Trolling

[black hills tj]

How many guys here troll for whatever really?  Pike, Walleye, Lakers, Rainbows.  This year we've kind of been experimenting with it I guess.  Dragging spinners along weed beds for pike or spoons and inline spinners for rainbows.  Running spinning reels on anything from light 6' rods to medium-heavy 6'6" rods.  No weight or anything on the line, just the lure on the end.  As far as I can tell, its easy to recognize a hit and make a quick hookset, but we can't possibly be running very deep.  Deep enough for bigger fish anyway.

With the dipsy diver or fish finder type device that pulls your lure down to whatever depth, how do you even recognize a hit and set the hook?  Do any of you guys troll on spinning rigs or do you run a baitcaster type reel or specific trolling reel with a line counter?  Any help would be great.

I'm not afraid to jig for lakers at the Pac, but I'm always open to trying new things.

[jgouldin]

I troll for everything I fish for.  Last year the only time I went to pac I made some 6ft learders then put 2-4oz banna wieghts on and ended with a spoon or crankbait and did ok.  I am a walleye fisherman at heart and pull cranks 90% of the time for them also(unless i am on shore then 1$ crappie rigs with minnow or crawler, my biggest fish 31in eye at orman came on a dollar rig from shore).

[black hills tj]

Are you running like a fish seeker or some kind of planer at all?  Just pulling them on medium or medium heavy type rods?  I'm slowly increasing my crankbait, both standard and lipless, collection, and I have actually caught a couple rainbows on a standard black/silver crank at Pactola.

Any ever pull umbrella rigs for freshies?  My uncle taught me how to pull some big umbrella rigs for stripers out in Massachusetts, and the other day I saw a smaller version at Cabela's that caught my eye.  I kind of want to try it, but not sure what to hook up on it.  Nor do I have any idea what would even be interested in something like an umbrella rig...pike? rainbows?  eyes?

[jgouldin]

I use mostly med rods and i run 14lb fireline on all of them.  We use planner boards to get out away from the boat sometimes but nothing much else.  I have seen some defferent ways to get your bait in deeper water like 3 way rigs.  (with 2-6oz) of weight on them.  Last summer i caught raibows with flicker shad on about 200 feet of line out and some pike on big cranks that go 30 feet deep all at pac then the banna weights we use and got snagged in 90ft so we were getting deep with them.  I think just about anything would hit the umbrella rigs.

[black hills tj]

I have a few flicker shad, and some pretty good sized cranks.  Maybe I should grab a couple more different colors of the flicker shad.  sounds like you have good luck with them.

[jgouldin]

I do have good luck with flicker shad.  we have caught eyes on every color.  My favorites are the black and silver or black and gold sunset but have like 8 other colors I like. 

[DIRTBALL2]

To enjoy the greatest success while trolling, no matter which species you have targeted, it is absolutely essential to know exactly what depth your bait is running at! With that in mind, a line-counter set-up is an absolute must have! You also will need to know the dive curve of whatever crank bait you are running! There is a trolling handbook, the name escape's me at the moment, you want to get your grubby, little mitt's on! It's chock full of important information about trolling! You could almost think of it as the "Troller's Bible!" If I can recall or find the name of it, I will post it here! Good luck! ;DDIRTBALL2

[jgouldin]

I know of the book you are talking about and have seen it.  For me though I run only 2 def types of cranks and three deferent sizes of each crank and from the internet or the package or dumb experience of getting snagged or knowing when i am hitting bottom i have made my own "trolling bible" that works for me.  I believe the book is 80 or 100 bucks.

[black hills tj]

Not sure I want to spend 80-100 bucks on a book.  Although I am sure its full of useful information, I'd much rather put that 80-100 bucks towards a trolling specific rod/reel and/or some gear.

I'm trolling out of a Larson bowrider that we ski behind when we aren't fishing, so downriggers are out of the question.  Rods are handheld or squished into a handle of some sort wherever they will stay!  So this isn't exactly a high tech operation.  I'm not going with leadcore, either.  From what I've read, while it may not be the best method, I'll most likely be adding a bunch of weight ahead of the lure(whether it be a spoon, crank, etc) to get down to the fish, or try a jet diver or fish seeker planer type device.

[jgouldin]

How deep are you trying to get tj?

[black hills tj]

How deep are you trying to get tj?

Wherever the fish are!  My favorite black and silver crank, a kastmaster that's my go to, and a silver roostertail consistently produce rainbows just dragging behind the boat.  I would like to get into some lakers, though.  Through the ice I was hitting em around 60-80 feet, but I've only ever caught one during the summer by sheer luck.

[DIRTBALL2]

black hills tj, Do you happen to know what the main forage species is in the water's you are fishing? I'll use ciscoes as an example. It's important that you know the temperature that the main forage species is most comfortable at. Which in the case of ciscoes, happen's to be 50 degree's. My old fishing buddy Glen used to say that the ciscoes didn't go looking for the lake trout so they could be eaten! :laugh:Therefore we knew that to find active, feeding laker's, we knew we had to find how deep we had to go to find 50 degree water! Lake Trout will always be found in the coldest, most deep part of the water you are fishing. Most of these laker's however, will be in a neutral feeding mood. What you need to do is look for the one's that are active and feeding! All you have to do is get somewhat close to where they are! Laker's will go pretty far in order to hit a lure! For a setup that would be good for both rainbow's and laker's, try running a #44 Sutton Spoon 24" behind a Herring Dodger! Good luck! ;DDIRTBALL2

[Prchmike]

I'm from Rapid City but have lived in Buffalo NY for the last dozen years. I fish Lake Ontario for kings and trout and Lake Erie for walleyes. If you don't know how to troll here you just don't fish period. To fish dipseys you have to use a line counter and braided line or you will wear your self out reeling in a dipsey that hasn't released, and with the line counter you can reproduce a successful setup. They are fantastic tools when you use them right. If you don't want to use the heavy gear to fish dipseys try jet divers the largest versions get down about 40 or 50 ft. and don't require heavy gear. The main thing to remember when trolling is to always stay above the fish, in clear water active fish will come up 20t feet for a bait but won't go down 5 feet for one. I hope this helps and good luck on Pac, I wish I knew then what I know now about trolling.

[black hills tj]

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.

[Prchmike]

tj we fish jet divers alot for walleyes on Lake Erie mostly 20 and 30 ft models because they don't have alot of drag and inline planers can handle them well. They should work well for trolling spoons.