# Casting or trolling?



## spork (Jan 21, 2012)

Hi fishos.
Since getting my kayak a little over 12 months ago I have gone from a "mostly bait" fisher to a "mostly lures" type.
Along the way I've caught some fish!
Ever since I started using lures, I've been trolling them behind me as I move from one spot to another. The only exception is when the place I am fishing is too shallow or weedy to troll. The hobie revo just seems to be made to fish this way. Dosen't matter if it's in the salt, the fresh or brackish water.
Initially I would get to my spot, wind one lure in (or deadstick it if fishing SP's), and cast with the other. No luck - I'd swap to the other lure, or tie another one on, or vary my retrieve. Then I'd troll to another spot.
While fishing for flatties in (usually) 10m+ of water I have had most success casting / jigging with SP's. Chasing them in 6-7m with ultra deep divers caught me only squid and a puffer fish.
Trout have been different. 3 of the 4 I caught recently @ Lake Augusta were from casting, most of the lake was just too shallow to troll, but the vast majority (the other 36 of the remaining 39 I got this season) were caught trolling. I've found the right hand rod (the one I'm usually holding while steering with my left) catches slightly more than %50 of the fish. Not sure if it's because I give the lures an extra wiggle with the active rod, or just feel more hits / miss fewer bites.
Now last week I finally managed some bream. 21 size fish, 3-4 tiddlers, and a few 22-24cm models over 4 days and about 14-15 hours fishing. I'd read about techniques, talked to the bloke at the tackle shop, etc. and everything pointed to casting with a rip, pause, twitch, or variations on that as the method that would work best. Well, spending several hours of those 14-15 doing just that only resulted in 3 or 4 fish. The rest all came from trolling, even though many of the most promising looking bits of structure could only be cast to.
Lastly, I read the rules for one of the bream comps, and it said "no trolling". That makes me wonder why. Is it considered too effective? Too unskilled? Too much in favour of people who pedal instead of paddle? Is it to force people to fish light gear that can cast those little lures, instead of just dragging them around with heavy stuff? Is it to stop the pro boats from having a spread of lures out the back that would seem more suited to a bluewater game boat?


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## sog (Jun 9, 2012)

dunno about trolling in bream comps
but you are right ...... the revo is made for trolling lures
It's the way I do most of my trout fishing in victorian lakes
and I catch heaps of flatties trolling too 
if I know how deep my lure runs, with the help of the sounder, I can put it where I want


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## intrepid (Oct 23, 2012)

RedPhoenix said:


> Red.


legendary post, nailed it!

but to add, if i dont know of any spots in a new place (or an old place!), i troll the edges, until i get some action, then stop the yak at that spot and start casting to the school that i hope is hanging out there...


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## stussman (Aug 27, 2012)

I fish my local canals every week and I have most success trolling. There isn't much structure to cast at along the banks, only the occasional foot bridge or drain which I stop and cast soft plastics at. I troll two lures at once. A shallow diver along the shore drop offs and a deeper diver on the other side. 12 months ago I hadn't caught a bream on a lure but now I've caught hundreds. I find it relaxing to slowly paddle while checking out the milfs in their backyards and catching lots of fish too.


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## spork (Jan 21, 2012)

Thanks for those replies.

sog - glad I'm not the only one who just can't help trolling from the revo. I've got to try fishing for flatties in shallower water I think.

Red - thanks for your comments. There is an amount of skill in effectively trolling with light gear, and it seems like the best way to locate the fish to me. That pic. says it all really.
Good to know some comp's allow it. I'd like to do a couple some time, as I hear it's a great way to learn. The boaters have another advantage of being able to stand with their eyes 8-9 feet above the water as sight-cast. Sitting on the revo I can't see nearly as many fish as they can, or cast as far.

Lapse - hadn't thought about when it's too windy. I usually try to position myself to be able to cast with the wind, but sometimes the bank you want to fish is the lee shore, so yes, trolling along there is easier than trying to cast to it.

Intrepid - that pretty much sums up my future plans for some species. Troll to locate than stop and cast.


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

I'm a troller.
But interestingly, my experience on Tassie lakes : I'd often troll for an hour or more without a hit, but would stop to cast somewhere that looked good and catch a fish.
Rivers it's casting only.
Estuaries, trolling until I find the good spots, then casting at those spots.
Ocean - pretty much just trolling.
Trolling is seen by some as "unskilled" and "just luck" so not allowed in most comps.


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## eagle4031 (Jan 29, 2010)

Casting and trolling 
Makes no difference to me -------same results

Sadly


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## Squidley (May 8, 2010)

There's a lot of salmon trout in your backyard, Eagle. Mostly in the south section in my experience.

I like trolling for the exercise motivation.


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## Deefa (Dec 22, 2012)

I like paddling from place to place as much as fishing in one (and if there is swell present I'm far less likely to self-burley if moving) so trolling is my preferred method.


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## eagle4031 (Jan 29, 2010)

Squidley said:


> There's a lot of salmon trout in your backyard, Eagle. Mostly in the south section in my experience.
> 
> I like trolling for the exercise motivation.


Yes, and i love catching them


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I used to only troll and thought I was pretty good at catching fish until I took Junglefisher out one day. I fished how I always fished and he took the time to stop and cast at structure. He caught fish that day and I got nada. Since then I always take the time to stop and cast at likely looking spots, if there are any, but there is almost always a lure being trolled at the same time. It could be argued that a trolled lure spends more time in the water but I suppose if its not where the fish are it means nothing anyway.

Since then i always take note of how other people fish also. Having said that, I've had a really poor period of fishing since about November and there are still times I get nothing regardless of technique.


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

Great thread Spork.

When I started kayak fishing I trolled a lot. I'd do laps parallel to dropoffs or weed banks, knowing my lure depth and confirming it was within 0.5m of the bottom at all times by following the underwater contour. It worked. I caught fish and was happy.

I then started using plastics drifting. This would be the lazy way, allowing the plastic to be dragged behind me, twitching evey metre of so. This caught me more fish. Trolling was then relagated to when I was moving from spot to spot.

I then moved up to casting plastics, generally ahead of the drift and with the wind, imparting the typical 'fish in death throws' twitching action. This is what I refer to as 'proper good' technique. This of course is tongue in cheek as correct technique is whatever works. I would then troll only when returning to the start of the drift.

Now I find I rarely troll. I have a thousand dollars worth of HBs that I rarely use. I haven't seen the need to 'progress' to casting HBs, except surface lures. SPs seem to do the job for me. I rarely even troll to and from my marks anymore as this slows me down. The Adventure at full speed is too fast for most lures, and you always seem to have to stop every 10m to remove weed. I simply get there and start casting plastics.

I'm sure my next progression will be casting HBs and my SPs will be relegated to dead sticking or drifting out the back collecting weed. I think this will require an upgrade to that newfangled carbon fibre type stuff to get the casting distance and accuracy necessary to chuck $30 lures at trees.


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