I'm thinking of trying for big fish that are feeding on cisco in the summer. Do you use sonar to locate cisco schools? Are there transducers that can set on the bottom of an aluminum canoe and shoot through the hull? Does it help to know water temperature or thermocline depth? I'd probably paddle around pulling deep diving plugs, and switch out the trebles for single hooks.

I’m not sure if this will help, but I’ve caught pike while trolling for trout. This past weekend I was trolling about 30ft down and caught two pike. I’ve also caught pike using a tail dancer down about 30ft as well. My fish finder was picking up large schools of fish 30-40 ft down. I assumed they were Ciscos.

I've also caught some monster pike (in fact, the biggest pike I've ever caught) trolling in the middle of nowhere for lake trout.

I don't know about thermoclines or electronics...I usually troll no deeper than about 30 ft, and often much higher in the water column.

A buddy of mine, more patient than I, does nothing but troll huge, very expensive swimbaits around the middle of big, deep, main-lake basins of large, clear lakes, often using leadcore or snap weights to get them down deep. He doesn't catch a whole lot of fish, but his average size is insane, for trout and pike.

So I think you'd find success. With some electronics, maybe more. The fish are out there.

In early summer cisco feed at the surface in the evening. A big walleye pattern is to troll large shallow cranks like an original rapala or husky jerk in open water at dusk. I would bet northerns are there also.

Wow, I never heard of ciscos at the surface. Can you see them taking bugs? Are they over deep water while feeding at the surface?

carmike: "A buddy of mine, more patient than I, does nothing but troll huge, very expensive swimbaits around the middle of big, deep, main-lake basins of large, clear lakes, often using leadcore or snap weights to get them down deep. He doesn't catch a whole lot of fish, but his average size is insane, for trout and pike. "

sssssshhhhhhh.