I know this guy who those of us that know him jokingly refer to as Killer. A member of the National Guard, he brags every about all the ways he knows to kill someone. Don't misunderstand me, I have nothing but the upmost respect for all members of every branch of the military. I'm just telling you about this one guy. He tells us daily all about how he could use explosives, guns, knives, and assorted other ways to kill someone. He's obsessed with the subject. Slight of build and small I don't know if he's trying to get some respect he feels he's lacking or if I'm going to turn on the news one morning and find out he's killed four people at a beer, gas, and bait store.
I honestly feel that with a lot of people like this the problem is lack of actual experience. It doesn't take long when your elbow deep in blood dressing a deer to realize this is nothing like TV. That it's damned serious. Nothing ever happens like the clean fake deaths on TV where Rambo goes pop, pop, pop and all the bad guys just tip over like those tin targets at the carnival shooting game. Things have a nasty habit of bleeding, of not dying instantly, of having to be dressed and butchered and quartered afterward. In my grandfathers day back in the hollers of Kentucky it was perfectly acceptable to bring your 22 rifle to school and lean it in the coat closet while you were in school. Why? Because a 15 year old back then knew that shooting something had consequences. That thing died or worse ran off wounded and bleeding. That it was nothing like the experience of shooting things on video games like Call of Duty. Or buying your meat packaged in plastic at the grocery I might add.
I think the same principle applies to fishing. The basic thing at the core of fishing for thousands and thousands of years has always been the need to catch a fish, kill it and eat it. The "modern" world has allowed us the luxury of catch and release. I probably practice catch and release 90-95% of the time, out of the 150 or 200 trips a year I take I might keep a couple fish to eat once or twice. Usually while camped out by the river and cooked over a fire. If nothing else this grounds my fishing as a basic human activity like building a fire, making a shelter, or having sex. It's what separates hunting and fishing from things that are just games like golf or football. Even catch and release fishing is not a noble contest, a battle of wits as it were with a fish. Just ask the fish, I'm pretty darned sure the fish doesn't look at as a game. Some studies seem to how that fish might not feel pain in the way we do. But all you have to do is go out and catch one fish to realize it scares the bejezzus out of them. But catch and release is one of the least damaging ways in an overpopulated world we can still experience basic principles. I'm a big proponent of hunting and do it as much as I can but it's pretty hard to practice catch and release with a rabbit or a squirrel.
By the same token I find all forms of fishing fascinating. As long as the trained biologists at the department of natural resources say it's okay I'm likely to have tried it at least once. I love fly fishing, I think at last count I own nine fly rods, a couple of which are very good ones. I have a stack of fly boxes two feet tall filled with every fly imaginable. I love the grace and beauty of fly casting. And I love spin fishing, casting a topwater lure for a smallmouth bass is one of life's great pleasures.
But like I said, I find all forms of fishing fascinating. I'd fish with thread in a mud puddle for minnows if that was all the fishing I was allowed. ( I bet I'd get good at it too) I've been known to fish for channel cats with just a throw line wrapped around an old tin can. I've spent many a day chasing carp with both a smelly doughball and fly rod. And maybe most controversially I still every couple years fish the way my grandfather did, with a trot line or limb lines. But lets be honest here, do we really want to debate how sporty methods like trot lines are? I mean who is more morally or ethically right here? Me catching, releasing and scaring the heck out of twenty bass just for fun or my grandfather catching and keeping a catfish for dinner? At the expense of using a fishing pun, that's not a can of worms I'm sure I want to open.
It's also a style of fishing that takes quite a bit of knowledge and river craft to do well. It's not like you can say, "well not doing any good here, I think I'll move up there". It might take an hour or two to set up a good trot line and you can't just move on a whim till you find fish. I think most people who argue against the "sporting" aspect of fishing a trot line have never actually done it. And there is no doubt it is an exciting and fun way to fish once you try it. There is the anticipation factor. You can if you wish fish baits far larger than you can practically on normal fishing tackle. On hooks and lines that would let you land fish you could never handle on your bass tackle.
And if you run your line every couple hours like you should or better yet set up camp close enough to know when you have a big fish on, landing the fish itself is awfully exciting. Instead of the fish peeling off line and fighting in the depths the fight is up close and personal, right in your face. You have a hold of a two foot length of line with a thirty pound shovelhead thrashing around on the other that your trying to grab by the lower jaw with your free hand and pull into the john boat. You end up soaking wet with a big green fish thrashing about, first on the line, then in the boat. It's very possible to get hurt. I should mention here that fishing trot lines an limb lines can actually b very dangerous, especially in rivers with their current. Accidently hook yourself on heavy line with a big hook in strong current and its possible to get jerked off the boat and drowned just baiting the line. You should always carry a knife on your person for safety reasons. Doubly so if you try it alone.
So you still want to try this bloodthirsty, dangerous method and get covered head to toe with water and fish slime wrestling big ugly fish? Well good for you, I'm proud of you. Let's get started.
A trotline is basically a heavy setline with multiple hooks hanging off the mainline on leaders that is employed in the river by means of weights and floats. There is no exact formula for placement of the weights and floats. What you are trying to do is place them at intervals that keep your baits at the depth you think a fish is likely to find them. Just like any other fishing. It depends more on the contour of the river bottom an the speed and depth of the water. I try to place the hooks about 3 to 4 feet apart these are attached to the main line by shorter lines called dropper lines or "trots." A swivel is used to attach the trots to the main line or on the trot and this connection is called the "staging." Of course you can call them whatever you like but part of the fun in anything is learning the nomenclature, much like learning words like hackle and taper when learning to fly fish. And you "run" a trot line you don't check it. Besides you don't want to run into some old river rat and start talking about your fish and him look at you sideways and say, "your not from around here, are you son?". Here's a typical arrangement for a trot line keeping in mind that each one is set up according to where it's placed.
Limb lines can be very effective in small rivers. Often riverside trees especially sycamores have long arching limbs that stretch out just a few feet over the waters surface. The basic idea is to tie your line to these and the springy limb presents the bit perfectly as well as gives and doesn't let a big fish pull off or straighten a hook. One of the exciting things bout this kind of fishing is that you can tangle with fish big enough to straighten some hefty hooks. Limb lines can be extremely effective on shovelheads because they will let you present a bait just under the surface of the water. A bluegill or chub as bait struggling at the waters surface on a quiet night can be irresistible to a ferocious predator like a big shovelhead. The line is set up much like the trot on trot line with a hook, a swivel and a weight to keep your bait where you wan it. In current or with live bait the swivel is doubly important to avoid line twist.
The legality of how many hooks you can have out, the length of lines, how they are marked, etc., varies from state to state so, like with any fishing, check your local regulations before trying this. But I strongly suggest you do try it. Find a quiet river, set your lines, build a fire, throw out a couple lines on conventional tackle and sit back and get in touch with your inner Huck Finn. Chances are it will end up being one of the most memorable fishing trips you've ever taken
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