re: Weekend Results Thread: Trotline Edition

39 white perch, 2 bass, 3 catfish. Last two weeks the perch have been on the bank, but most had pulled back into cover about 5-6' deep on Saturday. Black/blue hair jigs - can't beat that thump.
Had a great time with my Dad.

Just posted this in the Toledo thread, so I'll copy it over here...

Fished Friday and Sat. Only got hit by one 15 minute shower on Friday. No lighting, so we kept fishing. Caught my biggest of the trip during the rain. I guess it was about a 3 pounder. Caught it on a senko.



My buddy's best was about 4. Caught it on a spinner bait.



All total, we caught 10 on Friday and 14 on Saturday.

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Were are you fishing?

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A private 38 acre borrow pit close to Alex. Get to go occasionally and have worked on them a few times this year.

Full moon in March and I did not fish

Second weekend in a row

Caught 25 fish on the best lake in Louisiana.... Caddo

Bossier looking like Wilson on Home Improvement...

This will be very long so I'll apologize in advance.

I can't remember the poundage of the lines, but I can tell you a round about how big they are.

The main line is slightly larger than regular old nylon string that you would find at any hardware store. My lines are braided lines for the main line. The drop lines are a good bit smaller. Hooks are #4. Not 4/0, mind you. #4. I've caught many fish in the 40-50 pound range on them. Drop lines are about 5-6 inches long.

Lines are made up this way...and I'll just tell you the setup for one 333 hook line. You would multiply for multiple lines.

30' or so tag line with small float attached to end. Other end tied to main line. Hooks are every 6 feet or so...arms length reach....drop lines can be tied to main line or more normally, it's tied and then a nock (I just call it a nock cause it's similar to bow string nocks) on each side of drop line. Other end of main line has same tag line with float. If running multiple lines, tag line is removed and small dowel is in place to facilitate tying to other lines.

Line is made and just piled in bucket in order, if that makes sense. Hooks are not hung on bucket. Usually buckets are around 2-3 gallon galvanized. Basically look like a small round washtub. Buckets have a metal ring on top...basically a piece of thin flat metal, 3" or so tall, bolted to top of bucket. When baiting, you start at certain part of bucket (usually the seam of the ring), and hang a hook. Pull line and place in bottom. Bait another hook, hang it touching other hook. Continue until all hooks are baited. You'll have 333 hooks lined up per bucket with main line in bottom. Float will be last thing in the bucket.

You'll need a "holder" to place bucket in on back of boat to help in putting lines out. Ideally, your using a tiller handle bateau so you can run the motor and put the line out. You start by pulling out tag line with float. Hook heavy weight (I always use two size weights, railroad spikes as light and railroad J hooks as heavy) at start of main line. Bucket should be turned so first hook out is roughly pointing straight back or slightly past straight back (you don't want hooks to pull against other hooks as they flip off the bucket). When you drop heavy weight while driving, hooks will start flipping off bucket. Every 20 hooks or so, you drop a small weight. Every 50-60 hooks, drop a heavy weight. I always drop a heavy weight at every "corner". I zigzag my lines so they aren't just one long straight line. I like to vary depths with a zigzag because you never know from night to night what depth they will be at exactly, or what depth you are at running around in a bateau. Repeat the above steps, turning your bucket every 30-40 hooks so you're not pulling from the front of the bucket as the hooks flip off. Drop a heavy weight at end of main line at start of next tag line and float.

Couple points of note...you can not put these lines where there is lots of trash on the bottom. You will run into all kinds of trouble with hang ups. You want to put these lines out at around midnight and pick them up at first light. During the winter and colder water, you'll have tons of twist offs if you leave them much longer. During warmer water, they will start to die on the line after a couple hours, so you need to get to them before they go bad. If you run them in the daylight, you'll run into trouble with bream and curious fishermen. Both of which will each havoc on a line. When you pick up the line, you simply pile it all into a bucket. Do not hang the hooks. It will dry you nuts. When you bait back, just be sure not to pull the line up if a hook is caught. Simply reach down and grab the hook and unhook it. You'll have 30-40 hooks ups on a 333 hook line. Note that the hook just gets caught, and not tangled. Never had a line tangled unless I had a newb helping and he tried pulling main line when baiting when a hook was caught.

I'm sure I've left stuff out. Ask away if you've made it this far as still have questions. Lol. Oh yeah...takes about an hour-1.5 hours to bait a line. 30-45 minutes to put it out. 2 hours or so to raise it. Bait of choice...one small, regular old grass shrimp per hook. Hooked in back, just behind head, and run through to the tail. Shrimp will hang on bucket almost standing straight up with heads facing up. This is basically just commercial fishermans lines. I know guys who run lines like this 6 days a week. I used to way back in the day.

LSU baseball for me

I just can't picture doing this without creating an enormous tangle. I hear ya. And I believe ya. I'm just having a hard time getting my mind around it.