan

 

[bildad]

Mate I do a lot of trolling when fishing from my Kayak.
1. Try to use lures that match the depth of water in which you are fishing then adjust depth further by reducing or letting out line, also raising your Rod high above your head can get that lure up enough to be able to navigate passing from deep to shallow and back into deep without getting hooked up too much
2. Always hang on to your rod if trolling your lure near the bottom or snags, you can feel when the lure is bumping the bottom or bumping snags, always troll with your rod tip slightly forwards this way you can drop your rod tip back and prevent driving the hooks into the snags,(although you won't be the first person who drove their hooks into a snag mistaking it for a strike ) if you are using floating lures dropping the rod tip back will allow the lure to float up over the snag (most times). You have a massive advantage over paddle kayaks in this regard.
Working the lure with pauses and twitches can increase your strike rate as well.
3. When the inevitable happens and you do get snagged take pressure off the line by reducing the drag dramatically, I do not recommend free spooling as with tide and wind and pedals and what not you can end up with all sorts of tangles, so with drag backed off turn around and keep slight pressure on the lure go back past the snag tighten drag sufficiently and pull from the opposite direction you were trolling using short sharp rips you will get most of your lures back this way.
Tackle backs as mentioned work but are a devil to use by yourself especially in tide and wind.
4. If your not getting snagged you are not in the zone unless you are targeting top or mid water column fish.
If you are chasing flathead don't troll too close to the mangroves those little roots eat lures rather troll the channel edges a lure kicking up sand more often than not is hard for a flatty to refuse.
5. Speed you are spot on! Drop lure over the side see how it swims, often bibbed lures need to be tuned, drop lure beside you and observe how it is swimming if when you speed it up it wants to turn away or towards you make slight adjustments to the tow ring (usually minute tweeks are all that is necessary).
Lures trolled too fast will often just swim up on their side and lures trolled too slow emit hardly any vibration.