South river trolling

[DOGFISH]

Well, I thought the cooler weather might have the trolling bite start in the South River. I went out for a few hours Sunday, late afternoon. Not much to speak of, one small rockfish. I caught that in the first five minutes. I was trolling a small nickel plated daredevel for bluefish when that one hit. This was on the way out to deeper water where I normally start trolling. With all the talk of bluefish, I thought I would pull a spoon. Without much luck with that I went to just trolling crankbaits.

I stopped at the channel markers and tossed some blood worms under those and caught few large white perch. There are normally rock holding with the other fish under those markers. However, it was quite hot this summer. Maybe it is going to take a bit longer for the water to cool down. The water was about 75 degrees in the river Sunday. Last year at this time I was catching 12 to 15 rock per trip. A few were small, but most were keeper sized.

There were also alot of boats out Sunday. That also tends to put the fish down. The mouth of the South River can be quite busy on the weekend. I generally fish that area during the week. Just before dark even the bait fish came up to the surface, which had not been the case earlier in the day.

Maybe next time. I might put a second battery on the kayak and make a run for the lighthouse. That will give me good run time for that trip. I'll try trolling the channel edge and even some live line fishing around the lighthouse.

[mmanolis2001]

Great report.

What crank baits do you usually troll?

With trolling season approaching i have a sever lack of knowledge on this subject. I have some parachute rigs 1oz and 2oz and some tandem bucktail rigs. I have no idea how to determine how deep they are running.

My plan was to let out 100ft of line and paddle around in 20 ft of water. Adjust the speed until i drag bottom. From there i think i could keep at the same speed and adjust the amount of line out to raise or lower the depth of the bucktails. Am i on the right track with this?

There is so much more for me to learn

[DOGFISH]

Keep in mind I am using an electric motor. If I were paddling I would probably use bucktails. The paddle action is a natural for bucktails. When bucktail trolling, in the fall, I use from 1/2 to 2 oz bucktails depending on where I am trolling. In the mouth of the South River, I generally use 1/2 to 3/4oz, with rubber paddle tails added for action. Then use enough weight to get it down near bottom. The bottom bounce method of depth setting works just fine. Let line out till, while moving at the speed you are going to be trolling, when you bounce bottom, set the reel. Remember, if your paddling you can let the speed vary by how you paddle. That way you can let the bucktail rise and fall. Once you find what the fish are looking for, repeat that speed and action. Conditions will change from day to day, season to season, as I am finding out this season. My favorite colors are white and yellow, with some variations.

Trolling, I like Rapala type crankbaits. In the spring I use the larger saltwater type 15, 20 and 30. I do have some yozuri, bombers, manns and lucky type crankbaits. For lipless cranks, I like the strike king, red eye shad. During the fall, I use shad raps, X-raps, lucky craft, yozuri and some others. I find the best color is something resembling baby menhaden, and the Rapala color, I believe it is called silver ghost. It is white and somwhat see through. I use believe the number, RSh-8 size. That number may not be exactly correct. It is the type with a large lip, 8 to 15 feet depth. Remember that is mostly the water I troll, up to 20 feet deep, in the fall. I like keepting the crankbaits deep. Even when the fish are breaking, there are fish, generally the larger ones down deep. I will often run a mid depth crank also. I generally troll two rods. That may be a bit much if you paddle.

I also troll the crankbait at about 3 mph. That tends to be most popular with the fish.

Hope I answered your questions; Good Luck.