By Josh Bendoski
Trolling is a fantastic way to target and catch lots of different types of fish and can be done in many ways. In this article, we are going to focus on trout.
The simplest way is to surface troll 50-80 feet back at .5-1 mile per hour. Jerk Baits, Crank Baits, Spinners, and Spoons work well for all kinds of trout.
This is a great way to catch lots of rainbow trout, cutthroat trout and many more types of fish who like to swim and eat near the surface.
However, in this article, we will focus on deep-water fish. Some fish like kokanee salmon The kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), also known as the kokanee trout, little redfish, is the non-anadromous form of the sockeye salmon (meaning that they do not migrate to the sea, instead living out their entire lives in freshwater).Kokanee Salmon like cold deep water for the majority of the season. So we need to fish in the thermocline. The typical life cycle of the kokanee is similar to that of other salmon. They are born in a stream and migrate down to a lake where they will spend most of their adult lives. Kokanee typically live for four years in a lake before heading back to spawning grounds to spawn and die.
Bodies of water are made up of layers, determined by temperature. The top surface layer is called the epipelagic zone, and is sometimes referred to as the "skin" or "sunlight zone." This layer interacts with the wind and waves, which mixes the water and distributes the warmth. At the base of this layer is the thermocline. A thermocline is the transition layer between the warmer mixed water at the surface and the cooler deep water below. It is relatively easy to tell when you have reached the thermocline in a body of water because there is a sudden change in temperature. In the thermocline, the temperature decreases rapidly from the mixed layer temperature to the much colder deep-water temperature.
Fish finders are very beneficial in locating the depth of the fish you are targeting. This is a much more advanced technique of fishing that requires a bit of equipment, including downriggers. Downriggers allow you to drop your lure into the thermocline where the fish are in the water column.
Downriggers are a large ball that pulls your line and lure to the depth of the thermocline. When targeting kokanee salmon, generally, the fish are at a depth of 30-60 feet. So, when targeting this species, you would want to run 50 feet of line behind the boat, then another 30-60 feet down. Originally designed for commercial fishing, downriggers are now a popular technique for sport fishermen on large, deep lakes in the northern U.S and southern Canada and for saltwater anglers everywhere.
A great kokanee rig consists of a dodger or flasher with a 10-24 inch fluorocarbon leader connected to a squid tipped with maggots. Kokanee Salmon don't actually eat fish; they almost exclusively feed on zooplankton, tiny aquatic animals from the size of a pinprick to the size of a small fishhook. They will also eat tiny plants, insects, and freshwater shrimp when available.
So, the kokanee bite is more of a reaction strike. The fish is swimming with the dodger, which is mimicking another salmon feeding. The squid is actually an irritant, kind of like a fly buzzing around. So most of your hookups are the fish swatting at the squid out of agitation. This setup will catch you a lot of trout and salmon.
Tight lines!!!!