Okay, now that I have 'Walter' and want to try something new. How do I troll? I have tried the wedding ring and such, but have never had a strike. Not one that I can tell anyways. Do you bait the wedding ring? if so, what do you use. Next how do I get it to stay down at the depth that I want, or better yet to get it go deeper that 4 or 5 feet. I tried trolling with a wedding ring. I let it sink to the bottom and then trolled around on speed 1 on the trolling motor. Other people out there trolling faster and they caught fish, but I could not. Any ideas? Also, do I need a sppon only or will a jig with a spoon and feathers work as well? I am new to trolling and tried of seeing the same scenery while anchored. Any help would be gretly appreciated. Or is there a website for these techniques.

Thanks-

Keith Chvatal

Try running a lake troll rig (spinners) with the wedding rind on the end, you can put a worm on the ring if you want too.

Hey C, try trolling a F4 flatfish frog pattern, or a roostertail, I have always had good luck trolling these two lures. If you want to troll a little deeper try adding some split shot to your line. The more you add the deeper you go. Try bumping up you speed to #2 or #3. Keep an eye on that new fish finder it should tell you where the fish are. Good luck, tight lines.

Do I bait these? worm/powerbait? Do these lures that you suggest have the name on the packaging? i.e. can I go to a store and find these lovely things.

Update on the fishfinder. The original one that I bought would not detect and movement from a large weight, nor fish for that matter. Took it back and got the new Humminbird Piranhana 2. This thing is awesome! Tracks the movement of the powerbait and weight. sees fish. Shows fish under the boat and by golly--eee drop the line there and catch a fish. I think I spoiled myself and made it too easy now.

Back to the trolling. Can I use a rapala or something as that sort as well? Plastic worm or live?

Sorry for the newbie questions. I am use to fishing in the midwest for walleye, crappie and big perch. Trout is something new to me. Last year was the first time I caught trout.

Are Bass around this time of year here?

Sorry again for all the questions, but this place is great for resources!

Chvatal

Try trolling small spoons. Like small Triple Teazers, Dick Nites, Kastmasters, and Coyotes in silver (clear water), gold (stained water), green, and blue.

Plugs work really well and are a favorite of mine. Flatfish size F3 or F4 and Hot Shots size 60 in frog pattern or Michael Jackson pattern (solid black with sparkles)work really well on lakes with clear water.

For lakes with turbide or stained water I like to troll good ol' fashioned orange powerbait all by it self.

Give 'em a try and see what happens. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

I will go and pick up some of these suggestions. Thanks A lot everyone.....

Chvatal

best way to troll- leaded line- it comes in 10yd color distinctions that you can use to get to right depth. let out one, two etc colors and when you get strikes you know how may colors to let out and at what speed. Use a long leader tied to a swivel and any plug or spinner. The wedding ring with a half crawler is deadly for all species.

You can find all of those lures at Sportco in Fife. Just a short run over the bridge for you from Gig Harbor.

You might try trolling streamer flies. Patterns that imitate leeches and minnows have been very productive for me so far this year, now that the water is approaching 60 degrees. The Thin-Mint Leech, a mottled marabou leech (wine-red, brown, olive and black marabou feathers), and the Woolly Bugger are the leech patterns that I've used. The minnow patterns I've used were my own creations; however, you can buy a Royal Coachman, Mickey Finn, or a Muddler Minnow at any fly shop or practically any store that features fishing tackle. If you twitch the fly into a start and stop motion as you troll slowly, it will imitate the action of a crippled minnow. I actually saw the wake of a trout intercepting one of my minnow patterns as I was twitching it along. It was soooo cooool!

Don't let Zen Leecher hear you talk about trolling flies. Bad fishing etiquette.

So what's wrong with trolling a fly? Ain't that what lots of fly anglers do with woolly buggers as searching patterns until they get into the fish? The idea is that you're going to catch more fish longer the time your fly stays in the water instead of in the air, right? If fish ain't rising, you have to do some moping about until you get a strike. So what's to do but troll? Or is there a more P.C. euphemism to use?

I agree with you. I am just making fun. I troll flies all the time.

Trolling is the only way that I fish for trout, I use a banana weight with a split ring and a swivel, followed by a gangtroll of some sort, (cowbells, ford fenders, beer cans ) usually in a 50/50 finish, I also put a split ring with a swivel on the end of that and attach my uncle wes to it ( my tackle company ) then bait it with a worm. The reason for the split ring's and swivel's, is so can change over quickly and resume fishing. I can change weight, gangtrolls, or wormtrolls with no fuss. Now with water temps being down like they are I would and do use silver blades on my worm trolls, it seems to aggravate the trout into striking, secondly don't be bashful about asking other fishrman how deep they are , how much weight, and etc.. most fisherman don't mind sharing info. You can try my suggestion's or not but either way I wish you good luck and keep on experimenting, the more time you spend on the water the better you will become. Also try reading up on the species of trout your going after and maybe a little home work on the particular lake your fishing.

This may sound crazy but I have found in the past couple of years that by tying a piece of bright colored yarn above my hook and then applying a wad of power bait, hand molded to the shape of a torpedo between the hook and the yarn and then putting a piece of worm on the hook so affective that it is my goto right off the bat trout rig. Also add the biggest split shot above your swivel. I usually use around a 36 inch leader. LOVE MY RUN ON SENTENCE .

I almost always put a bit of worm on my wedding ring when trolling, it works great. I also like to troll flies with my 5-weight fly rod (boy, I'm gonna catch hell for that!) and then kill the motor and have some fun when I hook up. As far as depth, all of the posts above have great ideas. I use split shot on my line or a 3-way swivel with a short drop line to enough weight to get me down. Also, try trolling in a meandering pattern instead of a straight line. When you do this, your trailing line and tackle will slow down when you turn and sink deeper, and speed up when you straighten out and come up shallower. That way you cover more water depth looking for fish.

Good luck and have fun!

Put a worm on anything and it will get 'em, especially walleye and trout.

Nothing is crazy as long as it work's for you.

I've tried trolling all sorts of things with widely varying results dependent on water temp time of day weather ect. The most fish i've caught is with a jointed floating rapala size 9 and 7. No other crankbait, spoon or worm rig has come close. It may sound funny but it seems that color has mattered, perch colors all year, rainbow in late sping and summer, gold in fall. In the summer this works best when the surface is cooling off for the day since the rapala only runs 3-5 feet deep or along the shady side of the water. good luck!