New to trolling

[Lucky Duck]

If I am not catching fish but I can see other boats around catching fish, do I: A. Adjust my speed and by how much, B. Adjust my how far back I am running my Reef Runners with braided line?
Thank you

[Mxclutch]

Well, Yes to both. LOL

I had the same issues when I was trying to figure out the trolling thing. It is not an exact science for sure but one thing that helped me besides reading all the posts here. BINOCULARS... When I would see all the boats around me catching it would drive me nuts... SO I got a good pair of binoculars so I could see the type of baits they were catching them on and color..

Some days trolling Reef runners, sometimes bandits, bottom bouncers ETC. But I have found that if you can dial in on a color it can really help no matter what the bait...

Also, If I am out by my self I start by Stacking the baits every 5 or 10 feet. Early in the morning or with cloud cover. I like to start at 25 35 45 ft back on one side and 30 40 50 on the other.. As the sun comes up and or the boat traffic picks up. I start setting them out farther so they will run deeper. Once I get onto a pattern, IE 45 ft on a fruit dot bandit. I will put more lures at 45 back and put atleast 1 more fruitdot bandit on...

Also. As for speed.. I sometimes run slight s-turns. The baits on the outside of the turn run faster and the inside run slower. SO if i catch on the out side lines. I will speed up my straight trolls and slow if i start catching on the inside..

I am no expert for sure but it makes you feel good when you start figuring it out....

[Capt Juls]

Also, If I am out by my self I start by Stacking the baits every 5 or 10 feet. Early in the morning or with cloud cover. I like to start at 25 35 45 ft back on one side and 30 40 50 on the other..

So, when you're out trolling by yourself......you admit to running 4 lines over the limit that you are allowed? Am I reading that right?

You do know, that you are only allowed 2 lines per person in Ohio, right?

[Mxclutch]

So, when you're out trolling by yourself......you admit to running 4 lines over the limit that you are allowed? Am I reading that right?

You do know, that you are only allowed 2 lines per person in Ohio, right?

Sorry Capt. Juls, I know the limit of lines per person and I abide by the rules.. I guess I should have said that a little differently.. If I am by MY self. I set both lines on the Port side and I start at 25 or 35.. When I have my friends with me. We set them up like posted...

I was actually checked by DNR last year. I was north of West sister and I was alone in my boat. I had 2 poles in the water on boards but 4 others poles were in the holders on the other side of the boat. I am sure it looked like I was running more lines that I was. They did a safety check and license and sent me on my way.

[PDnaz]

Spend the money and time to go on a couple of charters. You will gather the information and save the headache.

[itsbob]

The church walleye boards are in line planer boards and should work for you.Try and modify them with the flag that goes down when you catch a fish.One of the initial problems new trollers go through is not knowing you have fish on.That flag will help you identify small junk fish on and even bigger walleye.We have used the tru trip 40 and the charters due use them,they work well,but we used them mostly on the big boards.The 40 tru trips pull too hard for the inline boards.Yes,they make smaller tru trips that don't pull as hard,but do not like on inline boards.You can use just a sinker tied to line with rubber band to get lures down,but as I said before,I like the offshore #2 tadpoles.They only cost about $7 each and don't pull too hard on the boards.The tadpoles bottom out at about 28 fow but are fine west of islands.If fishing deeper than that get some 3oz sinkers.The boards can handle 3oz,but not much more.

[Frank]

The boards you got are fine,boards just get your baits away from the boat the jets get your lures to depth. Get dive charts for your jets.I use lurk,and true trip jets and have done very well with both,but they have their own dive charts 99% of the captains on Erie around the islands use true true trips. You need a radio to listen to the depth range they are fishing so you need their charts to see how deep they are then convert that to what your using to achieve the same depth or close to that higher up its better than lower as walleye feed up.there are more variables, speed and line size. Line size isn't as important at say 50 back,maybe a foot. Do s turns to get speeds dailed in more, inside bite slow down,outside bite speed up. I hope this helps Frank

[Frank]

Learn to convert what you have to what they have, opinions are like ,everyone has one, :-) you just have to experiment. If the fish aren't bitten I find shoals to troll over to get a real grip on where im running.I have charts for my stuff.but they are only guidelines because I run a different line.make a log of what your trolling, speed ,line,lures,ect.some time on the water is always the way to go.charters are great but you still have to put that knowledge that you learn to use,no one can catch them for you.Read,listen,search online ,watch you tube. The more you learn the more consistent you will become and at a very quicker pace we all fail to catch them every day that's why they call it fishing.If you where a captain,most have friends to help them when the going gets tough. They just do it much more so there on the fish.And there very good at it

[PDnaz]

3 main factors to consider, speed, color, depth.

[MageeEast]

3 main factors to consider, speed, color, depth.

If you are running any sort of crank baits I'd add tuning your baits....especially Reef Runners to this list. Even a little bit out of tune will cause your baits to run higher and on their sides. A lot out of tune will cause them to do barrel rolls behind your boards.