Trolling

[ifish4king]

I need some advice/tips on how to troll. I never troll before and on Sunday was real dissapointed after watching all the trollers catch fish after fish. While bottom fishing produce only 1 for 2 rods and 4 hours of fishing on a small lake for trout. I have better catch rates bank fishing! While on boat, I think I have a tendency to move alot around the lake after 30 minutes of no action.

Problem is my boat has a big outboard motor and on it's lowest setting we are going like 5mph, though the gps/ff says 1mph. I don't think they are very accurate at that speed. I bought two big sea anchors and will give them a try this weekend. Getting my DR this week as well. Had plan on using it for kokes.

I was planning on buying an electric trolling motor but don't think it would work, as I wouldn't be able to reach the handle. My 16' glass boat has one of those splash well. I can't stick a small kicker back there either. Hopefully the anchors will do the job, else my DR will be up on craigslist.

[Cannon]

That would depend on what you are trolling for. For kokanee you can troll between .5 mph and 1.8 mph depending on where you are fishing. As far as speed, 1.0 is fine especially if it is off the GPS. Try dragging a bucket if cost is an issue rather than buying socks although socks work well and are easier to stow when not in use.

With a downrigger, you will be able to fish depth more accurately but you still should run at least 50-100' behind the boat to compensate for the fish shying away from the boat due to the shallow spring fishing.

You can mount the electric trolling motor off the bow if you are looking for a place to put it. An electric does a great job in the wind and will pull better than push.

Try running dodgers in front of your presentation. For starters, I would try pink hoochies, green hoochies, red hoochies and purple hoochies. Rocky Mountain's are the least expensive and work well. Cut the leaders back so they are no more than 12" from the dodger. Do the same with wedding rings. Buy a selection of colors. The kokanee are fickle and change their desire sometimes every twenty minutes or so. If they are not biting change colors.

If you cannot afford the down riggers right now, try long lining. Run your presentation 100-150' behind the boat. This time of year this is very effective.

For bait use Jolly Green Giant shoepeg corn found in the grocery store. To be more effective add some scent to that. I like pro-cure. Krill/anise or crawfish will get you started. You can buy more as the budget allows.

There are some trolling tips on my web site. Just click on my profile and go to my site. Look under tips.

This should help you get started.

[grumman16]

Originally Posted by ifish4king

I need some advice/tips on how to troll. I never troll before and on Sunday was real dissapointed after watching all the trollers catch fish after fish. While bottom fishing produce only 1 for 2 rods and 4 hours of fishing on a small lake for trout. I have better catch rates bank fishing! While on boat, I think I have a tendency to move alot around the lake after 30 minutes of no action.

Problem is my boat has a big outboard motor and on it's lowest setting we are going like 5mph, though the gps/ff says 1mph. I don't think they are very accurate at that speed. I bought two big sea anchors and will give them a try this weekend. Getting my DR this week as well. Had plan on using it for kokes.

I was planning on buying an electric trolling motor but don't think it would work, as I wouldn't be able to reach the handle. My 16' glass boat has one of those splash well. I can't stick a small kicker back there either. Hopefully the anchors will do the job, else my DR will be up on craigslist.

I have seen boats rigged up before with an electric trolling motor mounted to the cavitation plate of a big outboard. I haven't personally done this so I can't speak to the tradeoffs. It would give you steering for free and you might be able to wire throttle control up to where your sterring wheel is. Another option might be to use a trolling plate. I've tried this but didn't like it other people swear buy it.

[Raining_Kings]

Originally Posted by ifish4king

I need some advice/tips on how to troll. I never troll before and on Sunday was real dissapointed after watching all the trollers catch fish after fish. While bottom fishing produce only 1 for 2 rods and 4 hours of fishing on a small lake for trout. I have better catch rates bank fishing! While on boat, I think I have a tendency to move alot around the lake after 30 minutes of no action.

Problem is my boat has a big outboard motor and on it's lowest setting we are going like 5mph, though the gps/ff says 1mph. I don't think they are very accurate at that speed. I bought two big sea anchors and will give them a try this weekend. Getting my DR this week as well. Had plan on using it for kokes.

I was planning on buying an electric trolling motor but don't think it would work, as I wouldn't be able to reach the handle. My 16' glass boat has one of those splash well. I can't stick a small kicker back there either. Hopefully the anchors will do the job, else my DR will be up on craigslist.

Don't give up yet. As mentioned above try a trolling plate, they will really slow you up.. Also try trolling near some other trollers to check your speed. Are you really going 5mph or 1mph. Lure Jensen makes a cool, low tech trolling speed device that you could look into. I find my GPS is pretty accurate and most my trolling is .8 - 3mph depending on what I'm fishing for.

Also Minnkota has an engine mount electric motor that you could consider. It attaches to your main motor, so you can use the same steering controls and include a handheld remote for activation. You mount them on the lifting plates of the motor, so they are out of the water when the motor is running. Only read about them and don't know them from use, but is something to consider.

Good luck.

-= Scott

EDIT - Looks like I'm repeating the last guy. Oh well, you heard it twice now.

[The Pew]

I haven't tried a trolling plate but guys do swear by them that use them.

You can buy a kicker bracket that would bolt to your boat. Make sure you get one rated for a four stroke if you plan on using a four stroke kicker (they are heavier).

Buckets work great.

My trolling setup with no downrigger goes: mainline to snap swivel to crescent weight (.5-2 oz) to flashers/dodgers to lurer/bait. For flashers I like a 24" leader and for dodgers 8-12".

Count the pulls of line (reel to first eyelet) as a way to know how much line you have out. With weight anywhere from 12-50 pulls works. Without weight you want to let out 20-50 pulls just to get it behind the boat.

I prefer dodgers for kokanee and flashers for trout. Red and green wedding rings tipped with corn and/or worm are a good place to start.

[Doc_Rhen]

GPS should be pretty accurate at that speed, but if you do have a small dodger for kokanee, hook it on a rod and drop it over the side of the boat. It should be doing a nice steady side to side roll/sway without rolling over. At 5 mph most dodgers will be spinning instead of dodging.

[kokaneekid]

Originally Posted by ifish4king

I need some advice/tips on how to troll. I never troll before and on Sunday was real dissapointed after watching all the trollers catch fish after fish. While bottom fishing produce only 1 for 2 rods and 4 hours of fishing on a small lake for trout. I have better catch rates bank fishing! While on boat, I think I have a tendency to move alot around the lake after 30 minutes of no action.

Problem is my boat has a big outboard motor and on it's lowest setting we are going like 5mph, though the gps/ff says 1mph. I don't think they are very accurate at that speed. I bought two big sea anchors and will give them a try this weekend. Getting my DR this week as well. Had plan on using it for kokes.

I was planning on buying an electric trolling motor but don't think it would work, as I wouldn't be able to reach the handle. My 16' glass boat has one of those splash well. I can't stick a small kicker back there either. Hopefully the anchors will do the job, else my DR will be up on craigslist.

What kind of fish were people catching at the lake? If I had to guess I would say Rainbow. I have an 18.5 Reinell that I used to fish out of at Detroit Lake before I bought my jet boat. The wife wouldn’t let me keep them because she didn’t want any blood on the carpet. I had to catch and release…. lots of fun right. If you are looking for planter Rainbows pick up a black Brad’s diver, get yourself 4 feet of leader and put on your favorite lure. I liked a small green spin and glow with a barbless treble hook, and Rainbow power bait. I have a V6 in my Reinell so I would put my boat in gear and then put it back to neutral and coast. Early in the year Rainbows are toward the surface, and this will knock the crap out of the planters. Just don’t forget the Rainbow Power bait they make two kinds with and without sparkles. I like the one without sparkles that way you don’t look like you just got out of a strip club after a day of fishing. If you are looking for Kokanee this is a different ball game, with your boat set up I would talk with a Jigger, it is cheap and you can use any boat for it. Speed is too important for Kokanee fishing not to count the 5 million other variables involved with it. If you don’t want to jig then I would get a different boat set up. Good luck and let me know how you do.