Trolling Fishing

Trolling fishing can be so effective that many competitions ban it. Trolling Fishing is nothing to do with catching ugly brutish creatures which hide under bridges in fairy tales. Rather, it is the method of fishing which involves actively using a boat to move a fishing lure through the water. The engone of the boat is used to add momentum and the bait or lure is "trolled" along behind, draggin it through the water at anything from 25 feet to 100 yards depending on the type of fish being targetted. Easily spooked species require a longer line, while less nervous fish can be trolled for using a shorter line. While trolling fishing you need to remember that you are targetting a particular fish species and adjust your lure choice and line length accordingly. The speed of the boat is also important. When using spinners or diving plugs you want the boat to keep the lure moving (and keep the gate of your reel closed once the line is out to the chosen distance. While using live bait it is preferred to actually let the bait do the swimming, while you move the boat away and keep the reel gate open to avoid drag - dragging a live bait through the water is the quickest way to start dead bait fishing!

Above, we have classed trolling fishing as being purely boat based. However, the word is also used to mean dragging ("trolling") any form of lure / bait through the water in the hope of attracting the fish. When done from the shore, or a boat which is not under power at the time, it is more commonly called spinning, spinner or lure fishing. However dictionary definitions tend to go with the "boat under power" definition so we will stick with that and leave spin fishing for another day and page.

Oddly enough, a spinning reel does make an ideal trolling real. Troling's very nature relies on a variable clutch - a fixed reel will not give the sensitivity required and you will lose the catch (and possibly half the bait fish) the first time your bait is investigated. Open, clutched spinning reels are ideal for this as the variable clutches give sensitivity adjustment to allow for the difference between live bait fish, agitated live bait fish (when it senses your target catch in the water nearby) and the actual catch - which you want to get a good grip on your hooks as you strike them in. However - please be aware that when trolling for big-game fish you will need to use dedicated equipment. Using spinning equipment only works for fish which you could catch using that equipment normally. As with all things angling related, you can adapt equipment to work in areas close in nature to that for which they were designed, but if you try trolling fishing for 150 pound plus marlin using 2 pound monofilament designed for your local perch pond, you are going to come unstuck the first time you try to cast out the business end of the line, never mind hook into a fish!