The first thing you notice about Paul Johnson when you see him trolling, is that he isn’t running a motor.
“I have one of those Minn-Kotas that has a remote control, allowing me to turn and change speeds from anywhere in the boat,” he said. “And I prefer to troll with a trolling motor because I range from 1.2 to 1.7 mph. In the summer, it’s 1.7.
“I can stand over my GPS unit and follow a contour line.”
Here’s how he sets up for his fishing excursions:
• Tackle — Johnson and partner Sid Steen use six medium-action bait-casting bass rods, usually some kind of Shimano, and he uses a variety of bait-casting reels, with the Abu-Garcia Black Max or Silver Max outnumbering others.
• Line — “I use braid, only braid. I found a China source I can order that is cheaper in bulk and comes in a variety of colors,” Johnson said. “It is all 14-pound test and has the diameter of 6-pound mono. I put two different colors of braid on each reel: the 100 feet that goes to the lure is one color and the line on the reel will be different, and all of my reels will have different colors to the lure. One, I use that line color to know how much line I have out, which controls depths; I don’t trust line counters, especially for braid.
“The other reason is that sooner or later you are going to get lines tangled when you are using six rods. The different colors help get the tangles out.”
• Lures — Johnson has thousands of baits, but is always looking for newer and cheaper lures. His go-to crankbaits are Bomber 4As and 6As, Bandit 200s and 300s, and Wiggle Warts.
“The key is getting two depths — one to run on the shallow side over the contour change and the other deeper to run off the drop,” he said. “You have to learn the different action of lures because in cooler waters, fish are not as aggressive and want a slower but perhaps wider wiggle. Bandits have a tighter, faster wiggle, and that is good for summer crappie.”
Technique: Johnson covers about 10 miles in a day, following long contour changes.
“If I find a depth or lure or color that is clearly out-producing the others, then I rig everything up to that depth or color,” he said.
He will run his lures 8 to 12 feet deep in the summer on Barnett.
“I like to keep all my lures the same distance from the boat, but I will reel them all up quickly if I know I am coming up on a shallow hump or a stump so that they will go over and not hang up,” he added. “Shorter lines mean less depth, and I also reel them up so I can make a sharp turn; then I let the back out. Reduces tangles.”
He is always looking for big schools of shad, either on the surface or his fish graphs.
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