SOG or STW

[Marie Maddie]

When talking about trolling speeds what do guys use speed over ground or speed thru water?

[Capt. kapoc]

.......SOG

[WAHOONBOX]

LET'S THINK ABOUT THIS QUESTION HERE FOR JUST A MINUTE..........

[FinRazr]

For offshore SOG it fluctuates alot depending on current and direction.As long as I'm more or less between 4-9 knots I go by how the baits are wimming more than the speed.For Rock fishing I use STW for me as long as I keep the baits moving through the water between 2.3-3.3 MPH I do well any more and they dont want to expend the effort(Theres always an exception).

[BTH284]

I use to use an average of the two. GPS speed (SOG)vs water wheel speed (STW)off the depth finder. Now I only use the 2 of them to figure out current.
What I really pay attention to after going back and searching the "Extreme" posts is to pay attention more to my RPM and what that does to the wake behind the boat and the action of the baits. Big difference in my fish box since I started doing this. It really helps to log every trip. Eventually you will see some sort of patterns forming. As it turns out I use to stick to 6-6.2 knots off the GPS and the wheel was reading about 6.5 to 6.8. By using RPMS alone and listening for that hum (mine is an outboard) my magic speed for most eveything w/ dead bait is actually about 4.8 to 5.2 knots

[TROPHY SPORTFISHING]

SOG you are on water not air only way to measure speed on a boat no acception. Knots seem slower guys like to look at mph so they can say they are going faster. Just like nautical miles verses statue miles. You're on a boat not a car.

[Bert Rodgers]

[QUOTE=FinRazr;332467] I go by how the baits are wimming more than the speed.QUOTE]




Bingo!

Bert

[Sterling]

Excellent question. My opinion is that it is about keeping the baits swimming right.

The problem I see with SOG is that it doesn't account for currents or tide. If you're in a good current you could be making 3kts SOG with the boat at idle. Assuming that 3kt current, if you troll with the current at 6kts, your baits are effectively moving just 3kts faster than the water they sit in and the action will not be what you might otherwise look for.
Likewise if you turn against that same 3kt current and hit a speed of 6kts, you are pulling your baits with 9kts of current washing past them.

I've fished with some very good fishermen that target their troll speed by SOG so I've wondered about this myself at times.

My preference is to go with the water speed. Someone mentioned to watch your RPM's. I tend to follow that line of thinking, coupled with watching the action of the baits.

[Russell A. Jost]

I use SOG as a reference point, then adjust speed depending on how the baits are running.

[Bite Me]

Get in a canoe put it in a fast moving stream. Now chuck a few ballys over the side. Oh yeah, don't forget to stick a gps on em. Their SOG might be 10 knots but are they swimming? Nope, It's all about the RPM.