Photo by Michael Skinner

By Jeff Bruhl

One technique that plays hardball with most species of freshwater and saltwater fish is trolling. From bass to marlin, they fall prey to lures pulled behind a moving boat. Trolling's a simple, effective way of covering water to pinpoint most species of fish, and learning the multispecies techniques and applying the knowledge to speckled trout is easy - and fun.

Common in Louisiana generally, trolling for spotted sea trout is a skill frequently employed in Lake Pontchartrain, near New Orleans, along the coast, and throughout the marsh. With all the water to check out in the Bayou State, trolling tips the scale in the angler's favor, as it covers more area in one hour than other tactics cover in a day of fishing, rapidly eliminating unpromising prospects. And once a school of fish is located, the angler can troll the area again, or stop and cast to the hotspot.

Learning the water and the hotspots is faster and easier with trolling. Speckled trout hang out around bridges, bayous, bays, and shorelines of the saltwater byways of Louisiana, so pulling a simple jig through a prime location like the train trestle in eastern Lake Pontchartrain will work for you. From shallow bays to the deep-water areas of the Louisiana estuary, uncomplicated lures yield trout. To land speckled trout, adapt lures and equipment to the tidal flow and bottom structure.

After initial success with trolling, you can move on to using advanced techniques like planer boards, divers, steel wire and bottom-bouncers, knowledge of which can add still more to the fun of fishing. Rod holders allow the angler to augment the number of rods and lures in the water, clip-on weights and bottom-bouncers place light lures on the bottom, and divers and planer boards increase the width of water fished by pulling a lure to one side of the boat. These high-end techniques are easy to learn - but they're not required for a good session of trolling.

The choice of rods and reels is a matter of personal preference. Some anglers prefer short stiff rods, to aid in hooksets; other anglers use long rods with soft tips. Reels with line counters are helpful for determining how much line is drifting behind the boat, but there are those anglers who'll count the times the line guide of the reel travels back and forth when the lure falls behind the boat. A good 6-foot, 6-inch medium-action rod will handle baits from jigs to crankbaits. A medium action rod with a strong reel will be a reliable combo for speckled trout.

Line is a small piece of equipment, but a very important part of fishing. The diameter of the line and the speed of the boat combine to determine how deep a crankbait will dive; the weight of line and lure will be factors in establishing the depth at which the bait swims, bottom contact being vital on some days. Another important element influenced by line size: the strike zone, the key depth that most reliably produces strikes. Monofilament, braided lines and steel wire are options for the angler to try to perfect. Depending on the water depth, the tide, and the structure of the area fished, line choice will play a special role in trolling.

Captain Dee Geoghagen of Fishing Guide Service is co-owner of V&G Lures. Their lure designed for big Lake Pontchartrain trout comes in straight and paddletail models. Although the plastics work from the Gulf to the lake, the bridges that cross Lake Pontchartrain near Slidell are great for trolling plastic jigs on a 3/8-ounce head.

"A paddletail jig's first duty is trolling," stated Captain Dee. "The unique tail design gives the lure a vibration that attracts fish. Many anglers that troll the bridges near Slidell use jigs because they hang up less on the old pylons and other trash on the bottom."

Other plastics like the squid fool trout. Tandem rigs consisting of a 3/8-ounce jig on the bottom with a squid rigged on a treble hook above present the fish with two chances for a meal. The incidence of two fish on a tandem rig is high when you're trolling hot areas of the lake.

Crankbaits catch big trout from the New Orleans Lakefront Airport to the bayous along the Intercoastal Waterway. Diving crankbaits, lipless crankbaits and sinking lures cut the water to find speckled trout. Tide and water depth can work with a crankbait to make it an important tool for trolling.

Don Davis, a local fisherman in the New Orleans area, has earned the nickname of "Rat-L-Trap." He spends time trolling 3/4 ounce and 1-ounce lipless crankbaits along the airport wall and the deep channel near the Seabrook area of New Orleans. The angler uses lipless crankbaits about 90 percent of the time in early May to elicit strikes from trout.

"Blue and chrome is my main color," reported Don. "In May I catch trout over 6 pounds along the airport seawall. Pink and chrome is another color I use, but blue works, so I stay with it."

Another tip from Don: Use a floating lipless crankbait for fishing in shallow water and cover - in places such as the Little Woods area, a stretch of water between New Orleans and the point at which the train trestle touches the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain. An old cypress forest before the trees fell to the timber industry many years ago, it's about 6 feet deep, with plenty of big stumps.

"I switch to floating traps in the Little Woods area", adds Don. "When you have to stop and fight a fish on one rod, the other trap floats to the top, and doesn't hang up like a lure that sinks."

Crankbaits that dive are great for trolling. Self-centering line ties and split rings produce true running bait in the toughest currents. The crankbaits come in models based on the depth to which the lure dives when used on a rod and reel. This is useful information to the angler: For water depths about 10 feet, use a model that dives about 7 to 9 feet. A hint: Diving lures will run slightly deeper than the stated depth. The key is to place the lure just above the bottom, thus avoiding hangups and getting more fish.

Sinking or suspending plugs troll water from shallow to deep. Not all fish haunt the bottom. Indeed, the hardest fish to catch are fish that suspend below the surface but off the bottom - and this type of lure can be used to target suspending fish. It's simple to fish the bottom: Just add weight to the presentation. However, most crankbaits dive too deep for suspending fish, which is where jerkbaits and plugs come in, completing the toolset needed to cover the water in the middepth range.

Jigs and crankbaits will cover most situations. Don't forget to bring a few corks to complete the arsenal. Suspending a jig under a cork is another idea that works. If the water's shallow or the fish feed near the surface, a cork pegged 3 or 4 feet above a jig represents an exceptional option. Corks are in general excellent for trolling in shallow bays and marshes.

The key to jigs, crankbaits, and plugs is depth; matching the key depth to a lure is a vital part of trolling. Finding the strike zone is the first step - because presenting the lure to the proper strike zone is the difference between fishing and catching.