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#67062 - 06/20/02 08:52 PM Lake trolling
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Offline
Spawner

Registered: 10/15/01
Posts: 888
Loc: Enumclaw
Okay... I dont know how to troll... I know its almost like a sin... But I need help!
I have a choice between Walker and Sawyer for lakes, and the boat im using has a trolling moter, an electric and a manual downrigger, and a fishfinder.
I got poles and line.
How do I troll? What lures, etc? should I use flies? Pop gear?

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#67063 - 06/20/02 10:10 PM Re: Lake trolling
sushi Offline
Smolt

Registered: 04/20/02
Posts: 96
Loc: seattle
trolling is as easy a thing to learn as any, except that everyone does it differently and that they're all right if they are catching fish. so where do you start? you can troll anything at any depth, but you'll probably realize quickley, and have probably read a hundred times, as the water warms and the sun gets blazing on the surface of the water the fish go deeper. i guess i'm saying that if you are trolling durring the middle of the day you have to fish deeper then at sun up and sun down. if you don't have a depth/ fish finder it's more work but worth figuring out where the fish are hanging. sawyer gets nice and deep so there's room to play with a downrigger, but if you fish early enough you won't need it. anyway my best guesstimt is early you can catch fish in the top 10 to 12 feet of water by say 10:00 go from 10 to 20ft and by 1:00 fish from 15 to 35. who knows maybe at 3 in the afternoon with the sun roasting and the water warm you'll catch fish on the surface, probably not, but there's no one "right" way to do it so just keep playing until you get strikes.

as far as what to drag, rapalas from inchers up to size 9, if there are perch and rainbows in the lake use those colors, the gold works great as well. small thin spoons up to 4 inch, frog colors, silver/ blue combo, gold/ flor. orange combo. pop gear/ wedding ring/ worm seems to be a stand by for all northwesterner's. my luck has always been with smaller bladed pop gear(marketed as kokanee size). ofcourse you can tip spoons with maggots or any other bait you want so long as it doesn't effect the motion of the lure. chances are you've got things in your tackle box already that will work great so you don't have to go and spend a ton of money to catch fish, though that'a always fun. laugh

somebody who helped me out recently recomended a book explaining trolling called the art of trolling, it looked great. also at outdoor emporium in seattle there's a great book on downriggers right near the downrigger stuff.

good luck let us know if you're catching anything!

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#67064 - 06/20/02 10:14 PM Re: Lake trolling
PhishPhreak Offline
Repeat Spawner

Registered: 06/19/01
Posts: 1066
Loc: North Bend, WA
It's really a matter of preference.

Some things to consider that may help\hinder sucess:
Depth - what depth are the fish hanging out?
Areas - where are the fish hanging out?
Speed - what speed will provide the optimum presentation?
Temp - (this can influence all the above)
Food - what are the fish keyed in on?

As for lures\colors\baits\scents\flies - they all work. Some folks just get to like one way better. And each will out fish the others at certain times. I hardly ever just use one lure or method when I hit a lake...

I'd say to forget about the downrigger in the smaller lakes for now. If you spent a lot of time on Samammish or Washington, that would be a different story.

Try to keep it simple to start with. I'd reccomend trying a black or olive wooley bugger or carey special trolled very slowly. Or try very small dicknites or needlefish spoons. Or try small flatfish or hotshots.

About the most simple thing you can do is just use a hook, a few split shot about 24" above, and a chunck of worm threaded on the size 6 to 8 hook. You can slowly troll this or even just free drift with the current\wind. If you want to start adding some flash to get the fish's attention, you can get a small colorado or indiana spinner blade to add about 18" above your bait, and just below the split shot. Once you get that down you can try some 'pop gear' - but I only use that as a last resort (takes too much fight away from the fish IMHO).

Vary your speed - even kill the motor from time to time (make sure you keep enough momentum that your blades continue to rotate...)
Troll in 'S' patterns
Try close to shore, but sometimes the middle is the place to be.
If you get a hit, remember that spot, where there is one, there are often more.

I'm sure others have plenty to add...

Lake Sawyer should be good. Just go early or when it's raining to avoid the 'recreationalists'...

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#67065 - 06/20/02 11:11 PM Re: Lake trolling
Easy Limits Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 05/06/01
Posts: 2959
Loc: Nisqually
For Sawyer, you should use gold colored blades. The water is very stained. Save the silver colored blades for clearer lakes.

Don't forget to throw on a worm too.

I think Sushi and PhishPhreak covered the rest. Just experiment, you may be surpised at what may work.
_________________________
Carl C.

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