Over the years, countless prospective clients have asked if I planned to troll during their guided trips. I can usually tell by the tone of the conversation that tactical musky strategy isn’t what they’re thinking about. They’re wondering if the trip will be boring. I’ve also overheard fellow guides and anglers discuss trolling with such unbridled disdain you’d think musky trolling stole their wife and killed their dog. Extreme takes, sure, but they line up with how a lot of musky anglers feel about trolling. I can’t point to one single factor that gave trolling a bad rap, but the knee-jerk reaction most anglers have to it is abysmal. If I had to guess, that opinion is more connected to a lack of success than most people would care to admit.
