Downrigger Weight to Spoon/Lure Distance and Leader?

[Nessmuk]

I'm working on rigging my boat for trolling in Canadice and Hemlock lakes and am wondering.......

How long a leader and what strength? Is fluorocarbon desireable or necessary?

When trolling how far should the spoon or lure be behind the DR weight?

Being new to this I don't have a clue as to what is reasonable.

[Big Dave]

Spoon lead from weight I usually run 10 to 15' Once in awhile I will streach it back to 40 or 50' if nothing is hitting the regular leads. I use 14# line on Cayuga with spoons , 20# for the flasher & fly rods.

[zackblain]

on canadice I run 10lb seaguar floro leaders. Lakers 20 er so back everything else varies from 30-100 ish

[Pete Collin]

Fluorocarbon is marketed as being superior because it is supposed to become invisible when immersed in water. Take a glass of water, and put in a piece of regular mono and a piece of fluoro and compare the two. Reach your own conclusion whether it is worth the expense, shorter shelf life, and tendency to be brittle.

I use 15 pound leaders while trolling, 10 when jigging. a rule of thumb is the deeper you go with the downrigger, the closer the lure can be to the ball. I have seen fish on the graph actually swim up to the ball to look at it. When laker fishing, you can put the lure 10 feet behind the ball. While targetting rainbows last summer, I sent the lure out 50 -100 feet back before clipping it on the release. Worked just fine.

[Nessmuk]

Thanks guys! Wasn't aware of the shelf life/brittle issue with Fluoro which is good to know.

Fish looking at the ball is interesting. The ball I have is natural lead color. Should I paint it and if so what color? Bright color as an attractor or black trying to hide it?

[Big Dave]

The streach in the mono would make hook sets hard with the real long leads off the release. I like my chrome sharks. Some guys like black, others like bright colors like orange or green. You have to find what works for you. Read the old posts there is a ton of info. in these. The reports section has info on time of year and where and what was working. Take that last part with a grain on salt not all fisherman will give away secerets. Just listen to the vhf radio in Mex. Bay in the fall.

[Sk8man]

I've used 12 pound mono on all my downriggers for over 40 years including on lake Ontario (until the fleas last few years) and I use a 10 pound fluro leader about 6 or 7 ft long (any longer and you have trouble with the swivel at the tip of the rod when reeling in a good fish in netting the fish. I use a small black barrel swivel at one end of the fluro leader and a good quality small single ring (welded) ball bearing swivel at the other end. Don't use split ring swivels as the line can get caught in the depression in them and sever your line with a good fish. The distance you run from the downrigger ball is a "trial and error" process at best. Much depends on what particular lure you are using (e.g. flutter spoon (sizes/weight matter) or stick baits (jointed rapalas are less sensitive to higher speed and work better on turns and closer to the boat). Lakers will USUALLY tolerate lures closer to the ball than rainbows,browns or landlocks. Browns are also reputed to be more sensitive to lure size (smaller the better most of the season) and smaller line diameters too maybe because lighter lines offer less resisteance in the water and may increase action of the lures but they also often like slower speeds. General rule: start out with 20 ft. and increase in ten ft. intervals as you change lures if not successful. For rainbows, landlocks and browns 40-150 or 200ft back especially in shallower water. Deeper the water generally the closer you can run your lures especially for lakers.....I have had success oon lakers and large salmon 4 ft from the ball (they may see it as a "connected" relationship) Hope this helps.

Les

[Nessmuk]

Les,

Thanks for your reply! I have a rod rigged with 12# test so will leave that as is but will have to add a fluro leader. Interesting about the welded or soldered ring since the flutter spoons I bought Sat. on my pilgrimage to Sutton's all have soldered rings. Will have to look for suitable swivels.

My only experience with trout/char are with stream fish which under certain conditions are easily spooked by anything that doesn't look right to them. Hence the question about ball to lure distance. My target is Lake Trout thought a RB, LL, SP or BRN would be nice. I was thinking 20'-50' but it sounds like longer might be required at times.

Amazing how many unquantifyable variables in trolling. I had fly fishing figured out in a somewhat formulaic way and wonder if it is possible to get to the same level in trolling?

[Sk8man]

You'll get there.....patience is a virtue :>) On the plus side of things is that the folks here are saving you YEARS and YEARS of time (and I'm not exaggerating) by providing valuable info which was not available to many of us before this site and the age of computers. Additionally, the "old timers" usually did not share any "secrets" in the old days with the exceptions of lvery close fishing pals or family. I even knew of a father/son whose rivalry was such that they didn't even tell each other what they werr achieving success with :>). Have fun and enjoy yourself.

Les

[Nessmuk]

When is ice out in the spring

[Sk8man]

No quick or easy answer to that question....depends on the particular LAKE and the WEATHER for that particular year. The main Finger Lakes may or may NOT freeze up on a given winter. Seneca for example has only totally frozen a couple times in over a hundred years. I used to fish it all year long including Jan and Feb sometimes crunching through the ice in the canal with my little 13 ft. Whaler (not highly recommended) :>) The past couple years and last year in particular were warmer than others and the ice didn't form real well on many places. Honeoye usually freezes faster than Canadice and Hemlock because it is very shallow (approx. 30 ft max depth) and if the others are frozen too it may warm faster too in a given year. If it is a "normal year (whatever that means) ice out usually is sometime in mid to late March into April on Hemlock and Canadice.

[Nessmuk]

Les,

I was kidding and you came up with an answer! I should be ready to fish in a couple of weeks but sadly that won't happen due to family responsibilities. Once things settle down, maybe in the spring, I might get some time on the water. Really looking forward to trying this.

Everyone's willingness to share basic info is appreciated. I learned flyfishing the hard way but there was a lot more written about it. Most of what I find about trolling for lakers is geared to Canadian lakes. The only thing I can find related to the Finger Lakes is excerpts from Earl Holdren's booklet.

[apb]

sk8man you have a pm!

[Sk8man]

Les,

Everyone's willingness to share basic info is appreciated. I learned flyfishing the hard way but there was a lot more written about it. Most of what I find about trolling for lakers is geared to Canadian lakes. The only thing I can find related to the Finger Lakes is excerpts from Earl Holdren's booklet.

Earl Holdren's book was my "bible" starting out way back when and another good one was written by my (now departed) good buddy Scott Sampson an accomplished outdoors writer and one of my close fishing pals. If you can find it it is worth the reading. It is entitled: "GOOD FISHING in the Finger Lakes Region and Western New York" published in 2003 by Sanders Fishing Guides.

[Nessmuk]

Earl's book now sells for over $80 I had a copy many years ago but never thought I would want to pursue this type of fishing

[Sk8man]

Jack you have a PM