Night trolling

[John Miller]

When I night troll I often wonder "should I fish my lures higher in water and if so how high off bottom or how far from surface.  Or, should I keep bottom contact like I do during the day."  Any thoughts ion this discussion are appreciated.

[John Pensyl]

I'm just a newbie figuring it out as I go. So far I've my limited results and some veteran advice have shown me a couple things. Cross current and up current passes are what's up, down current is too fast at night. Work structure hard, the big hooks are all near the humps and shelves, don't worry about covering a ton of water figure 8's on top of structures that hold fish with the boat will put the lure where the fish are. The bait shelves that hold fish when you jig, are LOADED at night. I've been told there is no need to crunch bottom at night, d raiders back 60 and ernies back 40 have been our only producers so far. Speeds 2.5-3.5. We've landed 5 at night and lost 2 more so far this year but really only have maybe 10hrs in altogether after dark. 2hrs per fish better than my normal ratio for sure.

[John Pensyl]

And the best advice I received from anyone actually came from Mark Arena while yelling boat to boat one morning. His advice.... "Talk to Tony"

[Scott McKee]

The popular theory on night fishing is to keep your lures higher in the water column than you would in the day, but, and there is always a "but" in musky fishing, my first years of night fishing I caught a lot of fish very near or crunching the bottom, a few of which were caught on Plows.  My boat caught a lot of fish and lost a lot of lures that year.  I've had nights were I've caught fish on a lure just off the bottom and my brother has caught them down only 5 to 10 feet in 25+ feet of water.  The best way to solve this nightly puzzle is to place lures at different depths.  This is easy on the American side with the multiple rod regulations.  On the Canadian side it's nice to a have a partner or two.  It seems like that third rod really helps and I remember more fish to the boat at night when the Three Stooges rode together on a regular basis.  When I'm by myself on the Canadian side I vary the depths of my lure until a fish hits.  I try to make my lures contact shallower structure adjacent to deeper water.  It sounds like this is how John Pensyl caught his 47".

Here's a couple of tips on colors, lures and line out:

Colors: Black Perch, Niagara Walleye, Night Shiner, Hot Perch, Black, all white.

Lures Depthraiders / Line out: 45 to 110.  Most of my fish have come with 90 out, but I fish 90 out a lot.

Believers: 45 to 65.

Perchbaits: I have had little success on Perchbaits at night because I usually want something with a rattle, but the Boys use to drop them 35 to 50 with success.

Plows: 20 to 30 on the deep eye. (I'm busting out the Plows soon.)

Dont's forget Jojo balls especially if you have a third angler.  Snap a Believer on the shallow eye with a 16 ounce Jojo attached to the leader and drop it back 15 to 30 right behind the boat.  Stagger lures with different amounts of line out with your outside rods.  One good spread of lures and line out is a Perchbait or Believer outside 50, the Believer or jointed Wiley off the Jojo down right behind the boat and a Depthraider back 80 or 90.  It sounds like you had a horrific tangle the last time you were out in the dark.  The spread mentioned can help eliminate this and allow you to turn faster.  I rarely get the spread destroying tangles any more, but i use to and I always cut and retie leaders as opposed to trying to untangle the mess.  Keep a few extra trolling leaders ready to go as well.  You'll be able to get back in the game quicker.  Make sure the lures you run at night track like bullets and keep them clean.

I generally stick to deeper water at night, but you could certainly catch fish trolling over the tops of weeds, just shorten your line out or go with more traditional shallow trolling lures like Wileys or a Pikie.

Don't forget smaller lures like L'il Ernies or Baby Depthraiders (8 ounce Jojo) or my little change up lure that I lost years ago, but accounted for a few fish including Yoshi's 47", the Mann's Stretch 25+ in chartreuse.

Here's a link to a night fishing article Tony and I wrote last year.  This is a link to an article I wrote on Jojo Balls.  Just scroll down until you see the articles.  I hope this helps.  Good luck and welcome to the dark side.

[Scott McKee]

"Talk to Tony" is always good advice concerning night or musky fishing in general.  Don't forget about "talk to Tom" as well.

[Scott McKee]

Mr. Page is my personal trolling guru and his advice is titanium.

[John Miller]

I almost busted out a jointed plow last night, but figured I'd stick with convention and troll mid sized baits.  IMO a musky will eat a 12 inch bait at any time from the start to the end of the season.  I never understood the warnings from some old salt stating that plows are a late november bait only.  I do however believe that the plow just might slow the bite of smaller fish (although I've seen 30 inchers take plows) and that could be a good thing if your main goal is Great Grandma Niagara. Of course my opinions on trolling aren't worth much.  Its more of an occassional change of pace for me rather than a favored technique.   Thanks for the advice.

[jojo wilczewski]

Good Day

My best night time lure  this year deep Toothy Perch, both ob and orange, back 44 which is about 15 down. Cross stream and up, never down.

ALA BALA BALA

jojoout

[Tony Scime]

My advise at night is to keep it simple. One rod per person is plenty. We do not get tangled, ever. If there is a third person he should use a deep diver on a short line over the middle of the boat. He'll probably catch more fish (I believe shortlining works, but is not necessary). I generally stay 2 or 3 feet off bottom, but occasionally we'll tick when we shallow to 18 feet or so. We've caught so many fish at night that I know you do not have to do anything too complex or fancy. I like jointed raiders out 80 feet at night. Legends, plows, and Toothy's will catch fish with less line out. You can catch fish occasionally bumping, but it's not my preferred method. I do not troll downstream because it takes you out of the preferred areas too fast. Don't like dealing with moss at night when you bump. You can use larger lures, but I prefer things which don't pull so hard. Easier on my joints for cleaning and such. You don't need big lures to catch big fish, especially at night. But they will work just as well.

[Stephen Glassic]

Thank you Scott.  I read the articles that you provided links to.  They are both very good and enlightening articles.  I am going to have to put Jojo balls in my arsenal.  After reading the article, I realized that it is a key component to success at fishing structure as well as making every lure ni by box more versatile.  I would like to suggest that a tab be created that highlights these and other key articles that have been published in the past.  Maybe there can even be a way that members can add additional content based on their experiences using each technique.

Scott McKee said:

The popular theory on night fishing is to keep your lures higher in the water column than you would in the day, but, and there is always a "but" in musky fishing, my first years of night fishing I caught a lot of fish very near or crunching the bottom, a few of which were caught on Plows.  My boat caught a lot of fish and lost a lot of lures that year.  I've had nights were I've caught fish on a lure just off the bottom and my brother has caught them down only 5 to 10 feet in 25+ feet of water.  The best way to solve this nightly puzzle is to place lures at different depths.  This is easy on the American side with the multiple rod regulations.  On the Canadian side it's nice to a have a partner or two.  It seems like that third rod really helps and I remember more fish to the boat at night when the Three Stooges rode together on a regular basis.  When I'm by myself on the Canadian side I vary the depths of my lure until a fish hits.  I try to make my lures contact shallower structure adjacent to deeper water.  It sounds like this is how John Pensyl caught his 47".

Here's a couple of tips on colors, lures and line out:

Colors: Black Perch, Niagara Walleye, Night Shiner, Hot Perch, Black, all white.

Lures Depthraiders / Line out: 45 to 110.  Most of my fish have come with 90 out, but I fish 90 out a lot.

Believers: 45 to 65.

Perchbaits: I have had little success on Perchbaits at night because I usually want something with a rattle, but the Boys use to drop them 35 to 50 with success.

Plows: 20 to 30 on the deep eye. (I'm busting out the Plows soon.)

Dont's forget Jojo balls especially if you have a third angler.  Snap a Believer on the shallow eye with a 16 ounce Jojo attached to the leader and drop it back 15 to 30 right behind the boat.  Stagger lures with different amounts of line out with your outside rods.  One good spread of lures and line out is a Perchbait or Believer outside 50, the Believer or jointed Wiley off the Jojo down right behind the boat and a Depthraider back 80 or 90.  It sounds like you had a horrific tangle the last time you were out in the dark.  The spread mentioned can help eliminate this and allow you to turn faster.  I rarely get the spread destroying tangles any more, but i use to and I always cut and retie leaders as opposed to trying to untangle the mess.  Keep a few extra trolling leaders ready to go as well.  You'll be able to get back in the game quicker.  Make sure the lures you run at night track like bullets and keep them clean.

I generally stick to deeper water at night, but you could certainly catch fish trolling over the tops of weeds, just shorten your line out or go with more traditional shallow trolling lures like Wileys or a Pikie.

Don't forget smaller lures like L'il Ernies or Baby Depthraiders (8 ounce Jojo) or my little change up lure that I lost years ago, but accounted for a few fish including Yoshi's 47", the Mann's Stretch 25+ in chartreuse.

Here's a link to a night fishing article Tony and I wrote last year.  This is a link to an article I wrote on Jojo Balls.  Just scroll down until you see the articles.  I hope this helps.  Good luck and welcome to the dark side.

[Scott McKee]

Almost every article ever written since the inception of the club may be found in the Archive sub-tab of C&R Newsletters.  You just have to find them.  I would have to print each article in  PDF format (some of which are continued on pages later in that issue (pain)), create the tab (painless), and add the file (easy).  This might be a better project for the off-season, but it is a very good idea.

[John Miller]

We were holding our rods when we ran into trouble.  To specify the tangle was my line getting into the prop.  I took a sharp turn, but I don't think it was too sharp, I've taken alot sharper turns in the lake, and well.... at least I was able to undo the mess without mishap.  Tony I know you hold your rods any suggestions to prevent this in the river?  We were on the troll down stream when it happended.  We also popped a fish going down stream. 

[Scott McKee]

You are one up on me John.  I've never connected heading downstream in the dark.  Try longer trolling rods on the outside.  The Daiwa 10'6" Heartland downrigger rods are great outside rods and they are pretty cheap.  If your rod is outside on a turn, lift the tip high and then no matter how sharp the turn your line should avoid your prop.