[devo]

Hi all ,
I was just wondering what success you have trolling vs lure casting.
Do you go out fishing with the intention to troll the majority of the time or do you just throw a lure out and troll while paddling from spot to spot and hope for the best ??
I guess if your after pelagics than trolling is the preffered method but other than that how much time and effort should you put in?
Cheers team.
Devo

 

[YakAtak]

I do a lot of trolling from the yak and mostly only cast and retrieve in places that I have caught fish consistantly in the past. this allows me to cover a lot more territory. sometimes if I hook a fish, say a small flathead, I'll anchor up and work the area with a SP till I get a better fish. In the dams around here, I try to stick to the deep water and troll alone the old river bed or close to steep banks that look like the goods. Hope this helps.

 

[Peril]

Devo,

Depends very much on where I'm fishing and when. If fishing Iron Cove or Hen & Chicken at high tide then a slow troll with small shallow divers is probably the most productive technique. But don't dismiss casting surface lures either. At other times or in deeper water then cast and retrieve is more productive. Just gotta think where the fish might be. Finally, it depends on whether you just want to paddle or to actively fish.

 

[troppo]

I love trolling for several reasons. One is my time on the water is limited and I want to do the exercise so I paddle and drag a lure around. Second, I have caught some of my best fish simply by having a lure out when I was paddling to my fishing spot to do some 'real fishing". These good catches have changed the way I think about fishing. Third, when in a hot zone and I expect a fish, I have my rod stuck in the scupper hole where my foot is and I rest my foot on the butt. This means I can feel the slightest touch on the lure and often there is a bump or two before the bang and I find it an exciting way to fish.

However, I do cast toward rocks and shoals i don't want to paddle too close to and I cast ahead where there may be flathead if I think I may spook them.

 

[Jeffo]

Devo,

I have found best results throwing a lure, mainly because the river I fish is shallow & SP's seem to work best.

Alos I have trouble getting a trolling bib style lure to work well, it seems to pop on the surface instead of workign deeper (I know when it is workign well because the rod tip vibrates). I think this may be becuase my rod holder has the rod tip up to high

Cheers

Jeffo

 

[Davey G]

good question devo..

when I first started fishing out of my yak I had 3 or 4 'favorite' fishing spots in my local estuary (Port Hacking). At times, the paddle from the launch spot to the actual fishing spot was half an hour. I'd paddle there, bobn a round for a bit, sometimes catch fish and mostly catch bugger all.

Then I started chucking a lure or sp out behind the yak dragging it along behind me and lo and behold, I actually caught more fish (good fish too). A few kingfish, tailor, salmon and flathead started attaching themselves to the lures... A lot of the water I was paddling was deep and featureless, but there were fish cruising around looking, looking.

so now, I verey rarely (never) paddle any distances without having a lure or 2 dragging behind me. Of course I still enjoy 'actively' fishing baits, soft plastics and lures, but I catch just as many fish with the 'passive' approach.

good luck..

 

[andybear]

For me it is almost constant trolling. Cover as much area as possible. Occasionally have a bit of a flick with egg beater, but for the most part just dump the lures over the side paddle away and free the spool for a while, and put the clicker on when ready to listen for a run. I have totally lost interest in drowing worms maggots, and long dead prawns. Sometime use a SP. Mostly drag HB quite big size.

Cheers all Andybear

Edit 1. Just realised after I posted this, I have not actually caught a fish casting,and retrieve for about 15 years! :lol:

 

[hairymick]

I just lovve draggin sx40s & 60s round - anywhere - anytime, fresh,salt,bay or offshore - doesn't matter.

Still looking for a better lure - not confident I'll find one

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[Jeffo]

thanks Red, that's good advice about the knot as I have been tying straight onto the lure (with no room for lure to swing).

I'll try it this weekend

Cheers

jeffo

 

[Dodge]

Jeffo here is an easy to tie loop that lets the lure work to its best

http://www.animatedknots.com/rapala/ind ... goGrog.jpg

 

[Jeffo]

great reference site Dodge, thanks

 

[gheppsie]

Yeah top site dodge!! thanks mate

 

[rawprawn]

This is what I do. I troll to spot I can flick do some flicking then troll back again. No point not having a line in the water whilst on a yak imo.

 

[Mick_Lane]

Trolling if using hardbodies, casting if using spinnerbaits or soft plastics.
The later can be worked a little more vertically close up to structure. Mick.

 

[something fishy]

I've cought all of my PB's of the yak whilst trolling, however i am never more satisfied then when i see a fishy looking snag or a drop off and i flick a HB/ SP and bang it produces the goods. theres a real buzz when i plan comes together espacialy if you produce the species you were targeting.

For example i picked up a couple of bass trolling in Lenthals dam but the one i remember with great pride was the 36cm bass i spotted on the serface and cought on a poppa. to me thats what fishings about.

 

[Guest]

I tend to troll a fair bit because it works well in some of the places I fish, but admittedly, it's got me into a bit of a bad habit at times. There have been a few instances lately where I've spotted nearby baitfish leaping out of the water for dear life and my gut reaction has often been to head towards the action and troll straight through it. In hind sight, I probably would have been better off hanging back and casting a lure into the mix instead. I'll be making a bit of an effort to be more conscientious in these situations from now on.

 

[Crikey]

I work on the principle that you only catch fish when you have a hook in the water, trolling a lure while you are going from A to B seems like a great way of maximising fishing time. The kayak is going at what is probably a great speed for most inshore free swimming fish to attack a lure. I would say that trolling is currently making up 75%+ of my fishing time. I spend a lot of time deliberatly trolling structure and features as well as what I would consider dragging a lure on the trip to and from where I want to troll proper.

Pointers for successful trolling.

1. Use the best quality lures your budget will allow, I have found that problems with poor swimming or the lures blowing out of the water are usually associated with cheaper versions. I like Rapalas but that is a personal thing.

2. I exclusively use braid with a mono leader. One advantage above all is the low diameter of the braid that signifcantly reduces lift on the lure deep divers seem to run better with braid. The low stretch quality of the braid does not even come into the equation for me

3. Run the lures at about 10 to 20 metres behind the yak, again I feel that too much line in the water promotes lift that causes poor diving. Have you ever noticed how lures tend to dive deeper as they are retrieved closer to you that got me thinking that lift being generated from the line in the water may be influencing the lures ability to hold depth.

4. Keep the rod tip as low as possible.

5. Being a Hobie user I hold the rod while trolling and generally give the lure some additional movement with some striking actions (barra trolling fashion). Very often the strike is not on the draw but as the lure slows or stops as you drop the rod tip back.

6. Now use some small stainless steel clips (Norman make I think) that I got from Complete Angler in Sydney, they give a very slim, quick change articulated connection to the lure.

Hope this helps.