Conference wahoo::fishing

    I'd like see what types of techniques other folks use also, I generally
    use flat lines with red and white Daredevil spoons. They work great
    for trout, actually great for most fish. Speed/presentaion is real
    critical, I wonder if anyone has plans/methods for monitoring trolling
    speed. I've seen in Cabella's (sp) a speedometer thats has 2 ranges,
    0-6 and 6-60 (there 'bouts) but they want ~200.00 bucks for it.
    Eagle Claw makes another drag weight system for about 40.00 bucks.
    Trollings nice because when it gets slow you can switch over and
    have some fun nailing bass. Comet pond in Hubbardston (rt62) is
    a great lake to troll, one problem is that its a reclaim lake and
    there is a 10 horse limit.
    
    
    good trolling
    Ray

    
     I always troll ponds,lakes and even rivers when given the chance.
    I use lite lures and my own home made streamer flies in early spring,
    but trolling at a real slow speed.. Trout are very lazy in the cold
    water.. When it starts to warm up,I speed it up and add dodgers
    or silver teasers to get them excited.. Yes,I agree that the speed
    is critical,but if you watch your rod tip,you'll see how much action
    and movement it as and remember it.. pick up the speed or lower
    it by the action of the tip,thats how I do it,IT WORKS !!!! unless
    you use heavy duty equipment for these little fish we catch around
    here.. Trout are very active around 47 to 51 degree's,thats when
    i find them hitting regularly anyway.. I always check the water
    temp in the morning,under 47 degree's,troll real slow.. Over 47
    degree's,speed it up and add teasers..
     I hope I helped someone,thats my technique and it works for us,
    RIGHT MIKE ????
    
    arnie  

    Get this:
    
    	Christmas Eve 87' I was trolling for rainbows in California
    with Daredevels, Super Dupers and Cammaloop spoons with no luck.
    So my Bassin' Buddie says "Hey! lets knock off a few Bass" I tied
    on a Rapalla Fat-Rap, he tied on a Shad-Rap. On my second cast I
    landed 3lb + rainbow, A few casts later in he landed a nice one
    also. These where about 10ft deep. I say "lets troll bass-plugs"
    so we did and we had some of the best trout action I have ever
    seen. Oh yes we did land 1 Smallie. 
    
    	Just goes to show 
    			You never can tell.......
    
    
    					BUCKETMOUTH
      

    
    re:.2
     Arnie and I have been very sucessful using those approaches.
     Will be trying are luck this saturday...
    
     Mike

    Is there rule-of-thumb formula for determining the appropriate size
    (thrust) of a trolling motor for a given setup?
    
    Ed
    

	For what it's worth, my experience trolling has shown that rowing
as opposed to using a motor has produced a lot more fish for me.  When I
troll I usually use a broken back minnow imitation (Rapala style).  I think
the pulsation caused by rowing adds a lot to the action of the bait.  I have
not had nearly the amount of strikes when the motion was constant, even though
I am careful about the 'action' of the rod tip as discussed previously.

	It's not a easy way to fish, but it's healthier (works off the beer
I'm drinking) and is significantly more productive.

					Al

    RE.6
    
    I believe you have a point, but I find it a lot easyer to pump the rod
    to give the lure/fly more action than rowing. Plus that leaves one hand
    free for drinking. :-).
    
    Rich

    You don't row on "The Big O"!!!
    
    -That Lazy Lip Stuffin' Bandit

    If you have a 2500# boat as I do, no way I'm going to row it! The
    method we use is trolling in an "S" pattern. It does a couple of
    things. First is to cover more area. Second, and most important,
    it gives you the varied speed for lures by swinging to a lure on
    one side then away from it. The trick is to get the lures as far
    off the sides of the boat as possible. This is where "Planner Boards"
    really come in handy. You can run them out 100 ft or more on each
    side.
    If you can row, do it!! It really does work.
    
    Someone asked about the size of a trolling motor. For my boat (2500
    lbs), a 5 hp unit seems ideal. I can run it down to almost a dead
    stop and up to about 10 mph. Its also very efficient on fuel. I
    believe it all depends on the boat size. For a small boat, an electric
    might well do the job.
    Another method is what I call a "Drag Bag". Its like a Sea Anchor.
    They are canvas, cone shaped with the mouth about 12" in diameter.
    Simply tie them on the sides with a light line (1/4") and let them
    drag along in the water. They will cut the speed of a boat by 2
    or 3 mph. This works very well when trolling with an I/O and no
    trolling motor.
    You could also use a couple of 5 gal plastic buckets (the price
    is right!).
    Caution--remember to pull them back on board before you put the
    hammer down!!
    
    Regards
    Don

    Trying the following may increase your catch...
    
    Tie a dodger to the end of your line. Use silver/prism colors for
    relatively clear water, flourescent yellow or green for muddy water.
    Tie a piece of mono about 1.5 times the length of the dodger to
    the other end of the dodger (don't make it longer or it won't impart
    enough action...believe it or not, it doesn't seem to scare the
    fish). Put your streamer or lure on the end
    of the mono. The dodger makes your artificial look like a wounded
    minnow and its flash and vibration attract fish from a considerable
    distance.
    
    Use Dardevle Imps, Mooselook Wobbler juniors, Rapalas, or trolling
    streamers. Also try painting purely metallic lures with red and
    white or orange.
         
    Dodgers are available from most tackle shops or Luhr-Jensen. Although
    I haven't experimented under controlled, scientific conditions,
    I think the addition of a dodger or any wobbling flashing device
    will help you catch more fish.

    How can you change the action of a dodger? ie, mine seem to sort
    of "limp along" in the water without much action. I'd like to get
    more life out of them. Can they be bent, spindled or mutalated in
    some manner to make them more active?
    
    Don

    One of two things is happening, I think:
    
    1. Trolling speed is critical with dodgers. Go too slow and the
    dodger will simply slice through the water without any action. Go
    too fast and the dodger will spin around and around rather than
    wobble from side to side. It's easy to detect either situation since
    the rod tip won't throb very much. The cure, unfortunately, is a
    lot of trial and error; there's no magic trolling speed. Usually
    it's pretty slow though. Drop the line and dodger right next to
    boat while motoring. There should be a deeply throbbing rod tip
    action and the dodger should be swinging back and forth from side
    to side (there should also be fairly heavy load on the rod).
    
    2. The other possibly is that it got bent somehow. You can ttry
    fooling with reshhaping it in a vise with tools, but a new store-bought
    one should work if your ttrolling speed is ok.

    I think I was expecting the wrong actin from the doddgers. From
    what you are saying, I think they should have a very slow action,
    much less than a large  spoon might produce. I also do tend to troll
    quite slow, 2 mph or slower. Thanks for the info! I'll be on the
    water tomorrow and test them out.
    
    Don