Trolling

[DIRTBALL2]

Dirtball, I honsetly couldn't tell you what the main forage species is.  Pactola is where the Lakers are, and it hits depths over 220 feet.

Prchmike, do you fish jet divers often?  Cabela's didn't have any of the fish seekers in stock that I wanted to try, but they do carry jet divers.

black hills tj, What state is Pactola located in? DIRTBALL2

[black hills tj]

South Dakota. in the central black hills

[jgouldin]

These are the fish that where caught in game fish and parks gill nets in 2009 at Pac.
Bluegills
Brown trout
Rainbow trout
Lake trout
largemouth bass
Pike
Rainbow smelt
Rock bass
White sucker
Golden shiner
Yellow Perch

[black hills tj]

Is the Golden Shiner population legitimate or just the result of so many people releasing bait?

[black hills tj]

Picked up some toys today to try my hand at a little more "focused" trolling.

Ignore the Scheel's crap all over the merchandise.  I honestly can't stand Scheel's, but I received a gift card for the store for my birthday.

I know that state regulations limit you to two hooks per line, so I'll rig the umbrellas up with two hooks and leave the other baits as teasers



Flicker Shad...3", 5/16 oz, 11-13 feet in Black Silver, Purple Tiger, and Fire Perch


Two YUM miniature umbrella rigs.  3 arms.  White and Chartreuse(I've caught more than just a laker and pike or two on white baits, and if it ain't chartreuse, it ain't no use!)


Berkley 5 arm umbrella rig with 4" pearl white swimbaits and some 4" "Treuse Goose" swimbaits to swap out for the white


Finally, some 3 way swivels and 2 oz sinkers to get down deeper

[jgouldin]

I am prety sure the state will allow three hooks per line but you will want to check for yourself i dont want to be the reason anyone get in trouble but i have put three on a line before.

[Prchmike]

I'd be more worried about the rainbow smelt population than the goldens. The goldens are more of a bass and pike forage. The smelt live in colder , deeper water and more likely to be lunch for a laker or rainbow. Try some slimmer style diving cranks or floaters with some sort of planing diving device.

[DIRTBALL2]

black hills tj, It look's like smelt are probably your main forage species so the advice that Prchmike gave you is excellent! Don't be afraid to give stickbait's a try on your next trolling outing! Like a Rapala or a Rebel! Get the longer size's, like about 5" long. These bait's will more closely resemble a smelt! I would lean toward's the Rebel because they have awesome holographic model's. I've been doing some research about smelt, trying to discover fact's about them that will be important for you to know! Their preferred temperature range is from 7.2 to 15.6 degree's Centigrade! Don't know how to convert that to Fahrenheit so I hope you do or maybe someone will chime in. They can be found from near the surface to all the way down to 425 meter's. Again, I don't do meter's so someone chime in, eh? Also here's the link to where I found all of this information in case you would like to read about it yourself.   http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Osmerus-mordax.html   I hope this will be of some help. Please post and let us know how you did! Good luck! ;DDIRTBALL2

[black hills tj]

Thanks guys.  I'll be at Sheridan this weekend, so I'll see if any Pike or Rainbows are interested in my new toys.  Not sure when I'll be able to get over to Pac to chase some Lakers, hopefully sooner than later.  I'd like to pickup a Jet Diver, but everything I ever catch at Sheridan is pretty close to the surface, so I'm not real worried about trying it out until I can get over to Pactola.

[htc]

the walker diver is only one i've used for trolling after alot of internet research and works fine just use fake hook set on multifiliment line and the release for easy retrieve.

found online i think at fish usa for about 8 bucks.

-htc

glad i found this thread after finding lakers through ice this winter just ordered two downriggers off ebay for trips back to pactola and flaming gorge and this was vv helpful in finding starting tactics.