New to salmon and trout in general.

[krash3470]

I've been reading and reading here in the trout and salmon section and I appreciate all of the wisdom here.

My dilema is this, I don't currently have down riggers or dipsy's although I plan on buying some when the belt isn't so tight figuratively speaking.

So in order to fish for salmon or trout without these essential tools and rather than waiting until late in the year for them to move into shallower waters are there any other ways to have a shot at catching them?

I have in the past done some drift fishing with saw bellies but never really had any luck. I've also tried drifting larger sized spoons and jigs but again never been able to catch them.

Any feed back that could be offered is much appreciated. I plan on trying to head out on the lake this weekend and will gladly try any new techniques.

Thanks,

Krash.

[Gene Shenk]

If you go to ebay you can buy trolling wieghts that are 16 oz and then pull spoons behind them but you will need a line counter of some type.

With 30 # mono at 2.5 mph you should get the following 50' of line should be 25' down. 100' line will be 50' down, 150' of line will be 70' down and 200' of line will be 90' down. When the fleas go away and you can run 30#power pro it should go like this 50' of line is 36' down, 100' of line is 70' down, 150' of line 98' down and 200' of line is 125' down. This info came from a trolling guide I have but rember these depths when using lead weight are very sensitive to speed and currents. If you try it I would troll in a s pattern to make them raise and fall so to cover alot of the water depth. If you have a radio call out to other board members to find out where the good temps are and what speed to try. Good Luck.

[IRISH56]

Another option is lead core line if you've got a rod/reel combo to spare. 10 colors of lead was very consistent for us last weekend. You need a reel with capacity for it though.

DAN

[jekyll]

Krash:

First, look for rides on boats needing extra hands. I and others frequently post open seats. This allows you to fish on a fully outfitted (or nearly so) boat for no cash outlay for equipment. You just share in gas costs and replace any gear you lose or break. We benefit by sharing costs and adding more rods to our spread, someone to steer, increased safety over fishing alone and generally having someone to talk with versus mumbling to ourselves or the seagulls.

Second, you can try jigging or mooching. This is done by drifting and bouncing a bait or spoon along the bottom. This works well for lakers and takes salmon. Also, you can jig/mooch suspended in the water column. Jigging and mooching is the prefered method for lake trout in many other parts of the world.

Buzz bombing had a large following in the Pacific NW back in the 80s when I attended college (Go Huskies). It consists of large, exagerated jiggs off the bottom with a buzz bomb lure. The buzz bomb spins and emmits harmonics as it settles back to the sludge. I tried it here one afternoon for about 30 minutes but got no takes.

I and others jig for lakers in the finger lakes. Trolling is productive yes, but the jigging hits and fights are more fun and more productive when you find the right depth and location. You can do this from an inner tube with a zebco and a set of flippers

Third, you can cast off the breakwalls, piers and beaches at various times of the year as the salmon head up stream and when the trout head up and then return.

Forth, one of the least expensive means for getting into the fish is with fireline or prower pro dipsy set ups. You don't need dozens of dipsies, flashers and flies to make this work. You can buy 2 Cabelas rod/reel combos with Cabelas LC reels for $110 each:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... hasJS=true.

Add the line for $30 each, 2 dipsies and 2 flashers (white/green/chartruse) and 5 or 6 flies ($30). This will give you basic trolling ability from late June trough September for a cost of about $360 to $400 for 2 complete set ups (if I did my math correctly).

Finally, the fall salmon run in the streams is electifying. Yes, I troll all season long and as much as I can but it never satiates the burning urge to get on the streams and battle the kings hand to fin. I spend exhorbitant amounts of money on trolling: a boat, hundreds of gallons of gas, a dozen rods and reels, flashers, flys, spoons, down riggers, dispsies and copper. River fishing is far less exspensive. Waders and boots $150, ONE good rod and reel, $100 to $400, a rain jacket $50, a vest $40 and about $50 worth of tackle and tools. I sometimes land up to 50 kings a day when the planets are aligned and usually put many on the bank if they are in the river. This can be a very tiring form of fishing with all the walking, wading, casting and fighting but it is very satisfying.

[skipper19]

My friend Ray K is gonna have a field day with this but you can use copper wire on a old level wind reel to get down in the lower water columns for salmon. Similar to lead core trolling only less attractive to the sea fleas... The reel should have a line counter on it but it's not necessary if you count the line guide passes as you pay out the wire (my old penn 309 gives near 10 feet per pass)10 passes or 100 feet out will get you down about 22 feet, 20 passes or 200 feet 44 feet down , 300 ft 66 ft down and so on...this isn't exact science anyway when useing copper...heres an example of the method I'm talking about.

Get 600 feet 30 lb copper stranded wire, (about 25 to 30 dollars) back it up with at least 400 feet or more of 30 lb power pro braid for a total of at least 1000 feet backing and wire, put some 8 to 12 feet of 30 lb flourocarbon leader on the terminal end of the copper and your set for the reel and line..check other discusions of copper applications under tackle and tech or description forum for more details of reels, knots and swivels and what works.

Use a heavy action dipsey rod or even an old river snagger with stout line guides if ya got one layin around from the old days. Heck even a medium surf caster about 8 to 9 feet will work.. all it's gotta do is be tough enough to handle the heavy wire line.

All ya need on your boat now is a good rod holder to park the rod in for the troll...Now you can drag around, a plain spoon , or dodger, flasher , fly combo that a downrigger can do without the expensive equipment.

All in all I don't think you can fish cheaper than just using a dipsey diver and 30lb ande line with power pro backing and level wind reel on a rod that is stiff enough for the task of pulling the dipsey. You can get down to 60/70 feet and still keep fleas to minimum using the ande line. Hope this helps

Mark