How to Find Fish: Capt. John's Exploratory Elimination

Compiled from Capt. John King's articles on MichiganSportsman.com, mainly "The Golden Rule of Trolling Speed" (2016), "Do I Stay, or Do I Go?" (2016), "Mid-Day Mayhem" (2009), "Thinking Inside the Box" (2009) and "Speed Kills" (2001). Read the Golden Rule original.

"How to find fish?" was one of the questions John was asked most. His answer: there's no secret magic bullet that instantly puts you over fish. "It's a process of exploratory elimination that's loaded with a lot of trial and error."

1. Use speed to explore and eliminate water

• At 2.5 mph, two hours of trolling covers a 5-mile swath. If it's empty, you've learned where not to fish, and that opens up other places to explore.
• At 4 mph you cover twice as much water as at 2 mph.
• There's no golden rule for speed. John saw fish taken from under 1 mph to 4–5 mph. On his last trip of 2016, Salmon Buster spoons caught fish from 1.2 to 3.3 mph.
• Not catching? Match the speed of boats that are.

See the Trolling Speed Chart for speeds by product.

2. Troll east-west

Salmon and trout often move north or south along the shore. A lure on an east-west course crosses in front of them, so they see it with both eyes as it comes toward them and passes their snout, instead of watching it slant away with one eye. "Right course is an attention grabber!"

3. Find structure, temperature and bait

• Structure: drop-offs act like a fence that concentrates fish. Off Manistee, the shelf runs north-south, so troll along it.
• Temperature: Kings are said to prefer 50–54°F, but John caught them from the high 50s down to 38°F. Use temperature as a starting point, not a rule.
• Surface fish: Steelhead and Browns hold on the cold side of surface temperature breaks. Check NOAA surface temperature charts.
• Bait: most bites come as fish leave a bait pod, not as they enter it. Balled-up bait on sonar means predators are near.

4. Read the fleet, then leave the crowd

• Ask other captains where they caught fish, not what they caught them on.
• When boats pile onto a school and open water lies ahead, John often left to find unpressured fish.
• Deep summer fish often switch on after 8:30–9am, just as the fleet heads in.

5. Location before color

• If you've tried different depths and speeds with no bites, the fish aren't there. Move.
• Never go back over water that didn't produce.
• "Just changing colors is not going to put fish under your boat. Adjust your speed & depths before thinking dramatic color shifts is going to save your day. Boat location is everything!"

6. Read your turns and your cables

• If the outside (faster) rods go off on a turn, speed up. If the inside (slower) rods get bit, slow down.
• Downrigger cables should hang straight down. Cables angled to one side mean current or wind is pushing your lures sideways.

Read more

Do I Stay, or Do I Go? · Mid-Day Mayhem · Speed Kills · Surface Trolling with Salmon Buster Spoons · Fishing Calendar