ORIGINAL: avidangler

ORIGINAL: carpediem

Looking for a little advice while fishing the rivers...

I've been trolling Leos, Grandmas, and Jakes on the Allegheny (Buff Creek pool).  I've finally started getting into a few fish but I'm not sure I'm trolling effectively.  I've been seeing a lot of bait in the water in areas approximately 10' deep, around weeds and rocks, bridge pillars and the like.  I have no way to tell exactly how fast I'm going, my fish finder kinda sucks...  But anyway, I'd guess I'm trolling around 5 MPH and I'm cruising in that 10 - 15 FOW zone and I'm shortlining my lures, so they're probably running only 2 - 5 feet down on the inside side of the boat.  So they're probably swimming in 5 - 10 FOW.  I move in and out a little bit throughout the day, sometimes I'm running in a little deeper water, sometimes I hug tight to the shoreline and shorten up my lines.  I spent some time today trolling right down the trench in the middle of the river and letting some line out so the plugs swim deeper.

I'm not looking for anyone to announce any big secrets here but if you have some advice a PM would certainly be appreciated.  Fishing for Muskies is hard to learn on your own because there can be so many hours between fish, it's hard to know if you're doing things right or if you're totally screwing the pooch and getting lucky if you see a fish or two.  I get the feeling what I'm doing is not ideal.

The baits your running are good lures and will catch fish on the allegheny. I prefer brighter colors most of the year. My guess is if you were fishing today the water was muddy, i dont even bother fishing when the rivers up, its tough enough when the colors good but when its muddy and high its just that much tougher. I'd move out to the deeper water for trolling this time of year, 20 to 30' this time of year and especially with the water above 80dgs. I've fished that section of river but its been 10 years ago if not more, i know its been dredged and got some deeper holes. I'd look for them and work them over multiple passes running a bait 8' and one atleast 12' to 16' down if not deeper, looking for marks on your screen and the signs of baitfish. The dam areas can be good this time of year because alot of other fish species move up into the highly oxygenated areas of the dam and the muskys aren't far behind. Since the drowning this year down towards the burgh they have moved the markers way back from the face of the dams which is unfortunate for fisherman, alot of the best fishing is closer to the face of the dams. I still would work the slack water areas around the dam at lock 5. As for you speed dilema i would invest in a small handheld gps. It will give you the exact land speed your traveling. If you had the paddle wheel on your depthfinder you will get two different readings, one reading going upstream and one going downstream. I trust the handheld much more. Also it lets you see your paths you've already taken. It can also be used to mark the weededges for either casting or trolling. Most of all you just gotta be persistent. Even the best anglers are spending alot of time between fish when compared to other species. I still prefer to cast the river but with the current water temps that we haven't seen in years trolling is probably the better option for getting fish.