It seems lazy at the outset. Folks who fish like to think they have a tactic, a solid plan to catch fish. Trolling seems like the opposite of that. Trolling says: “I give up. I really have no clue where they are so I’m gonna toss this out, paddle and see what happens”. I’m here to say there’s no shame in trolling, and in the BWCA sometimes it can be the best way to catch fish.

We are currently in the dog days of summer. Fishing has gotten tricky. Those big bass that were so eager to slurp my surface files in June are now few and far between so my trusty fly rod is now sharing space in the canoe with my spinning rod. The bass walleye and pike have moved deeper… but how deep?

To help me understand the contours and structure of the lake I use a Garmin Striker Cast. It’s a plastic sphere about the size of a baseball that you tie off to the side of your boat and it simply floats along beside you. Simply download the app and the unit connects to your phone via Bluetooth. The window opens up and displays depth, surface water temperature, and a graph giving you the bottom details. Some folks want to actually find fish on it but I focus on the depth, and what kind of bottom it is (rocks, weeds and muck all read differently) as its hard to tell what might be a fish, especially when you’re drifting or bobbing in the water (using it for ice fishing is a different story).

For trolling I’ll tie on something with some vibration, lots of folks use Rapalas, spinners or spoons. I’m not a fan of treble hooks so I’ll use a paddle tail or twister tail soft plastic with a jig head. I generally try to find where the shallower water, say 5-7 feet drops off into the 11-16 feet areas then I’ll toss out the jig behind me and try to paddle parallel to their shoreline. If you’re not bumping the rocks occasionally (and getting snagged of course) you’re probably not getting down deep enough. Try to paddle or drift slower or try a heavier jig head. When you get snagged paddle back over the area of the snag and pull you’re jig head out in the reverse direction of you were trolling.

For those of us who don’t travel with a rod holder there’s the question of what to do with the rod. I’d say experiment. Figure out some combination of leaning it against the thwart, the gunnel, and your feet or knees. Keep the rod tip up a bit and while paddling keep your eye on the tip. If there’s two anglers, you should cast off on each side so that in a perfect world you’re both fishing different sides of the drop off.

What about the laziest of all tactics? The “middle of the lake, chuck it out and see what happens” method. I say go for it. I’ve been paddling around the middle of a lake watching the Garmin and have been surprised how often the bottom can go from a featureless and flat 18 feet to a rocky shoal that rises up to 6 or 8 feet of water. These are the kind of spots are more common that you’d think and they are the places that hold fish. Sometimes the only way to find these spots is by pure luck.

Trolling is also a great way to fish with children (or adults who fish like children) as it simplifies the process of fishing… no need to worry about bad casting or missed hookups.

And remember, you’re not just trolling… you’re multi tasking. You’re fishing AND going somewhere!

Damon (AKA D-Dog)