Muskie Trolling

My name is Plungepool and I’m addicted to Muskie fishing!! I’m fairly new to this sport however and have struggled to catch fish. I am an apprentice in need of some training Last year I managed 3 fish, and I lost 2 others. My favorite technique is trolling, however when I caught these fish I found myself consantly using the same baits. I wanted to know what everyone thinks about trolling and what is your favorite( baits, places, structure,etc) any info would be greatly appreciated, Thanks

Number one rule.. sharp hooks. Dont pick a lure that dives to deep. a muskie will come up for a bait a long ways away. but seldom down. for weed edges and midlake structure i like a jointed SwimWhiz or believer

Nice Fish After I lost the first fish I honed the heck out of my hooks, but the second fish broke my line. I was wondering, when you’re trolling whats the rule of thumb on the distance of the bait from the boat, cause I’ve been just giving the bait a good cast out and letting it ride.

if your trolling a weed edge use a shorter line out. the object is to put your bait in the nook and cranies or inside turns of the structure, after the boat has been thier. open water trolling mix it up long or short line’s out. i have caught muskies in 30 ft of water 2 feet down on bucktails. just dont dredge the bottom. you will cacth more fish.

Sounds like the morale of the story is to keep the baits up off the bottom and in their faces. What waters do you like to fish?

The second fish broke your line….Well one thing when trolling is a looser drag. Moving bait, stout rod, 80# braided line on a reel with a tight drag and a big fish hits is a recipe for disaster. Loosen the drag so something will give when a fish hits. I am not sure how your line broke, but that can be a common cause.
Just remember if you use the same rod for trolling as you do for casting to TIGHTEN THE DRAG!

Yep, she chewed right through it. I was using the 65# power pro. I try to keep the drag set, so that line is not just peeling off due to the drag caused by the water. I tighten it a hair tighter than that, so it’s not stiff by any means.

she chewed right threw it? were you useing a leader? This is one thing i hold as a truth when a muskie is hungry, It will eat, use a leader. Here is one tip alot of times while trolling your bait or line goes slack your bait was just hit by a fish moveing faster then your trolling speed, hit the gas on the outboard and set the hook at the same time.

I thought I would put my 2 cents in
I dont troll for skis as much as I cast but I still manage to get 30 or more fish trolling every year.
I have to say that I find running depth very important and I do spend most of my time running my baits fairly deep.
When I say deep I am talking 15-20 ft down. While I always seem to have a bait or 2 up higher in the water the ones that are running deepeer are the one that are more consitant.
I like to have them making contact with the bottom on and off and most of the strikes come when the bait clears the bottom ( breakline ).
I run many differnt baits and use inline weights to get some baits down. Some of my favorites are Ernies, jakes, grandmas, depth raiders, believers, swimwiz, triple d’s, deep invaders, bulldogs
Ill run just about anything in the prop wash also

As far as equipment I dont use heavy rods or heavy line. Med heavy 9′ with good line counters 30lb power pro a good leader. I set my drag as lite as I can with out the bait taking line while trolling I also set my clicker so it sounds the alarm when a fish hits or the bait snags up. In open water its not about powering a fish to the boat long lite rods will beat a fish faster than you think.

Hope the info helps
RIVER HUNTER

for me i just dont like rubbing bottom. i think i give up 2 many fish. plus fouling weeds and knocking plugs out of tune i think a hot fish will come up for a bait.

yes I was using a leader. I don’t know what happened, but when I put the boat in nuetral and Stood up, I grabbed the rod which took me a few seconds due to all the pressure from the fish. After I managed to get it out of the holder I went to set the hook and I felt the line snap right off. I lost my leader and my bait all in one feld swoop. Although 5 min later, after I calmed down and retied I managed to boat a nice 43″er in the same area.

Yeah, thats some great info you guys are coming up with However I fish pretty shallow water, so the shallow running baits even hit bottom , thats why I started trolling bucktails on a regular basis. I’ve never had any luck fishing any deeper than about 15′ I like fishing rivers mainly and they seem to be different than lake fish(tough to figure out) I have never really tried to run on a short leash. How do you guys like trolling baits like Bulldogs, jerk baits, and lipless cranks like Super rattle traps. I was also wondering if you had any tips for the avarage river fisherman. Thanks for all the tips

I would say get control of your rod and the fish before you put the boat in neutral. Even the slightest slack in the line and it’s gone.

YEP!
Keep that boat in gear and let the drag system do what it was designed too.

If you are going to troll, I suggest getting leaders that are designed for trolling. They are longer than casting ones and keep the weeds off your bait better. I use the same lures as above. I especially like Jakes. Don’t be afraid to run planer boards. Sometimes I will run a bait just 10-15 feet off the board. I think the board gets their attention. I like to run baits at lots of depths until I find a fish and then I will move to that depth. In Wisconsin you can have 3 lines per person. I usually run 5 at once when fishing two people. Two on boards. Two long lines and one in the prop wash. For me the prop wash bait is going to be a tiger tube and it gets hit more than any other.

cant help you out on river fishing for skies caught a few but was always casting at objects like jams, boulders ect.