Trolling sticks

[carpcatcher]

I just started getting in to trolling for eyes with bottom bouncers the last few years. I mainly troll river systems with fairly heavy current and very uneven bottoms. All I've been using has been worm harness's and I would like to try some stickbaits. My question is when trolling in 25 to 40' depths would a shallow running floating stick, like a rogue still go deeper than the bottom bouncer or would the boyance keep it up a little from the weight? Keep in mind that I'm pretty new to this whole trolling thing so don't beat me up to bad.

[SusanJames]

Heavy current is a big factor but in general, you would add the diving depth of your stickbait to the depth your running your weight. Leader length from weight to bait also plays a role. So if your actually bottom bouncing, a stickbait that dives will be digging bottom. An occasional tick of the bottom can be a good thing for lethargic eyes but you don't want to be dredging mud.

[Kevin J Legg]

Running 6-7 ‘ leaders a foot above bottom bouncers I seldom have issues with shallow stickbaits running deeper than bottom bouncers

[carpcatcher]

On 5/10/2025 at 11:19 AM, Kevin J Legg said:

Running 6-7 ‘ leaders a foot above bottom bouncers I seldom have issues with shallow stickbaits running deeper than bottom bouncers

Thanks Kevin, so your saying don't connect the stick to the BB arm, put a 3 way rig above the BB and attach the stick to that on a leader?

[SusanJames]

That would certainly help as Kevin indicated. My response was assuming you were wanting to run your leader off the BB arm. If you want to use a 3 way above I would suggest the straight stick style BB's instead of the "L" shaped to avoid tangling your leader on the BB. Especially when  deploying.