have a local resevoir, Northeast USA, think it is about 350 acres, half of it is shallow, 10 feet or less with islands and a lot of structure, and the other half has a dam at the end, and is mostly 20 feet deep, with a 30 foot deep section, that goes to 34 I think is the deepest part.
we troll the 3.5" floating Rapalas, and I've had luck with that on other lakes. I've tried Rapala plugs that go 10 feet deep, but they are countdowns, and they are pricey - and I lost one on the first day, reeled the snap swivel into the rod guide, and I saw fish following it when I reeled in, and I tried to cast out again quick to maybe get lucky, and it snapped on the knot to the snap swivel. I think I'm going to just start always putting a red bead on top of my swivel, and using a flourocarbon leader of 12-24 inches, at least, regardless of rigging, so I don't keep reeling the rigging into the tip of the rod. those ones don't float, so - going to look for it was not an option. I got some other plugs that are Rapala and go 20 feet deep. I think just by looking at a depth map, and getting some bearings from the shoreline, I can make some deeper runs through that area, not that I know that technique or those plugs will work, still going trial and error, and have caught a bunch of stuff, but I'm targeting the Rainbow Trout they stock, but have yet to see one, so - no imperical evidence they are even actually in the lake. Think we hooked up with a few, but they came off and we didn't get eyes on them, so - they could have been bass easy enough. I picked up a 2lb bass trolling a 10 foot deep rapala Yellow Perch imitation. I got them with the intention to pick up Trout, but I've picked up good size bass trolling like that before on other lakes, so - I'm doing somethings not completely wrong.
What rigging do you use to troll for trout? I picked up some 3 way swivels, so I can try to run the floating plugs a bit deeper, but - hard to tell how deep it is or isn't. We also don't have rods that tell you how much line you have out, so - we're just kind of ballparking that, 100-200 feet back is most likely, just by eye.
trying to figure out a formula to flat line different depths with different lures. The plugs are relatively easy, but spoons and spinners and such, like if I want to put that at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 feet, to be at different depths, anyone have a good flatline rigging they use to do that kind of thing? or if I want to add a weight to the rigging and run one of the floating 3.5 inch Raplas 5 feet deeper, I think I'd need to know what weight to use and how far back with greater accuracy. I assume I'll need a rod with a line counter, but I don't know. I'm just using a 20 year old Zebco closed face reel, I grabbed many moons ago and found up at the camp, and it seems fine for how I'm using it, but a line counter would be a benefit or so I would think.
I've had most of my luck with Trout, trolling the 3.5 inch floating Rapalas, but kind of fast 3.5-4mph, and I don't know if that is an indicator that fast is better, or if getting them a bit deeper is why going faster has worked historically for me. So, theory being, if I added a bit of weigh to the rigging, and slowed down to 2 - 2.5 mph, I might get more hookups, especially if they aren't up on top.
I played around with slip bobbers for casting, and rigging a jig and worm, and that seems like it will work to cast and cover a variety of depths and area relatively quickly. Will I have to get that jig right down on the bottom, or will a Trout take it if it is suspended. I don't really care if I lose some of the jigs, the leader would be 8lb flourocarbon, and the main line 10 lb clear Mono. so, If I get hung up, the leader should pop first.
we troll the 3.5" floating Rapalas, and I've had luck with that on other lakes. I've tried Rapala plugs that go 10 feet deep, but they are countdowns, and they are pricey - and I lost one on the first day, reeled the snap swivel into the rod guide, and I saw fish following it when I reeled in, and I tried to cast out again quick to maybe get lucky, and it snapped on the knot to the snap swivel. I think I'm going to just start always putting a red bead on top of my swivel, and using a flourocarbon leader of 12-24 inches, at least, regardless of rigging, so I don't keep reeling the rigging into the tip of the rod. those ones don't float, so - going to look for it was not an option. I got some other plugs that are Rapala and go 20 feet deep. I think just by looking at a depth map, and getting some bearings from the shoreline, I can make some deeper runs through that area, not that I know that technique or those plugs will work, still going trial and error, and have caught a bunch of stuff, but I'm targeting the Rainbow Trout they stock, but have yet to see one, so - no imperical evidence they are even actually in the lake. Think we hooked up with a few, but they came off and we didn't get eyes on them, so - they could have been bass easy enough. I picked up a 2lb bass trolling a 10 foot deep rapala Yellow Perch imitation. I got them with the intention to pick up Trout, but I've picked up good size bass trolling like that before on other lakes, so - I'm doing somethings not completely wrong.
What rigging do you use to troll for trout? I picked up some 3 way swivels, so I can try to run the floating plugs a bit deeper, but - hard to tell how deep it is or isn't. We also don't have rods that tell you how much line you have out, so - we're just kind of ballparking that, 100-200 feet back is most likely, just by eye.
trying to figure out a formula to flat line different depths with different lures. The plugs are relatively easy, but spoons and spinners and such, like if I want to put that at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 feet, to be at different depths, anyone have a good flatline rigging they use to do that kind of thing? or if I want to add a weight to the rigging and run one of the floating 3.5 inch Raplas 5 feet deeper, I think I'd need to know what weight to use and how far back with greater accuracy. I assume I'll need a rod with a line counter, but I don't know. I'm just using a 20 year old Zebco closed face reel, I grabbed many moons ago and found up at the camp, and it seems fine for how I'm using it, but a line counter would be a benefit or so I would think.
I've had most of my luck with Trout, trolling the 3.5 inch floating Rapalas, but kind of fast 3.5-4mph, and I don't know if that is an indicator that fast is better, or if getting them a bit deeper is why going faster has worked historically for me. So, theory being, if I added a bit of weigh to the rigging, and slowed down to 2 - 2.5 mph, I might get more hookups, especially if they aren't up on top.
I played around with slip bobbers for casting, and rigging a jig and worm, and that seems like it will work to cast and cover a variety of depths and area relatively quickly. Will I have to get that jig right down on the bottom, or will a Trout take it if it is suspended. I don't really care if I lose some of the jigs, the leader would be 8lb flourocarbon, and the main line 10 lb clear Mono. so, If I get hung up, the leader should pop first.
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