From my point of view, this is one of the most effective techniques for catching a wide variety of fish, because it is it that allows me to fish in diverse, sometimes very dissimilar conditions.

Using structural trolling, I more than successfully caught salmon at a depth of three hundred feet and pike at a depth not exceeding three feet ...

The fishing results were consistently good and predictable, no matter where I appeared - in the icy waters of Lake Superior or in the warm Kentucky Lake.

 I caught it even in the Gulf of Mexico - and - a mile from the coast, and even there I did not change my "signature" technique. Over the years of experiments, I have come to the conclusion that "structural trolling" is an effective method for catching trophy masking on lakes.

 What is the method of "structural trolling".

 To begin with, let's define the very concept of "structural trolling." Since it is not in the Webster's Dictionary, I will take on the difficulty of formulating the definition myself.

 I would say that "structural" trolling is "fishing from a moving boat with hook gear, in which the position of the bait in most of the time is strictly predetermined and tied to specific physical structures under water, near which the fish tend to concentrate."

 If you do not like my definition, you can give yours. In principle, what else would you like to hear from a scientist - a specialist in rockets? Be that as it may, the key word in this definition is “structure”.

 It is important that you understand that in this case we are not talking exclusively about local relief decreases (pits), eyebrows, underwater grass curtains, boulders and flooded trees. When I say “structural elements”, I mean everything that can attract fish to some section or layer of a reservoir.

 As such structural elements, I even consider temporary phenomena, such as a temperature drop, as well as a noticeable difference in the color of two miscible streams of water, for example, in the area where it flows into a large small river. Everything that can attract fish for at least a long time, I see as a "structural element".

 Thus, the basis of "structural trolling" is the allocation of any object or physical phenomenon, relative to which the fish are currently concentrated, followed by a detailed detailed search of this place by the trolling method.

 Trolling, therefore, is not an end in itself, but only a quality means of accomplishing a goal. Why did I choose trolling? Because this type of fishing allows you to best control the position of the bait, hold it for a long time when posting at a given horizon, and catch a selected area arbitrarily in detail.

Introduction to the topic

 As I understand it, in order to catch a really large fish, you first need to decide on what and whom we will catch. You can, of course, rely on luck, "blindly" combing the reservoir with all the promising, from your point of view, baits, but I do it differently.

 In addition, you should determine the presence of the object of desire, that is, fish. In this case, you need to mentally answer yourself three questions: “where is the fish,” “what does it want,” and “how should it be presented.”

 In the framework of this short article, I intend to answer the first and third questions from the number presented.

 The first thing I do when arriving at any body of water is to carry out a targeted search for promising fishing spots and the fish itself. I don’t unwind gear and do not frantically choose the bait, but methodically go through the areas of interest to me under the motor, exploring the depths with the help of an echo sounder, paired with a GPS navigator, helping me to plot the course and notice the most promising points for future fishing.

 I "hammer" all the places of interest to me into the navigator. In the event that the echo sounder finds a really interesting place - both in terms of topography and water temperature, or its color, and the accumulation of really large fish, I already begin its methodical fishing.

 A signal to start fishing can be the detection of a sufficiently large local accumulation of fodder fish, which must necessarily attract the attention of a predator, and not one.

 Having decided on the place of fishing, you should proceed to the next point - the choice of bait. The main thing that interests me at this stage is its working depth and color. Catching a large fish somewhere, or noticing it on an echo sounder, I do not limit myself to geographical coordinates, making a note about the place where she was caught in the GPS navigator, but always indicate the depth at which this fish was kept.

Knowing the "correct" depths and the ability to determine them always correlates with the success of fishing. For example, if in this particular place a large pike or maskinong usually bites at a depth of sixteen feet, then preference should be given to baits and methods of their delivery, allowing you to catch sixteen-foot depths and adjacent ones - both shallower and deeper.

 Often, the color of the water (affecting the choice of color of the bait) and the presence of underwater grass are important. In a word, look for places of interest to the fish and the fish itself, determine the depth of the wiring, select the bait and the method of its wiring!

 On the most fortunate days for me, fishing on Lake St. Clair, I caught six pikes per trip - despite the fact that the length of each "valid" mask was not less than 48 inches!

 Five out of seven of my captured masking were caught using the "structural" trolling. In all cases, the fishing scenario was the same - to find the "structural" elements that the fish holds - and catch it!

Boat heading control

 If you are trolling and try to adhere to the selected depth, then, therefore, you have an echo sounder. Regarding this wonderful device, I have a number of refinements, taking into account which you can significantly improve your catches.

 It would be nice, of course, to sell you this exclusive information, but - so be it!

 In order to make the information more visual, I will tell you the story of the capture of my first major masking. In those far dark days I still did not have a large decent boat that would allow fishing in such vast water areas, which is why I had to "train" for pike fishing in small "internal" lakes.

 I had a 12-foot john boat, from which I caught on an ordinary “track”, using both long side fishing rods and short rods - with downriggers.

 Jonbot was equipped with a low-powered gasoline powered aft engine and an electric one at the bow. The fishing scenario was to catch the coastline of small lakes.

 One day I had a great idea - "but what if I deviate from the usual route and turn towards the underwater wilds formed by algae? Observations of the underwater world with an echo sounder showed that there are much more fish here, but sadly, I saw that fish and those interesting places that you walked or walked over. Thus, the situation was reminiscent of driving a car forward in the rear-view mirrors. It’s funny, but it’s a fact. my interesting you already have watched as the fish passed over the head!

 In my case, the sensor was installed just like that - on the transom, which should have been fixed. I purchased another sensor and mounted it on an electric motor mounted on the nose of the Johnbot. Everything has become much more interesting!

 It became even more interesting when I thought of tilting the sensor slightly so that it "looked" a little forward. Thus, I got a forward looking sonar, which is usually equipped with only serious vessels!

 The result was not long in coming. Moving at low speed, I could see everything that was happening in front of the boat and direct it to where it was needed. Pike in my catches has noticeably increased.

 Later, I bought a larger boat and started fishing on Elk Lake, where, among the curtains of underwater grass, occasionally there were medium-sized masking people, which I counted on.

 An electric trolling motor (Slimetime I), controlled by feet, was also mounted on the bow of the new boat, and I installed an echo sounder sensor on it, orienting it forward and down.

 Now I had a rather large boat, equipped with a "forward looking" echo sounder - that is, what was required. Masking began to come across not periodically, but regularly.

 Once I was fishing on a damn cold day, and besides - the full moon. According to the plan, I was supposed to fish at night - from two to four after midnight, because according to the fishing calendar at that time the greatest activity of the fish was planned, besides it was very light.

 I, as usual, caught the coastline, not forgetting the numerous clumps of grass. After some time, the echo sounder, "ahead of the events", since the sensor was oriented forward, found among a continuous thicket of grass a small piece of free water the size of no more than a room, where I drove the boat with the bait, driven by a downrigger.

 A powerful bite followed almost immediately, and the maskinong flashed under the bottom of my boat. This was my first thirty pound mask! However, the main joy was not even the capture of this large fish, but that I understood the system itself.

 Thus, the ability to accurately control the boat, consistent with the readings of a forward-looking echo sounder, often turns out to be a "weapon of victory" when fishing by trolling.

Tackle

 The next boat that I purchased and operate now is Lund. This is a beautiful boat, great for fishing masking in large open areas.

 Just like on my previous boats, I installed a forward-looking, now wide-angle sensor, mounting it, as in previous times on a bow electric motor. I limited the working angle of the sensor to 15 degrees using a rubber nozzle.

 This is exactly the search angle that is optimal when fishing on Lake St. Clair - a unique body of water in which there are plenty of pits and pebbles and flooded trees, and boulders and grass curtains - in a word of all those elements that are so necessary for "structural" trolling .

 The most important thing is that quite a lot of really large mascinongs are found in this pond! Now about the gear. Considering that structural trolling involves aiming around many interesting sites, the long vacation of the bait, at which it “cuts corners” with every maneuver of the boat, is completely unacceptable here. For such fishing, I use only downriggers, when using which the minimum bait leave for a cargo cable is only six feet and special fishing rods tilted towards the water, called “DOWNRODS” (literally - “fishing rod down.” I don’t know the Russian analogy, therefore, further I will give transliteration - approx. translator).

 When using Downrod, bait leave is between 10-15 feet. The use of downriggers and downrods allows you to accurately catch all the interesting areas due to the maneuvers of the boat.

 In the above illustration, you can see how the baits actually are located when two downriggers and two downrods are used in case of catching a coastal dump. Keep in mind that with a sharp change in course, lures can run against each other and get mixed up.

 In addition, during sharp turns, the “internal” lures sail more slowly than the “external” ones, which, however, is not bad, since a change in the tempo of the wiring often has a very positive effect on the performance of the system as a whole. I prefer to catch lakes, moving along the coastline clockwise. You can, of course, make a set, but it’s more convenient for me.

 Feel free to go through your favorite places several times - often I make two, or even three, calls in almost the same place and, often this brings the result in the form of a large masking irritated by the bait. Almost always, the best results can be obtained by conducting the bait in the immediate vicinity of the bottom or bottom structures of the reservoir.

 In some cases, a thermocline can have a very interesting effect on nibble, the essence of which is reduced to a sharp “stratification” of water by temperature due to uneven heating and mixing of attached and surface water words. Successful fishing in this case can only be ensured by analyzing the location of the fish with the help of an echo sounder, followed by the fishing of interesting zones.

 The only thing that can bore you with "structural trolling" is the need to constantly peer into the sonar screen in order to identify promising places and adequately control the boat. After a while, the “eye-eating” screen of the echo sounder, the eyes begin to get tired and it takes time to recover.

Trolling gliders

 There are situations when, with "structural trolling," the use of trolling gliders is justified and effective. In the vast majority of cases, this concerns the fishing of shallow water bodies, in which the bait in the back of the boat scares the fish, which does not happen if the bait is away from the boat.

 This technique gives good results in shallow water overgrown with grass, as well as when catching the edge of aquatic vegetation, when the boat is at a distance, and the glider with the bait towed by it is directly next to the grass itself.

 In this case, I also do not recommend making a big bait vacation - for better maneuverability.

 The second situation when the use of gliders is very rational is fishing in large bodies of water with a rather uniform relief of the coastal dump, when the latter does not require significant maneuvering to catch and can move almost in a straight line. In this case, the use of gliders allows you to increase the "spread" of gear, and hence the fishing area.

 At the end of the article, I would like to say that the key to success will be your attention and devotion to the chosen (not necessarily this) fishing strategy.

 Undoubtedly, the right choice of bait is no less important - both its type and size and color.

Source: www.tatfish.com