TROLLING 127 



CUT OUT THE SPEED 



In trolling for musky, pike or pickerel 75 to 100 

 feet of line is plenty to run out behind the boat. At 

 this distance the lure is far enough away from the 

 boat and the line is easier handled in landing the 

 fish. The boat should make about two to three 

 miles an hour, which is speed enough to keep the 

 spoon turning and at the same time give the fish a 

 chance to see your bait. Always troll with your rod 

 straight out behind the boat, never out the side at a 

 right angle; this is treatment any fishing rod would 

 resent. A mighty good thing for the rod is to use 

 a steel rod shortener, which gives you a dandy troll- 

 ing rod at a cost of about 20 cents. Just slip out 

 the first joint, put the shortener in the grip, the sec- 

 ond joint in the shortener, and you run no chances 

 with your bait-casting rod. One big point to re- 

 member in trolling with a spoon is the fact that a 

 spoon must be spinning around in order to flash 

 under water and attract the fish. If you will keep 

 your eye on the rod tip occasionally you can easily 

 tell whether the spoon is turning around by the 

 steady bobbing of the tip. When it quits bobbing 

 you'd better reel in and clean off the weeds. A 

 hookful of weeds is not much inducement for a fish 

 to strike. 



For wall-eyed pike put a dipsey sinker on your rig 

 and troll deep, and if you get a strike, troll back 



