Trolling sans down-riggers?

[edgerat]

Can you guys give me some tips on what will work best for trolling for kokanee without downriggers? It isn't that I refuse to use them i just don't want to spend a bunch of money on gear for the boat before I know if I like fishing for them or not.
Isaac

[The Pew]

Go early in the season. I frequently catch them on .5 oz at 20 pulls through early June. 2oz at 40 pulls catches a lot after.

Learn to jig. I did last year and can't wait for some more top water jogging at lbc. Will also be working on vertical jigging this year.

Make a poor mans downrigger. All sorts of ideas from old salmon rod/reel with a 4lb cannonball as the downrigger to a heavy dipsy on a cord with a release.

[edgerat]

gotta talk in layman's terms man I didn't get much of that, new to trolling period.
Isaac
P.S. Thanks!

[chukardave1]

Google slide diver lite bite and check them out. I picked a few up and talked with the gentleman who produces them. Claims they will fish just like a downrigger down to about 80' or so with relative ease. I will be trying mine out the next trip out.

[nwsoftball]

.5 at 20 is a half ounce of weight and twenty pulls from reel equals how much line to let out. Counting pulls is about the only way to determine where the fish are and to get reproducable results. There are books available that can help you to determine how deep you're trolling with a different amounts of line out. A line counter reel could really help. Most guys troll for kokanee from .8 to 1.4 mph.

[skeetshtr]

Originally Posted by edgerat

Can you guys give me some tips on what will work best for trolling for kokanee without downriggers? It isn't that I refuse to use them i just don't want to spend a bunch of money on gear for the boat before I know if I like fishing for them or not.
Isaac

Leadcore line works very well for deep water trolling for Kokes. I have caught a lot of Kokanee on leadcore before downriggers became so popular. I would think it would work as well today as it used to. I still have a couple of Penn 109s spooled up with leadcore that changes color every 10 yards. Of coarse for the price of a spool of leadcore, a reel to put it on and a rod suitable for trolling it, you could get a clamp on downrigger and enjoy the fight of the Kokanee much more. Try jigging or early season trolling and you can avoid any spendy tackle.

[Cap'n Ron]

On a semi-related note. What kind of rod do you leadcore/weight & gangtroll experts like for those techniques? There are lots of people using this technique on the lakes that I fish and I am considering building a few rods for it. I am a downrigger guy now and I've done the leadcore thing but I just dug out my salmon trolling rods for it.

[Klamanite]

Originally Posted by chukardave1

Google slide diver lite bite and check them out. I picked a few up and talked with the gentleman who produces them. Claims they will fish just like a downrigger down to about 80' or so with relative ease. I will be trying mine out the next trip out.

Tried mine for the first time yesterday. I picked up a 14 lb Mack on one while running a blue/silver Lyman however, it took a little experimenting to get the settings right.

[Doc_Rhen]

The most common method I see (and sometimes use) when not having a Downrigger is to use a gang troll and spinner (usually weddingring) and then varying the weight and distance to get me to the desired depth. I know that charts can get you pretty accurate information but most of the time I just experiment by setting a couple poles out and then seeing which get bit and how deep the fish are on the screen. I run from no weight to 1.5 oz depending how deep I am trying to get. Any more than 1.5 oz and I feel like I am overloading my rod and the fun of the fight is completely gone for me. I run these rigs because I often have 5-6 rods going at a time and last year I only had one rigger, so I would stack two rods on the rigger and then set four back with gang trolls and weights. I use a little different method than the "pull" method. My trolling rods are also my jigging rods and I have been jigging in 50' of water so I know that it takes about 25 cranks to reel in 50' of line so when I let these rods out for trolling I will turn off the anti-reverse and back the offering down a certain number of "cranks" most of the time last year it was 25 to 35 meaning that I should have been letting out 50 to 70 feet of line.

[sweeper]

Originally Posted by chukardave1

Google slide diver lite bite and check them out. I picked a few up and talked with the gentleman who produces them. Claims they will fish just like a downrigger down to about 80' or so with relative ease. I will be trying mine out the next trip out.

Did the guy from slide right say how you get down to 80 ft? Their depth chart only goes to 50 ft. If you can really go to 80 ft (without wire line) then I would probably pick a couple up.

[chukardave1]

Originally Posted by sweeper

Did the guy from slide right say how you get down to 80 ft? Their depth chart only goes to 50 ft. If you can really go to 80 ft (without wire line) then I would probably pick a couple up.

From what I understand there are some different size divers that will go deeper. I got the smaller size that will do 50'. But he also did mention that it was tough and he recommended wire line for the greater depths. If you are at all interested send him an email through the website and he will give you a call. He can tell you exactly what you need and how deep you can go. He is very nice and eager to educate about his product.

[dvdbgfsh]

I wouldn't have a boat withoput riggers!!! I love to troll with riggers. I've had electrics on my 21' sport fisher and manuals on my drift boat that I use in the local lakes.

Watch the fishfinder, drop the lures down to just above the fish, and catch a limit. It can't get any easier than that.

[streamcatcher]

Originally Posted by skeetshtr

Of coarse for the price of a spool of leadcore, a reel to put it on and a rod suitable for trolling it, you could get a clamp on downrigger and enjoy the fight of the Kokanee much more.

I do a lot of different types of fishing, and spend most of my $$ chasing salmon--but I did like the idea of fighting the fish rather than the weight so I got a couple of the cheap scotty clamp-on downriggers and have really enjoyed them. I think you can get one set up, with a weight, for less than $50. If you're only going to use a rigger a few times a year, it's not a bad way to go. You can also make your mistakes with the less expensive versions before stepping up The biggest drawback is they only go down 100', but most of the time that's fine.

[edgerat]

Decided to just step up and get a pair of the manual Cannon's, if we don't like trolling we can always sell em and not lose too much dough on the proposition.

[moknots]

Originally Posted by Doc_Rhen

I use a little different method than the "pull" method. My trolling rods are also my jigging rods and I have been jigging in 50' of water so I know that it takes about 25 cranks to reel in 50' of line so when I let these rods out for trolling I will turn off the anti-reverse and back the offering down a certain number of "cranks" most of the time last year it was 25 to 35 meaning that I should have been letting out 50 to 70 feet of line.

For spinning reels and direct drive baitcasters, that is flat Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that! An alternative to consider is stopper knots of brightly colored braid or fine cordage. I trim the tag ends a little long to make them easier to see, and typically tie them at 50' and 100' "up" my mainline. Makes it a snap with levelwinds that don't allow the Doc Rhen meathod

[Doc_Rhen]

Originally Posted by moknots

For spinning reels and direct drive baitcasters, that is flat Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that! An alternative to consider is stopper knots of brightly colored braid or fine cordage. I trim the tag ends a little long to make them easier to see, and typically tie them at 50' and 100' "up" my mainline. Makes it a snap with levelwinds that don't allow the Doc Rhen meathod

My Steelhead/bull trout/laketrout/8-10# Rainbow fishing levelwinds are ten feet per pass of the line guide across the spool (counted them letting them down on a downrigger). I have not counted my koke levelwind, but I probably will not ever run it without the downrigger.

[King13fisher]

I always troll for koks with two down riggers, each side. And two long lines out the back...both catch equal amounts...for the long lines I prefer a 7' ugly stick with a spinning reel...load the spinning reel with 15lb ultragreen...my terminal gear starts with a banana weight, then flasher...ford fender or similar, then a school of minnows right behind the fender...then a snubber, then your leader to the lure...I will use up to an 8oz banana weight...let the gear out slowly as you troll by turning the brake off the reel and reeling backwards...count at least forty revolutions...with all the weight the ugly stick gives the best signal when you hook a fish...reel in steady but not too fast...you also need a longer handle net...not the best if your looking for the fight...we get that with the down riggers...but adding meat fish to the boat this works awesome...again, sometimes the long lines out catch the downriggers.

[Cap'n Ron]

EIGHT ounces?! Basically thats turning the ugly stick into a downrigger.

No wonder I didnt catch as many fish as with downriggers. The biggest I ever used was 4oz. and it felt like that was too much. Thanks for the info king13.

The ugly stick you are using...what kind of arch or bow does it get in it when fishing with all that weight and gear. Would you say it bends past the top 1/3, 1/2 or 2/3? Also, is it difficult to detect when you are dragging shorties around?

[King13fisher]

Up to 8oz...mostly later in the season...it depends on the depth your getting the fish...early in the season less weight, then move up as the kokes go deeper...the ugly stick bends probably around 1/3 to 1/2...I like it because of the strength and the flimsyness...it shows the bite even with smaller less subtle fish...the tip will bounce...I've used rods with more backbone and stronger tips and they don't show the bite as well

[Cap'n Ron]

Cool. Thanks for the input. I'm getting a better picture on what kind of rod to build for this technique.

[MattPark]

I use a pair of heavy (30-60lb rated) Ugly Stiks with Penn 320s and a 40 oz cannonball, with a release attached. I bought a couple cheap clamp on line counters for them. It works great, and cranking up the lead isn't any big chore.