Northwest Fishing Reports

what and how should I troll in a small 8 acre lake for bass. I've heard of flatfish, but what size and color?

Derrick-k wrote:what and how should I troll in a small 8 acre lake for bass. I've heard of flatfish, but what size and color?

Assuming you can troll without too many weeds, try an F7 or larger flatfish, pearch, frog, gold, black with orange spots, etc.

Weight enough to touch bottom every once in a while, or tick the tops of weeds. Than try to locate structure, like underwater humps, points, channels, etc., to troll over or around.

Trolling is not the "normal" bass fishing method, it it can be done. Buck Perry established the term Structure Fishing many years ago, while fishing for bass, with his "spoon plugs". It can be done!

bass are suckers for worms. I have caught them on wedding rings and a half of a worm trolling for trout. And I have caught them on double whammys with a full worm trolling for walleye. If the lake that you plan on fishing has a large population of stunted perch or bluegill, I would stay away from any type of worm. They will go nuts over the worm, you will catch one or two 3" perch but loose your bait about every minute. But the good thing about a wedding ring or a double whammy and worm combo is, you can catch any fish thats in the lake. These two lures are probally my most productive lures of all time. But I am not a huge fan of using them, they are pretty much the last lure I try at a lake, sort of a "save the best for last" deal. But every time you get a hit on either one you have to reel in and check if your worm is still there. When going for walleye you use full night crawlers, at $2.50 a dozen it can get pretty pricey. Then with trout you only have to use a half worm, but around opening day its very easy to have 20 fish days, either way its not cheap. Sorry, I got a little off track. But thats what I would try, they will put fish in the boat.

To follow up, I caught two smallies (3lbs~) while trolling for wallies using bottom bouncers on Banks a couple weeks ago. I think it goes to show you that you can "try" to fish for a specific species, but you never know what youre going to haul in.


ps - CNR'd both smallies

Last night on Newman Lake I grabbed a rod I had rigged up for Roosevelt Walleye with a bottom bouncer and a wedding ring on a 18inch leader. I tipped it with a nightcrawler and trolled as slow as possible and caught 4 slot limit LMB and 3 smallmouths. Trolling works

trolling for bass can be super effective especially trolling crank baits on a along a drop off. they actually made it illegal to do this during tournys thats how effective it is. alot of pros used to use this tech. cast as far as you can but keep your bail open and use your trolling motor to let out alot more line. then just reel in like normal. you can cover a huge amount of water this way and find some fish. once you get a hit keep casting in that area, it could hold alot of fish!

OOOOOOOO LOOK WHOS TRYING TO CATCH BASS NOW ? I thought you hated bass because they ate trout ..now you want help on how to catch them .. did you have change in heart ? this guy , im still ticked about that thread you posted derrick .. here is a suggestion on how to troll for bass , USE A TROUT SWIMBAIT , OOO BUT WAIT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT RIGHT !!

OOOOOOOO LOOK WHOS TRYING TO CATCH BASS NOW ? I thought you hated bass because they ate trout ..now you want help on how to catch them .. did you have change in heart ? this guy , im still ticked about that thread you posted derrick .. here is a suggestion on how to troll for bass , USE A TROUT SWIMBAIT , OOO BUT WAIT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT RIGHT !!

It depends on how deep the lake is and how the bottom coutour is. If it is too shallow without any drop offs then you will be constantly snagged or hooking weeds,and you wont have much success.. I would try trolling smaller crankbaits"in natural colors""depending on water clarity or weather conditions." Rather than flatfish since the only success i've had on flatfish have been small bass.

lol Dez you crack me up.

YO Dez you crack me up! Maybe another lost soul has been rescued from the dark power bait side!

Maybe he's trying to thin the bass population so the trout can live safely. How valiant! He is the knight in shining armor for the terrorized trout!

Bigbass Dez wrote:OOOOOOOO LOOK WHOS TRYING TO CATCH BASS NOW ? I thought you hated bass because they ate trout ..now you want help on how to catch them .. did you have change in heart ? this guy , im still ticked about that thread you posted derrick .. here is a suggestion on how to troll for bass , USE A TROUT SWIMBAIT , OOO BUT WAIT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT RIGHT !!

That's funny Dez. :safe:

Hey Derrick just troll for trout and when you catch one just leave it on until a bass eats it. J/K Please don't take me seriously.

To me trolling for bass is no fun. I know guys who do it and are very successful at it, but it just has never appealed to me to troll except for trout and salmon. So I can offer only a couple words of advice, keep asking, keep reading, keep fishing, you'll get it figured out.
I know what I would do and use if I trolled for bass but I will let someone who does this regularly give you their advice on the subject.


fishnislife

i think ive already mentioned this in another thread but people troll for bass with a 3-way setup, swivel down going to a weight and a leader off the other swivel going to a crankbait. like tnj said, trolling along bottom structure can be very effective.

I troll a lot, mainly for trout. However, I aways seem to catch a bass or two whenever I bring my trolling path in too close to shore (depending on where I am fishing at of course). For example, two years ago I made a trip to Curlew Lake looking to catch some trout. The morning bite wasn't going so well and I was trolling past this shoreline. I decided to bring the boat past the mouth to this small cove and wham! I got a hit on the bank side lure. It ended up being a small largemouth. So, I tied on a small crankbait and went further in towards the cove. I caught and released about 30 fish that day. The moral of the story is that trolling is a great way to find bass. I'm not so sure that it is a great way to catch larger fish, as they tend to be kinda lazy not apt to follow a steadily moving lure. Good luck!