tips for a noob to trolling on lake O

[ch312]

seeing as i finally have a boat for downrigging, i'd like to get out this week sometime to try for my first lake ontario fish. that's right, i've never wet a line in lake o before i'll be looking for any species of trout and salmon on the west end of the lake to get familiar with the boat, setup, and style of fishing.

 

any tips for the first timer in regards to depth, presentation, etc? i'm currently limited to 2 electric riggers and a 10 color lead core setup. if i like the game i'll be adding a mast/boards, another lead core rig, and a better sonar.

 

these are the only spoons i have at the moment. what would your first picks be? what are some "must haves" that i should add to the box?

 

Edited April 16, 2012 by ch312

[Billy Bob]

The narrow flutter spoons on the top as far as spoons......but I would get some stick baits for trolling the shallow right now.....Browns are in very close and with either inline boards or Great Lake boards you should be trolling in 6-12 feet of water using straight stick baits like Rapala's and even J-9's for water over 10' deep....Jointed Rapala's go deeper....orange and blues are good colors to start with...

[Live2fish85]

Don't worry about spoons so much right now. Flat line body baits with planner boards and you are set. Don't even need the riggers.

 

PM me and I will give you more info.

Edited April 16, 2012 by Live2fish85

[ch312]

thanks for the tips guys, but i don't have any planer boards yet. i'll be looking into them in the near future.

[myot]

The spoon on the bottom row on the right of the tape measure has been hot this year and will continue to be until the bait switches from smelt to elwife

 

Dan

[Harrison]

echo the Rapala J11 or 13's.

 

For Browns, see if you can get your hands on some AC shiners.

[tonyb]

Perfect start...big water trolling can get very complex quickly, if you let it. Try to keep it simple.

 

I'd suggest using only both downriggers with lines set from 10-40 feet deep over 30-50 feet of water and keep an eye out for coloured/stained water. It holds fish better than clear water, and is possibly warmer.

 

Location is everything with Salmon/Trout, and you'll do better where the fish are...right now that is from the Niagara River to Jordan or along the South Shore of the big lake.

 

Temperature also plays a role, look for the warmest water you can find using tools on the web like this one

 

All the spoons from Center to the right in the picture are more suitable for casting (can also troll, but not ideal)

 

Stick to the rest of the spoons and play with depth, speed, and the distance of the spoon from the downrigger release behind the boat before worrying about colour.

 

Generally the shallower you are fishing, the longer the lead behind the ball.

 

I would start with one shorter, say 25 feet and another far back 75-100 feet.

 

One last thing, this type of fishing will almost certainly ruin pretty much any other type of fishing available in fresh water...you've been warned, the addiction factor is pretty high!

 

If you decide this is a new type of fishing you want to explore further, there is another great message board called spoonpullers.com that is worth checking out for trolling specific information.

 

Tony

Edited April 16, 2012 by tonyb

[Pikeslayer]

Read this book;

 

http://bluehorizonsportfishing.net/books-and-dvds/book-2.html?99442fec65e0565b58159c3121c2ed84=af13f3f03f6c2560b9c8c6ba5ba87d87

 

Always have this one on your boat;

 

http://www.walleyetacklestore.com/prtrbigwaed.html

 

You will catch more fish.

 

Slayer

[Fang]

Good info being provided but I would not discount the spoon bite at this time of year. In the spring the typical presentation spread includes boards, flat line, riggers and dispeys. I start with a mix between body baits and spoons and always let the fish tell me what they want. One of my top go to spring baits is a Northern King C5 spoon. It's a replica of the discontinued Pirate 44 spoon which was a standard.

 

Too me spoon colour and size is very much personal preference and you'll start to have confidence is a few spoons that will prove to produce. I've got a few lockers of spoons but usually start with a number of tested and proven ones.

 

Dream weaver DW standards and Super slims are probably my top 2 producers. Some days they like the thin spoons (smelt and emeralds), some days it's an alewife bite. NK's, stingers and Silver streaks will all catch fish.

 

For colours I tend to be biased to greens, blacks, silvers and chartreuses. Also make sure you mix up the spoon inside with painted whites , silvers and golds, don't forget the golds!!!

 

I learned a ton about hot new colours and combos by following the charter reports on AT THE OAK and digging through their archives on popular spoons. Many new colours and spoons are first to hit the market with the charter guys on the south side. It was on this sight several years ago I first saw something called a spin doctor.