Deep Water Trolling

[BaitCaster]

While fishing last week at Mazinaw Lake I marked quite a few large lake trout on my sonar with their bellies to the bottom in about 50 - 80 ft. of water. I made a feeble attempt to get down to that depth by rigging a couple of bullet sinkers for weight, but my attempt was rather pathetic and I got nowhere near the required depth.

That got me to thinking about getting lures down to those depths (apart from vertical jigging). I know you can get manual clamp-on downriggers for about $100 but I've also taken a look at the Luhr Jensen Dipsy Divers (which cost about $10 apiece and will dive to various depths).

Does anybody troll deep water? What do you use to get your lure down there?

 

[Captain Ahab]

Planer boards or down riggers


Fish those trout at night when they come up

 

[BaitCaster]

Well, my birthday is coming up so, after doing smoe research, I put in an order for some Dipsy Divers and Deep Sixes along with a Cabela's Depthmaster Gold line counter reel (it comes in left-handed retrieve) and a 10 1/2 ft. Shimano "dipsy" trolling rod! I think I have all the depths covered now!

 

[bcbouy]

i invested in a pair of scotty lake troller downriggers.they come with 100' of cable.i dont use them much,but nice to have when the ff is picking up deep lunkers all day.only problem is with only one in, it tends to pull the boat to one side with electric trolling power,but still worth the money.

 

[shamoo]

Post a picture of that set-up, sounds sweet, oh HAPPY BIRTHDAY =D>

 

[BaitCaster]

Post a picture of that set-up, sounds sweet, oh HAPPY BIRTHDAY =D>

Thanks! Well, here's a pic of the reel frmo the Cabela's website, except I got a left-had retrieve model (actually, that's why I decided on the Depthmaster Gold as it was the only one I found that came in a left-had retrieve). I'll post some pics of the whole rig when i get it. Can't wait to use it!

 

[BaitCaster]

i invested in a pair of scotty lake troller downriggers.they come with 100' of cable.i dont use them much,but nice to have when the ff is picking up deep lunkers all day.only problem is with only one in, it tends to pull the boat to one side with electric trolling power,but still worth the money.

Electric downriggers are too expensive for my tastes and too hefty for my boat. Scotty makes a couple of manual crank, clamp-on downriggers that retail for about $100 a piece. Thought about getting one of those and then I discovered the divers which are often called the "poor-man's downrigger"! We'll see how the fishing goes with the dipsy's. There may still be a downrigger in my future.

 

[Wallijig]

I do not fish deep water, but would a lead core line work for those conditions?
Here's article I found on trout salmon deepwater fishing with lead core line:
https://www.straitlineanglers.com/Articles/Leadcore_How-to.htm

 

[bcbouy]

i invested in a pair of scotty lake troller downriggers.they come with 100' of cable.i dont use them much,but nice to have when the ff is picking up deep lunkers all day.only problem is with only one in, it tends to pull the boat to one side with electric trolling power,but still worth the money.

Electric downriggers are too expensive for my tastes and too hefty for my boat. Scotty makes a couple of manual crank, clamp-on downriggers that retail for about $100 a piece. Thought about getting one of those and then I discovered the divers which are often called the "poor-man's downrigger"! We'll see how the fishing goes with the dipsy's. There may still be a downrigger in my future.

the laketroller is acrank model,not electric.it clamps to the side and is very portable.total length is about 14" or so.one trick i figured out is to clip my flasher/willow leaf directly to the downrigger cable,not my mainline.makes fighting fish easier without dragging all your hardware around with the fish.once it bites and pulls off the line clip its just you and the fish

 

[BaitCaster]

i invested in a pair of scotty lake troller downriggers.they come with 100' of cable.i dont use them much,but nice to have when the ff is picking up deep lunkers all day.only problem is with only one in, it tends to pull the boat to one side with electric trolling power,but still worth the money.

Electric downriggers are too expensive for my tastes and too hefty for my boat. Scotty makes a couple of manual crank, clamp-on downriggers that retail for about $100 a piece. Thought about getting one of those and then I discovered the divers which are often called the "poor-man's downrigger"! We'll see how the fishing goes with the dipsy's. There may still be a downrigger in my future.

the laketroller is acrank model,not electric.it clamps to the side and is very portable.total length is about 14" or so.one trick i figured out is to clip my flasher/willow leaf directly to the downrigger cable,not my mainline.makes fighting fish easier without dragging all your hardware around with the fish.once it bites and pulls off the line clip its just you and the fish

That's a good idea. I was at Canadian Tire last night and they have two models of Scotty clamp-on downriggers. They looked to be pretty decent quality and pretty simple to use. I also noticed they had a Rapala trolling rod and reel combo for $99. not bad.

 

[BaitCaster]

I do not fish deep water, but would a lead core line work for those conditions?
Here's article I found on trout salmon deepwater fishing with lead core line:
https://www.straitlineanglers.com/Articles/Leadcore_How-to.htm

Yeah, I think lead core is another way you can go. I watched a clip on YouTube the other day where they were fishing lead core for Lake Trout withuot downriggers or divers. They do recommend a special kind of rod for lead core though.

 

[bcbouy]

one thing with lead core,the more colors you let out,the heavier the drag.i pulled around a 12 " trout for over an hour before i knew it was on. i pulled in my line to change flies cuz i wasn't getting bites :? . the poor fish was totally spent. i didn't even feel the strike.

 

[BaitCaster]

one thing with lead core,the more colors you let out,the heavier the drag.i pulled around a 12 " trout for over an hour before i knew it was on. i pulled in my line to change flies cuz i wasn't getting bites :? . the poor fish was totally spent. i didn't even feel the strike.

That's a good point, and a common complaint with leadcore.

 

[BaitCaster]

Here's the new deep-water rig!