We spent the last 4 hours of daylight trolling for trout and did pretty well. We were trolling small LC pointers at 5ft and 10ft behind a small dodger. We hooked up right off the bat with an 18" brown. The remainder of the evening we caught a dozen rainbows ranging from 13" to 19". A few of the larger rainbows were very fat and healthy looking. It was a bit windy and trolled with the wind most of the time. I noticed the bite was stronger where the rough water mixed with the sheltered cove water.
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Thanks for posting your report, sounds like you had a good evening on the pond. If you don't mind me asking, why do you run a dodger in front to your lures? Have you tried trolling your lure without the dodger?
WH2
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Running a small dodger in front of any offering is very effective.
I am sure UT-LUND is running it simply as an extra attractor.
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I also like the dodger technique when the fishing is slower. It's a lot less drag than pop gear and the motion gives a lot of flexibility on finishing tackle.
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I have tried it both ways and can't tell a difference in the catch rate. IMO, it doesn't make a difference unless you are using small lures or squid lures that have little action of their own. Lures like Rapala, have their own action and don't really need a dodger to be effective but that is just what I have noticed. I'd like to hear what others have noticed. Thanks for you comments Shane.
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I use them with rapalas only rarely. But I will sometimes if the bite is really slow. I use much longer leader (18-24") with rapalas so the dodger doesn't mess with the natural Rapala action. It's just an attractor. I haven't fished the two set ups side by side enough to say how much it helps -- but it seems to.
The last few weeks and deer creek the score of rapalas with dodgers vs those without is about 4-1. But that sample size is still very small. And frankly other stuff has far out-fished rapalas with or without dodgers.
I generally use them with squids as you say, but they are a very effective substitute for pop gear in front of a wedding ring, kokanee killer, or other spinners. And they are much less draggy.
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Hi Curt,
Finding any walleye up north yet?
Pretty slow down here but the ones we do get are very healthy.
Your new boat sure looks nice.
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This is accurate in my experience. I have seen that the catch rate goes up with the attractant that the dodger offers. Specifically on Friday I was trolling the same lure on two rods and the only difference was that one dodger was all silver and the other had a dash of orange on it. The Orange was out fishing the all silver so I moved both rods to it and the bite leveled out. I have see this happen before at DC and Strawberry.
The motion the dodger provides a little benefit to a rapala or LC jerk bait, but as others have stated the action is a huge help to a squid and other baits. There is also a small speed window where the dodger is behaving correctly and the crank bait is as well. When you are running a squid and other lures the window is larger since the lure is designed to be run at the same speeds as the dodger I selected.
I used to be a pop gear guy, but moved to light tackle, down riggers and small dodgers so that the weight of the gear matches the fight in the fish more closely. Fighting a nice rainbow or cutthroat on a light or UL kokanee rod is a lot of fun. The depth control of the down riggers is a huge advantage to success. It is amazing how just a few feet up or down in the water column can make a huge difference in your catch rate.
By no means am I an expert, but I have been experimenting a lot with different options and I feel that I am starting to dial in some patterns that work.
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Dodgers are the work horses of Kokanee and trout fishing.
First, Create An Attraction Repsonse
Leading the proper setup is a dodger. The lure is then attached to the dodger by a short leader. Frankly, the shorter the better - a minimum of five inches but no more than 14 inches (except for apex types). The deeper your target depth is in the water column, the shorter the leader. For squids, RGTs, hoochies and bugs a five inch setback is more productive than a 14-inch setback regardless of target depth.
But what does the dodger really do? The dodger is the most crucial part of your setup. What is astounding is that given the importance of the dodger, why is it that so few kokanee fishermen give it second billing in telling their success stories? The most likely answer centers on a general lack of understanding of what the dodger actually does.
As the dodger is moved forward through the water, it displaces water. When water is displaced, it creates a wave. The kind of wave and its intensity is determined by the shape of the object moving in the water and how fast it is moving. While a sleek shape will still make a wave, a shape that moves side to side will produce more intense waves. Squids, RGTs, hoochies and bugs are sleek. But while they still make a wave as they are pulled through the water, they do not make much of a wave. Yet place them a short distance behind a dodger that is moving side to side, and you have given your sleek presentation abundant action.
The shape of the dodger and the speed it is going in the water determine the intensity of this side to side action. Speed and shape determine how much water is displaced over a set forward distance.
This back and forth displacement of water is creating a particular kind of wave - a low frequency sound wave
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There are so many factors as to why a dodger works or doesn't work. In some lakes they work better than other lakes and that might have to do with the number of fish in that lake or the depth you are fishing. There is no doubt that trout can see a flasher from farther away than just the lure by itself but when their numbers are high or they are feeding on the surface, especially in the Spring and the Fall, I believe there is no need for dodgers but again that could depend on the lake. I think when you are fishing deep, a dodger really helps a lot. Yea, I gave up fishing with pop gear years ago, mainly because I don't keep many trout but also because, as mentioned, the pop gear takes away from the fight of the fish and when you don't plan on keeping them, the fight is what it is all about, imo.
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Great read! Thanks!
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at strawayberry last fall when fishing was hot I was catching over 60 fish a day with my downriggers at 20 and 25 ft. down
using dodgers. I wanted to see if I could get as many fish with out the dodgers. so I took the dodgers off. and I was catching just as many with the dodgers off. the main lure I was using was a Pro-Troll Kokanee Killer
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That warm up last week got them going, so yes they are starting to show up here and there. I wish we had eyes up here like you guys do in UL. Yea, I'm very happy with the new boat, it is nothing like yours of course but it is just right for me.[
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