Successful Trout Trolling

[qwerfdsa12345]

Hi, I am a beginner for trolling for trout. I want to troll in lakes, but I don't know the right depth. I don't have a downrigger to have the exact depth, but I have a variety of different trolling sinkers. I have a trolling motor too. I know that I have to go about 1 mph, but about how fast is that? And how do I know how deep my lure is? I just want to have some successful trolling. I've caught actually a lot of fish just through guesswork, but i want to be consistently accurate. I have a fishfinder, but that's the only equipment I have. So, how do you go about trolling for trout?

[clarkbre]

I'll give it a whirl and see if I can help you. Others please jump in to help out.

Trolling for trout in lakes-
I often find it best to go out in the early to mid morning. I usually use a 6' Ugly Stik with 4lbs test line. For my presentation, I use a 4" dodger or flasher of some sort. This won't necassarily will dive but the weight of it will bring it down to about 15-20 feet below the surface. Attached to the dodger I usually have about a 2 or 3 foot leader with either a fly, fly/worm/pautzke's, or a wedding ring/worm. Any of those combinations are pretty bullet proof for catching an average lake trout.

As far as the boat speed, it depends on what kind of boat you have and your trolling motor. I have a handheld Garmin GPS that I take with me to use for a speedometer. For my 16' V-hull, I have my motor set on #2 out of the 5 forward speeds. This gets me going about 1.0 to 1.2mph depending on the wind. It's funny that actually slowing down a bit can help the actioin of the lure and how it attracts fish. Oh, also, as you're putting out your line, set your motor to the speed you want and watch the dodger. If it's moving side to side in a smooth pattern you've got the right speed. If it looks like it's being dragged through the water, then you need to slow your boat down. The fish finder will help as well since you can most likely see where fish are hanging out in the water. If they're a little deeper, you can always add some pencil lead weight to your line to pull it down just a bit more.

Hope all this information helps. Others should start chiming in with their techniques as well.

[A9]

Figuring out depth while trolling for anything for that matter without a downrigger is pretty much guesswork until you can get a feel for about how deep your going...It just takes experience, trial and error to figure out where your at in terms of depth. You can always go faster then 1mph, that would be on the slow end for me. Speeds 1, 2, and 3 all get used on my Minn Kota on my aluminum boat. Don't get set on one speed. Certain lures and presentations require different speeds and also the fish will change their mood as well. Sometimes ripping a lure through the water will increase the action significantly, and vice versa, where a reaaal slooow pattern will start producing.

[Awoods]

I troll american and spanaway lake quite often in the summertime. I like to take the simple way and avoid all the dodgers and down riggers. Usually I go very slow and just troll a worm or a piece of powerbait with a bit of weight. Of course if they're biting like crazy I'll switch it up to a lure with single barbless hook (that way it does'nt count as part of the limit) but yeah I keep it simple and it works quite well. Would'nt work so well in a lake washington or sammamish though.

[swedefish4life1]

Trout in most lakes are not nates and pretty easy and have a slower learning curve:chef: .
That being said lets put 3 guys in your tub.
First put one guy on the right and with a rod holder on a wedding ring and crawlers little weight will do.
The other on a frog pattern smaller flat fish to the far left in a rod holder.

The other one down the gut trolling a fly right down the gut off the rear transom and make sure its cutting a VVVVV on the waters surface and you can tip it or not that will cover the bases and find what they want and after a short time go to the most productive application and bang them!
This process is not for massive deep lakes but on regular size puddles will make it simple for the easy bake learners:colors: and with these 3 choices in general will put you on fish and show you what the system and body of water wants .

The same can be said with spinners and spoons cover the bases get outside the black box and give you choices.

Just like the Commuting lanes find 2 dumbies and stick a rod in there hands= name one Bubba#-o the other Cornbread#-o and you will find the most productive process to bang fish and the most fish in these smaller lakes and dont forget the Dick nite!!:cheers:

Fish On

Here is a dumbie with a nice cutt :chef:

[Gisteppo]

Swede has some good info for ya, and I will add a little eastside change.

One other shallow and mid level lure to try is the Rip'n Minnow or a small lipped Rapala. I use trout, perch, and largemouth bass prints, usually working the trout pattern within 3-4' of the surface and the LMB print runs 8-15 ft of water depending on my mood and how deep the area is. Trout are predators, so if you are trying to move into the larger (over 14") trout and you know the lake supports a population of fish that size, its a great way to change up the lures and see if they are looking for a larger meal.

Cranks are versatile for trolling, because you can work a shoreline simultaneously by just reeling up and continuing to fan cast a shoreline at the same speed. This works particularly well at river and creek junctions and inlets, as our little chrome friends like to see whats moving out, hopefully eating a flushed smolt or fingerling.

E

[G-Man]

Trial and error is one of the things I like about fishing. However, if you want to speed up the learning curve for trolling, sans downriggers, there is one source of info the stands above all others. Get your hands on a book titled "Precision Trolling" There are several editions out and the latest incorporates the super lines, lead substitutes and new lures in it's tables. The price of a new edition is steep but well worth it if you don't have the time or fishing buddies on board with which to experiment. You can find out a bit about the book and what it contains at this web site: http://www.precisionangling.com/ If you are really lucky you may be able to find an older copy in a used book store.

[Anglinarcher]

There is a lot of great information above that you should consider. I find no fault at all in it.

Having said that, I grew up trolling, and very successfully, and I still don't know half of what I would like to.

Getting a book on trolling, any book, can shorten the learning curve, but nothing but time and experience on a specific body of water will turn the tide of success in your favor.

Example, in Montana's Lake (reservoir) Koocanusa most people troll with lures that are far too small. It is not at all unusual for the more successful trollers to be trolling with 6 to 8 inch lures for the big trout. Small lures just don't match the food, the Kokanee.

[qwerfdsa12345]

This has been my usual rig: an orange wedding ring with a nightcrawler on a 2 foot leader, followed by either a swivel and egg weight or a willow leaf gang troll and 1 oz banana sinker. With just the wedding ring and egg sinker, I caught about ten trout, and I've only caught one on the flasher and banana rig. I have a ten foot fiberglass with a heavy marine battery, me, 2 kids, tackle box, icebox, and a minnkota endura 30 at speed one. I've got some 4" silver flashers at home. Should I keep my rig the way it is now? my problem is that I'm based on guesswork.

[qwerfdsa12345]

One last thing, I was reading field and stream and it said that if you troll at 1-2 mph with a 6 foot diving crankbait and 3 oz of lead, you will go about 22 feet. To get to 20-30 feet deep, should I use 3 oz of lead?

[A9]

This has been my usual rig: an orange wedding ring with a nightcrawler on a 2 foot leader, followed by either a swivel and egg weight or a willow leaf gang troll and 1 oz banana sinker. With just the wedding ring and egg sinker, I caught about ten trout, and I've only caught one on the flasher and banana rig. I have a ten foot fiberglass with a heavy marine battery, me, 2 kids, tackle box, icebox, and a minnkota endura 30 at speed one. I've got some 4" silver flashers at home. Should I keep my rig the way it is now? my problem is that I'm based on guesswork.

More time on the water is the best way to get dialed in. You aren't far off, I'll offer some pointers to help you out. Try speed 2 out a bit, typically you'll want to troll slow when the water is cold, so speed 1/2 are good for this time of year, but when the temps and the activity of the fish pick up, try speeds 1/2/3...

Also, increase your leader length to 4 feet.

Sounds like you have the gist of it, ya just needa keep plugging away and getting more comfortable with it all...

[qwerfdsa12345]

This has been my usual rig: an orange wedding ring with a nightcrawler on a 2 foot leader, followed by either a swivel and egg weight or a willow leaf gang troll and 1 oz banana sinker. With just the wedding ring and egg sinker, I caught about ten trout, and I've only caught one on the flasher and banana rig. I have a ten foot fiberglass with a heavy marine battery, me, 2 kids, tackle box, icebox, and a minnkota endura 30 at speed one. I've got some 4" silver flashers at home. Should I keep my rig the way it is now? my problem is that I'm based on guesswork.

So you think my rig's okay? do you think I'm hitting 1 mph with the right depth?

[Anonymous]

I believe I've commented on a similar subject to this in a past post but it's always good to revisit from time to time. The speed at which your troll, needs to make your lure move appropriately in the water. For different lures this will happen at different speeds. If I'm pulling a flatfish, my speed will be slower than if I'm pulling a dodger and hoochie combo. It will do a person little good to troll slow and get little or no action out of your lure. So put you offering in the water next to the boat and slowly increase your speed until it starts to move enticingly. This will be the minimum speed for that particular lure. Now heading into the wind will slow you down and moving with the wind will speed you up so you will want to measure your speed in some fashion. My dad used to spit in the water next to the boat from time to time to gauge the speed. Though this worked well I tend to use my GPS for speed and also watch my rod tip action for change. Keeping a steady pace is not really necessary and many folks, including myself, will intentionally troll in a "S" pattern to help change the pace of the gear behind the boat. One other thing to note, if you have more than one rod out at a time, you'll want to make sure that they all have good action at the speed you are trolling. You don't want to have out a flatfish and next to it a spoon that needs to be pulled at a fast clip, you'll only be fishing effectively with one lure.

[qwerfdsa12345]

One last thing, I was reading field and stream and it said that if you troll at 1-2 mph with a 6 foot diving crankbait and 3 oz of lead, you will go about 22 feet. To get to 20-30 feet deep, should I use 3 oz of lead? Or is this even true?

[GeryG]

Go buy some keel sinkers, they come in a 2 pack. It has a beaded chain with a clip on one
end, and the weight part looks like it has a rudder on it. Keeps your line from twisting.
Get sizes: 1/8oz for spring, 1/4oz for late spring, 3/8oz for early summer, 5/8oz for summer.
This varies per condition. Start out with the 1/4oz, if you get no bites, move to the next size
weight and so on. Still no bites, change lure, and start at the 1/4oz weight and try again.
If you keep a clip on your main line, it only takes seconds to change these weights. And if
some one else is fishing with you, start out with different size weights. You will find the fish
much faster this way. Trolling motor speed: 1,2, and some times 3. Now this information
only applys to trolling a wedding ring with no flashers or dodgers
You dont need them, plus its just a draggggggggggggggggggggggggggg
Wedding rings catch big fish, just use your imagination, and make your own.
This works Ive been doing it for 17 years.
I start trolling at the end of March, find a shallow lake, after 2 to 3 days of warmer than
usual weather. Short of setting the hook for you I spelled it out here.

[qwerfdsa12345]

So 3 oz is way too big?

[qwerfdsa12345]

Thanks for all of the info so far. I now know how to get the right speed (watch the action of the lure) but I still am not too clear on how I'm going to get to a good depth. I'm pretty sure that in the winter trout hang at about 20-30 feet deep in the morning or evening, and I will be winter fishing. So at about 1-2 mph, how much weight should I use?

[G-Man]

That's where the book precision trolling comes in handy. Your depth will be determined by your line diameter, weight, lure, speed and how much line you have out. Varying any of these will change your depth and that book lays it all out for you. However, if you have a fishfinder/depth sounder you can get a rough idea by working a part of the lake that is "x" feet deep and adjusting the variables until you start to touch bottom. Just make sure to be quick to bring up your line or you might just lose your gear. One last note: you'll need to be able to determine how much line you have out behind your boat. Most folks use the pull method, measure the distance from the reel to the first guide and then pull the line from the reel to the first guide, repeating until you have put out the desired amount of line. While this does work, I found that a clip on line counter, is much easier to deal with and more accurate. You can get them at most tackle stores for around $10.

[qwerfdsa12345]

Just to see, what would you say is your favorite trolling lure for trout? I have heard a lot about dick nites, wedding ring/worm combo, kwikfish, flatfish, needlefish, squids, original rapalas, mepps, panther martin, vibrax, nightcrawlers, curlytail grubs, etc. What do you think is the ultimate trout weapon? I'm not trying to find out your secret lure or anything like that. I just want to see what you guys think.

[swedefish4life1]

Many great but match the body with the hook color and size the key to all Trophy fish. MATCH THE HATCH even in hardware for trout productions/Bonics 101:chef: :compress: :colors: The Puffer balls last picture kills metal, trout, white fish even Kings and Vibrax spinners as well and Coho Love them in the correct colors and hooks to 23lbs