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When your boat is moving along and you drop some fishing lines in the water behind you, that’s called trolling. It’s a great way to catch fish! People have been catching fish like this for a super long time. Let’s talk about how trolling works and why it’s so good for catching fish.
Cruising Along and Dragging Bait
Trolling means you’re slowly moving your boat and dragging bait or lures behind you. This makes it look like little fish swimming along, so big fish come up and eat them! Trolling lets you cover a lot more water to find where the fish are biting. You just cruise along and the bait does all the work to attract fish.
The Native Americans were trolling in their canoes and boats way before fancy fishing gear. They would hook bait on lines and drag them behind their canoes. This helped them catch fish while still traveling to their camps. Smart!
Now we have downriggers and planer boards and all kinds of stuff to help us troll better. But it’s the same idea – move along and pull bait to catch fish. Trolling works great whether you’re in a fancy big boat or just a simple canoe.
Getting the Speed Right
How fast or slow you troll matters. Different fish like different speeds. Some fish are fast and some are slower swimmers. You’ve got to troll the speed they like so they’ll bite your bait. Slow for some fish, faster for others.
The Native Americans paid attention to what speeds worked best for the fish they were trying to catch. They knew how the fish behaved and what speeds they’d like based on the conditions. We’ve got cool fish finders and charts now to help us know good trolling speeds. But the Native Americans got it done without any electronics!
Getting Deep with Downriggers
If you want your lure or bait to go deep down where the fish are, downriggers do the job. They take your line down to whatever depth you want it. Much better than just hoping your bait sinks down far enough.
Downriggers let you put lines exactly where the fish are feeding. You can troll baits at different depths to figure out where the fish are biting. They are super useful for trolling over deep water. The Native Americans sure would’ve loved to have downriggers!
Spreading Out with Planer Boards
Another trolling game changer is planer boards. They let you spread your lines way out so they don’t get tangled up. More lines and baits in the water catch more fish!
Planer boards are great for targeting fish relating to structure or cover. They also help slow trolling for walleye where you don’t want to go too fast. More lines and fewer tangles are awesome!
The Native Americans had to be really careful not to get their lines crossed. Planer boards make trolling a breeze.
Tricking Fish with Lures
When trolling, you’ve got to use lures and bait fish want to eat. Native Americans made their own lures from bones, feathers, shells, and things like that to copy real fish. Now we’ve got all kinds of crazy realistic lures made from plastic, rubber, metal, and more.
The right lure makes a big difference in what fish you’ll catch. Using lures that look like the baitfish in that area is key. Keep trying different lures until you get bites to see what they want that day. Whether old-school carved lures or new fancy ones, the right bait is super important for successful trolling.
Everybody’s Doing It!
Trolling is popular for all kinds of fishing – from fun fishing with friends to big commercial boats catching tons of fish. It works!
For fun fishing, trolling allows you to cover a lot of water to find schools of fish like tuna, salmon, or marlin offshore. You can also catch lake fish like trout, walleye, and bass by trolling. It’s a blast because you never know what you’ll hook next when dragging lures.
Commercial fishing boats use giant trolling setups with lots of lines and lures to catch tons of fish. They’re looking for volume more than sport. Either way, trolling catches fish!
What Trolling Teaches You
Here’s a cool thing about trolling: You can learn where fish are hanging out based on the speed you’re trolling. Fish swim at certain speeds, so trolling at those speeds means you’re putting your lure right where they are.
If the fish are deep, you’ll have to troll slower. If they’re high up, troll faster to reach them. Paying attention to what speeds are working tells you where the fish are. The Native Americans got really good at figuring out fish spots this way.
Trolling Works Almost Anywhere
Another great thing about trolling is that it works to catch so many types of fish – both shallow and deep water fish. Fish that roam open water and fish that hang by structures can all be caught trolling.
Wherever fish gather together to feed, like salmon runs, trolling those areas catches fish. Trolling over reefs and weed edges gets bottom fish excited too. If there’s fish there, trolling will help you get bit!
Modern Tech Makes It Even Better
Today we’ve got awesome electronics on our boats that make trolling so much more effective. Fish finders, underwater cameras, GPS trolling tracks and more take the guesswork out.
You can see on screen where the fish are and troll right over them. GPS helps you record good trolling paths so you can do them over and over. Tech gadgets are cool but it still comes down to making a tasty-looking lure that drives fish crazy!
Trolling Was Essential for Natives
Trolling was so important for Native American tribes. It let them catch fish feeding in open water as the fish moved around. Salmon, halibut, cod, and more – they caught it all trolling!
Tribes like the Yupik on the Yukon River used long lines with lures to nail salmon running upstream. The Tlingit people fished the salmon-rich waters of Alaska by trolling. And the Makah tribe built huge canoes to troll way offshore. Trolling fed entire communities!
Conclusion:
As you can see, trolling has been an amazing fishing method for centuries. It started with Native Americans and continues to help anglers catch fish today. Moving around and pulling lures is just an awesome way to find feeding fish.
Hope you enjoyed learning more about the history of trolling and how effective it is on the water. Let us know if you have any other questions!
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