# Trolling Saturday afternoon....



## Red Fly (Jan 23, 2008)

My wife and I went out late yesterday, didn't have much luck finding bait fish but we did caught a few non-keepers with the bait we did catchwhile fighting a strong outgoing tide in the pass. 

We decided to move over to Ft. Picken and lay out some trolling lines and work our way up to Quietwater and grab a bite to eat. We had two rods running lures, pretty well bent so you would recognize that they had lures on them. Within 5 minutes we had a boat cross our wake and clip a line, there goes a lure. It can happen I understand that, we re-rigged and put out another line.

Once again out of no where another boat cut our wake, there went another lure. The question is; should I be running some kind "Hey stupid, I'm trolling" flag? Am I missing something? Or do people just not pay attention?

I notice yesterday while fishing the pass, there were several of us around each other other boats approached with no regard to the amount of wake they were creating. Sorry to sound like I'm venting but I needed it.


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## reelfinatical (Sep 30, 2007)

You're not the only one!

We use hi vis line, but even thenI've had to whistleto get boaters attentionto wave them off our lines quite a few times already this season. I mean a few of them were right in behind us too!! I don't get it... I don't think they are paying attention, maybe they don't realize how far back our lines run..?


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## captken (Feb 24, 2008)

Years ago, I had the same problem on Dixie Bar 3 trips in a row. On the next trip. I ran a hot orange knee boardon about 200' of bright ski rope. I towed it from the top of a 4' length of pipe in my center rod holder. 

Yes, it was in the way some but easy to avoid when fighting fish and, oh yes, I was called an asshole several times but I lost no more lures and had no more tangles.

You might to add some surveyor's flagging tape to the tow line and maybe even a flag to the kneeboard. You gotta remember, all boaters aren't fishermen, some boaters are totally Sh!+faced while operating the boats, others don't care and some don't have a clue.


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## Backlash (Jun 11, 2008)

Dont know about the tow rope or a knee board, i had my son out on a board on blackwater

river, he does his best to stay on and i do my best to knock him off:letsparty

these jerks in a bayliner went between him and the boat with him in the water just after

he fell off, got the rope on there lower unit somehow and started pulling us backwards,

well they stoped (had to) my tow rope was messed up , scared my son to death, and they

were as***les about it, short of jumping aboard there boat with a gaff, i went my way

and them theres, i was very mad to say the least, my son did not want to ride anymore

so we called it a day, went back to the boat ramp and loaded up, before we left my son

said that the truck and trailer we were parked next to belonged to the creeps in the 

bayliner, well i know it was wrong and i should not have done it with my son there 

or at all, some how the air got let out of the tires on the trailer and i left the tow rope

on it, later i told my son thats NOT how to handle being mad and that i was wrong for

doing that... What would you have done ????:hoppingmad


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## Emerald Ghost (Mar 11, 2008)

The inconsiderate trash that you and your son were subjected to, obviously needed 

(what Sheriff Buford T. Justice referred to as) an Attention-Getter.



Well Sir,...... that was an attention -getter!



LMAO


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## Tuna Man (Oct 2, 2007)

Speaking of back in my younger days.... You are a better man then I. "That's ALL I got to say about that"


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## captken (Feb 24, 2008)

I hope you used your pocket knife to let the air out of their tires.

Yeah, not cool to let your kid see the operation. Things like that are best learned without being shown.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for stupidity. I could make a fortune if I could invent a cure for stupidity.

Food for thought: Ever find an unlocked lock in the road? I can think of all sorts of things to do with one for the types who take up 4 parking spaces at the ramp, block you in a parking space, etc. I was a Boy Scout for a short while. One thing I remember: "Be Prepared."


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## TURTLE (May 22, 2008)

You are absolutley not alone.Me and my family must have the equivalent to lunker sauce for A holes on our boat, cause they are definitly attracted to it.I don't care where we beach our boat around ft pickens, we always have multiple idiots fly by 20ft from shore knocking the boat sideways and some times swamping it.And I hate to say it , but most of them are fisherman, I would like to think not from around here.And as far as trolling, I have also had the cutt off problem, mostly in the pass but in other areas as well.I do agree with the gentleman who had the knee board situation with his son, in the respect that some one needed to get there attention.I think he did the right thing by explaining to his boy it was not the right way to handle it , while at the same time showing him that he was being protective.Never endanger a mans kids.Dumb Dumb Dumb!!!! I hope we all continue to have more good times then bad out there , good fishing everybody.


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## JoshH (Sep 28, 2007)

Get a hailer. Its the most fun you can have in a boat (yeah I know :doh) Mount the speaker facing backwards and when someone comes too close you can voice your opinion.


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## redfish99999 (Feb 11, 2008)

A long time ago, an old charter captain said to me....."Those are YOUR lines, Son.....It's YOUR job to tend them".......

Between the VHF BS channel, arm-waving and talking, I've never lost a rig.....BUT, I've remembered that "Those are MY lines to tend"


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## mdrobe2 (Oct 12, 2007)

awesome quote about women and boats!


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## slidercat (Jul 13, 2008)

Hey, you ought to try trolling with a sailboat if you want to see true idiocy in operation. For some reason, even other fishermen can't seem to grasp that those poles on the back of the sailboat are connected to lines that trail behind the boat. Any time I try to troll the pass, I can expect to get cut off, and probably spooled before I can get to the rod and crank down the drag.



On the bright side, I have educated a few jet ski drivers about the inadvisability of cutting close behind a boat with rods out. Unfortunately, once you get 'em hooked up, all the fight goes out of them.


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## David Ridenour (Sep 28, 2007)

Guys, trolling is pretty much the only way I fish. With that said, it seems the Pass may not be the best place for it. I have a small boat and when I come through a pass or inlet, I'm pretty much steering and surfing. Going out it's all about timing,bow angle and throttle control. If the pass is pretty narrow and there is a lot of traffic, there may not be many choices of paths to follow.

I love the orange wakeboard idea! As others have said about he other wakeboard story, you handled it much better than I. I can't imagine the wrath my wife would met out had that happened to one of our children.


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## Drew Mixon (Oct 4, 2007)

well, i dont want to point out the obvious, but in some situations it just sort of beggs it...

'knee boardon about 200' of bright ski rope'

(and this is directed specifically to inshore and nearshore trolling--where boat to boat contact is more likely) i think a lot of novice anglers are of the belief that you have to put 100 yards of line in the water in order to troll. im sorry, but its not just unnecessary, but it may actually be a detriment. if you are trolling the bay--on the pickens side, you are most likely trolling in 40' or less of water, even if you are dragging the bottom with S50's, you dont need more than 100 feet of line off the spool (and that does not mean 100 feet behind the boat. if you are trolling either pensacola shoal, and you have more than 100 feet of line out, then you really ought to look at what others are doing, and emulate. spanish, reds and kingfish are just not afraid of the boat like big game fish. i have caught more tournament kingfish in the propwash--or close to it, than on a long trolled line buy 10X or more. and managing shorter lines is much easier. case in point--any tournament kingfishers recognize the name of this spot of ft. pierce--the LoRan towers? how 'bout tournament kingfishing with 300 of your closest friends in basically an area no wider than lighthouse cove. and very few issues with crossed lines. mainly due to shorter trolling spreads. and they work.

surely running over trolled lines is not acceptable, but if anglers would take the time to learn a little more about 'successful trolling', and manage their spread a little more logically, then your own aggravation with mankind would drop sharply. 

not pointing fingers, or defending dipstick boaters actions for crossing trolled lines--just pointing out that one of those 'dipsticks' could be me--if i didnt expect knowlegeable anglers to be trolling lures in 15 feet of water on the shoals, with 200 feet of line out.

cheers.

dre


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## bigone (Jan 2, 2008)

next time time someone runs across your spread, and a rod goes down, dont fret, free spool and let them have all your line.

Last year had a SOB charter boat try to cut us off while kingfishing, kept circling us and driving acorss our spread, and other boats, finallly a 12T goes off, and we let him have all 600yds of 12 he wanted, Have fun!


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## Drew Mixon (Oct 4, 2007)

> *Backlash (6/23/2008)*
> 
> What would you have done ????:hoppingmad


sometimes a little reminder of the proper use of manners is acceptable.  they say if you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough. well, sometimes if you are an ass, you are gonna get spanked!


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## Instant Karma (Oct 9, 2007)

Wow! I agree with Drew. Nothing worse than trying to work your way through the Pass and somebody has 200' of line out. Seems to be inconsiderate to me. 



As far as wakes in the Pass, expect them.


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## Bill Me (Oct 5, 2007)

I'm with ya. I fish and I troll the channel, but the channel is for navigation first. Doesn't mean people should be inconsiderate, but does mean if you choose to fish there you get the downside of wakes and tighter quareters around more running boats.


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## Emerald Ghost (Mar 11, 2008)

Thanks for the great tip on trolling distance. 

Catch more fish, lose less tackle, and get less aggravated. win win win.


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## slidercat (Jul 13, 2008)

Because I'm fishing from a sailboat, and don't have to worry about engine noise, I rarely have more than 75 feet of line out, and often much less. I've gotten plenty of Spanish and bluefish on a mackerel tree and Clark spoon trolled no more than 25 feet off the transoms.



I still get cut off by yahoos who can't seem to grasp that folks can sail and fish at the same time.


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## dbyrd2100 (Jun 21, 2008)

On the bright side, I have educated a few jet ski drivers about the inadvisability of cutting close behind a boat with rods out. Unfortunately, once you get 'em hooked up, all the fight goes out of them.

[/quote]

THATS CLASSIC!! PLEASE DO US ALL A FAVOR AND MOUNT A VIDEO CAMERA ON THE BACK OF YOUR BOAT.


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## Hook (Oct 2, 2007)

There are other places to fish beside the pass. Now I have also heard of some people loosing a rope overboard and another boat finding it


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## CCC (Sep 3, 2008)

I like to use a .20 gauge slug cross their bow, seems to head them in a opposite direction every time.


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