When trolling what is the optimal angle for the fishing rod to be in both horizontally and vertically?

I've always had it in the rod holder 90 degrees (perpendicular) to the canoe and parallel to the water.

I saw someone in the park the other day and they had the rod going vertical and back at 45 degrees and made me wonder. Is there a better way to do this?

There are a lot of things that don't make any difference to the fish... this is one of them.

I like my rod trailing back a bit so I have more room for setting the hook. But I like my rod forward a bit so I can more easily see the tip. Up like an antennae is just wrong, especially with two fishermen in the boat.

sugoiboy: "...I've always had it in the rod holder 90 degrees (perpendicular) to the canoe and parallel to the water..."

This is fine, try pointing back a bit, too, as long as you can still see the rod tip.

I am in the same corner as Bobbernumber3 and Schweady when it comes to trolling angle when fishing out of a canoe.

I like a low rod angle with my rod bent slightly back to easily set the hook without dropping the rod tip. If your rod angle is high, most anglers will pick up the rod, dip to gain leverage and then set. When you drop the rod … you give the fish slack and you will lose a lot of fish.

I like my rod almost perpendicular to the water … many good anglers go to 30 degrees so you can see the rod tip. You want your rod bending to immediately load the rod from butt to rod tip when he hits.

A great old timer fisherman that taught me to fish on the Mississippi River helped me with this part of the trolling technique.

I caught more fish with a rod holder than I did putting the rod between my legs … the rod was angled too high.

A bud took this picture of me trolling on Jean Lake in Quetico.

What helps me most is to paddle hard about 3 times when a fish hits.

missmolly: "What helps me most is to paddle hard about 3 times when a fish hits. "

Or more. I wait until the rod is fully loaded.
Especially when going into the wind.

AmarilloJim: "

missmolly: "What helps me most is to paddle hard about 3 times when a fish hits. "

Or more. I wait until the rod is fully loaded.
Especially when going into the wind."

paddle hard when a fish hits? wait for the rod? Seems like I'd set the hook first rather than paddle or wait.

bobbernumber3: "

AmarilloJim: "

missmolly: "What helps me most is to paddle hard about 3 times when a fish hits. "

Or more. I wait until the rod is fully loaded.
Especially when going into the wind."

paddle hard when a fish hits? wait for the rod? Seems like I'd set the hook first rather than paddle or wait."

Most people have the rod in front of them when trolling out of a canoe so when they reach for the rod they are usually allowing some slack into their line. By continuing to paddle and letting your rod load you are in effect setting the hook.

Wally13: "

This picture is the perfect trolling set up and angle IMHO. You can certainly catch fish doing it differently--just not as many :)

I also subscribe to Miss Molly's give a couple more hard strokes to the paddle when they hit. Ideally you would set the hook but what happens is you stop paddling and grab the rod...this can cause a loss of tension in the line and you could lose the fish. Especially in a head wind. I don't even set the hook anymore. Pretty much they do it on their own by just giving a couple of hard strokes after the strike as others stated.

T