Newbie trolling question?

[Optimizer]

Hi folks - My newbie trolling question is this:
If driving a boat quietly with an electric motor through a lake with medium visibility (4-8'), at what depth below the boat do the fish start to scatter from the boat. For example, if they are suspended at 20' they just don't care about the boat, but if they are at 10' they might move out of the way about 10' to the side, or if they are suspended at 5' they will move 20' out to the side. I think you get my drift, ha ha.
Thx.
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[Jbworkin]

Not sure there is a right answer to this one. In my experience if the fish can't see the boat, in your case 8' down or more, and you are quietly moving through the water some fish will hold under the boat. This all depends on the amount of fishing pressure and just how skittish the fish are on any given day. Noise, visibility, and fishing pressure all seem to have an affect.
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[Anglinarcher]

No easy, or single answer. Sometimes it depends on their mood, sometimes on water clarity, sometimes on shadow and sunlight, sometimes on fishing pressure, sometimes .......

For example, I once was setting in a boat in super clear spring feed water when we took a 12' boat with an old 5 HP gas engine and trolled right over them. You could see forever into the water and the fish did not care at all. This was a spring area in the thousand springs region of the Snake River.

Another example, also in Idaho, was Salman Falls Creek Res. The water at the time was so dirty that you could almost cut it with a knife. You could not see the fish, but you could see them on the finder as you crossed over them. But, turn around and nothing, no matter how big the schools, they were gone.

I was on a Lake in Colorado where the water was reasonably clear, maybe 5' clarity, heavy fishing pressure, but it was a calm day and you could not find a fish on the finder, or the line. But, the ski fleet came out, waves of 3' or more all over the lake, and all the sudden the finder was alive and so was the end of my line.

As a rule of thumb, a very loose rule, fish will spook less on cloudy days then clear days, less if there is a chop on the water instead of calm water, less on dirty or stained water verses clear water.

But, after 50 years of fishing, I have found exceptions to every rule.

[fearfish]

If you worried about that just get planer boards they will kick your lure out almost as far out as you want and you can add weight a couple feet from your lure and it will suspend deeper in the water column the more you add to it
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[jscottphisher]

You can use leaded line to get down as deep as you want. I use leaded line and I also troll with my spinning outfit and use dodgers to attract the fish. I use a 18" leader and nightcrawler behind the dodger on both set ups. With the spinning outfit I let out at least 150 ' of line.
Give that some thought.
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[nicholas2835]

I've done 30-40' in shallow water and been fine. You'll never seem 'em on the finder but they'll find the line if conditions are right.

That being said, if 30-40 isn't working, try 50-60, then 60-70, just keep going. If they still aren't biting, could be your boat, could be the day, could be what you're fishing with. Just don't fish for 4 straight hours doing the same thing with the same stuff. Switch it up after a while till you find what works.

You'll get the hang of it.
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[1Cast1Fish]

That's a funny question, which I don't think have an answer for. I do a lot of trolling,, and I tend to run planer boards if water clarity is over 5', unless I am fishing deep water over 20' deep.
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[Optimizer]

Thanks folks for your comments. I have learned things from each one of you.
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