Rainbows & Lakers

[FLXTrolling]

I've been having a blast this season playing with these Lakers & Bows... The $500 Wooden Drift Boat I picked up on Craigslist is easily the best money I have ever spent! Of course I've managed to pile in about 4X's that much in gear, but don't tell my wife!

Small crafts are a riot - I've experimented a bunch, but I think I figured out a setup that works for me, and I've got it fairly dialed in now. I tried both copper and lead core this year, but they are too much to handle on my boat under summertime conditions. One & Two color leads, and 50' & 75' copper worked great in the spring, but once I had to start putting more line out it became cumbersome, especially trying to run 6 lines in a boat you can barely stand up in...

So, in combination with my Downriggers, I'm using an assortment of divers - A hot set-up for me has been these Big-Tuff "Jet-Style" Divers in the 40 size off of planer boards - I only need to let about 80-95 feet out before clipping on the board - that puts me down 25 - 32 in my estimation. Another plus is the fact that they float until you put tension on the line - It makes for easy deployment around the other lines on my boat.

I'm also using size 1 Slide Divers, on setting 2 - I'm using a 25' mono leader, tied directly to 50# braid. I simply slide the mono section thru the diver, then clip the diver in place right before the braid section (I do this because the diver tends to slide a bit when clipped to braid) . Then I've been letting out around 80 - 110' additional - putting me down, I'd guess 25 - 40', but who really knows or cares - it works and I can repeat it.. This week I ran a 107' & 117' - that is total - so 25' feet of mono + 82 & 92' of braid after the diver. (The only difficulty occured when I tried Canandaigua, and the braid was pulverized by fleas).

About the dowriggers - they are now downrigger, singular - Haha, Saturday morning got off to a rough start - I had my normal fishing buddy, Kevin back with me this week. Earlier this week, we met up to replace the wire rigger line with braid, in an effort to reduce our overall drag through the water - Anyway, we forgot to "clip" the downrigger back into the mount and it was lost on the ride over... If anyone finds a Scotty 1050 on the side of the road somewhere between Canandaigua and Hemlock, let me know!

The lures have been spoons, spoons, and more spoons... I dabbled in FFs but they are not confidence bait for me this year -

The set-up went 6 for 7 on Saturday, with 4 Rainbows landed (1 lost), and 2 Lakers - The largest Rainbow absolutely annhilated the 117' Slide Diver Rod at about 9:15am. Kevin is holding it in the photos attached - he is also the subject of my amateur video (enjoy!) the same fish is pictured twice, I just thought the photos were pretty cool!

Every rod on board took a fish, which was also a first - the big boy hit a Silver Streak Magnum in Black and White (Don't know the name of the pattern) - Orange and Pink have been my go to colors this year, but there was no ryme or reason today - 2 fish came on that Mag Silver Streak I mentioned: Magic Man DW Super Slim, Michigan BlueBerry DW Mag, FLT 42nd, & FLT Bull Froggy Frog standard size all took fish...

All 'Bows & Lakers were released for others to enjoy....

PS, my video will have to wait - The file is too big for this board, and the link is taking forever to load on YouTube...

Edited August 10, 2015 by FLXTrolling

[Skidplate]

What lake is that in the pictures

[FLXTrolling]

^{What lake is that in the pictures}

 

^{It's a pretty gorgeous lake right?  Hemlock....}

[Skidplate]

Cool.your getting some nice fish you got shallow program down your going to kill them this fall

[FLXTrolling]

Thanks!  Let's hope - I definitely prefer to run a shallow program over deep...  particularly if the Rainbows are active

[JJBat150]

How hard do the big-tuff jet divers pull ? Thinking of trying one from the kayak.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[FLXTrolling]

How hard do the big-tuff jet divers pull ? Thinking of trying one from the kayak.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Lake Ontario United mobile app

 

Not too bad... feels like a mini dipsey maybe?  What size are you running?  We have been running the 40's, and I'd say the pull is comparable to a Rapala TDD 11, with a little more pull and less wiggle - if you have experience running those.  The 30's are probably very managable.  They are nice because they float at rest...  so if kayak fishing you dont have to worry about running them into the ground if you stop.

Edited August 13, 2015 by FLXTrolling

[Skidplate]

I dont think you can row fast enough to do that and make them work consistent enough to make it worth it but if you can please dont bet me up.lol

[FLXTrolling]

Well - your arms will be tired, haha...  but I think it's worth a shot...  You can run them on braid with small reels, and they are very light weight.  We have a 14' boat so I know how bigger reels and long leads can cause headaches on a small boat...  we started running these divers because they are very easy handle..

 

But I have to admit, I've never "row trolled" so it could be awful...  let us know!

Edited August 14, 2015 by FLXTrolling

[Skidplate]

I'm not going to say where but the place i run in to kayakers trolling there is a 100 plus foot cliff and less then a hundred yards off the wall your in 80 plus feet of water absolutely no shore and a lot of boats and duck hunter and they can't keep up with the pack and it becomes a sh!* show in water that's very cold just my opinion if I was doing that I would use core and snap weights

[FLXTrolling]

I imagine in a kayak though, you'd have to stop with a fish on - and play the fish...  If you want to run 2 cores, or snap weights, that 2nd line is likely going to sink to the bottom..

 

I'm sure guys who do it can tell me if that's the case or not.

[Skidplate]

What do u think would happen to a d diver when not moving?

[FLXTrolling]

What do u think would happen to a d diver when not moving?

 

The divers we are talking about float at rest...

[143447]

My first boat back in 2004 was a little 12 foot aluminum I cut my teeth in trolling on Hemlock. The 40 jet divers were a sure thing for me alot of small browns and lakers killed spoons in there especially in May/June. We didn't catch as many bows back then , Steve and Chuck will agree I think but there were some huge Lakers in there and alot of them!!

I tell ya its a great Bass fishery too plenty of 3-5 lbs smallies and large mouth around if you can find clean water with no Golden trout thrashing the bottom.

[Skidplate]

Just saying it sounds like a lot of work to fish a very limited rang.you can do a lot of different stuff with core and would be easier to pull in that situation.a long time ago in a land vary far away I fished for bass with a 14' alumacraft and a 9 horse and 4# bass pulled that thing all over.good luck and be safe I really do wish him the best.please dont make my have to get you out of the water and mess up my one day of fishing a week.lol

[FLXTrolling]

I've yet to catch the famed Golden Trout out there, haha. I haven't seen a Brown in Hemlock yet - except for Chucks picture!

I'm changing it up and trying Canadice for a Brown or two tomorrow. I'll let you know if they actually exist!

[Skidplate]

First question on here when people say golden trout on here is that a carp or what I just google just wondering because a previous post some one said that and it was a carp I don't get it

[JJBat150]

Alot of times I bottom bounce a cowbell / peanut rig a foot above a 1 lb weight and am able to keep my speed any where between 1 -2.5 mph on the fish finder GPS, so I'm thinking the big-tuff would be about the same resistance.

 

I've actually been having pretty good luck with this sliding weight made by Anger Innovation, but it does get a bit awkward in the yak when I've got it setup with heavier weights when landing a fish.   

 

I'm basically looking for something lighter / smaller that will still get me deeper then 4 color depth with about the same amount of line out.  I just picked up a 1 oz Off Shore Tackle tadpole weight, and was going to try it out this weekend. 

Edited August 14, 2015 by JJBat150

[FLXTrolling]

Very cool. I have to try yak fishing at some point. Probably great exercise. I figure if I did, I'd have 20 series reels and run those jet style divers. Keep things simple. I have no idea how deep they are running, but the size 40 on 20# mono, back 85 - 95 has definitely been in the Rainbow zone.

[justtracytrolling]

You can paddle fast enough to run jets.