Northwest Fishing Reports

Hello All,

I need advice on the proper way to troll for trout; never done it before today.
I hit North Lake and trolled end to end with a rooster tail. Sometimes used weight, sometimes not. Got one nibble and that was all.

Help!

Try trolling in an S pattern it makes the bait/lure change speed and depth and you will cover more water. Also change up you lure and maybe tip it with a piece of worm or maggot. Some popular lures include Pop Gear, Wedding Rings, Flatfish, Hotshots, Dick Nites, even just a worm with a single split shot works well.

Depth and speed are very critical. Trout are at 10' now mostly. Depending on your speed
it could take more weight than you were using, to get to the right depth. Early morning and
late evening they come to the top, but after that, they will only go deeper as the water gets
warmer, going into next month. I use keel weights, there on a beaded chain, and come in
different sizes, with quick change snaps. They come in 2 packs. Buy a pack in each size.
1/8 for spring and when the trout are shallow, 1/4 for 6', 5/16 or 3/8 for 10', and 5/8 for
10' and below. The depth ranges are for my boat/motor/speed I'm trolling, so experiment
and figure out the proper speed to get the depth you need. Plus if you use dodgers or flasher, that
changes every thing, thats like puting a kite on your line, and getting deep takes even more
weight. Some days you have to troll faster than others, also pay attention when you make
turns if you get a bite when the lure is falling or if it is rising. That can tell you if you need
more weight or need to go faster. Add bait and scent and hang on.
fishinwithg

Go deeper....

Try trolling plugs. Like a rapala countdown # 5 or just experiment with other makes or models. I have trolled tons of diffrent lures but have always caught the bigest trout on plugs.

We got tons of strikes on a Needlefish three feet down recently.

If nothing is working just use a plain worm on a size 8 octopus hook. I know it sounds goofy. Add a few split shot and troll slowly. You are almost always guaranteed a bite of some kind.

Trolling is pretty simple. I dont think it was the way you were trolling that had to do with lack of fish probally your choice of lure. Is that all you used for bait? The one thing I like to do is put my bait a few feeet in the water so I can still see it and see what its doing, is the blade spinning? is the plug woobling? is the spoon wobbling too fast? too slow? just check these things out. Pop gear or a dodger always helps but these arnt that fun they take a lot away from the fight of the trout. I like to use leaded line too, pricey but it gets the job done. Also I dont cast when Im trolling, you dont need to and when casting there is a lot better chance to get a tangle between the lure and the weight. Another thing is loosen the drag and pull out line and count how many "pulls" you went out so you take better note of where the fish are. A scent never hurts

GPC, I agree. If ytou are trolling a place that you can just let your line out from the side o your boat do that for sure. There is nothing worse than making a whole pass of a lake just to reel in and see that your hook swung around on the cast and hooked your line. If this happens you can tel most of the time by the action of your rod ti but it is different with every lure.

DFalcon, try out Flatfish. Sam Kafelafish gives some good info in this thread

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/Forum/vi ... ?t=121&p=2

Both wedding rings and Flatfish have given me great luck but I tend to catch bigger trout on flatfish trolled behind a trolling weight.

gpc wrote: Also I dont cast when Im trolling, you dont need to and when casting there is a lot better chance to get a tangle between the lure and the weight. Another thing is loosen the drag and pull out line and count how many "pulls" you went out so you take better note of where the fish are. A scent never hurts

I cast it when the fishing is good....If you wanna make sure you dont get tangled, flip the spool and stop the line right before it hits the water...It'll fling the lure back behind the weight so you don't get tangled...Works about 99% of the time

Flatfish? Can you get them at Joes?
Should I use a leader as well or jus t go off the main line?
My trolling motor has speed increments of !0, 25, 50m75 & 100 -- I assume I want to stay somewhere around 10?

Yea you can get them at Joes..Anywhere really....They are pretty common...Use a leader and some weight...

Like flying_soldier said, check out my last post on flatfish and if you still got any questions, lemme know....

Probably stick to 25 (speed range) right now....If your not sure, just go the speed of the other guys on the lake...

When I was a pup my dad taught us this little technique.
Take a 1/8th or a 1/4 oz barrel weight and slide it on the main line.Then tye on a swivel,add about 3 feet of leader to the swivel with a Carry special and go a trollin.

Fish with a buddy. Start out one rod with a worm 18" behind a ford fender or pop gear. Try a needlefish or a flatfish on the other rod. Try elevations from the surface down to 70' depending on the lake and the time of year (water temp). Change your lure on the second rod every half hour. The rod with the worm should catch small fish at least.

These are some other good lures:
dick nite
needlefish
flatfish
mepps spinner
rooster tail
wedding ring tipped with worm or corn