Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3809 April 12-26 2019 | Page 8
6
HOW TO...
Apr 12 - 26, 2019
VOL.38 • ISS. 9
Rods, Reels & Lines For Trout Trolling
presents
^
Cal Kellogg and Lucy on the troll aboard their Hobie Kayak. This
is a familiar sight for readers of the Fish Sniffer Magazine. In
this shot, Cal has a spoon working 25 feet deep on leadcore and a fly
working near the surface on a topline. Vance’s trolling rods and Abu
Garcia line counter reels are the foundation of both rigs.
I
Rigs for Lake Trolling
’ve been doing a lot of trout
trolling recently and in the coming
weeks I’ll be adding in trips for kokanee
and king salmon too. Just this week I was
out on Collins Lake hunting for rainbows.
As I peddled along I
started reflecting on the
tackle I’m using for trolling
these days and thought it
might be interesting to share
what I’m using with the
readers of the Fish Sniffer.
Everybody has their own
style and I’m in no way
saying my gear is the only
gear to use. Before I get into
specifics, I think the broadest
point to be made is to think
critically about your gear
and dial in the equipment
you use to best serve your
needs on the water.
Right now, when I head out for a day of
trolling I have 4 rods in my kayak. While
three of the four are very similar each rod
has a specific purpose.
Rod number one is my downrigger
rod. This rod hasn’t been getting a lot of
use lately because I’ve been working the
surface. Generally, I’ll only deploy my
downrigger for fishing deeper than 20
feet.
The downrigger rod consists of a 7’
foot Vance’s tackle spiral wrapped rod,
matched with an Abu Garcia 5500 Line
Counter reel. The reel is spooled with
clear Yo-Zuri 10-pound Hybrid line. The
line is tipped with a bead and a high-
quality trolling swivel to prevent line
twist. A 48 inch 8 to 10 pound Yo-Zuri
Top Knot Fluorocarbon leader is attached
to the trolling swivel and the leader sports
a small lock snap.
A lot of the time I troll spoons naked
and just snap them onto the leader and
start fishing. When the situation calls for a
dodger I attached it to the trolling swivel
and alter the length of the leader to match
the conditions.
I have two other rigs that are identical
to the set up I’ve just described consisting
of Vance’s Rods and Abu line counters,
but the difference comes in the way that
I’ve got these rigs spooled. These are my
hardcore leadcore rigs and they
look like this.
The reels are spooled with
about 200 yards of green 20
pound Yo-Zuri Super Braid,
which is about the diameter of
4-pound mono. To the end of
the braid I splice on 3 colors of
leadcore.
I’ve played with several
different knots for linking the
braid to the leadcore, but the
method I’m about to describe is
not only the simplest, but also
forms an extremely smooth
connection that travels through
the eyes of the rod without a
hitch.
To make the connection, worm the
woven sheath of the leadcore back and
expose the lead wire inside. When you’ve
got about 3 inches of the lead exposed,
clip it off and then straighten out the now
hollow sheath. Tie an overhand (granny)
knot in the hollow sheath near the end
of the lead wire, but don’t draw the knot
down tight.
Next slide the braid you want to connect
the leadcore to into the hollow sheath
and work it all the way up to the loose
overhand knot. Holding the braid in place
inside the hollow sheath work the overhand
knot down nearly to the end of the sheath.
When the overhand knot is positioned
about a quarter inch from the end of the
sheath draw the knot down tight. That’s
it, you’re done and you’ve formed a super
smooth super secure connection.
With both of these rigs set up with
leadcore and braid back, we come to
the part of the line that lies between the
business end of the leadcore and the lure
and that’s where these two leadcore rigs
differ.
FISH SNIFFER
HOW – TO
by Cal Kellogg
^
Downriggers are dandy, but don’t overlooked the effectiveness of
leadcore when the fish are in the top 25. Cal caught this big Lake
Davis rainbow last fall while pulling a Dick Nite spoon about 5 feet deep
on one of his hybrid leadcore rigs.
^
Here we see Cal’s three
main trout trolling rigs. The
Vance’s rod/Abu line counter on
the far right is loaded with three
colors of leadcore with 20 braid
backing. The middle Vance’s rod
is set up for downrigger fishing
with standard 10 mono and the
spinning rod at the left is loaded
with fluorocarbon line and is
used for topline fishing.
^
Cal uses Yo-Zuri lines
extensively. Here we see
the lines he uses for setting up
his various trout rigs including
TopKnot mainline, Super
Braid, TopKnot Fluorocarbon
and for leadcore Sufix 832 in
the 12-pound size has been
performing well.
CONTINUED ON PG 27