Chasing the Pig

[Redrebel]

Many studies have shown that fish do scatter when a boat passes over them.  Some species more than others.  Walleyes are indeed boat shy.  Trout and kokanee, not as much as walleye.  But what I have observed over many years of trolling is that I almost always see fish directly beneath the boat displayed on my sonar.  The top 5 to 10 feet of the water column directly under the boat has a lot of clutter that masks any fish that might be there, but below 10 feet, I mark a lot of fish as I troll over them.  I do not have any of the newer sonar systems like ‘Livescope’ but know folks that do and have fished with them.  You can see that fish are there.

I almost never use a setback greater than 50 feet as measured on my digital line counter reels.  Most of the time at 25 feet down or greater, I might use 10 to 15 feet of setback.  At 10 to 20 feet down I’ll stretch that back to about 30 to 40 feet.  I catch a lot of fish.  One memorable outing on Echo, a friend and I caught and released 60 plus trout in 4 hours at a depth of 15 to 18 feet and 30 feet back from the riggers.  When fishing the Gorge for kokanee at depths of 40 feet or deeper, my setback is 10 to 15 feet.  I get limits most of the time in 2 to 4 hours.  I’ve fished on friend’s boats where they like the 100 feet setbacks and we both get limits.

My experiences over the past 40 years of fishing in Utah, doesn’t convince me that setback distances are critical to my catching success.  Lure/bait type, presentation, color, and weather conditions concern me more.  And beside that, the less line I have to reel in to catch and/or release the fish, the better it is for me and the fish if released.

Unlike Scott, I prefer the noodle rods and the 4 on my boat are 7’ Ugly Stik Ultra-lights with Abu-Garcia digital line counter reels.  The rods were under $40 each when I bought them 5 years ago.  Still catching fish.  I use medium/medium-heavy fast actions rods for catfish, wipers, walleye, etc.  My tackle may not work for you and that’s fine.  Part of the fun of fishing is figuring out what does work for you.  Tight lines to one and all.

Man do I appreciate all the info you guys have. All of my Kokanee fishing has been learning by mistake, watching seminars and this message board. I follow the 100 rule. Down 10’ out 90 and so on. I may change things up.