Any suggestions for trolling in Hemlock?

[steelydan]

Try a 8 oz round lead ball on a three way rig with a spin n glow or peanut. Bounce the lead ball on the bottom. It's as simple as it sounds and deadly for lakers

[SwedishFish]

Try a 8 oz round lead ball on a three way rig with a spin n glow or peanut. Bounce the lead ball on the bottom. It's as simple as it sounds and deadly for lakers

Does sound simple. I had to search the forum and YouTube to find out what a spin and glo was. Pardon my ignorance. How much of a leader on the 8oz ball and how long of a leader to the business end of the rig from the 3-way? And I couldn't find anything about a peanut. Is it like a spin and glo?

Man.... I work in the tech field. This must be how other people feel when I start talking computer nerd to them and their eyes roll back in their head and they just nod. [emoji13]

Thanks for the help!!

Edited March 25, 2016 by SwedishFish

[steelydan]

8 to 10 inches to weight. About 36 inches from swivel to spin n glo. A trolling peanut is next to impossible to describe. Here is a pic.

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[SwedishFish]

8 to 10 inches to weight. About 36 inches from swivel to spin n glo. A trolling peanut is next to impossible to describe. Here is a pic.ImageUploadedByLake Ontario United1458953209.249849.jpg

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Steelydan - thanks for the breakdown of the rig and the picture. Lots of new things to try tomorrow and this season! Started talking to the wife about a bigger boat.... Didn't go so well. Edited March 26, 2016 by SwedishFish

[letsfish2day]

You might want to think about a Seth Green rig...with Sutton spoons and troll around 1.8 and you'll get some decent lakers

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[BSmaster]

Here is a cheap option, http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cannon-Mini-Troll-Downrigger/738095.uts?productVariantId=1208181&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=42-156235842-2&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=00055799&rid=20#BVRRWidgetID

 

I am thinking about whether I want to mount these relics I got several years ago.  I don't troll.  Do not think I will ever troll but just had to have them.  They are solid, made of aluminum.  I never used them.

 

I am thinking about letting them go so the future garage sale has more space.  I also thought about making them into man cave art.  Get some feedback from people on LOU and then you can PM me if you are interested.  The guy I bought them from said they worked fine - just got tired of doing the manual thing.

 

They come with 2 10lb balls.

 

[Ric66]

I have a pair of cannon downriggers that I cut the boom on so I didn't have to lean over the boat so much. I think they were sport trollers. Don't think they make that one any longer but they are similar to the unitroller. Comes with downrigger balls and bases to attach to the gunnels.

 

I used to fish Hemlock and Canadice a lot. They can be tough lakes to fish if you don't know some secrets. Like some one mentioned, the seth green rig works very well. You drag a two lb weight on the bottom with 30lb line. The rod needs to be stiff to handle the weight of the lead. Then you have leaders at various points on the main line, say about 7 to 10 feet apart. I used 3 lures per rod but you can have as many as 5 lures. This way you are fishing one rod that has lures at different depths. One trick I learned with downriggers is to run towards shore off a point, let the rigger ball hit the bottom and then move out to deeper water.

 

Hemlock doesn't always give up a ton of fish but it is a trophy lake. I've caught a 12lb lake trout, a 9 and a 8lb walleye, and the biggest rainbow I've ever seen that broke my line and my heart. It looked like a tarpon coming out of the water.

 

Good luck!

[SwedishFish]

You might want to think about a Seth Green rig...with Sutton spoons and troll around 1.8 and you'll get some decent lakers

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Looked into making a Seth green rig. Has anyone figured out how do do it without making a mess and tangling all your lines!!?? I do have to pick up some Suttons.

[SwedishFish]

Here is a cheap option, http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cannon-Mini-Troll-Downrigger/738095.uts?productVariantId=1208181&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=42-156235842-2&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=00055799&rid=20#BVRRWidgetID

I am thinking about whether I want to mount these relics I got several years ago. I don't troll. Do not think I will ever troll but just had to have them. They are solid, made of aluminum. I never used them.

I am thinking about letting them go so the future garage sale has more space. I also thought about making them into man cave art. Get some feedback from people on LOU and then you can PM me if you are interested. The guy I bought them from said they worked fine - just got tired of doing the manual thing.

They come with 2 10lb balls.

Thanks for the suggestions! I've looked into the mini troll. I'm a believer in you get what you pay for but also try to not spend all my money on new fishing gear! After reading the reviews I was kind of turned off on it. Except I've owned cheaper gear that has worked great for years. Plus it's small and mounts easily. That plus a 4lb weight are Not a huge investment to start fishing with a rigger. So as you can see I'm undecided!

[SwedishFish]

I used to fish Hemlock and Canadice a lot. They can be tough lakes to fish if you don't know some secrets. Like some one mentioned, the seth green rig works very well. You drag a two lb weight on the bottom with 30lb line. The rod needs to be stiff to handle the weight of the lead. Then you have leaders at various points on the main line, say about 7 to 10 feet apart. I used 3 lures per rod but you can have as many as 5 lures. This way you are fishing one rod that has lures at different depths. One trick I learned with downriggers is to run towards shore off a point, let the rigger ball hit the bottom and then move out to deeper water.

Hemlock doesn't always give up a ton of fish but it is a trophy lake. I've caught a 12lb lake trout, a 9 and a 8lb walleye, and the biggest rainbow I've ever seen that broke my line and my heart. It looked like a tarpon coming out of the water.

Good luck!

Ric66... Thank you for breaking down the Seth green setup for me! Would you tie in a swivel to the main to attach the leaders too?

I want to try it but I keep thinking about the insane tangle of lines that seems inevitable to me! [emoji51]

I've heard of and seen big fish taken just not by me. But it's a Great Lake even when it isn't giving up fish!

[SwedishFish]

So I made it out Saturday morning. Was on the lake at 7:45 launched from the south end. I was suprised at how shallow and weedy the south end was. Set up in 80' of water and ran a dipsy diver about 250 ft back until it was bouncing off the bottom. Ran a 15ft leader with a spin doctor and a green fly. Basically exactly what nautitroller described. Ran up and down and across with no luck. Ended up hooking lots of weeds and leaves and must have run across a branch or log because I ended up snapping my leader of 20lb Floro leaving my spin doc and fly on the bottom of hemlock! [emoji22]. Not the best fishing but still a great morning on the water. Saw only one boat and they caught a 12" rainbow flatlining stick baits along the shore.

Edited March 29, 2016 by SwedishFish

[Nautitroller]

Ok full disclosure, not sure if that lake has alewifes, if not then I would try small perch spoons. Sorry bout the loss. Didn't think you would get the full 80' without wire, were you running a mag or#1 dipsy? Cool looking rig BTW.

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Edited March 29, 2016 by Nautitroller

[SwedishFish]

Yeah that was a big bummer...Hate losing gear. Especially expensive gear!!!  I really stayed with the flys and should have probably switched over to spoons. I was surprised that I was hitting bottom as well. I think its the #1 but I do have the o ring on it which causes it to dive deeper. I was bumping bottom with anywhere between 250 ft and 280ft of line out on the line counter. My GPS pegged me at 2-3 most of the time but its just a app on my phone so who knows. I marked a few fish but my depthfinder/fishfinder is a downscan imaging el cheapo by lowrance not really meant for what I'm trying to use it for! 

 

 

 Cool looking rig BTW.

 

   Thanks! Built it a few years ago with my boys. Its really meant to row around on a small pond/lake. I'm definitely pushing it to its limits!

 

 

Thanks for all your help and advice! 

Edited March 29, 2016 by SwedishFish

[SwedishFish]

Had to make myself feel better about getting skunked again. Landed this nice 15-1/2" brown on an ultralight with a little panther Martin on my lunch break.

[letsfish2day]

Looked into making a Seth green rig. Has anyone figured out how do do it without making a mess and tangling all your lines!!?? I do have to pick up some Suttons.

if you go to Sutton's for spoons he has Seth Green rigs all made up down there... They are made with Penn senator rod with roller tip and a Penn 309 reel...I personally own 4 of these rigs...I've had others and this is hands down the best I've owned... Its just balanced really well...and Jim at Sutton's can show you more about making leads...he carries all the beads and springs

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[letsfish2day]

I believe the rigs at Sutton's are around $179 all set up...all you need is the leads and a 2 lb sinker which he carries as well...sounds like a lot but believe me worth every penny...I was also out on hemlock this past Sunday caught 3 Lakers...biggest was around 7 lbs other 2 were around 12 to 15 inches...all caught on the bottom

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[Sk8man]

Fishing Hemlock with Seth Greens can be a good idea but I think you'd want to have a bigger boat/motor setup as they create a bit of drag especially if you get something big on or hung up on something and I think the electric motor would be really struggling and using a lot of juice just trying to trollwith it as well. Good way to fish but could be taxing and perhaps even unsafe with your current setup.

Edited March 29, 2016 by Sk8man

[SwedishFish]

I believe the rigs at Sutton's are around $179 all set up...all you need is the leads and a 2 lb sinker which he carries as well...sounds like a lot but believe me worth every penny...I was also out on hemlock this past Sunday caught 3 Lakers...biggest was around 7 lbs other 2 were around 12 to 15 inches...all caught on the bottom

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That sounds like a good price for what you get. I guess I'll plan a trip out to Naples for the next week or so. I gotta find out his weekend hours since work keeps me tied up during the week. Maybe just to grab some spoons and glean a little fishing wisdom if not to buy the rig. And awesome on the 3 lakers! 

 

Fishing Hemlock with Seth Greens can be a good idea but I think you'd want to have a bigger boat/motor setup as they create a bit of drag especially if you get something big on or hung up on something and I think the electric motor would be really struggling and using a lot of juice just trying to trollwith it as well. Good way to fish but could be taxing and perhaps even unsafe with your current setup.

 

Sk8man... Yes the size of my boat and trolling motor are very limiting. I am definitely pushing this little skiff beyond its limits and try and be very aware of the safety whenever I'm out in it. To be very honest I NEVER intended to take this boat out on any lake. I built it with my little boys partly to honor my Grandfather (A WW2 paratrooper who spent 50 years of his life after the war building and repairing and sailing wood boats!), partly because I love all things water and I have semi-decent woodworking skills and partly because I love fishing! I mostly take it out in one of the ponds in Mendon or other small bodies of water with any or all 4 of my little boys. I have to be very aware of the weather and wind in this thing especially on any unprotected waters and don't take the kids out on any big waters in this.

 

I have toyed with the idea of grabbing an older 2-4 hp 2 stroke since thats what this boat was designed to carry. It would be nice to get that 90lb deep cell marine battery out of the boat! 

 

 I did buy an older 17' penn yan a few years back and did a lot of restoration and repair work but cut and run when I saw the problems with the inboard and I/O were gonna lead me down a never ending path of spending money. Maybe in a few years I'll jump in and buy another boat. I do have the plans for a nice 16' fishing boat that I'm eventually going to build. Along with another kayak and canoe....... Until then I'll keep trying with what I have.

[Ric66]

With the pre set up seth green rigs, one thing you need to keep in mind- they were made for the deeper finger lakes. Hemlock is about 85ft deep. You will want to run your rigs with leaders/lures spaced about 10ft apart. I used about 7ft leaders which kept the lures from getting tangled.

Sk8man is right. Hemlock can get pretty rough with a north or south wind. I used to fish it with a 12ft boat but quickly realized I needed a bigger boat. If you fish Canadice go to the north end in about 60 feet of water. I caught many lakers there with the seth greet rigs.

[SwedishFish]

Ric66 - Yes I've been out when a north south wind picks up. It's crazy how fast the lake gets rough and the waves start capping. Never fished canadice but I've been thinking about it since it's almost the same distance and my hemlock luck has been ZERO. Thanks for the suggestion and set up. I'll try the north end when I go.

[NPike]

I used to troll Hemlock a lot. I used Sutton spoons and Rapala taildancers. I fished them from manual downriggers using mono all the way. Never, had a problem with line 12#. I would fish one line at the thermocline and one line just below the thermocline by 3 to 5 feet. I tended to fish the western side more but often, but also fished open water. I used a temperature gauge to locate the thermocline, which is much more exact than trying to find it on a fish finder. The key is to locate that band of water where the water rapidly goes from warm to cold. Of course this is not a concern this time of year the fish could be anywhere even as shallow as 5 to 10 feet deep. I tended to troll at a moderate speed never measured the speed but it wasn't fast. Caught some L_Trout and Rainbows up to 10 pounds, however these were the exception. Lost a big trout >> 36' one time don't know what it would have weighted, but I'd guess an easy 20. Caught quite a few form 1 to 5 pounds as well as the occasional SM_Bass and even a pickerel

[britty]

On your dipsyrod you should use steel line hooked drive toy to your dipseydiver then about a 3 or 4 foot leader rule of thumb 3 times your line out to depth for lakers fish the bottom as close as possible 40 foot and deeper at about 1.8 mph good luck

[NPike]

I didn't realize you're trolling with an electric motor and a quite small boat. This could be dangerous. I had a narrow 12' boat with a 4 horse early on and got swamped by a large wave. It filled the boat with water and ruined the day to say the least (nearly capsized us). Hemlock is not a large lake but it can wipe up a bit when a north or south wind starts blowing.

You might consider a 14' boat? Or at least a wide reasonably - deep 12' boat. Just thinking about safety?

As for the trout the key is to locate the thermocline which varies greatly depending on the time of the year. It can range from 25' to as deep as 40+' by late summer. Missing it by 3 to 5 feet will mean missing the fish. You can try fishing below the thermocline and get some Lakers as well, but no trout greater than 5' above it as a rule. I say this after having caught many between 5 to 10 pounds. I just lost interest in trolling.

[zackblain]

Get a good fish finder and learn how to use it. I catch fish out of "temp" all summer long. Fish marks when you can, and fish temp when you have no marks.

[58Johnson]

SwedishFish, you have a PM

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