Sebago today

[Stripersurg]

Was out there today with a buddy, trolling at .8 to 1.0 live smelts, on fly rods, and down riggers, picked up 7 togue, a couple were 6 pounds, the others were smaller. NO Salmon today 
Anybody know what the deal is with the boat that is laying in the parking lot at the state launch? Looks like it's pretty beat up.

[fuldraw]

Was out there today with a buddy, trolling at .8 to 1.0 live smelts, on fly rods, and down riggers, picked up 7 togue, a couple were 6 pounds, the others were smaller. NO Salmon today 
Anybody know what the deal is with the boat that is laying in the parking lot at the state launch? Looks like it's pretty beat up.

if you look close the boat was actually dragged upside down out of the water a week or two ago the seats were actually on the ground next to the launch but some one picked them up and put them back in the boat

[fuldraw]

Your fourth sentence says it all Tony. 1.3 mph won't cut it for using smelts. Need to go slower. Right now on Sebago, if you can fish with someone else who has a boat that trolls below 1.0 mph, you can catch lots of fish anywhere's from the surface down to 3 colors of lead line. Just off the last buoy and to the right is holding lots of fish, that's why some people are plugging right there. Hope this helps. Good luck.

i disagree with this somewhat.  normally i would completely agree at that speed for using smelts but not for salmon.  yes, you can and will catch salmon on smelts that slow but we have been fishing them fast this year and have been doing really well.  we have been going between 1.7 and 2 mph on the gps.  my buddy and i started doing this a couple weeks ago because it was really windy and we needed to keep control of the boat and it worked, we fished 4 hours and got 6 salmon and a laker.  i went back two days later with my dad and started trolling the same way.  he said i was crazy for going that fast with smelts but we didnt have our second line in the water when we got our first of 10 salmon that morning.  so for the salmon on sebago what it really comes down to is HOW YOUR SMELTS ARE RUNNING.  like said before take your time on getting them to ride the way you want.

[THREECAR]

What is the surface temp down there this week ?  I do well trolling frozen smelts at 1.2-1.5 mph, but  NOT until surface temps have risen beyond 42 degrees. For ice out trolling, I agree with Dennis and others, .8 is better. It helps greatly when going that slow that you are over fish from the get-go, because you just don't cover much water at that speed. If your not on top of them, you will waste precious morning bite time before you find them going .8 mph.  There is more to the success of guys like Dennis, Buddha, and Will, than just speed and bait roll. They are putting the boat where the fish are right off the bat, rather than winging it. I guess what I'm trying to say is speed and bait action are absolutely important, but where you are fishing is just as important. And where you are trolling is 3-dimensional, it's not just where you are on the lake, but also how deep (or shallow) you are fishing at that spot.
I understand a lot of you already know all this stuff, I'm just adding this for some of the new trollers asking questions. 

[rpc55]

excellent advice everyone. I have to troll with bags to get to .8 - .9. Today was mirror smooth, perfect for bait. In the chop I use tandem streamers like the gray ghost. I catch more fish with streamers but the bigger fish have been caught with smelts trolled slow.

[HuntFishSled]

Was out there today with a buddy, trolling at .8 to 1.0 live smelts, on fly rods, and down riggers, picked up 7 togue, a couple were 6 pounds, the others were smaller. NO Salmon today 
Anybody know what the deal is with the boat that is laying in the parking lot at the state launch? Looks like it's pretty beat up.

I happened upon the guys trying to drag that beat to heck Bayliner out of the water last Wednesday. I was trying to get out of the water and they had it sideways across the whole launch, breaking ropes while dragging it upside down up the concrete. They finally got it to one side enough so I could get my boat out of the water. They said they found in sunk in the Songo. I hope they aren't planning on leaving it there. It's been over a week now. 


For what it's worth I've been doing well on Salmon and togue trolling at 1.8-2.0 with bait.  A lot of times the initial speed up from 1.4 to 1.8 will initiate a strike.

[tcfish]

     WOW lots of great advice and pointers .... Everybody has there favorites...

[buddah]

That boat has been underwater way up in the crooked river beyond the locks for 3 years now,nice to see someone pulling it out of there.As far as trolling speed goes it's important to remember that different speedos register different speeds,for instance,the paddle wheel speed sensor on my fishfinder transducer will say i'm going .6-.8 mph while my gps will say i'm going 1.2-1.5 mph.

[HuntFishSled]

That boat has been underwater way up in the crooked river beyond the locks for 3 years now,nice to see someone pulling it out of there.As far as trolling speed goes it's important to remember that different speedos register different speeds,for instance,the paddle wheel speed sensor on my fishfinder transducer will say i'm going .6-.8 mph while my gps will say i'm going 1.2-1.5 mph.

Actually they did say they found it in the Crooked River, my mistake.  I agree about the speed. When I'm at 0.8 on my fishfinder....My GPS says 1.6-1.8.

[bluelund]

   
   Well my 2nd time out on sebago this year and my 2nd SKUNK!!!
 What the heck??  tried mooslooks ,couple other spoons , smelts ,shiners. Could only get the boat down to 1.3 slowest tried different speeds
      Fished 30'---- to ----- 110 feet .  I did read a few fish on the finder   I only had i hit towards nasons .... Went back and forth between nasons to muddy river to songo
                            used mono floro on troll rod and fly rod with lead core
      What am i doing wrong ..
[/what are you using for leader and how long is your leader one of the most important thing is the length of your leader      quote]

[pfd161]

how long a leader should we be using?

[outdoorsman]

Does anybody ever back-troll for salmon?  Sure way to slow down, and it is a proven method for other fish that like slow speeds (such as walleye). 

I have been laughed at many times while back-trolling for walleyes, until the laughers ask how many fish we have caught that day.  Might be worth a try!

[Stripersurg]

Does anybody ever back-troll for salmon?

Interesting, used to do that out on some big rivers on the West coast, years back, bottom bouncing, back trolling for big King Salmon, never heard of that tactic being used on a lake though.

[bluelund]

 at least thirty feet