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Tips on Trolling |
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As the weather gets hot, shore fishing at the state's major reservoirs tends to drop off and anglers need to get out on the water, trolling, to have the best success. UTAH FISHING magazine asked Randy Carter to share some tips on trolling. Carter does a great deal of fishing all over Utah, mostly trolling. The year before last he caught one of every kind of trout in Utah except the golden trout. "I think a main key is to use a downrigger. I'm seeing more and more of them as fishermen learn about them and how to use them. Downriggers allow you to fish at a precise depth — and that can make all the difference in fishing success when you're trolling. I like to boat through an area and see where the fish are (using a fish finder). Then I set the downrigger at the right depth. I start trolling at the upper level of where the fish are and then go deeper if I don't have success. "Downriggers allow you to use light tackle instead of leaded line. Your fishing is more controlled — you know right where you are. "You can also fish at two levels with one downrigger. Utah fishing regulations allow two lures or baits per line (look it up in your proclamation), so you can put a splitshot sinker 15 feet (or whatever) on your line above the downrigger ball. Then rig another length of line with a lure on one end and a snap swivel on the other. Snap the swivel on your main line above the splitshot and you can be fishing with two lures at two different depths. This works especially well on waters like Flaming Gorge where the lake trout are down deep and the kokanee and rainbow are in shallower water. I might be fishing for mackinaw at 100 feet and for rainbow at 80. The downrigger release will pop up if a fish hits either lure. "I have used pop gear with my downrigger and did real well at Fish Lake. I've also used dodgers and flashers (which are attractants like pop gear, but are all one piece). "I'd start out with a good quality smaller boat that you can put a 4 or 6-cylinder engine on. That way you won't have to spend a lot of money at first, but you can put more power on it. You won't have to spend a lot to find out if you like the sport. It's just human nature that if you find out you really like boating, you'll eventually want something bigger, better and faster. If you take good care of your first boat, you can get all of your investment out of it when you sell and get into something bigger. Boating and fishing are great family sports and they're getting more and more popular." |
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