One of the more common mistakes fishermen make trolling for salmon is chasing bait balls that don’t have any feeding fish near them. Admit it, we have all done it. It’s 7:30 am and you have been out trolling for maybe an hour with no bites yet. All of a sudden your fish finder shows a huge bait ball. You get all excited and you quickly mark a way point, confident your lines are gonna start screaming any second. You spend the next 40 minutes circling back and forth around the bait ball only to get nothing. Your excitement has turned to disappointment. Why didn’t you catch any fish?

Here are some things to consider before you spend your valuable fishing time chasing a bait ball:

• Do you see any sign of fish actively feeding off the bait ball? If you’re marking fish in the immediate vicinity, chances are good they are or have been feeding. Set your way point and make a few passes. If you catch fish, keep fishing that area until you stop catching fish.

• Pay attention to the shape of the bait ball. Sometimes the feeding fish are mixed in with the bait ball causing the ball to break shape in odd ways. In particular if you see the ball that is more arch shaped, it could mean feeding fish are pushing the ball up and out from underneath. Mark a way point and make a few pass throughs.

• If the bait ball is high in the water column and you are marking fish well below the bait ball, you need to consider the water conditions. If the water is warm or if its a bright day, those fish down deep may not want to come up to try and feed. Consider dropping your lines deeper to try and trigger a bite. Here you have to decide if its worth chasing those fish down deep or to continue your search for active fish.

• If all you see is bait ball and no other fish around, it may not be worth chasing the bait ball. Instead continue searching for active fish. Like it or not, sometimes a bait ball is just a bait ball and the salmon haven’t found it yet or aren’t hungry in that area.