Trolling tips and advice

[BearFisher]

My father in law just got his new 14ft boat set up and wanted to go fishing. We hit up Kesherum Reservoir and saw some guy having a blast trolling. After seeing his success I realized I would like to know some techniques to help my father in law and myself get into fish. If anyone could give me a crash coarse in trolling that would be much appreciated.
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[talyn]

If you are going after trout pop gear and a worm trolled at 1 to 1.5 mph with your line 75 to 100 ft back works good.

[SkunkedAgain]

Speed is very important, but that can change day to day but 1.4 to 2.0 is usually in the range, unless you're after wiper this time of year then you better crank that up to 2.7-3.2 range... I like to use a dodger and a squid combo, it works well... I like RMT but I think the other brands are good as well... As the water temp gets warmer in the summer you need to troll deeper to get to the fish they like cooler water temps so they go down deeper... Early in the morning you can catch them up top, but by 8:30 you start to need lead core lines, down riggers or some kind of weights to get down 10-20' to the fish... Lot to it, but that's a good start... Hey Cabela's put out a trolling catalog a month or so ago that was really a pretty good article on trolling you might call them and request a copy it will give you a lot more detail... Later J
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[Hey_Bassman]

Trolling is my preferred method of fishing. The easiest way to get started is with lead core line. For every color you go out, you go down about 5 feet (ex. 4 colors = 20 ft deep) Doesn't take a rocket scientist. If nothing is happening, let out another color and so on. I learned this from my grandpa who didn't have any electronics whatsoever. Troll until you find the fish, then circle around and go right back thru that same spot. I use pop gear and a worm, you can't NOT catch fish. Go as fast as the action on your pole dictates. My experience has been, it's not as difficult as people make it out to be. [] I'd be happy to answer any other questions you may have about it.
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[jscottphisher]

I fish Strawberry using a dodger and night crawler on a 12" to 18" leader using my spinning outfit. I let out 100 to 150 feet of line and troll at between 1.5 & 2 miles an hour. It has never failed to produce. Some days more some days less. I like this better than pop gear and lead core but I have done well using the lead core too.
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[BearFisher]

Thanks for the tips so far. Do you guys use regular spinning rods/reels or do you have trolling specific rigs? I know some of the new lead line rigs have counters but do they work with braid, mono, or florocarbon line? Also how important is sonar. I have had some issues with the Sonar my father in law installed. It doesn't seem to work correctly. can the motor interfere if it is too close?
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[jscottphisher]

I have been using braid on my reels for several years not. It is strong, it doesn't stretch so it helps to see the strikes and it comes off the reel very smoothly. I like Power Pro.
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