Lake trout trolling

[super_hawk2012]

Next year I plan on doing a lot of trolling for lake trout any suggestions on a brand and action rod I should use. I currently have 2 berkley 9'8" medium action. Looking for 2 more that would work for salmon too

[rolmops]

The seize of your rods is directly related to the seize of your boat and the seize of your crew.

When I fish the fingerlakes for lakers in a 19 foot open bow by myself  I use 10 foot eagle claw light action rods (almost noodles) This softness of the rod allows me to really bend that rod when I set the rigger. That makes for a line that tightens up very fast often put tension on the line right away. That is great when fishing and steering by myself. On a larger boat with at least one other crew member you can use 8 foot rods that are a bit stiffer.

[super_hawk2012]

I have a 17 foot crestliner super hawk. I usually fish solo or with 1 max 2 buddy's.

[Hookedup]

We use the Ugly Stick BWD 1101 9f or they have it in an 8ft 3.   Will work for every thing on any lake, then you will need your dipsy rods.  With a 17ft Crestliner if you could get enough folks in it you could run as many rods as you want.  Put a load of kids in it and put out 18 rods.  

[super_hawk2012]

We use the Ugly Stick BWD 1101 9f or they have it in an 8ft 3. Will work for every thing on any lake, then you will need your dipsy rods. With a 17ft Crestliner if you could get enough folks in it you could run as many rods as you want. Put a load of kids in it and put out 18 rods.

For some reason dipsy divers don't interest me at this point but they seem to be used by a lot o people. Would love to run some planer boards with riggers double stacked with mupps. Having enough trouble getting the boss on board to buy all my rigging gear. Dipsys will have to wait a few years. Plus I would like to get a new fish finder/GPS and fish hawk x4d too.

[King Slammin]

If you're not running wire or braid dipseys, you are missing out on a ton of fish. I would rather have 2 divers out than a FishHawk. Don't get me wrong I love the fish hawk but it doesn't catch me as many fish as the divers

[fathobbit0074]

Gotta run dipsys Simple as that. Other stuff can wait if needed

[Sk8man]

You might want to start by stepping back away from things and reanalyze your objective (s). For example do you want to actually catch trout or just be "one of the guys" with the latest electronic "gizmos". On the one hand you are saying that your wife runs the show and that you are concerned she may balk at the cost of things and then you mention buying expensive electronics before getting on board with actual fish catching equipment. Getting and learning to deploy basic equipment should be your first concern. That would be the first step int he process not putting the cart before the horse.The suggestions regarding inexpensive but highly productive dipseys are good logical input.....thinking about a Fishhawk without getting or employing essentials first makes no sense.

[jason]

Just do whatever keeps your better half happy. I catch more fish off riggers and top lines then dypsy. The only time I run a probe is after a big blow and that's only to find the temp break and the speed of the current. Once you know you boat speeds which in finger lakes top speed of 1.9 to 2.3 your going to catch fish.

[fathobbit0074]

Some days riggers don't fire and dipsys catch all the fish

[Nessmuk]

Superhawk,

 

Though on a very tight budget, I am in the process of gearing up to troll in the FL.   Though I have chased stream trout for a number of years I find lake fishing somewhat intimidating for anything beyond small pan fish.   Find the fish and present the bait/lure is the simple game of fishing but it gets a lot more complicated in big bodies of water.

 

I decided to go for a Fish Hawk TD ($130) which I hope will allow me to get a rough idea of where the temperatures are and an inexpensive Huminbird 561 sonar to "see" structure and maybe fish.  

 

After reading a lot about trolling both here and in books from the library I decided to try to get BOTH DRs and Dipsys  as well as a pair of in line planers.  I may also try bottom bouncing with some big sinkers  and might possibly try a SGR. 

 

My goal is to have at least some idea of where the fish are or should be and to present the lures to the fish.   I am assuming that it will take some time to learn to use both the Sonar and TD to best advantage.   I'd like to add an X4 to the DR but will wait till I get more experience to make that decision.

 

If you enjoy reading about fishing as I do you might want to look for Ken Schultz's book "The Art of Trolling"    Many old books have some interesting material on trolling and fish species that may or may not be useful.

[super_hawk2012]

Sk8man, appreciate the input but I think what I was saying came out wrong and agree with you. That I should look into dipsys before electronics. However that being said my boat fish finder is garbage an I like to fish multiple species and finding structure is important so that is a priority first the probe is really just something one day I would like to have. Nessmuk. Deff gonna look into that book. I'm a very beginner when it comes to trolling so a good read may be very helpful. So back to the task at hand. Any other suggestions for trolling rods?

[Sk8man]

Super_Hawk 2012 Sorry if I came on a bit strong....and I guess we did get off topic as well....and I can understand your concerns regarding a depth finder for multi-species....the topic heading threw me a bit I guess.( Lake Trout Trolling)   Good luck. Les

[super_hawk2012]

Ha ha thanks les. Ill need all the luck I can get.

[Lakertaker187]

If you get frustrated with riggers and planers, try running copper. I run copper with an okuma rod and reel. I target lake trout with them it's awesome! Just some food for thought. Good luck have fun!

[rolmops]

Did you consider leadcore? It is a cheap way to get deep down.

[super_hawk2012]

I have 2 big Jon electric riggers. Just looking for advice on some rods. Other techniques (dipsys planer boards ect) will come in time. Just new to the downrigging game. Gotta start somewhere

[hawkeye625]

Ugly stick bw rods 1101.  Caught a ton of salmon and trout on them and fairly inexpensive.  Light enough to give you a nice battle with browns yet heavy enough for large salmon.  Also work for planer, lead core, and copper lines.

[letsfish2day]

I fish a lot alone out of a 14 ft row boat. I know the feeling of a tight budget from the boss. I use 2 Seth green rigs on meat rods. Catch tons of fish. Yes I know the 2 pound weight takes a lot of the fight and fun out. Lakers are not big fighters anyway. Gives ya up to 10 spoons in the water as well.

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[Bada Bing]

I rather catch one fish on light tackle than six on a a dipsy diver or Seth green or lead core. I guess if your into taking pictures of fish then you don't care about light tackle fishing.

[Netbender]

Superhawk, keep them long and light. I am using 10 ft crappie rods on my DR's when I am fishing solo. They are not expensive and provide a nice fight with a 4 or 5 lb'r.

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Edited February 18, 2014 by superhawk18

[Keep'n it Reel]

I ran the noodle rods last year just I had fly reels on them the one to one ration on a medium arbor reel was tough to keep up with rainbows when they decided to play. But I did pull some nice lakers from down deep

On them 120 to 140ish made for a lot of fun! As many have said ugly stick lights I use the 8'3"s and have ha no problems

[laketrout6]

Did you ever consider jigging for lakers instead of trolling?

All you need is an electric motor, a good quality fishfinder ( and know how to use it) a light spinning/levelwind outfit with 8 # test and a hand full of inexpensive jigging spoons. Lakers are a lot more fun on light tackle and quite often more effective than trolling.

 An example. Today two of us boated 45 lakers in three hours (all but our limit were returned unharmed) at the south end of Keuka. Our boat record was January three years ago of 51 by noon for three of us.

 Lots of guys on this forum can give you good advice if you want to try it.

[super_hawk2012]

I have and do jig for lake trout but I just got riggers so I'm learning and getting set up for another technique when jigging isn't possible

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[brent fingar]

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