Thread: Lake Lochloosa

guess I'll try some trolling before I drop some minnows in the water... Thanks

Originally Posted by CrapHead27

guess I'll try some trolling before I drop some minnows in the water... Thanks

We are trolling jigs with minnows.

Tom

when you say tightline trolling, what exactly does that mean?

Originally Posted by CrapHead27

when you say tightline trolling, what exactly does that mean?

We spider rig with 3/4 ounce slip sinkers on the main line (we use yellow hi-vis 6 pound test) with a small (size 12) snap (not snap swivel, just a plain wire snap) tied to the end. We use round sinkers I pour myself from molds I got in Australia.

That is the main setup on each rod.

This snap below the sinker is where we clip on the rigs. Each rig is an 18" piece of 4 to 6 pound clear mono (usually Stren) with a jig or hook on one end and a SPro size 8 swivel tied to the other. Those SPro swivels are TINY, yet are 50 pound test. We use them a lot with our salt-water rigs too.

We pre-tie a bunch of these rigs so we don't have to worry about changing and re-rigging at the lake. If you want to change jigs, just un-clip the one on the line and clip on the new one.

We do not use double rigs (AKA, the Capps and Coleman style rigs) for a couple of reasons. We are not tournament fishing so are not interested in catching every last fish in the lake and also it is not worth dealing with the tangles that sometimes occur. Last, Lochloosa is a shallow bowl. You do not have to worry about a 30 foot water column with fish at some unknown level. They can't go up and down very far in 8 feet of water. If they were 10 feet off the bottom, they would be two feet in the air and you could shoot them like quail.

Lochloosa has few snags... you usually do not have to worry about hangups.

We troll at about 1 to 1.5 mph and try to cover as much water as possible. Most of the people fishing Lochloosa are wind-drifting. Which is perfectly fine if that is what you like to do... but they are not catching the numbers of fish we are with the fish still on their summer pattern.

Tom

3/4 ounce seems pretty heay for fishing so shallow? Are u trolling with the gas motor or the trolling motor?

Originally Posted by CrapHead27

3/4 ounce seems pretty heay for fishing so shallow? Are u trolling with the gas motor or the trolling motor?

We are trolling at about 1 to 1.5 mph and the sinker is necessary to keep the baits down..

Tom

PS: We troll with the trolling motor. 80 pound thrust Great White on a 22 foot Sea Chaser.