Trolling is bad. Or is it?

Casting or trolling? It’s a question I get asked very often. Casting is often glorified while trolling… well trolling, for some, is an easy pick to start complaining about. And I admit: I totally get that point of view.

Imagine casting the entire day, causing another repetitive strain injury on your shoulder, without getting a single take. You can see those fish are deeper than you’d like. Your sonar tells you perfectly at which depth they lurk, but you simply cannot reach them effectively. Your hands are freezing as the wind and rain keeps torturing your skin. Not a single take yet – you’ve been trying to solve the puzzle for hours now.

You quickly check your phone and want to post a new story on Instagram. The harsh weather is probably something worth sharing. You notice a new story of a fellow angler that you spotted at the boat ramp this morning. Interesting, let’s see how they are doing…

You swipe through the first story, showing another traditional launching the boat ritual. Ah nice, they got a solid pike over one metre this morning – well done! Must have been a lucky shot though, judging by how slow our fishing has been… right? Scrolling through, you notice that they have caught three more big fish – four pike over one metre in total. Four? WTF! Freakin’ trollers, what is the fun in fishing like that anyway?

The amount, but also the type, of comments me and my friends get sometimes on videos and posts regarding trolling is hilarious. Let me make it very, very clear to prevent confusion. I LOVE casting with all types of lures for a variety of species. I prefer casting, but it would be nice if the results were the same. Catching big fish is also a passion, and in a lot of situations, trolling is simply more effective. Yes, it can appear to be a lazy way of getting good results. Getting great results though, is hard work. Always fishing on the edge, constantly adjusting and managing multiple baits at different depths while controlling the boat in sometimes horrible conditions.

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Trolling: is it cheating?

I did a full article on when to choose which tactic, you can find it here. No matter your preference or your stance on one tactic or another, I honestly feel that commenting or even complaining on how bad you think trolling is, feels a bit cheeky. You don’t run into a hip-hop concert and start telling people that rock music is superior. It’s the same thing.

One final thought though – what is trolling? What is the definition? I’ve had the discussion many times with the organisers of different tournaments. If I fish for zander while vertical jigging, that is called vertical jigging. Usually with the boat moving around 1km/h or so, but still I am dragging my softbait slowly above the bottom. Is that trolling? What if I speed up to 2km/h or higher? See what I am getting at? Fly fishing from a bellyboat, using sinking lines and slowly backpaddling with your fly still out – is that trolling or casting?

All jokes aside, let’s just focus on having fun and not get too worked up about the techniques that others use, or boast about how superior your technique is over the technique someone else uses. That being said, I’ll catch you guys in my next BLOG post!

 

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Most tournaments are 100% focused on casting