by Uncle Wes, June 05, 2007

The past few weeks we have covered making your own worm trolls and also the quick-change set-up this week we are going to cover the basics on working your set-ups on the water. But once again I want to drive one point home and that is nothing replaces time spent on the water. You can read every book and article ever published but if you don’t put in the time working on different methods you will never reach the plateau of success your looking for and keep in mind even the pro’s get skunked once in a while.

I think one thing you should always remember is that the blades on your gang trolls and worm troll push up wards in the water as you move around the lake, so weight and speed are very important part of trolling in other words you might not be working as deep as you think you are. If I hit the water early I like to work closer into shore mainly because the fish feel a little more secure and most of the bait fish are in closer earlier, as the day wears on I will move further and further out and at times I will add weight to take me a little deeper. Now the same thing goes for later in the evening I will start working my way in towards shore until I locate the fish again.

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of working an “S” pattern when you troll, this creates a fluttering action and when you turn inwards and outwards your set-up will move deeper and shallower in the water. As I have said before I will always hold my rod, this allows me to feel the slightest hit and gives me a little quicker hook set. When I feel a hit I will turn the boat slightly to the same side the rod is on in order to make my worm troll look like a wounded baitfish in hopes of getting a more solid take. If you are working a slot and can’t turn into the strike try slowing your speed down just a touch or feed the bait to the fish by slowly easing your rod towards the back of the boat once again this will look like your worm troll is wounded and easy prey. This is just a quick course on trolling the lakes and if you practice on different methods you will find what works best for you. So until next time may the fish at the end of your line be the one of your dreams.