# Trolling in a yak



## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

I'd like to see/hear your guys setups for trolling in a yak. I'm trying to gather ideas and I'm not sure how I want to go about rigging mine up.


----------



## jake222 (Dec 26, 2014)

I haven't trolled in a yak but kayakbassfishing on YouTube has a set up where you have a motor and you hit a button on a control and it starts moveing it moves along pretty fast. Also you might be able to mount a trolling motor.


----------



## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

Eh I dont want a trolling motor on the yak lol I was thinking paddle trolling


----------



## jake222 (Dec 26, 2014)

Ohhhh sorry lol just paddle the same speed then I guess not my cup of tea as far as trolling good luck


----------



## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

I'm talking about when moving from spot to another spot with my line in the water...


----------



## USMC_Galloway (May 13, 2011)

I have 2 different setups on my boats. One the rod holders are out in front of me and run slightly pointed towards the front of the boat, and the other I have ram tubes behind me that are angled more so towards the front of the boat .

So it's really up to you how you want to do it, just make sure you can see the rod tips clearly, can reach the poles , and most importantly the rods are out of your paddle stroke. Not being able to paddle naturally gets really old while trolling, especially when the fish arent biting.


----------



## AtticaFish (Nov 23, 2008)

I have a pretty simple set-up compared to others i have seen. Mounted 2 adjustable rod holders, keep the rods angled out the front and paddle in reverse. It works alright. Tiring if you are at it for long. Have caught walleye and crappie and a ton of cats trolling shad-raps and husky jerks like this. Also works well to slow drag bottom bouncers or twister grubs. I've trolled forward, but can be a pain if you are running 2 poles..... it doesn't take long for a catfish to swing you around and get lines tangled.


----------



## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

Yea I definitely won't be trolling with 2 lines for that reason. I just hope I pick a good spot for my rod holder so my line and paddle don't tangle


----------



## coffee (Aug 18, 2014)

I only troll going from one spot to the next. Seems like a waste when lines not in the water. Hot n tots and square bill cranks have worked so far. Not enough to make this primary way of fishing though.


----------



## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

coffee said:


> I only troll going from one spot to the next. Seems like a waste when lines not in the water. Hot n tots and square bill cranks have worked so far. Not enough to make this primary way of fishing though.


I agree. That's exactly what I'll be doing. I only troll when I'm moving spots. Unless I'm fishing for walleye then I might troll areas at a time.


----------



## JamesT (Jul 22, 2005)

Dragging two poles off the back with no rod holders does not work so well. Trolling for muskies from a yak at the rip rap by the Alum dam works well, even if you are just dragging 2 poles (without rod holders) off the back. Erratic paddling leads to strikes. Use a leader though.


----------



## AtticaFish (Nov 23, 2008)

Crappie love cranks too. You might be surprised at how many 6"-8" crappie you catch on larger shad raps and husky jerks. Get plenty of larger crappie too if you get lucky and hit them at the right time of the day. 



BuzzBait Brad said:


> ......only troll when I'm moving spots. Unless I'm fishing for walleye then I might troll areas at a time.


----------



## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

JamesT said:


> Dragging two poles off the back with no rod holders does not work so well. Trolling for muskies from a yak at the rip rap by the Alum dam works well, even if you are just dragging 2 poles (without rod holders) off the back. Erratic paddling leads to strikes. Use a leader though.


I'm not sure where alum is. Never been there. 







AtticaFish said:


> Crappie love cranks too. You might be surprised at how many 6"-8" crappie you catch on larger shad raps and husky jerks. Get plenty of larger crappie too if you get lucky and hit them at the right time of the day.


I have a bunch of scatter raps that have been great for crappie in the past that I'm plannin on using while trolling for crappie.


----------



## flyphisherman (Jul 7, 2009)

The scotty triple is an excellent accessory for trolling. I have one mounted in the middle of my SOT yak. I have two rod holders in the "triple." You can adjust the angle and positioning as necessary. I like to run longer rods to put the lures a little further away from one and other. I usually use a 7.5 and an 8footer.....so the lures don't tangle


----------



## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

flyphisherman said:


> The scotty triple is an excellent accessory for trolling. I have one mounted in the middle of my SOT yak. I have two rod holders in the "triple." You can adjust the angle and positioning as necessary. I like to run longer rods to put the lures a little further away from one and other. I usually use a 7.5 and an 8footer.....so the lures don't tangle


That triple holder is awesome. I was looking at those.


----------



## fishfray (Jul 19, 2012)

I can also say that the Scotty triple is a really good mount. If you want to keep it simple with just one rod, that's perfectly fine. But with 2 rods, you double your chances of hookups and can also use two different baits. It's not too hard to control 2 rods without tangling. Just takes a bit of practice.


----------



## Lima Eyecatcher (Aug 13, 2008)

Brad if you want to run two lines just stager the amount of line you put out on each rod and the baits will run at different depths. I use the Scotty rod holders as well. I like them the best because you can turn the cam on the front and it locks you rod in so if you get a big fish or snag it will not pull your rod overboard. Also I like to keep my rods low to the water tips almost in the water so you don't have to let out as much line to reach your desired depth. There is a book by mark Romanak unsure how he spells his name book is called precision trolling. It has most popular crankbaits listed in it and how much line you have to let out to get your bait to a desired depth. I troll mostly for walleye and salmon but have started doing it for crappie and summer and early bass


----------



## silverbullet (Apr 14, 2004)

Primary set up my yak for trolling for eyes.


----------



## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

Lima Eyecatcher said:


> Brad if you want to run two lines just stager the amount of line you put out on each rod and the baits will run at different depths. I use the Scotty rod holders as well. I like them the best because you can turn the cam on the front and it locks you rod in so if you get a big fish or snag it will not pull your rod overboard. Also I like to keep my rods low to the water tips almost in the water so you don't have to let out as much line to reach your desired depth. There is a book by mark Romanak unsure how he spells his name book is called precision trolling. It has most popular crankbaits listed in it and how much line you have to let out to get your bait to a desired depth. I troll mostly for walleye and salmon but have started doing it for crappie and summer and early bass



That's a great idea. I may end up doing that. I only have rod holder right now. Will get another one eventually. 






silverbullet said:


> Primary set up my yak for trolling for eyes.


That's a nice setup. Your line doesn't tangle with your paddle?


----------



## silverbullet (Apr 14, 2004)

those rods are 8 1/2 footers, the line is outside of my paddle stroke. If i make a sharp turn i may get it but usually its never an issue. the tip you got about keeping the tips low is a great one. I like em low. fish will bury it underwater when they hit. Precision Trolling is a great asset to use. You'll know right where your fishing and increase your catch rates. Have fun rigging


----------



## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

What I have rigged so far. A work in progress.


----------



## backlashed (Mar 19, 2011)

USMC_Galloway said:


> I have 2 different setups on my boats. One the rod holders are out in front of me and run slightly pointed towards the front of the boat, and the other I have ram tubes behind me that are angled more so towards the front of the boat .


Exactly how I do mine.



coffee said:


> I only troll going from one spot to the next. Seems like a waste when lines not in the water.


My feelings exactly. I have made trolling jigs so I can present 3 lures or baited hooks at different depths. Hot n Tots work great too. I remove all but the trailing hooks so I am in compliance with Ohio fishing regs.



flyphisherman said:


> The scotty triple is an excellent accessory for trolling. I have one mounted in the middle of my SOT yak. I have two rod holders in the "triple."


Works great for me too. You can mount a FF in the center if you want to, or anything else. I've seen salt water anglers mount a small cutting board there.


----------



## lrobison24 (Nov 26, 2013)

Brad-that's a good starting setup, just add another rod holder to the other side and you'll be set up perfect for trolling two rods. You may also want to consider adding scotty slide tracks, you can get them on Amazon for around $20 not to bad. They really help when your done trolling you can move the rods and rod holds farther away so your paddle doesn't hit rods/lines. You can just leave the rods in the holders and slide it up. 

Silverbullet- I have a very similar setup, what kind of yak do you have?


----------



## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

No


lrobison24 said:


> Brad-that's a good starting setup, just add another rod holder to the other side and you'll be set up perfect for trolling two rods. You may also want to consider adding scotty slide tracks, you can get them on Amazon for around $20 not to bad. They really help when your done trolling you can move the rods and rod holds farther away so your paddle doesn't hit rods/lines. You can just leave the rods in the holders and slide it up.
> 
> Silverbullet- I have a very similar setup, what kind of yak do you have?


If I get slide tracks. Its definitely gonna be yak gear. I saw the Scotty slide tracks in different sizes at this store near me and they were made of plastic. 

Field and stream has the yak gear metal tracks that look real nice.


----------



## silverbullet (Apr 14, 2004)

lrobison24 said:


> Silverbullet- I have a very similar setup, what kind of yak do you have?


Thats an Ocean Kayak Trident 13. Speaking of tracks. Yak attack 12 inch tracks on both sides. Ive got my ram mounts in them with the rod holders. nice to move them around and find the sweet spot with out drilling more holes if location isnt what i like


----------

