VOL.39 • ISS. 20
Tips For Battling Macks
>
Gulp! Minnows teamed with
dodgers are a proven offering for macks
when teamed with dodgers and trolled
in the 1-1.5 mph range.
>
Macks
provide outstanding
eating. Not only
is the meat tasty,
but it’s full of heart
healthy oils.
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<
Mackinaw fishing is
challenging but the rewards
are great. While macks are
free strikers, finding them
and effectively presenting
offerings in the deep water
macks frequent is tough
for anglers that aren’t well
versed in deep water trolling.
<
Downriggers
are must
have equipment for
serious mackinaw
trolling. During the
dead of winter and
early in the spring
you can find macks
shallow, but for much
of the year they
spend their time near
the bottom in deep
water.
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HOW TO...
FISH SNIFFER
HOW – TO
by Cal Kellogg
Sept 25, 2020
Trolling for Deep Water
Mackinaw
Deepwater trolling, shallow water
trolling and jigging are the three
most popular approaches used for
subduing macks throughout the year at
most western mackinaw lakes,
yet before you can fish for them
you’ve got to find them and
this can be one of the biggest
challenges.
Even in lakes that boast a
substantial population of macks
they can be quite elusive. When
it comes to mackinaw the old
saying that 90 percent of the
fish only occupy 10 percent
of the water is scripture. As a
result a quality sonar unit is
among the most important tools
the angler can posses.
As a general guideline, a
laker’s preferred habitat is
craggy boulder strewn ledges that fall into
deepwater. If such an area shows signs of
forage such as clouds of shrimp, kokanee
salmon or chubs the chances of it holding
macks increases significantly.
During the cold water months from fall
through early spring, macks can often
be found hunting in shallow bays and
on shallow flats. The common denominator
that separates productive flats from
nonproductive ones is the immediate
proximity of deepwater. When the water
temperature is cool, mackinaw won’t
hesitate foraging in shallow areas, so long
as the security of deepwater is nearby.
Throughout the year trolling, more
specifically deepwater trolling accounts
for more mackinaw than shallow water
trolling and jigging combined. If your goal
is to consistently land limits of average
size macks along with the occasional big
boy, deepwater trolling in depths ranging
from 100 to 350 feet is the way to go.
Uninitiated anglers often assume that
since they successfully pull rainbows out
of deepwater using their downriggers the
same approach will earn them a quick
limit of macks, but this is seldom the case.
While the basics of downrigger trolling
are the same no matter what species is
being targeted there are a number of
variations in tactics that differentiate the
successful rainbow troller from the troller
that consistently boats macks.
When targeting rainbows it is often to
the angler’s benefit to cover ground, while
the exact opposite is often true when
it comes to hooking lakers residing in
deepwater.
A successful mackinaw troll begins
with pinpointing a group of fish using
sonar and marking their position using a
GPS unit. Generally speaking, mackinaw
holding just off the bottom are the easiest
to catch because they tend to stay put,
allowing the angler to work on them.
Deep water macks may or may not be
actively feeding, but provided the fish stay
in one position they can often be caught
even if they aren’t in a feeding mode
initially. You see, inactive fish can often
be prodded into feeding, by presenting
your baits to them multiple times.
Mackinaw, particularly those residing
in deepwater will hit a variety of different
offerings. Rigged baitfish are a top choice
wherever it’s legal to use them. A lot
of dedicated mackinaw specialists go
through the trouble of catching chubs and
other minnows that are native to the lakes
they fish. I’ve always done well using the
2 to 3 inch shiners that are found in bait
shops as well as frozen herring that are
most commonly used by ocean salmon
trollers.
Some anglers insist that it is crucial to
5
have live minnows, but I have never found
this to be the case. Since the common
method for rigging minnows for trolling
is to thread a treble hook tipped leader
through the body of the
baitfish, I doubt if it makes
much difference whether
the minnow is alive or fresh
frozen.
For small minnows I
typically use a No. 6 treble
attached to a 16 inch piece
of 15 pound monofilament
leader. I thread the leader
through the minnow from
the vent to the mouth such
that the treble rides along
the bottom of the bait just in
front of the tail. When using
herring or other large baitfish
I go with the same leader
length, but I upsize the treble to a No. 2 or
4. When using baitfish I always pull them
behind a dodger or set of flashers.
At times when I don’t have or can’t use
baitfish, I’ve found Gulp! Minnows to be
a deadly substitute.
Other effective baitfish substitutes
include grubs from Berkley and Sep’s as
well as Hoochies from P-Line, Gold Star
and others.
Most of the time rigged baitfish, soft
plastics and flies are all I need to hook
up, but once in a while deepwater macks
show a strong preference for plugs. For
these situations I always have a few
Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows, floating Rapala
Minnows, broken back Bomber Long A’s,
Apex Lures and EChip equipped Pro Troll
Sting Kings on hand.
I don’t think the color makes a big
difference when it comes to selecting
plugs for use in deepwater, but since
macks like to feed on small rainbow trout
and kokanee salmon I almost always go
with rainbow trout and silver over black
pattern plugs. When using plugs I run
them alone without dodgers.
Once you get on the water for a
deepwater trolling session the first task is
to locate a group of fish holding near the
bottom using the sonar unit. When you
get some promising looking returns, mark
the location of the fish on your GPS and
get ready to drop your rigs down to them.
If I have baitfish they are my first choice,
followed by my soft plastics, flies and
finally plugs.
Since deepwater macks will likely be
sluggish when you first show them your
lures I heavily scent all my offerings
with Pro-Cure A number of different
scents work well including rainbow trout,
sardine, herring, trophy trout, shrimp, krill
and garlic. Not only do I apply the scent to
the bait, but I also smear it on my dodgers
too. Naturally the scent is intended to
draw strikes from individual macks, but as
you make multiple passes through the fish
it also creates a cloud of scent that helps
to excite the whole pack.
Deep water trolling is not a high speed
affair. With baitfish, plastics and flies,
speeds between .8 and 1.5 miles per hour
are perfect. When using plugs you can
push the speed up to 2 or at most 2.5.
Trolling for deep dwelling macks is unlike
any other trout trolling, since your goal is
to troll a very small patch of the bottom
while working in conjunction with your
sonar and GPS. You want to maneuver in
circles and figure eights, keeping the lures
in front of the fish as much as possible.
Okay so you are trolling, the lures and
scent are working and a fish decides to
strike. Even smallish macks are big heavy
CONTINUED ON PG 13