Lake Michigan Trolling Tips and Tactics

OK,

I am very new to the whole Lake Michigan trolling scene, did it a few times last year with little success. This year we are a little better equipped, but I still need to know some of the basics. Like typically how far behind the downrigger ball do you run the lure? How far behind a dipsy? A slide diver? What are the best trolling speeds? Still trying to figure out the whole dodger fly thing?!

I know these are pretty general questions, but I am just looking for some general guidlines. Also any "secret" tips or tactics would be greatly appreciated!

LTHF Watch your riggers. if there is a lot of current from one side, you will see the lines being pushed one way or the other.

How do I figure out which way the current is running and which way should I troll once I know which way the current is?

JamesD there was a guy on two rivers fishing report that said he had a big fish snap his lead core. Don't know if fish could travel that far but mite want to check out.

I fished Algoma Thursday for a couple hours before sunset. Didn't see much on the finder but my disc on power pro started to go back...fish on! Took a while to get it to the back of the boat... my dypsey, that is. No fish! ..... but there was a section of lead core wrapped around the swivel of my spoon so I started to hand line in what ended up being a 18# king! I guess the "tip" I would give is "Once in a while even a blind squirrel finds a nut". I have no idea how long this fish was dragging a flasher fly, a bunch of mono leader and, two colors of lead core around behind it. Pure luck my rig twisted up in the core section.

Don't miss. All hell breaks loose..

if gaffing you must have the line in your hand and gaff in other hand just like salt water fishing. bloody mess is what you will have. nets work better.

Thinking about trying to gaff fish this year instead of netting. Anyone have pros and cons of using a gaff?

It's starting. Changing rod and reel combos to present different rigs to better strain the big pond for fish this spring. I don't have many extra reels to spool line to flip one set up to another so I came up with this simple solution using an old spool, some masking tape and a pencil. Stuck in my old battery drill I'm able to flip line off one reel and then switch it to another.

I have the Great Lakes Planers brand triple vertical trees. Rock solid, incredible customer service despite my fault completely causing damage (left net in vertical post and hit tree limb - DOH!), reasonably priced. Lots of good brands out there but I can't speak highly enough about GLP due to how their customer service treated me.

You guys running multiple planer boards are you using rod trees? What brands do you like?

I have two different ones i use . one is made from a BAJA light and i mounted it on a pole that retracts and goes in to a rod holder the other one is made from led driving lights and outs in my rear seat pole . For this season I’m going to use both of the lights but I’m going to make a more permenatnt mount for them The Baja is a 6” and the pole is 6’ long i put it tornado the one side and it lights up my rig really nice .

I wrestled with how to light the interior of my boats through the years. I found that using red double lamp trailer marker fixture worked well when installed under the gunnels if their open. The red light doesn’t affect your night vision. I installed a fixture every four feet. You’ll need to run these on a separate circuit as I found out the hard way you’ll be blowing fuses if you add them to the bow light/stern light switch circuit. But the best way to light your way in the darkness is by using an L.E.D. headlamp that allows you to select how many LEDs light to meet your lighting requirements. The one I bought was made by Energizer and has four white/bluish L.E.D. bulbs and a single red LED bulb. You can select two or four of the white L.E.D. bulbs or the single red LED. Now Energizer makes a 7 L.E.D. model with 2 red L.E.D. bulbs and five white L.E.D. bulbs. The 7 L.E.D. model is rated at 115 Lumens and costs under $20. These L.E.D. headlamps work great for netting fish in the dark and making those connection of downrigger releases to line a breeze. Good Luck SS http://www.amazon.com/Energizer-HD7L33AE-Parent-7-LED-Headlamp/dp/B00P8TKGJS

Nitro, I put a car power inverter in last summer just to try it out. I ran red rope lighting around the floor, and got 2 really cheap florescent 18" lights. Really easy on the eyes. Lotta guys run Halogen or LED's off the rod trees.

I want to construct a decent lighting bracket for setting up in the dark. Anyone know of where to get some bright enough lights that just plug into a cigarette lighter plug? Any other options that guys have used? I have a 19ft. Alumacraft. Thanks

Lakers are generally caught on slow troll baits and attractors. Dodgers trolled at 1.5 to 1.8 MPH with 24" leaders on Howie style flies work well for Lakers. If you're fishing deep white or glow blades paired with white or glow flies work well. Flashers work too but at generally trolled speeds between 1.9 to 3.0 MPH. Color choices are still the same as mentioned. I also caught lots of Lakers on just a gold plated spoon like an NK-28 or NK-MAG. True flutter spoons like the Sutton spoons work very well too when paired in a trolling spread of Dodgers and flies. Generally the larger Lakers require a slower trolling speed. Small Lakers can be caught on anything and I consider them a nuisance fish. I'll fish for the bigger Lakers at tournament time, because you shouldn't really eat them.