Hey guys probably a stupid question, but how do you effectively troll? I just got a new little boat and tried throwing out several different types of lures. I would let them sink down, but then as soon as I started moving through the water the bait would just come right to the surface instead of staying down low in the water. Do I just need to add a bunch of weight to my line or is there something else equally obvious I am missing?
Thanks,
Nate
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you might be trolling too fast, you should use a GPS if you have one or a smart phone too see how fast you are going, you may need too either slow down or use lead core line or put a weight on the line than a swivel than a 2 ft. leader than you spinner, you may have too experiment with weight size's also, depending on what your trolling for and what your using too troll with will determine the speed and amount of weight, hope this helps,
Matt
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This question require's more information in order to give a good answer.
Early trout in resevoirr's (march-april may and june/july in higher elevations) you can use "pop gear" . AKA Beer cans, ford fenders, lake trolls etc trailed with a "wedding ring" tipped with a worm. The wieght of this gear will take you down from 5 to 15 feet depending on speed and size of gear.
If you want to go deeper, running a egg slip wieght above the swivel that connects the afore mentioned gear will work.
If you are trolling for spring Kokanee, early season the afore mentioned gear will work or a 6 or 8 inch flasher trailed by a 2 inch squid aka hoochie tipped with shoepeg corn or power bait maggots.
Rule of thumb is the leader for the hoochie should be 1.5 times the length of the flasher..yes it should be that short. Later on, May, june and july you will need wieght or lead core to get down from 15 to 30 feet.
Winter trolling for trout (or ice off/early spring)..a good ole floating rapala, broken rapala or even a diving rapala with a little wieght can be effective.
If you live in the treasure valley, Cabelas, Howards, the tackle shack, sportmans warehouse, and Turners have all the gear I am speaking of.
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usually between 1mph-1.7mph seems to work for me. But it varies everytime. Different bait, usually carolina rigged with an 1/8oz sinker above the swivel, about 18"-2 feet above the lure. change the speed, make a wide turn, vary the speed. each of these will changed the position in the water column of the lure. Sometimes that is all the dfference it takes. I troll with my 130hp outboard and a troling plate, so you do not need to have a special motor to do this. just have fun.
Chuck
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Keep an eye out on this and the kokanee forum for the water you want and type of fish you want to go after. Usually some nice folks will give a fishing report with more info than just "I caught some fish and here are my pictures", but they will also give an idea how deep they are biting. I don't get too scientific about the attack.
I just try to get as close as possible to the depth the fish are supposed to be and troll very slow and making turns to move your lines in the water column and change the presentation of the gear. If they're not there, go deeper or bring it up some. The bite changes every day and sometime several times per day. I only have one downrigger but fish many more lines off my boat... so I'm a huge fan of Banana Weights. You just need to make sure the line on your pole is heavy enough to handle what you're fishing with.
If you're using cowbells/pop gear, use a snubber.
Trolling plates for outboards work awesome and they are cheap.
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I think when you bait a lure, it takes away from the action. Pop gear is
a different story. Always, check your speed and action. A knot on a lure will show funny. So check that. It is all part of trolling.
Idaho
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Great advice above. I think if one is just starting out, the one thing to have in your tackle box that will either keep up with lures or often outfish them, is pop gear with a wedding ring attached, and about 1" of night crawler. Most people use too much worm. My favorite pop gear is a Jack Lloyd 2-blade with silver spoons. Seems to have a lot less drag than a lot of other pop gear. no big deal, however. As the fish get deeper as the summer goes by, take the advice given above.....use lead core line. Buy the lowest numbered "pound test"; many people don't realize that the test doesn't affect the depth. Each color will drop you approx. 5', with diminishing returns. 3 colors is a good beginning distance to go out. Good luck, and let us know how you do. Mike
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Any of you use a downrigger? I took up trolling a little last year and have caught stuff on pop gear and I'm not a huge fan due to Tue drag when I hook fish. Just picked up a used cannon downrigger and am headed to Blkft res. On wens to try it out.
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You might try letting more line out and slowing down if your gear is coming to the surface. Also more weight like already mentioned. I like to run about 125' to 175' of line out when I'm using pop gear without a down rigger in shallow lakes with a lot of moss. You just have to experiment for the conditions you are fishing.
When I run my down rigger in deeper water with a clean bottom I will let out 20 to 30' of line and then hook up to the down rigger and set my depth. I have only been using the down rigger for a couple years but I love it. It is a must if you are going after kokanee but I have caught a lot of fish on lead line and also jet divers.
Another thing I prefer for trolling is a level wind with a depth counter. It is nice to not have to guess how much line you have out. The level wind is also more convenient for letting out your line and retrieves the heavy gear easier than a spinning reel.
I still like using the spinning reel for trolling spoons and spinners.
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I use down riggers for controlled depth fishing. You might want to try dodgers, a single metal blade, a set of willow blade trolling gear which has much less drag when a fish is caught or even run your lures naked. A lot of the time spinners, spoons and sticks work great all by themselves without pulling all that heavy gear around.
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Bmarsh,
Ditto MMDon. Try a wedding ring w/o the flashers, dodgers, or pop gear. As I mentioned in the Cascade thread, I caught lots of trout at Cascade this past week on a Shasta Sling Blade...pink...and it outfished the pop gear. You wouldn't even know it was on. They are that light. First things first: safety and downriggers. Never tighten your drag (clutch) on the downrigger more than you need to. That way, if you hang the ball up, it won't pull the corner of your boat down and fill your boat with water! Just tighten the cable enough to prevent cable from running out. Esp. important with smaller boats. Keep an eye out for shallow water, so you don't hook the ball. Most depth locators have an alarm, and you might consider that. You'll love your d.r. It opens up so much more fishing. I consider my two Penn dr's the most important accessories on my boat! Mike
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Wow, thanks for the tips fellas. I picked up a couple dodgers tonight. Any tips on sizes/paterns? I've been watching YouTube vids on how to set your ball, clips, up. Do you guys use scents? Saw a couple people that drilled a hole in their weight and would use the gel sent in it.
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Scents really don't set up a trail in the water as much as they are a last second determiner to bite or not bite. A lot of lures can be wrecked by scent so I like to scent the hooks rather than the lures. For stick baits I like to scent the bills as they generally aren't painted and won't be ruined.
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