by Frank Gawthorne, May 09, 2005

The State of Washington a few years back opened many lakes to fishing year around and our climate makes it possible to fish comfortably most of the time.

Fishing for Trout is one our favorite past times.

Fish on my wife yells- I look at my rod and the line is off the down rigger and line is screaming off the reel. I grab the pole and set the hook 40 yards behind the boat a silver streak jumps out of the water and takes even more line. Wow did you see that she says. Yes I say and here it goes again another spectacular jump. Boats in neutral lines in and downrigger weights are up. My rod is bent and I can’t seem to turn the fish, another jump, this time I can see a 5 plus pound rainbow the sun light glaring off its shiny sides. Now its 10 minutes into the fight and slowly I’m gaining line. Then this big bow heads deep and takes another screaming run. 20 minutes now and it’s getting close to the boat. Haven’t seen it close up yet. There it is my wife yells (She gets excited). Wow, it’s huge and look at the colors what a beautiful fish. Net is ready the fish is close now- nice net. Reaching over the gunnels of the boat I take the lure from its mouth it was hooked real well. We weighed the fish still in the net 6 lbs. Then gently return it to the water, revive it and watch as it swims free to fight another day. Catching fish from a down rigger is the most exciting thing you can do with your clothes on. This is just one fish story. We caught 20 plus fish this day all over 5 pounds. There was action all day rainbows and cut bows.

Fish on I yell- My wife’s pole goes off and I see it happen. (Don’t get in my wife’s way when she gets a bite or you’ll find yourself in the water.) Something smacked her lure with the force of a bullet. She grabs her pole sets the hook, line is screaming off the reel. No jump this time the fish goes deep and my wife is running out of line. Time to chase it with the boat. Fishing lines in Downrigger weights up and were off slowly pursuing what ever is out there. I ask my wife what she thinks it is and her answer is I don’t know but it’s the biggest trout I have ever felt. She gains half her line back. 15 minutes into the fight the fish is deep and just sits there like a log. She can’t move it. Her arms are getting tired and her pole’s bent in half. (We use ultra light tackle and poles.) Drifting now and she is starting to make a little headway. Twenty-five minutes now and whatever it might be is getting close to the boat. We both look at her line in the water trying to get a glimpse of this fish. There it is I yell (I get excited too.) Wow, it’s big, real big. What is it she asks? I strain to look and it sees the boat. "Bye Bye" says big fish and heads to bottom again screaming line from her reel. Not as far out this time. Must be getting tired. 30 minutes now and it’s near the boat. I get a good look at it. It’s a Dolly I yell and a big one at that. Tired now (her and the fish) she gets it close to the boat and I try to unhook it. But it is caught on all three hooks. I get the net and catch it lift it up a little to weigh it in the net. Get the hook out and put it back in the water. I take a few minutes to revive it and watch a beautiful 12 lb Dolly swim free unharmed. What spectacular colors on this species. What a battle. Down rigger depth was 19’.

What I’m about to tell works and works well. We have caught so many large trout using these tactics. We have caught rainbow, cutthroat, cuttbows, Dolly Varden, Walleye, Coho, Chinook and Kokanee. Our biggest to date (In our new boat) is a Dolly that weighed 12 lbs, but we consistently catch trout in the three to five pound category.

Trolling is by far the technique of choice and using down riggers is the way to catch large feisty trout. So with that said I will concentrate on these two tactics.

Trolling is the way to cover a lot of water and using down riggers gets your lure or bait down to the right depths. I know what you’re thinking. Hey that’s easy for you to say but what is the right depth? The right speed? The right lures? The right baits? Wait a second don’t get foul hooked on me I’m getting there.

SPEED

Let’s start with speed-Knowing your trolling speed is a must. We have a fish depth finder that tells me my speed (in 10ths of MPH), depth of the water, and the location of fish by size. My boat trolls too fast so I had to put a trolling plate on my out drive. Some people use 5 gallon buckets to slow their boats others use sea anchors. I have used both and they work but not as well as a trolling plate. There are speed indicators you can buy and put on your boat. (We don’t use brand names because they ain't paying me diddly squat.) A local sporting goods store will have them. Now that we know our speed, our boat trolls about 1 mph but many factors can change this, wind, waves. Have you ever run into a good wind trolling at 1mph? It is a fight to keep the boat in the line you are trolling so what we do is run up wind and troll back with the wind. It is always a good idea to vary your speed. We will be trolling along and I will give the boat a little gas for a second or two and return to normal speed. It is amazing how many strikes happen right after I do this. There may be a fish following your lure and as you speed up it thinks it is trying to get away - bam! Fish On. Have you been to the local tackle shop lately and seen how many different lures you can buy. Wow, I couldn’t afford to have one of each. But as you pick up some different kinds they tend to work differently from each other at varying speeds. When you first put your lure in the water look and see the action. I have read many reports on trolling using lures that say slower is better but I can say without a doubt that faster sometimes is the best. Take a day up at the lake, we fished slow troll for half the day and not even a strike, as soon as I cranked up the troll bam 21" cutthroat, another 21" cutthroat, a 6 lb dolly. So if one thing isn’t working try another until you hook up.

DEPTH

What is the right depth to put your lure or bait? Without a depth-fish finder it’s all guessing with a lot of luck thrown in. Having a good depth-fish finder will give you exact depths to try. But using downriggers requires a depth finder or you will find yourself in a lot of trouble.(More on this in the downrigger section) The fish finder we use has three distinct alarms one for small fish, medium fish, and large fish. It is constantly working so I can hear the size of fish we are trolling over. We always try two depths, usually 10 feet apart.

Downriggers

I’m going to break one of my rules here and mention a down rigger manufacturer that we use Cannon. Ooh that hurt.
Trolling with downriggers without a depth finder can have dire consequences. For instance I’m trolling one rigger at 53’ and one at 33’. The depth of the water is 80’ most lakes have points that jut out and places that shallow fast even at trolling speed so I only have 27’ on my deepest rigger before trouble bites me. You have to be aware of the depth at all times. Snagging a 10 lb weight on the bottom of a lake can be expensive and hurt your boat or rigger. It has happened only once and we lost the weight and terminal tackle. I didn’t have a replacement weight or tackle but I do now.

Cannon Uni-trol HP Comes with 150 yards of SS aircraft cable, line counter, extendable boom and an 8 lb weight. We switched to a 10 lb weight. Notice the line that is connected to the wire – We use it to retrieve the ball.

Rods

We use ultra light rods and reels when fishing for trout. I generally make all my poles but have a few store bought as well. The first I will tell you about are trolling rods. I made them using a method called a Roberts wrap. There 6 ½’ long. What is a Roberts wrap you ask? I’ll tell you and show a picture. When I first saw this method of wrapping eyes I was fishing for marlin in Hawaii and really liked the way it stopped the line from rubbing against the pole when a big fish was on. So I decided to adapt it to trolling for trout. Basically it is eyes that wrap around the rod, each eye staggered, until the last is 180 degrees from the first. These particular rods are used with level wind reels.

The other rods I built were basic spinning rods ultra light in 61/2 and 7’.These rods cost about $100 dollars to buy in kit form and are graphite. To buy these retail would cost a heck of a lot more. And I’m not sure you could find them as I have designed and built them. But as you know there are thousands of rods out there. Personal Preference again.

Reels

Reels , Reels ,Reels. What can I say – staying with ultra light there are only two kinds we use. Spinning and level winds. So what reel should you buy? Several things come to mind when looking to purchase a reel. Line capacity-gear ratio-drag system and tension – quality – ball bearing – with that said you can spend a little money or a lot depending on personal preference. I prefer a reel with at least 100 yards of 6 lb line capacity but have reels with 200+ and a quality drag system. What I mean is one click forward and back changes the drag tension very little. Some reels a click either way can change the tension drastically. These I would stay away from. Almost all reels made today have ball bearings the more the smoother the reel and more money. With that said here comes personal preference again.

Line

There are many good lines out there but using downriggers makes a difference in what to choose. Monofilament line does not like to release easily from the line releases and can cut grooves in the pads. I like to use the new fiber lines. Not only are they tough but easily release from the rigger and at 6 pounds diameter you get 20 pound test. So you still get the line capacity, triple the test, no memory, and it lasts for years. Its not cheap but worth the extra money. I usually fill the spool with fiber line leaving enough room to put 100 feet of monofilament for leader. I use 10 to 12 pound mono for leader tying it to the fiber line using a double uni-knot.

Lures and Bait

I have a tackle box so full of different makes, shapes, sizes, and colors that it would take for ever to explain how to use them all. So let’s take a look at what I use most. Like my pappy used to say "The bigger the lure the bigger the fish" and in most cases it has come true. Here are a few to look at. You figure out who makes them.

Most of these lures come with siwash hooks but I change them to treble. In an earlier section I stressed knowing your trolling speed. These lures need to be trolled at the correct speed to work right. Some faster some slower. I usually put them in the water beside the boat to make sure they swim correctly before putting them out. Believe me when I say these spoons have caught some really big trout.

As you can see silver is my favorite color but all of these have caught fish. Even the smallest one in this picture caught a 27’ cut throat trout. These types of wobblers are also dependent on speed so as with the spoons I put them over the side of the boat to see if they swim properly. If they are wobbling correctly they should move side to side the same if they move to one side more then the other they can be tuned by turning the eye one way or the other. I also bait these with a piece of worm on the bottom hook. Seems to make the fish get after them better.

Live bait spinner rigs are also one of my go to choices. I make my own using different blade and bead combinations, then paint the blades. I can make about any color and size I want out on the water.

These tactics and tackle have worked for me but you may find something else that works for you, always experiment watch your speed, depth and set the hook.