Trolling Flies

[ben bell 0]

fly line of any weight doesn,t cut through air that well much less water..do as Mike suggested, put your fly on a trolling rig..and call it fly fishing..lol..no one else will know the difference..lol.

[Poopdeck 0]

I've never trolled with a fly rod. If I were to troll with a fly and fly rod I would just clip it onto a Downrigger and totally freak out the purists. Can't be worse then a bobber could it? I've actually been thinking about doing this during the shad run so I can say I caught one on a fly rod.

[fishinguy 0]

fly line of any weight doesn,t cut through air that well much less water..do as Mike suggested, put your fly on a trolling rig..and call it fly fishing..lol..no one else will know the difference..lol.

it's a real shame they don't make sinking fly lines. Or sinking flies for that matter. He should just give up. Amirite?

[Fisherboy0301 0]

As long as you're catching fish and most importantly having fun, it matters not what means you're using ( within legal and ethical limits of course). If I were you I'd toss a hand tied beauty of a fly on that conventional trolling rig and smile ear to ear when the rod bent under the weight of a fat tasty walleye. many great fishermen are great because they are versatile and can adapt and combine techniques to get into lots of fish and big fish.

[JSzymczyk 0]

It must be winter.

[Dave G. 0]

Many of the famous streamers out of Maine were designed for trolling. I'm sure that Carrie Stevens would have been very surprised to hear that trolling her flies wasn't fly fishing.

 

I'm not sure why any one on a fly tying forum would believe that fishing with flies, regardless of how presented, wasn't fly fishing.

Last I knew in Maine fly fishing waters were designated as requiring cast and retrieving of a fly on or into the water. So cast, strip the line , pull it out of the water, recast. When up there and on fly fishing only waters you will see people drift, cast, strip, lift recast but not troll. You might see 1 person running a canoe or small boat and the other casting, let the fly drag on or below the surface for a few feet then lift it off and recast. But you need that continuous action of re- presenting the fly. Last I knew that's how the law was written there and has been for the 30 years I've been going up there, unless it changed this year, I don't yet have my law book.

 

Trolling is done in artificial fly and lure waters and also where general law prevails. You can fly fish artificial lure waters but can not bait fish in them or have bait in the boat with you if using a boat. Moosehead lake for instance is general law, there we troll lures and streamers and sometimes wet flies. Cold Stream pond is fly fishing only, you won't see anyone trolling flies there. Moose River is general law up to the red markers then depending on the time of year above the red markers it turns to artificial lure and flies, then coming into spawn season it turns to fly fishing only.

 

Incidentally, Maine is very much responsible for my taking up fly fishing and tying LOL . They have the screwiest fishing laws on the planet, but you're always covered by fly fishing when in doubt. They also have multi ponds and streams named the same in different townships with different laws and active game wardens.

 

[redietz 0]

.... you're always covered by fly fishing when in doubt.

 

 

That was my philosophy for a long time (along with C&R) I didn't have to remember whether a stream section is fly only, C&R, delayed harvest, trophy water, heritage waters, etc.

 

Then I moved to a state where I can't use a middle dropper when fishing wet flies.

[whatfly 0]

It must be winter.

Undoubtedly. When Mikechell starts arguing about fly fishing purity, you know even those in the warmer climes are affected.

 

With regards to the OP's question, a full sink line will get down to the depths you are talking about, although not at trolling speed. Just cast, count down, vary retrieve and repeat once you find something the like. No reason you could not use flies on conventional tackle if that gets the job down.

 

At the depth you are talking about here, do not overlook the effectiveness of nymphing deep, either using chironomids, balanced leech patterns or something similar. When you start getting past 12', breakaway indicators are useful, although not necessary if fishing from a boat.

[Dave G. 0]

I've trolled many many times with full sink line, especially towards evening when the fish are more looking up or are actually on top or in the film. Also very effective for slower fish is drifting with full sink line, I'll drift a whole shore line if the wind is right, then power out and back to where I started and drift again..

 

Our usual rig though is lead core on conventional trolling rods with conventional trolling reels. especially up north. 1-1/2-2 mph with 3 colors out will get you where you want to be depending on the actual lead core you have and water density. I use the slim lead core and originally trolled it on a fly rod with a large arbor spool but since switched it up. We like the Okuma Classic reels ( not sure they even still sell these but they were/ are very economical and reliable), works for us with flies or spoons. But we have banged some of the biggest salmon in late spring early summer right on top trolling spinning gear.

[Moshup 0]

My favorite Trolling fly .

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

Wish I knew how to find a roflmao emoticon... but I don't!

 

BCT

[Dave G. 0]

My favorite Trolling fly .image.jpeg

LIKE !

[Meeshka 0]

Totally agree with flytyer - lead cre line. There are different colors every so many feet. So when you find success that deapth may be replicated. I use ity almost exclusively trolling for big lakers in NWT

[Powershooter 0]

Ok , so... As long as I cast this with the fly rod I'm not trolling right ?

 

[Philly 0]

An umbrella rig. Even that small that's got to be a PITA to cast and retrieve. Let alone fighting a couple of fish on it. We use to use them when we're trolling inshore in the salt. Much bigger rig. They were bulky, hard to control and if you hooked up with 2 or 3 decent size bluefish you'd end up with a several angry bluefish flopping around on the deck snapping they're jaws at you while you tried to club them into submission.