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Trolling

Method · Last reviewed 2026-08-10

Towing lures or baits behind a moving boat to cover large volumes of water and locate scattered fish.

Safety

Boat safetyCan cause serious injury or death

Trolling means multiple lines with multiple treble hooks in the water behind a moving boat, and an angler moving around the deck to handle them. Falls overboard, hooks in hands during a landing, and propeller contact with trailing line are all documented.

What reduces it: Lifejackets worn at all times, engine out of gear before anybody handles a fish at the side, one person managing the boat and one the fish, and lines cleared before landing rather than during.

Precautions that always apply here

  • Wear a buoyancy aid or lifejacket. Cold water incapacitates strong swimmers within a minute, long before swimming ability matters.
  • Tell somebody where you are going and when you expect to be back.
  • Carry a charged phone in a waterproof case, or another means of calling for help.

Trolling is a search method. Its purpose is not subtlety but coverage: a boat moving at a few kilometres an hour, towing several lures at different depths and distances, passes a bait in front of far more fish than a stationary angler ever could. On a large lake or an open coast, where fish are scattered and features are few, that is frequently the only realistic way to find them.

The technical content of trolling is almost entirely about depth control and spread. Lure depth is a function of speed, line length, lure design and any added weight or diving device, and the whole craft is in knowing — and being able to repeat — where each lure is running. A troll that produces a fish is only useful if you can reproduce the depth and the line that caught it.

It is also a method with a real safety dimension, because it takes place from a moving boat with multiple lines and multiple sets of hooks in the water.

What it is

Fishing by towing one or more lures or baits behind a slowly moving boat. Depth is managed by boat speed, the length of line let out, the lure's own diving characteristics, and devices such as downriggers, diving planers or added weight.

How it works

A towed lure finds an equilibrium depth determined by its lift and drag against the tow. More line out means more depth for a diving lure, up to a limit; higher speed generally means shallower running and a faster action. Downriggers break that relationship by carrying the lure down on a separate weighted line released on a take, which is what allows precise, repeatable depth control independent of speed.

What it is for

To locate scattered fish over large areas of open water, and to present lures at a controlled depth for extended periods. It is the standard approach on big lakes for pike and trout, and widely used at sea for pelagic species.

Setting it up

  • Record what you are doing — speed, line length, lure — so that a take can be reproduced rather than remembered vaguely.
  • Spread lines at different distances and depths until fish tell you which combination works, then converge on it.
  • Match speed to the lure's designed action; almost every lure has a speed range in which it works and a speed at which it stops.
  • Keep lines clear of each other on turns, which is when tangles happen.
  • Watch the water and the electronics as much as the rods — trolling is a search, and the search is informed by what you see.

Advantages

  • Covers far more water than any static or casting approach.
  • Presents lures continuously at a controlled depth.
  • Effective for locating fish in featureless open water.
  • Multiple lines multiply the coverage further.

Limitations

  • Requires a boat and, for depth control, additional equipment.
  • Presentation is much less precise than casting to a located fish.
  • Multiple lines with treble hooks create a real handling hazard.
  • It is easy to fish all day at a depth where there are no fish.

Conditions

Trolling suits open water with room to manoeuvre, moderate conditions, and situations where fish are dispersed. It is poor in confined, snaggy or heavily weeded water, and it is unpleasant and unsafe in a swell that makes handling multiple rods difficult.

Common mistakes

  • Trolling without recording depth and speed, so a successful pass cannot be repeated.
  • Running lures outside their working speed range, so they tow inert.
  • Turning too tightly with multiple lines out and tangling the lot.
  • Assuming a lure is running at its rated depth regardless of line diameter, speed and line length.
  • Handling hooked fish and multiple live lines at once, rather than clearing the other rods first.

Speed jigging and slow pitch: two philosophies, not two speeds

Vertical jigging in deep water has developed into two approaches that are genuinely different disciplines rather than variations of effort, and using the tackle of one to attempt the other simply does not work.

SPEED JIGGING uses a fast, hard, rhythmic retrieve — a co-ordinated rod lift and reel wind repeated continuously — to provoke a reaction strike from active predators. The lure darts upward and the take almost always comes on the rise. It is physically punishing, closer to an athletic activity than to fishing, and nobody sustains it for a full day.

SLOW PITCH JIGGING, developed in Japan, inverts the priority. The jig is designed to flutter on the fall, and the rod is loaded and unloaded to control that fall rather than to drive the lure upward. The take comes on the drop, which means it registers as slack line or as the fall simply stopping, and detecting that requires a completely different kind of attention. It catches fish that will not chase — including the ones a speed jigger has already passed over.

What both share is a dependence on the line being near-vertical. A jig streaming away at an angle is not fishing the depth the sounder showed, and it will not have the action the technique depends on. That, rather than the choice of lure, is why the weight is set by depth and tide and changed when either does.

Both also require braided line. Monofilament stretch absorbs the rod action before it reaches the lure and hides the take at depth, so the technique becomes physically impossible to perform properly rather than merely less effective.

Practitioner consensus

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: The distinction between fast, provocative jigging retrieves and slow, fall-focused presentations, and the tackle requirements of each as described in the sea angling press.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The widely restated practitioner position that braid rather than monofilament is required for vertical jigging at depth, and that the line must stay near-vertical.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Where to go next

What it catches

11 more
What these connections rest on (19)

Practitioner consensus 19 connections

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • African tigerfish

    Established angling practice for this species, recorded as convention. The note states the property of the animal or its water that makes the method the answer.

    • IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish and the angling methods and tackle classes conventionally used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practice connecting this species and method.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Arctic char

    A practitioner claim about how Salvelinus alpinus is commonly fished, following from where and how it feeds.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of fishing for arctic char.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of the methods used for arctic char and comparable species.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Atlantic blue marlin

    A practitioner claim about how Makaira nigricans is commonly fished, following from where and how it feeds.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of fishing for atlantic blue marlin.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of the methods used for atlantic blue marlin and comparable species.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Atlantic mackerel

    An established way this species is taken recreationally in north-west European waters, recorded because it is true rather than because it satisfies a gate.

    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Shore and boat practice in north-west European sea angling for the species and method described, presented across multiple independent contributors.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practice connecting this quarry to this method, recorded as practitioner consensus rather than as tested fact.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Atlantic salmon

    Established angling practice for this species, recorded as convention. The note states the property of the animal or its water that makes the method the answer.

    • Trout & Salmon Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Established salmonid angling technique and its application to this species.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practice connecting this species and method.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Barramundi

    Established angling practice for this species, recorded as convention. The note states the property of the animal or its water that makes the method the answer.

    • IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish and the angling methods and tackle classes conventionally used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practice connecting this species and method.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Chinook salmon

    A practitioner claim about the principal marine method for the species.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of trolling and mooching for Pacific salmon in coastal waters.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of trolling technique for salmon and other pelagic species.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Coral trout

    A practitioner claim about how Plectropomus leopardus is commonly fished, following from where and how it feeds.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of fishing for coral trout.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of the methods used for coral trout and comparable species.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Golden perch

    Established angling practice for this species, recorded as convention. The note states the property of the animal or its water that makes the method the answer.

    • IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish and the angling methods and tackle classes conventionally used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practice connecting this species and method.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Japanese amberjack

    A practitioner claim about how Seriola quinqueradiata is commonly fished, following from where and how it feeds.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of fishing for japanese amberjack.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of the methods used for japanese amberjack and comparable species.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • King mackerel

    A practitioner claim about how Scomberomorus cavalla is commonly fished, following from where and how it feeds.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of fishing for king mackerel.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of the methods used for king mackerel and comparable species.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Lake trout

    Established angling practice for this species, recorded as convention. The note states the property of the animal or its water that makes the method the answer.

    • IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish and the angling methods and tackle classes conventionally used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practice connecting this species and method.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Murray cod

    Established angling practice for this species, recorded as convention. The note states the property of the animal or its water that makes the method the answer.

    • IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish and the angling methods and tackle classes conventionally used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practice connecting this species and method.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Muskellunge

    Established angling practice for this species, recorded as convention. The note states the property of the animal or its water that makes the method the answer.

    • IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish and the angling methods and tackle classes conventionally used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practice connecting this species and method.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Nile perch

    Established angling practice for this species, recorded as convention. The note states the property of the animal or its water that makes the method the answer.

    • IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish and the angling methods and tackle classes conventionally used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practice connecting this species and method.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Northern pike

    Established practice on large lakes and reservoirs, independently described.

    • Pike and the Pike Angler Stanley Paul, 1981 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Trolling for pike on large waters.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Angling Times Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary trolling practice for pike as described by multiple independent contributors.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Sauger

    A statement about how a species is fished outside Europe, resting on restated international practice rather than on the British angling literature.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of regional angling practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: International recreational angling practice and the record framework that documents which species are pursued and how.Background and mechanism onlyPassage read and verified
  • Wahoo

    A practitioner claim about how Acanthocybium solandri is commonly fished, following from where and how it feeds.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of fishing for wahoo.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of the methods used for wahoo and comparable species.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Yellowfin tuna

    A practitioner claim about the principal method for the species.

    • IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: The characterisation of trolling and the tackle classes used for large pelagic species.Passage read and verified
    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of offshore trolling technique.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Related techniques

What these connections rest on (1)

Practitioner consensus 1 connection

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • Lure fishing

    Categorical placement.

    • Pike and the Pike Angler Stanley Paul, 1981 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Trolling within predator lure practice.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Trolling within sea angling practice.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

What you fish it with

What these connections rest on (2)

Practitioner consensus 2 connections

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • Improved clinch knot

    Which knot a kind of fishing conventionally uses is established practitioner knowledge that converges across independent traditions and independent state agency guides, and it is labelled as consensus rather than as tested result. Nothing here ranks knots by strength: see `why-knot-strength-tables-disagree` for why that number does not exist.

    • Knots Every Angler Should Know Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 2015 (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: A state fisheries agency's knot guide: which knot is set out for which connection, and the fishing it is presented for.States this directlyPassage read and verified
    • Learn to fish: tying the knot Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, 2025 (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: The same connections set out independently by a second state wildlife agency, written separately and agreeing on purpose and material.States this directlyPassage read and verified
  • Multiplier and baitcasting reels

    That a practice conventionally depends on a piece of equipment, drawn from published description of practice rather than from testing.

    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Long-running published description of British sea angling practice, including reels, casting, rough-ground technique and terminal arrangement.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of equipment convention and its use, recorded as practitioner consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Skills behind it

What these connections rest on (5)

Practitioner consensus 3 connections

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • How a reel drag works

    Drag behaviour under sustained load is the central reel consideration in trolling practice.

    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Sea angling practice on tackle and presentation in tidal water.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Freshwater Fishing Macdonald & Jane's, 1975 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Comparable reasoning from the freshwater tradition, independently arrived at.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Retrieve speed and the pause

    Trolling speed is set and held deliberately, which isolates it from the other retrieve variables.

    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Sea angling practice on tackle and presentation in tidal water.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Freshwater Fishing Macdonald & Jane's, 1975 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Comparable reasoning from the freshwater tradition, independently arrived at.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • What a drag is, and how to set one

    A link from a practice or a piece of equipment to the explanation of what it is for. The two records are halves of one answer and the edge is what lets a reader arriving at either find the other.

    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling practice as reported by practitioners, including tackle matching, casting and terminal arrangement.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of what each component does and how it is set up, recorded as practitioner consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Scientific evidence 2 connections

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

  • Scombroid poisoning, and why some fish must be chilled immediately

    A method or discipline joined to the mechanism that changes how it is conducted. Written where the method's own practice differs because of the mechanism — a different bait, a different season, a different handling routine, a decision not to eat something — and refused where the mechanism is merely true of the fish being caught.

    • Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 2022 (Standards body)Relied on for: Hazard analysis for fish and fishery products, including scombrotoxin formation with time and temperature, ciguatera, and marine biotoxins in molluscan shellfish.States this directlyPassage read and verified
    • Biotoxin and phytoplankton monitoring Food Standards Agency, 2026 (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: Biotoxin and phytoplankton monitoring in shellfish harvesting areas and the basis on which areas are classified and closed.States this directlyPassage read and verified
  • Thermoclines and stratification

    A link from a practice, an environment or a geography to the mechanism it rests on. It asserts that the mechanism is load-bearing here rather than merely relevant, which is the test applied throughout this file.

    • ICES Advice on fishing opportunities, catch and effort International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Hydrography, stratification, salinity structure and stock distribution across the European sea areas assessed, which is the physical basis for the mechanism named.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • NOAA National Ocean Service education on estuaries and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: Estuarine and coastal process: salt wedges, stratification, tidal exchange and the way water of different densities behaves where it meets.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Compared with

What these connections rest on (2)

Practitioner consensus 2 connections

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • Lake Geneva

    Two records a reader will hold together, joined where the comparison teaches something neither states alone.

    • Pike and the Pike Angler Stanley Paul, 1981 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Predator angling practice on large waters, including deep-water location, trolling and the handling of very large fish.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Pike: Biology and Exploitation Chapman & Hall (Fish and Fisheries Series 19), 1996 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: The biology, growth, feeding ecology and habitat use of pike across its Holarctic range.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Lake Vänern

    Two records a reader will hold together, joined where the comparison teaches something neither states alone.

    • Pike and the Pike Angler Stanley Paul, 1981 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Predator angling practice on large waters, including deep-water location, trolling and the handling of very large fish.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Pike: Biology and Exploitation Chapman & Hall (Fish and Fisheries Series 19), 1996 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: The biology, growth, feeding ecology and habitat use of pike across its Holarctic range.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
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