I would like to know what rod and reel combination works well for trolling lakers from a canoe. I am particularly interested in a baitcaster-type reel with line counter. Any help will be appreciated.

I use a medium 7 foot heavy rod , a Calcutta 400 B reel,12 pound Trilene XL, heavy duty snap swivel. I usually try to paddle into the waves, and have had my best luck when “trolling” pretty fast. My main baits are northland bionic buck tail jug, 1 or 2 ounce, or a 1 ounce jig with a 4 or 5 inch white twister tail…

Never really thought about what's above the water and it likely makes no difference to a lake trout. Use what you have.

Reminds me to look for a saved article about lake trout trolling in Maine with hand lines.

Shimano Telora Medium Fast trolling rod with Shimano Tekota 300 (probably should have gone with the 200 to save weight) Line-counting reel.

walllee: "I use a medium 7 foot heavy rod , a Calcutta 400 B reel,12 pound Trilene XL, heavy duty snap swivel. I usually try to paddle into the waves, and have had my best luck when “trolling” pretty fast. My main baits are northland bionic buck tail jug, 1 or 2 ounce, or a 1 ounce jig with a 4 or 5 inch white twister tail…"

You troll with bucktail/traditional jigs? Just a straight troll or do you try to jig as you're trolling?

Agree with B#3, unless you are trolling deep when the surface temps are hot, in which case I think it's responsible to have great winch of a reel that can apply some serious drag to speed up the process. You don't want to be exhausting a fish on light gear that you pulled from 40 fow when the surface temps are 80 degrees. My 2 cents anyway.

I don't feel a line counter is necessary. Our favorite setup is a Daiwa Tatula baitcaster on a MH 7.5 foot cabela's rod. We use metered braid line, 20 feet per color. Not having the big linecounter reel saves some weight and bulk.

We have also done well on leadcore and spoons / stick baits. For that we do use a BIG conventional baitcaster reel with 7 colors of lead spooled on.

thegildedgopher: "Agree with B#3, unless you are trolling deep when the surface temps are hot, in which case I think it's responsible to have great winch of a reel that can apply some serious drag to speed up the process. You don't want to be exhausting a fish on light gear that you pulled from 40 fow when the surface temps are 80 degrees. My 2 cents anyway.


I don't feel a line counter is necessary. Our favorite setup is a Daiwa Tatula baitcaster on a MH 7.5 foot cabela's rod. We use metered braid line, 20 feet per color. Not having the big linecounter reel saves some weight and bulk.


We have also done well on leadcore and spoons / stick baits. For that we do use a BIG conventional baitcaster reel with 7 colors of lead spooled on."

How does leadcore line compare to a 4 ounce keel sinker in terms of cost, operation, and environment?

bobbernumber3: "How does leadcore line compare to a 4 ounce keel sinker in terms of cost, operation, and environment?"

Cost — I’m sure a keel sinker is cheaper. A spool of suffix lead is probably 25-35 bucks, but I haven’t changed my line in four years since I only use it twice a year in the BW. Also need a large conventional reel to fit the line.

Operation — never fished a keel sinker before so I can’t really compare. Operation of leadcore is easy though. No additional terminal tackle. The sheath ties to the leader, everything on the business end is the same as usual.

Environment— since you run a leader you’ll never lose leadcore line to a snag. I’m sure some keel weights end up staying in the water, but probably not enough to have a negative impact. They’re not round so won’t be mistaken for pebbles and ingested by loons.

Action - you didn’t ask, but leadcore isn’t only about depth. There is some special sauce involved in the way the line reacts to speed changes and turns. There are times on my boat when it’s the golden ticket and other times it’s totally ignored.

So with leadcore, do you have a rod/reel combo for just laker trolling? Or do you swap out with a spool of mono for other fishing?

And thanks for the info on leadcore features.

ericinely: "

walllee: "I use a medium 7 foot heavy rod , a Calcutta 400 B reel,12 pound Trilene XL, heavy duty snap swivel. I usually try to paddle into the waves, and have had my best luck when “trolling” pretty fast. My main baits are northland bionic buck tail jug, 1 or 2 ounce, or a 1 ounce jig with a 4 or 5 inch white twister tail…"

You troll with bucktail/traditional jigs? Just a straight troll or do you try to jig as you're trolling?"

Straight troll

Bobber- pretty much. The only other time I use lead is summer trolling for walleye on the st croix River. For that reason it’s not an expensive setup. Kast king Rover reel, about 50 bucks. Shimano Sojourn 7.5 MH, maybe a little less than that.

Walllee— do you let it drop straight down first and then start paddling? How much line do you typically let out to get it around 25 feet or so?

thegildedgopher: "Bobber- pretty much. The only other time I use lead is summer trolling for walleye on the st croix River. For that reason it’s not an expensive setup. Kast king Rover reel, about 50 bucks. Shimano Sojourn 7.5 MH, maybe a little less than that.


Walllee— do you let it drop straight down first and then start paddling? How much line do you typically let out to get it around 25 feet or so?"

I usually find 60 feet of water , drop the jig to the bottom, reel up a couple turns, and start paddling . I actually can not tell you the exact depth I’m fishing, but it works for me even in mid summer…

There is a long tradition here in Maine of trolling for lakers and salmon with heavy fly rods and reels. Sinking fly lines and various combinations of dodgers and keel sinkers. Live smelt and bucktail streamers are the baits of choice. This works best after ice out and in the fall when the fish are higher in the water column. For the rest of the year, leadcore line is popular. Generally on some sort of level-wind reel with a line counter. Mine is by Penn. Most of the serious anglers go with a down-rigger which is not feasible in a canoe generally. It is all about getting the lure deep.

I use my same 7' M spinning rod that I use for casting cranks or vertically fishing jigs and blade baits. I spool with 10lb tracer Fireline to track amount of line out.

Trolling down wind is definitely easier than trolling into the wind as it helps maintain line tension after hook up. If you need to troll into the wind make sure to make several hard paddles after a strike before reaching for your rod. ( I do this in either direction actually).

Leadcore is nice if your fishing a consistent depth (i.e suspended or a basin). I like a snap weight or in line weight because I can have less line out and can very depth faster by varying speed. I can also multitask the same rod for other types of fishing and portage the rig without changing set up by just removing the snap weight.

A DD taildancer#11 with a 2oz snap weight can be fished at 60' with 120' of line out and I can get it up to 40' by paddling faster when needed to avoid snags.

AmarilloJim
A DD taildancer#11 with a 2oz snap weight can be fished at 60' with 120' of line out and I can get it up to 40' by paddling faster when needed to avoid snags.
"

Could you help me with the idea of a snap weight?
I assume this is one light line tied directly to the lure, and ending a few feet away with the weight. Then, tying your main line, with or without a leader, directly to the lure also.

Is this correct?

The multicolor metered line works great. I have also used ten pound mono with a bobber stop tied on at 200 ft. We use the biggest taildancers, forgot the number.

wanderingfromkansas: "

AmarilloJim
A DD taildancer#11 with a 2oz snap weight can be fished at 60' with 120' of line out and I can get it up to 40' by paddling faster when needed to avoid snags.
"

Could you help me with the idea of a snap weight?
I assume this is one light line tied directly to the lure, and ending a few feet away with the weight. Then, tying your main line, with or without a leader, directly to the lure also.


Is this correct?
"

Based on the pic...if it were me, I would tie the line from the rod to the empty swivel. If that's a three way swivel, I can't tell, then it's sort of like a Wolf River Rig.

On the Wolf River Rig, some people use 2 lb test between the weight and the 3-way swivel so if the weight gets snagged you lose the weight and not the lure.

Not a snap weight set up, but this is my standard trolling rig for lakers. Adjust speed and line length if you want deeper or shallower presentation.



similar thread

wanderingfromkansas: "

AmarilloJim
A DD taildancer#11 with a 2oz snap weight can be fished at 60' with 120' of line out and I can get it up to 40' by paddling faster when needed to avoid snags.
"

Could you help me with the idea of a snap weight?
I assume this is one light line tied directly to the lure, and ending a few feet away with the weight. Then, tying your main line, with or without a leader, directly to the lure also.


Is this correct?
"

That's just a snap swivel with the lines tied to each end and allowing the snap to hang free. You could use an actual snap weight but I'm tying a leader on anyways so this works for me.

You should have the snap hang off the main line side. Not like in this photo.