Trolling flys

[Fish For Life 0]

What set up and methods do you use for trolling flys? Although frowned upon my many im sure, trolling flys in a float tube sounds like it can be pretty effective. Im just not really sure how to do it? Do you just chuck out a whole lot of line and start kicking, or is there more to it. So how do you do it. Rod setups, line setup, flys used, trolling speed/methods, depths, and so on. Anything that would help out with starting trolling flys would be appreciated.

Thanks

[FlaFly 0]

I reported once before that I used to fish in one of those inflatable "boats" that they sell for swimming pools. I was paddling across a pond, with my rod laid across the boat and my popping bug dragging about 12 feet behind. Out in the middle of the lake, a big bluegill grabbed it. There may be some points in favor of trolling, or against. For one thing, when you cast and retrieve from a fixed spot, you essentially drag your fly over that entire length. Depending on how far you troll, you could cover more or less distance. The down side is that you're either paddling or running your trolling motor over that entire distance, and possible frightening away any possible catches. When I anchor my canoe casting distance offshore, I can cover 360 degrees of area around my canoe. When trolling, you cover little more than one degree. Those two factors tend to convince me that trolling isn't a good use of time. All it does is reduce the need for casting, and where's the fun in that?

[phg 0]

OK, just to clarify, drifting in a tube/pontoon boat (or even a drift boat) isn't necessarily trolling. Trolling is where you throw out your lure, and then row/paddle/kick/motor along, usually on still water, to propel the lure. If, however, you are on moving water, and letting the boat drift with the current, even if you occasionally use your paddle/oar/fins to control the boat, you are drift fishing. Different technique.

 

A streamer would be your basic lure, heavily weighted, like a clouser, to run deep, or lightly weighted to swim near the surface. Like FlaFly, I prefer to fish different angles from one position before moving on. Sometimes the current won't allow it, but I like to cast across the current, and strip back toward myself. I'll do this several times before moving.

 

I've never found straight trolling to be very effective. Most of the time, the lure will benefit from some kind of retrieve. Likewise, you don't really want to drift over where the fish are holding. That will probably put them down. Instead, I try to drift to one side of the lie, and cast across. If there is a current, I'll let the fly swing downstream and retrieve down and across.

[Fish For Life 0]

OK, just to clarify, drifting in a tube/pontoon boat (or even a drift boat) isn't necessarily trolling. Trolling is where you throw out your lure, and then row/paddle/kick/motor along, usually on still water, to propel the lure. If, however, you are on moving water, and letting the boat drift with the current, even if you occasionally use your paddle/oar/fins to control the boat, you are drift fishing. Different technique.

Yes, i am talking about trolling in lakes.

[mikechell 0]

There are only two times I actually troll.

1) If I am moving from one spot to another, and it's too close to fire up the motor. I sometimes use a popper, especially if I know the water depth I will pass over doesn't go deeper than 3 or 4 feet. If It is deeper than that, I'll cast out what ever I have tied that's a sinking fly. But fly selection is also dependent upon the area I am sculling to. What ever I plan on using first, there, is usually what I'll "troll" with.

 

2) Actual trolling ... with the intent of not stopping unless I get a hit. Then (sorry), I would never use a fly. A spinning rod with some type of crank bait will always be my go to for those situations.

[Philly 0]

I've done some trolling with my 8 wgt. Initially, in salt water when we were trolling off the beach and the lures on the trolling rods were a bit to large for the snapper blues that were all over the place. I pulled in my light trolling rod, tied a popper I'd brought from Orvis, let out all my fly line and some backing and had a blast catching the snapper blues. I'll do it sometimes when on my week in Ontario. There are stretches between spots where the lake's relatively shallow 5 to 7 feet deep. Put a streamer or a popper on my 8 wgt, screw in the 7 inch fighting butt, so I can stick it in the rod holder while I drive the boat. I tighten the drag down when I'm doing it. I've caught smallmouth, small pike and even a small walleye. More of a change of pace than anything else.

[Jaydub 0]

Yes, trolling from a float tube can be quite effective. It's not complicated. I usually use an intermediate line. Sometimes a faster sinking line is called for. One common setup is a bugger with a small nymph trailing a couple feet behind. To eliminate slack, point your rod straight down the line with the tip on the water. Try giving the line an occasional twitch and try a steady troll. Sometimes one way works better than the other. Float tube trolling is a good way for a beginner to get into a fish because they don't really have to cast. They can just shake out line a little at a time as they kick backwards. I don't worry much about spooking fish by kicking over them. Trout in lakes are not stationary. They cruise around. I have quite a bit of line separating the boat from the fly. The fish seem to have settled down by the time the fly gets to them or they are moving and I never was directly over them in the first place.

[singletrack 0]

I do this a lot. Mostly in slat. I kick quite slow and either jig or twitch my fly. It is effective for covering lots of water. I use it a lot to fish areas I have never fished before. It gives you a quick snap shot of were the fish are holding. Very effective if you don't see anything rising. I cover my technique for salt in a video here.

 

https://youtu.be/1JVAxDPm79c

 

This is for salt but same idea in fresh water lakes. I use intermaited and full sink tips. But I fish quite deep. But in fresh I have used just floating lines to.

[Hatchet Jack 0]

Jaydub nailed it, bang on.

 

I use a full sink line & four foot leader, and almost all the line (90 feet?) goes out.

It gets a weighted jig-fly down approximately 25-30 feet, moving slow with tube & fins.

A large arbour reel helps take up the line quickly.

A relaxing fun way to fish indeed, do give it a go!

 

 

Yes, trolling from a float tube can be quite effective. It's not complicated. I usually use an intermediate line. Sometimes a faster sinking line is called for. One common setup is a bugger with a small nymph trailing a couple feet behind. To eliminate slack, point your rod straight down the line with the tip on the water. Try giving the line an occasional twitch and try a steady troll. Sometimes one way works better than the other. Float tube trolling is a good way for a beginner to get into a fish because they don't really have to cast. They can just shake out line a little at a time as they kick backwards. I don't worry much about spooking fish by kicking over them. Trout in lakes are not stationary. They cruise around. I have quite a bit of line separating the boat from the fly. The fish seem to have settled down by the time the fly gets to them or they are moving and I never was directly over them in the first place.

 

[kennebec12 0]

Trolling can be a good technique (and I did a lot of it before I started fly fishing). The two most important factors are the depth the fish are holding at (mostly dependent on temperature and dissolved oxygen) and an understanding of the bottom structure of the lake (big rocks, gravel shoals, basins, springs) which comes with time and using a depth finder/depth maps. In places I used to troll frequently I could pretty much guarantee you a fish because I knew where the bottom structure was ideal. Another big factor is trolling speed, for trout and salmon somewhere between 2 and 5mph is good. In one pond I fly fish the best fly fishing territory is at the opposite end of the pond from the boat landing, while I paddle down there I troll with my entire fly line out and take a route over several rocky 'underwater islands' which lands me my first couple of fish almost every trip. If the surface water is cold and maybe there is some chop I fish full float line with a lightweight streamer on 6-8' of leader/tippet, as the surface water warms throughout the summer I gradually work my fly's deeper, with standard fly fishing gear 10' is about as deep as you can effectively troll. Knowing the bottom structure is really the key to successful trolling for most fish species, even if it the surface is cool and well oxygenated fish will hang out around the good habitat that may be 20-30' below. If you're just randomly cruising around the lake you are just going to randomly catch fish, if you're trolling over productive fish habitat you'll catch fish. Around this time of year, when the ice goes out, underwater basins will be full of 39 F water (the temperature at which water is most dense), which is also usually the warmest water for a while after ice out, and fish will congregate in these basins. Finding one that is 20' deep with a 10-15' deep surrounding area is prime, get a size 6-2 streamer down to 8-10' and trolling over those basins can be very productive (or not trolling at all and just casting and retrieving over it). I hold my rod straight out from the boat with the tip close to the water, the tip will develop a rhythmic bounce at a constant speed and I watch for it pull hard or stop bouncing, quick sets are key when trolling. Size 2 7xl Rangeley style streamers are very popular to troll with here in Maine.

[Dave G. 0]

We troll Maine lakes for salmon and trout and even big ponds here on the Cape but in a boat with fish finder a lot and almost exclusively in the spring for trout here if in the boat and not wader fishing.. The exception is big pickerel fishing , thats more cast and retrieve but you still slam one trolling sometimes. As Kennebec says, it's about structure and water temp and trolling speeds in still water. But like Moosehead Lake for instance, the deepest hole is about 200 ft deep, common troughs are 60 ft deep and yet in the cold spring water you might find almost all the fish are holding up in the top three feet of water and sometimes so close to the surface you get no reading in the fish finder. A little deeper moving towards late June and early July, maybe be reading fish down around 8 ft or so. As water warms, then 15 ft ( three colors out on a lead core line trolling at around 2mph). You want your fly over the fish not under them, if to error, error for slightly over the fish. If the lake looks barren of fish though, troll right in the surface film ! But non the less they will still be over structure, off points of land, Off points of islands etc. So learn your waters, it can be lot's of fun. If you don't have or can't rig a fish finder on your tube, then get topographic/charts maps of the lakes or ponds in your area so you know depths, and where ledges and drops are.. You will have to learn your own waters and seasons. The above are examples of waters I know.

 

We troll flies but also hardware FWIW. the boat is rigged with rod holders and we use lead core line, or we may switch the rig out for just straight mono. Flyrods we hold. flies are varied according to the area we are fishing. A good bet is about 75-100 ft of line out behind a boat. Can't speak for kicking a tube around. But we also drift fish on the wind, very effective with marabou streamers or woolly buggers, very effective. Hairs ear Nymphs can be good too, drift and twitch on floating line. We will drift on the wind down a point of land, then power back up wind and set up for another drift. Awesome !!

[Chris_NH 0]

We troll flies mostly in lakes in the spring when salmon and trout are feeding mostly up near the surface. When water warms and fish go deep we troll deeper with lead core and switch to spoons like a mooselook wobbler, needlefish, etc.

 

Have never trolled out of a float tube, but if I were to try it with a fly rod I'd use a sinking/depth charge type line and streamers/buggers /soft hackles and I'd darn sure have a tiny barrel swivel or two somewhere in the leader, and I'd use a pretty long leader (10-15').

[corney 0]

We troll out of boats all the time with a type 6 or 3 get down line with a 3-4' leader. Lots of line out and slow as possible weaving back and worth. I prefer if you can it in on a wind drift.

 

Quite a common method all over British Columbia.

[j8000 0]

When I'm at my favorite lake, I would set up my 3 or 8 year old with a spoon lure and paddle a 2 person raft along. I would throw my nymphs out too. Although I rarely got anything myself while trolling, when my daughter would catch something with the spoon and I stopped the raft and coached her to bring in the fish, a lot of the times the fish would take my now sinking nymph and we'd both have a fish at the same time.

 

Next year though, I would like to but on a classic wet fly and see what happens when we paddle across the lake. Or a wet fly with a nymph dropper. And I troll pretty slow. Just fast enough to make the spoon lure work.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

We slow troll a fly occasionally when moving back to a spot the current has taken us away from -usually with the same Clouser we were catching them with before the tide moved us away... This is particularly when we need a ladyfish or two for live bait and works really well. I fish a lot of two man charters where one guy is working the fly and the other is using spinning gear (fly guy is in the bow. spin guy in the stern) - and both will be trolling what they were using when we need those small ladyfish (fly -a Clouser, spin - a small jig). These are small to medium sized ladies in the 10 to 13" size range.... They behave like little wolves and jump a bunch when hooked (you may have to hook five or more to get one to the boat....) and are dropped right into the livewell if we're going to use them for bait... By the way, all of this is in places where you'd never want to be in the water - too many sharks of every size and description in the brackish or salt portions of the Everglades, period... Some of them bigger than my 17' skiff.

 

Once we have the live baits in the well they might not get used all day long (and if that's so the lucky ones get turned loose at the end of the day). When they're needed, one of the uses is to have a rod off the stern, trailing a live lady about 200 to 300 feet behind us as I pole into position for fly shots at giant tarpon in shallow bays or along the gulf coast of the 'Glades (where a live bait's life expectancy is pretty short). We just ignore that trailing rod with it set in a rodholder until it bends over and screams... Do it right and the fly angler is never inconvenienced in the slightest by that trailing rod... Every now and then we hook up a giant on fly and moments later that trailing rod goes down and it's pandemonium with two big fish on and going in different directions...

 

Here's a single pic of the size tarpon we encounter -this one taped out at almost 150....