Bait

• Although a wide variety of live and dead baits work well for fishing trotlines, it is a good idea to use at least two different types of bait on a trotline. As in other types of fishing, some baits may perform better than others. You can use two different types of minnows, for example, or use live minnows and strips of dead minnows. Another option is live minnows and night crawlers. If you check your trotline after a few hours and discover the hooks with one sort of bait caught fish better than other baits, bait all hooks with the more productive type of bait.
  
  

The Night Shift

• Because one end of a trotline should be anchored to the shore, most trotline fishing occurs in relatively shallow water. Catfish -- one of the most targeted species by trotline fishermen -- feed in the shallows after dark, so trotline fishermen should try setting out their lines just before darkness falls. You may catch fish during the day, but you will likely find more success at night.
  
  

Locations

• Fishermen can set trotlines wherever they please, so long as they do not interfere with recreational boats or others who use the lake or river. A few spots are usually especially productive. Bends or swings in the river or stream channel tend to concentrate fish, as do areas where a tributary enters the river.
  
  

Near the Bottom

• Use anchors made of cinder blocks, or coffee cans filled with cement, to keep the trotline hooks near the bottom. Catfish, especially, feed close to the bottom, so they are more likely to bite bait on a trotline that suspends the hooks near the bottom, as opposed to at the midway point of the water column, for example.