Quick question, Is it ok to follow someone already trolling and how far back should you stay? I know when the jig is on you can almost walk across boats, seems like that when you are perch fishing too.
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Quick question, Is it ok to follow someone already trolling and how far back should you stay? I know when the jig is on you can almost walk across boats, seems like that when you are perch fishing too.
You can catch a lot of fish in someone else’s “dirty water”. I like to give lots of room. Lake Erie is no less that a football field. Lake Michigan is more.
that’s just me though. I have had boats on both lakes so close to me it’s not funny. That’s when I get the wire rods out…. There is plenty of room for everyone to fish and plenty of fish in the ponds so no need to crowd out someone.
There are times when things get pretty crowded in the western basin.Especially in the early season.Its not a good idea to try and troll through a pack of boats trolling and even more so if they are casting.We try to stay away from other boats if at all possible.We will not follow directly behind another boat because I feel its not productive catching active fish after another boat and their lures have cleared out catchable fish.Their lures can also be running pretty far behind their boards too.Now if a group of boats are all heading in the same direction,its a good idea to not try and go against the grain,but try to head over clean water and off to the side of the boats ahead of you.If trying to cross behind another boat I would try and stay at least 100yds behind their boards.Sometimes the other boats around you have slow up,speed up or make a quick turn to avoid others too.Also note that most boats are on auto pilot and are not as alert to others around them as they should be.
In a perfect world a couple of hundred yards of separation would be great but in late spring, early summer it is full contact trolling. If you are following someone, try not to get closer than someone can throw a 2 oz lead.:rolleyes: Kidding aside, try to keep a good spacial idea of where you and the boats around you are GOING to be. Think ahead. Try to avoid a situation that you can't get out of. You may get pushed off your troll but thats better than getting your gear tore up.Quote:
Originally Posted by fishfinder
Thanks, I am going to try some trolling and just don't want to be the idiot on the water lol. My wife go out a few times to jig and throw crawlers but I've been watching JOBS and like the way him and his wife troll. I will keep my head on a swivel and hopefully catch a couple big ones
Just know the Rules of the Road on the lake, and give way when you're supposed to.Quote:
Originally Posted by fishfinder
There's too many out there that either don't know the rules of the road, or just don't give a crap, and will cut you off, so keep a good lookout, make adjustments, and all will be well. :)
Thanks Juls, I will keep an eye out and I always give way when I should, I have a lot of respect for Lake Erie and all those that fish it.
yea those charter captains really hate it when somebody bird dogs them.
Last year I was trolling and was in the process of landing one. Before I did I looked around and saw no boats headed my way from either side. All boats I did see were parallel. I just pulled in the fish looked up and saw a boat headed my way. The boat had big boards out with no poles in the water. I put the motor in neutral and he still kept coming at me. He had plenty of room just decided he didn’t have to avoid me. Obviously they were turning. When turning be considerate of other boats. As I watched this guy he was zig zagging thru the pack of boats.
Juls, need change that tag line for your boat to the Vexus!:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Capt Juls
Pretty sure we were all dealing with the same boat. Big boards out WIDE, probably making a sweep at least 75 - 85 feet on each side. Boards were riding VERY low in the water and at times were hardly visible. They were wood boards unpainted and acted like they were waterlogged. We nearly got caught in the board line and it just missed us ....barely. No flags. Trolled right through the pack with complete disregard for other boats. People were scrambling to get out of his way. Everyone was yelling at them and they just smiled and waved back. There is no place for that kind of behavior on the lake. There are plenty of fish and lots of space for everyone. We try to stay away from big packs of boats and find our own fish, be safe and have fun.
The big board guys take up an awful lot of room. I think its more than 80'. I've seen them out close to 80yds each side. I don't follow any boats trolling due to the fish scattering after their boat goes through.
I tend to stay on the edges of the pack anyway, however, there may be times when you have to turn to avoid someone else and the only viable path is behind another boat. When that happens, I tend to give them plenty of space. At least 100 yards, if not more. They may have to slow down to fight a fish or whatever, so I don't want to be in a situation where I am "breathing down their necks".
Funny story last fall when I was out trolling off of Luna Pier. I was trolling down-wind and trying to stay on the my previous path that was very productive for us. There was only one other boat in the area and he was a few hundred yards in front of us and appeared to be trolling against the wind, "headed" right in our direction. I looked up one time and it appeared that he would cross in front of us and end up on our starboard side, so I turned a bit to port to give extra clearance. A few moments later, I looked up again and it now appeared that he would cross us and end up on our port side, so I turned back starboard to make sure we cleared him. The 3rd time I looked up, he had "changed paths again", so I steered back towards our port side. I said to my buddy "what's up with this guy, he can't make up his mind on which direction he wants to go and he keeps messing me up". As we got a bit closer, I could see there was an anchor rope attached to his bow and he was simply swaying back and forth with the wind. Doh! That explains it. Sorry buddy, my bad!
when a boat is coming towards you doing S turns to slow and speed up the lures it look's like they can't make up their mind which way to go...last fall i know boats were thinking that about me cause i was doing it but that's what was triggering the bites.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Krayfish
I will when it arrives. The build date is 5/30, so I'll be starting out the season in the Ranger. :)
That is funny slimshady but I know how you felt lol. When I first started fishing lake Erie I thought my anchor was failing me because I kept drifting close to other boats, I bought a different anchor more rope and still kept drifting. I found out that everyone was using drift socks and they were drifting close to me.
[QUOTE=Kingfisher2025;74336]The big board guys take up an awful lot of room. I think its more than 80'. I've seen them out close to 80yds each side. I don't follow any boats trolling due to the fish scattering after their boat goes through.[/QUOTE
Kngfisher. I have no problem with big boats, big boards and wide passes. Like I said, it’s a big lake and there is room for everyone. My primary concern is safety. Secondary is having a good time and catching a few fish. It takes only ONE bad apple to spoil the fishing for a whole lot of people when the bite is on and the traffic picks up. I’m out there to relax not “combat fish”. Even a small boat that is careless can present some danger in a crowd. Be safe! Have fun!
;)Quote:
Originally Posted by fishfinder
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingfisher2025
Your statement about seeing big boards out 80 YARDS is not possible. The distance you can let your boards out IMO is determined by two things. First, the height above the water of the source of your main line, and second is the efficiency of your boards. Once your main line to your boards starts to hang in the water you WILL have major issues. With that being said, on most days I will run five rods a side and I will only need about 60'. I can run seven a side but even at that I only run about 75'. Much more than that and the main line starts to drag. Five inline boards will take about the same width as my big boards with five lines.
80 yards might be pushing it a bit, however, I used to run my big boards out 150-200 feet when trolling for Steelhead out of Wheatley and Erieau. I used a 6 foot mast at the front of my boat that kept the line nice and high. There was rarely ever a boat within 1/4 mile of us, so having enough room to troll was almost never ever an issue. Years ago I switched to mostly dipseys & riggers, but when we do put out boards, we now use in-lines. We will sometimes run those out 200-250 feet from the boat. We set the clickers to "on" and set the drag very light so that we can hear them click when a fish hits. I wouldn't run them out that far when trolling in traffic, but that's the beauty of fishing in Canada. Not much traffic, eh?...Quote:
Originally Posted by fishhawk2700
Quote:
Originally Posted by slimshady
Why would you want to run your boards (big or small) that far out. I will add 30' if I'm running riggers and/or divers but at most I'm at between 100 and 120 tops. At 200 to 250 it will take you almost a 1/4 mi to turn around. I have physically measured my distances on my board line and anything approaching 100', with any kind of chop, has your main line with a huge "bow" in it and in the water periodically. Now add to that the wind blows your line from rod tip to release all over the place. It's bad enough with the boards on a short leash when it's rough out and you have the bigger waves grabbing your PB line. People used to pay me to catch walleye and my philosophy is to keep my baits as close to the boat as I can and still maintain an acceptable catch rate. All I can say is that everyone has their own program to run. Whatever works for you, go for it.
First off, I almost always troll downwind and run back up, so turning around isn't an issue. This is also why I never use my big boards anymore (too much of a pain to bring in and out all the time). With in-line boards, I don't have to worry about the bow in the line. This past fall we noticed that our outside boards were getting almost all the bites and they were running about 150 feet out. So we pushed everything out so that our inside boards were 100, then 150 and 200 for the outsides and we started getting fish on all of them, but the outsides were still the hottest. That particular day, the water was on the clear side, the fish were up high and it was pretty calm. So getting them really far from the boat seemed to be the difference. Some of my buddies were struggling that day until I told them how we were getting them and then they started getting them too. Like I said, I wouldn't do that in traffic, but when the space allows, I will if i need to. My "normal" set up would be 50/100/150 on most days. Adjust from there.Quote:
Originally Posted by fishhawk2700
The last couple times I had other guys fishing with me, I set mine up like I normally do and they had their's much closer and much tighter together. After about the first 4 or 5 fish on "my" side, I noticed they moved their's out too, then both sides were about even after that....the power of observation...;)