Trolling?

A place where folks with boats can pick up others and a place where folks without boats can make it known that they'd like to go out on a boat when there is room!
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Murdario
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Aug 03, 2019 5:40 pm
Species: Bass, walleye, trout, perch, p

Trolling?

Post by Murdario »

Hi,

I currently fish Mallets Bay and St Albans Bay off of my 17ft boat. At one point it had downriggers and a trolling motor but sadly those were long gone before I got into fishing. I have been mainly fishing for smallmouth, largemouth, pike, and perch with pretty good success (for me at least!), but I am looking to get into fishing for lakers, salmon, and walleye. I have read through many forum posts and tried trolling a little bit to my equipment's best ability. Unfortunately the slowest I can go is about 3 MPH before my engine stalls out on me and as I said earlier I do not have downriggers. I would love to try out some trolling with someone who has the right equipment before I shell out a lot of money. I would also love to pick your brain on technique, what equipment is worth it and where to best spend my money. I can bring food and drinks and help out with gas.

Additionally I am looking for someone to join me on weeknights after work or on weekends on my boat. I mainly fish St Albans Bay around Ball island this time of year but I would be open to new places and would love to see what other people are doing. I am based out of South Burlington and can generally make it to Apple Island Marina by 6PM on weekdays and I shoot for 12pm to dark on the weekends.
Gecha (Gerry)
Posts: 4448
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2011 12:26 pm
Species: whatever crazy enough to bite

Re: Trolling?

Post by Gecha (Gerry) »

Welcome to the forum Murdario.
I would love to help you, but I am presently on the Atlantic shores till October.
There are plenty of good fishermen on this forum and you will certainly find some to share their knowledge on the water.
Gecha (Gerry North of the Border)
User avatar
Reelax
Site Admin
Posts: 5730
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:27 pm
Species: Salmon, steelhead, brown trout
Location: Fletcher, Vt

Re: Trolling?

Post by Reelax »

Welcome aboard!!

To get your big motor down below 3mph for trolling
Salmon and lakers you can drill holes in a 5 gal bucket
And throw it over the side to slow you down. Or better yet you can use
A trolling bag designed for that. 2.5 and lower are key speeds for
Correct spoon action. You want our size trolling spoons to wobble back and forth and not spin.... A flip every once in a while is ok, but if you spinning a spoon.
Out, good luck getting a salmon to hit it:) Lakers prefer even slower in the 1.4mph to 1.8mph
Range. Lead core and slide divers are best way to get some depth if you
Don’t have down riggers. You can buy a nice manual Scotty for $200 to get deeper
Than the 60fow divers will get you to. Speed and temp are the most important
Things to control till you find the bait. Then focus just above the bait as long as
It is in the temp range for salmon or lakers. lakers will typically be a little deeper this Time of year as they like water a little colder than salmon.

Spring and fall with water temps cooler these fish will run closer to surface and can be caught with long line sets back 150’+ on surface with a split shot up from leader few feet to keep spoon in water.

I started trolling with long line sets 25 years ago and added lead, added divers, then riggers... it can be an evolution that pulls you in and consumes the rest of your life... I hope your lucky enough for that to happen to you!!

Fish on!!

Matt
Matt B
TruViking
Posts: 308
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2020 10:25 pm
Species: Those who thrive in Cold H20
Location: Burlington, Vt

Re: Trolling?

Post by TruViking »

Awesome reply Matt.
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