Had great time with my wife today in the boat! (We were fishing now guys so clean up those thoughts!)She had a rare weekend off and we hit the IC area to troll for perch which is quickly becoming a "trolling for everything" experience. Caught 11 decent cats (all Arkansas up to just shy of 10 pounds caught over deeper water fishing 13-15 feet deep))- 3 nice large mouth bass (all 3 were in the 3 pound class) caught on 14 foot breaklines in the first cove above the big island at the mouth of the cove, 8 white bass (7 of which were from 1 1/4 to jsut over 1 1/2 pounds) caught 14-15 feet down in 24 feet of water at the begging of the dog leg hump, 1 striper and yes, some white perch also (no braggers this weekwend to compare with last weekend.
The highlights were catching a 3 pound LMB and a striper at the same time, catching 2 -3 lb. LMB at once, and another double catch of two nice white bass on the same rig together. Everything was caught on silver or chartreuse spoonplugs (200 series) dragging down 1/4 oz. chartreuse or yellow roostertails on 40 lb. test powerpro kevlar.
You "family guys" really ought to learn to troll, it's a great way to "ruin" a kid (or your wife) and give them a really great day to remember without costing a ton. I trolled until 2pm Saturday and only burned 2.1 gallons of gas and had a ball for the money spent.

Nice work there. I have managed to go once last week and no luck. Went late so maybe that was no good.

Pulling white model A's and white RT's aroung the Goat Island area. Marked fish around the depth I was trolling but no takers....

Is this normally a good thing to do early in the day?

Maybe next time.

Great Post DRY2!! Thanks for sharing this info. I just learned to troll and loved it!

I have caught fish this way from early morning until 4PM (I don't fish later than this and actually usually leave around 2 PM because it's hot this time of year - I don't tollerate the heat as well as i used to (asthma, a back that I got screwed up while in the service that several hours driving down / trolling / driving home / bending over to fillet all them fish agrivates) but i don't think the afternoon would be bad unless it was real late (low light). The fish "may" move a little shallower in the late afternoon and you'd deffinately have a better chance of seeing surfacing fish later in the day (equal to or better than sunrise). The colors may be the bad thing here with you. For an example: Wednesday a week ago - chartreuse - couldn't be beat! ... 2 days later - Fishdoc and I were trolling - he was using plain old yellow - and was out catching me about 5 to 3 or maybe even worse untill I switched over to Yellow also. The rest of the day I stayed pretty much in step with him (if being in step with him is ever possible). If you like the type lures you were pulling - try a "firetiger" pattern, or go alittle crazy and try a mostly chartreuse / yellow / or even hot red. Controlling your depth is a BIG DEAL and also your speed. I use a Garmin (swear by them) GPS and normally troll between 2.5 - 2.8 MPH. much slower (a few tenths) or faster (by the same) will deffinately change your success rate! I have seldom had a lot of luck above 3 mph, unless I was triggering a strike by a LMB/Cat/Striper by hitting 5mph as quick as I could then coasting down. If I can help you any more, or get you even more confused - just holler. If I can't help ya - I won't hurt cha'.

I have a ten year old daughter that I just got hooked on fishing. I mostly striper fish (live Bait)and she has caught one about 7 or 8 lbs. I would love to take her and try some of this trolling technices. I love to catch white bass and white perch but have never really got on them good here. When you use the spoonplug and rooster tail, how do you rig it? Thanks for any help.....Steve

if you are trying for stripers .....what speed do you troll ??????????

Hardroller, You tie a three way swivel to the main line. On one side tie about two feet of line with quick release to the spoonplug or other lure that controls depth. Tie onto remaining eye two feet of line with a barrell swivel onto end of that line. Then tie on two more feet of line with quick connect that you clip rooster tail on. Barrell swivel is important as to keep line from twisting as it's being pulled. Took a friend saturday who has never fished like that and he had a blast. Caught white perch, white bass, LMB, striper, catfish and one gar.

Yeah I thought my colors might not be the ticket but didn't try any more. Really kind of just enjoyed being out.

I plan on getting some more color RT's and maybe pick up a few spoonplugs.

If I troll for stripers an only want to catch stripers - I usually don't go with the three way, and will opt to use the leadcore with about 30-40 feet of "vanish" (17-20 pound) tied to the end- and use 6" rebels/redfins.
When I don't care if I catch "whatever" - iuse the trolling rig - tied as David described above, and will pull the three way at 2.6-2.8 mph. When I cross large fish that don't strike, I go back over them and just before I get to them I knock the boat out of gear - dropping the speed below 2mph and as I get to where they were (using the gps to mimick my last track) I kick it up to about 5mph as quick as that 1978 35hp will do it then knock it out of gear allowing it to slow back to 2.6-2.8 and grab the rod that the fish is on on the few times that I ain't already holding it. Really works well.

DRY2 KNOWS HIS STUFF. HAVIN MORE FUN
THEN A 2 PETERED PUPPY DOG.