Jump to content
Fly Tying
Sign in to follow this  
troutinturnie

Trolling Flies

Recommended Posts

Anyone have any experience trolling flies?

 

Have a trip booked for July to a fishing lodge in Northern Manitoba. I've been there the last few summers but this year I want to try fly fishing the majority of the time. Last year we trolled for walleye and caught dozens of fish in the 8-14 foot depth range. I'm wondering if there is a way to troll flies down to that depth without using bottom bouncers or other spin tackle techniques?

 

Fly fishing for pike in the bays won't be an issue, I've done that many times but I've never caught a walleye on the fly before.

 

Flies I have tied to bring include: deceivers, bucktail hair wing streamers, leech patterns, rabbit strip flies and woolly buggers. All of which look like spin tackle we have had success trolling years before.

 

Any advice on technique or flies would be great!

 

Thanks

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Trolling is trolling. Fly fishing is not. Put a fly on a trolling rig and fish that way. Or cast and retrieve, which is fly fishing.

 

I am not trying to be argumentative ... but I know it'll sound that way. I just don't get the "need" to mix fishing styles. All sport fishing methods have their place and can be enjoyable. Just because you're holding a fly rod in your hand while your trolling ... doesn't mean you're fly fishing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mikechell, they have been trolling flies in new England for trout and salmon for over 200 years, its fly fishing even in the books.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I troll flies all the time for all species. especially on big lakes. its a old way of fly fishing starting in Europe a few hundred years ago. Oh and I use fly rods with different lines for it. make up some leadcore heads to sink to different depths. heavy sink lines work too. I can run down to 30 feet with my setups

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I know a lot of people that troll flies in their kayak on the way to the area they want to fish, where they will cast normally. They're paddling at a good speed for it so may as well drag the fly behind you on the way to see what hits. It also makes it easier to start fishing when you get there since the line is already out. Good for the sudden cast if you see a fish or school along the way as well.

 

I would do it if I fished from a Kayak

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i,m with Mike..if the rod doesn,t have snake guides and the line and fly don,t float and the reel isn,t single action, it isn,t fly fishing..lol..Tenkara?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You can also fly fish for walleye at modest depths -- 3-6 feet -- If you look for shoal water very near deeper holding areas and fish early and late in the day or on dark days when schoolng baitfish.roam these seams. Also, look for walleyes in similar creases in rivers at any time of day.

 

Frankly I do not see the point in fly fishing for eyes with pike and maybe smallies around. They do not fight all that hard and are suckers for streamers and hex nymphs. True, they do excel on the table. But then so do yellow perch.

.

I only know of one fly trolling application here in the US. New England guys perfected trolling for brookies, landlockeds, and lake trout after ice out in the spring. They mostly trolled w/o motors out of canoes and used smelt patterns tied on very long shank streamer hooks. They made no particular effort to get their flies down deep other than long-lining them on old, non-greased, lines.

 

Rocco

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

When we fly fish for striper I the delta we trip at slow speeds while casting and stripping it back in, most of the time we're using clouser minnows on sinking line.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mike makes a good point..if i ty 100' of line to my tenkara rod and troll with it, am i still tenkara fishing..not to me..your trolling..the rod doesn,t change that fact..does it?..or if i ty a bobber to my spin rod and hang a fly from the bobber am i still fly fishing?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm wondering if there is a way to troll flies down to that depth without using bottom bouncers or other spin tackle techniques?

 

 

 

Any advice on technique or flies would be great!

 

Thanks

You guys are really jumping on OP for no good reason. He didn't even call it fly fishing. Have suggestions? Give them. Otherwise maybe start your own thread.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My fly rods don't have snake guides on them. Where's that leave me? I've trolled flies a couple of times, twice in salt water, when we were hitting snapper blues, once up in Northern Ontario, when I got tired of tossing an 8 inch fly for pike and trolled it behind the boat on our way to the next casting spot. Over the years I've caught 4 walleyes on the fly rod. Three casting, one drifting. All small 14-16 inches. The ones caught casting were in shallow water, one came casting off the dock at the lodge, the other two came from around beaver lodges. We're lazy when we fish for walleye in the evening, we find a likely spot and drift bouncing jigs tipped with leeches or night crawlers off the bottom. The one I caught drifting came out of 18-20 feet of water on a Crease Fly I had on short leader off my sink tip. Just reread your post. 8 to 14 feet is shallow, if they're there you should be able to catch them casting, if you can talk your buddies into anchoring or drifting. As sandflyx already suggested you can use a sinking line/sink tip line or make some sinking heads. Rig a 5 foot piece of fluorocarbon leader, 25#. Use a floating fly, like a crease fly or a slider. Let your line sink to the bottom, when you start stripping the fly will dive toward the bottom, pause the strip and it will float back up, or you can strip it in fast. I'm not going to Canada this year, enjoy your trip.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm wondering if there is a way to troll flies down to that depth without using bottom bouncers or other spin tackle techniques?

 

lead core line

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...