Brown Trout Trolling

[Schools Out]

are you using the 4/0 dodgers and spoons off the riggers for browns in the spring??

[chowder]

Tim, thanks got em ordered! I also used the small pro-troll flashers with peanuts & spoons without much results, we got very few browns off riggers on Cayuga in shallow spring water, but at Oswego we got them all that way. We have 3 riggers in the Islander, so we should be able to search a little better behind the boat, then a pair of sd rigs and stix off the dual boards and we should be in the brown business! Fat Nancy's won't have those NBK copper cup stingers till "Spring", hopefully I will remember to get some. I did get some copper cup side spoons from Warrior in the small scorpion size.

[jekyll]

are you using the 4/0 dodgers and spoons off the riggers for browns in the spring??

Yes.

Chowder, I'd like to get out with you in your new ride once the browns start hitting in the spring.

[chowder]

Sounds good Tim! We were hoping to get the Simrad installed this fall, still waiting for a call saying the shop has an open bay, but now we have a foot of snow and the roads are covered in salt, sand and frozen slush, I think the AP-15 is going to spend the winter in the box instead of in the boat. I pulled all the displays, disconnected the batteries and mothballed it yesterday, I drained & winterized it a while back but we were hoping to get out again with it to check out the auto pilot once it was in- the die hards claim the fingers have good action from Thanksgiving to February. I have had a key employee out since Oct. (dislocated shoulder), so between the weather and that, it's looking like the late season fishing is not happening.

[stan]

Chowder out here we have foud that the pro troll moves browns aways from your bait in the spring. But once summer is here they do all right. Most guys out here don't use a dodger or flasher when fishing for browns. They longline or rip the shore lines by hand while in a boat.

[chowder]

Stan,on Cayuga lake,one of the Finger Lakes(40 miles long, 400+ deep) my best success rate came from trolling shallow, stained water with stix behind Offshore inlines. On Lake Ontario ,out of Oswego ,we did much better with shallow riggers, running long leads. I am planning to use dual planer boards this spring because I think larger browns are ultra spooky in shallow/clear water and also even though we have a set of inlines with the tattle flags, the dinks get dragged and the mediums don't fight much until the board is off. We also will run 2 colors off the inlines in the spring to search multiple depths. Browns behave rather differently in Cayuga than their counterparts on Ontario, especially after the water warms up, then they are frequently out of temp, thats when a multi depth approach can really pay off.

[stan]

Hey thanks for the info

[jekyll]

Chowder out here we have foud that the pro troll moves browns aways from your bait in the spring. But once summer is here they do all right. Most guys out here don't use a dodger or flasher when fishing for browns. They longline or rip the shore lines by hand while in a boat.

May be something to that. I started using dodgers once the browns hit the 30 foot mark. I didn't try them shallower. Still on stick baits and straight spoons until that point. The 4/0 dodger is not much larger than a spoon so it might not spook them in shallow during early spring. I'll find out this season.

I took a few nice browns on flies behind Spin Dr. and Pro Trolls while chasing salmon in 90-250 FOW but that was later in the season.

[chowder]

Tim, are you going with the albright knot from the super braid to the big game on the SD rigs?

[stinger]

This 9.5 lb Cayuga Lake brown was caught in June of this year.

60 clicks on the line counter, #2 setting on the dipsey, 35'-40' bottom depth.

[stan]

You guys are just off the hook out there. I am going to have to try those small dodgers. Did some one say how much leader from dodger to bait ?

[jekyll]

I did a few with albright knots but that sucker is very difficult with super braid, especially on the water. Braid is very slippery so you need to double the braid to get a solid grip. My last attempt to do the albright on the water with braid took about 30 minutes and more than a few attempts so I just connected the Big Game with a small Sampo swivel. It works great and is far easier to tie. I had a good teacher with the Professor but, I can only tie braid in albrights sitting at my bench.

[stan]

No that feeling, try it with out reading glasses

[muskybob]

I use the palomar knot with braid. Easy to tie and holds great.

[chowder]

Stinger, NICE BROWN- now that's what I'm talking about!

Stan, the flasher in the picture looks like a full size Pro Troll, as the water warms up in Cayuga, the browns start gradually moving deeper, especially as the day progresses. In June we had browns hit from 15'-50' in 30-200+ FOW.

Tim, I like the swivel idea, just have to make sure it goes thru guides & reel, do you have any recollection of the size?

[stinger]

Stan, the flasher in the picture looks like a full size Pro Troll,

Roger that Chowder. It's a 8" ProTroll and Stan the leader length is 20" from the end of the leader loop to the tip of the fly nose.

[stan]

My wife caught her first brown on all most the same set up, back in sept . I had a 6" herring Grand Slam BUcktail and the brass flodger by silver streak . The leader was set at 24" . That was gin clear water in Oregon.