Up river or downriver?

I was just curious… do you river fisherman prefer to troll with the current or against? When trolling with the current,do you have to slow your drift? I hate to keep asking questions but I just wondered what the majority of trollers do.Oh yea,I don’t mind sharing information,its just that most of my experience comes from fishing reservoirs and lakes ..so if I can help just give me a shout.

texeye,

Somedays going up current is better other days going down current is the way to go, just expeiriment and see what works better. Most of the time trolling up steam is more productive for me anyway, espeacialy in the colder water periods when slow is the key, it will allow to give the bait a good action and keep it in the strike zone longer!

Hope this helps and if you have more ? let us know Dustin

My experience has been the same as Dustin’s. Whatever the factor, upstream has produced better results a majority of the time. I’ve done the crank up, jig down routine and that has produced well for me.

As for asking questions, please……………ask more! It’s all of these questions being asked that I learn from too. I figure, mentally challenged as I am, that I might not have ever come up with the question let alone the answer, so it helps TREMENDOUSLY!!!

I do better trolling upstream-but the flow seems to make a bit of a difference. Most of my fishing is in pretty strong current. I think that in this environment the fish have longer to look at and strike a bait when going upstream. If I fished these areas going with the current, the fish would only have a split second to hit a bait, or would need to turn against the current and chase it-not likely.

On the other hand, fishing in LOTW out of the Rainy River in the summer where there is low to medium current in the lake itself, we quit trolling against the current because we couldnt get a fish to bite. At the same time we would nail them on the drift.

So try both, see what works, it definately makes a huge difference.

I prefer to troll across the current whenever it is possible. Low water as it is right now is perfect for doing so. Typically a walleye or sauger will stage facing into the current. The fish has a nano second to react to a bait being pulled down stream. It has a millesecond to hit a bait going up stream. It has a whole second when a bait is pulled cross ways, and it can see it with both eyes & lateral lines for better “Zoning” on the bait. Plus, pulling crossways to the current lets you pull on and off shallow to deep structure, and back again. It also lets your lure float away from your boat, down current. Try doing this in front of wingies. It is deadly!

Tuck

awwwwww geeeeez Tuck! you stole my thunder! cept I was going to say I never could decide on up or down.. so I compromised and went with CROSS!!!

Thanks for some very informative answers. Maybe one more wouldn’t hurt… Just how long are these wing dams on average and how wide?

Howdy thar Tex!

Yep, I am Dave “Hoggie” Hoggard, a native Texan …. born in Fort Worth (native Texans will tell you everytime, just where they was born). I have been up here for 20+years and have enjoyed every fishing minute of it! More water in Minnesota than there is dirt! Folks here are real friendly too, and will tell you just where to go, …..when you pull right up to them while they are fishing… and tell them you are lost and out of gas from driving round in circles all day, looking for that public access… in a lake full if a zillion islands that all look the same.

I’ll tell you about wing dams, but first I want to tell you why they call this God’s country…. oh yea, this is God’s country…

God, it’s cold, mostly! So cold, up here in the winter that they have to put burning smudge-pots in the hen houses to keep the chickens from freezing… them flames freeze, and those chickens peck at them frozen flames trying to stay warm… and lay hard boiled eggs! God, that’s cold. Nope, for us Texans, nope, the cold….nope, that is not it at all, it is…. God, there ain’t no snakes! I have walked the shorelines of hundreds of miles of streams, rivers, and lakes here in Minnesota. Waded anywhere it was wet, and only seen one snake! Other than them little grass snakes (that are really just big worms with a slit in one end for puttin in your bass hooks). That one I saw, was in the Zunmbrota River at Mantorville, and that one just about made me walk on water! Wet my waders on the inside in two feet of water! But, what a blessing to live in a place where you can go from here to there…. anywhere, and not to have to be looking at the ground every other step! It takes a lot less time to go some where too, when you aren’t havein to stop to kill a snake every ten minutes. Great to be able to slip up on the river bank and not have a big snake falling out of some tree into your boat! I love it here! Texas is wearing boots in the boat…. to keep from getting snake ate, and man… I like fishing in sandals!

Ok pardner, wing dams…. you gotta read the river surface. Look for the disturbance on the water and know that the tiny ripples are just past the area where the water actually passes over the rocks that make the dam. The rock is then up-stream a few feet from them ripples. When you are blasting up, or down the river be looking way ahead for the signature of the slight turbulance of broken water at the surface and swing your boat way, way, way, to the outside of it. This way you don’t spook the fish with the sound of your hull smacking them rocks! Once you get up on one of those wing dams, close in clear water, you’ll see why you do not want to hit one,,, they don’t give an inch! I hit my first (and last one) first year I got to Minnesota, in a 14 ft. boat with a 20 hp. wide open….all of a sudden I was in the front of the boat instead of the back, and I was a staring at the rivits in the floor of my Alumacraft! Boy, I sure got some real “looks” from the yankee-fishermen that was laughing so hard, when I pulled that one. It’ll sure wake you up in the early morning on a kinda foggy day! So, take it easy out thar buddy, till you are an efficent river reader. And stay out of in front of those big barges, they make real wide turns and don’t stop worth a dang! LOL

Hoggie Hoggard

Awwww, come on RiverEyes, We all know you are full of thunder!!!!

LOL

Tuck

Hmmmm………………..Thundereyes??? Hmmmmmm…………

Hey Tuck, this cross current trolling………….do have some spots on the Croix that work well with this? I’ve only trolled cross current because I was heading to the opposite shoreline, never thought of it as another possibility.

Kid… You fish the croix often??? If so north or south of hudson. I do a lot of fishing between stillwater and hudson..

I stick to the same zone as you for the most part, but I plan on learning some of the southern portion in the future.

There was a post earlier that said you trolled in circles! You dizzy yet? See ya Sat.