The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1917-08-02
TROLLING.

My Dear Buck:
After few hours casting, when your
rod begins to feel like a piece Of lead,
just slip into an easy position and take
a little whirl at trolling, besides resting
up your casting arm and putting it in
shape for dOuble-header in the after
noon, you stand mighty good chance
of landing some fine fish with the least
amount of exertion up to the actual
period of fighting the fish. Trolling is
sure the lazy fishermaH's delight and
the fat mans preference. <sese> p..,.
Braided Lines Best.
The best line for trolling is the
braided silk or linen, as the twisted
lines cannot be used successfully on
account Of the kinking caused by the
twisting and turning of the line, which
cannot altogether be avoided. In as
sembling your rig for trolling don't be
| afraid to use swivels; they help keep
the line from twisting. IL rigging up
the spoon hook for trolling, which is
the most commonly used, loop the line
| on swiveled wire leader, a six or
eight inch one is plenty long enough,
and at the end Of the leader snap on
the spoon, which for ordinary fishing
for wall-eyed pike. or bass should not
be larger than No. 3, while for pike,
pickerel or musky No. to No. is
plenty large enough. One Of the big
mistakes In using the trolling spoon
is to select No. IL in the single
spoon or No. 10 in the tandem style,
with bunch of feathered hooks on
the end large enough to scare any fish
on first sight. Some Of the finest
musky and pike have been caught on a
little old No. 8 spoon with a sinner
or pork rind fluttering on the hook.
Take a No. 6 single spoon or No. 4
tandem with a nice-sized black sucker,
| club or sinner hooked behind, and
you have an ideal pike or musky
trolling rig. Top this off with a small
piece of red flannel right in front Of
the bait, and they sure cannot resist it.
Troll Deep for Bass.
When the bass have left the shore
waters for the cooler deep water and
you have failed to coax them up with
the cast, Just locate bar, twenty or
thirty feet under water and take a
| shot at trolling for them with bronze
cOlored underwater minnow. Take
the small size, about twO-inch minnow,
let out about Is feet of line, and troll
deep. For clear water use the bronze
or copper color, and for dull days try
81 nyk{a SnI fy
little old bait Is sure winner. A mud
minnow, frog or pork rind strip with
little red yarn and No. spoon
makes a trolling outfit that looks good
to the bass.
There is one little angle to the troll
ing game that some Of the sure-enough
fishermen have overlooked, and that
is to troll with flies for bass. Take q
nine-foot gut leader, loop on three flies,
slip three split-shot sinkers, about No.
1, on the leader three feet apart to
keep the flies one or two feet below
the surface, and troll along very slow
| ly and quietly. Let out 25 yards Of
line and strike right after the bass
strikes. A good combination of flies
for trolling is the Coachman, Silver
Doctor and the red or brown Hackle.
| Trolling with flies for bass might be
called the highest art of that end Of
the fishing game, as 1t requires more
run Of trolling.
Cut Out the Speed.
In trolling for musky, pike or pick
erel 70 to 100 feet Of line is plenty
to run out behind the boat. At this
distance the lure is far enough away
from the boat and the line is easier
handled in landing the fish. The boat
should make about two to three miles
an hour, which is speed enough to
keep the spoon turning and at the same
| time give the fish chance to see your
bait. Always troll with your rod
straight out behind the boat, never out
the side at right angle; this is treat
A mighty good thing for the rod is to
use steel rod shortener, which gives
you a dandy trolling rod for about 20
cents. Just slip out the first joint,
put the shortener in the grip, the Sec
ond joint in the shortener, and you run
no chances with your bait-casting rod.
One big point to remember in trolling
with q spoon is the fact that spoon
must be spinning around in order to
flash under water and attract the fish.
If you will keep your eye on the rod
tip occasionally you can easily tell
whether the spoon is turning around
by the steady bobbing of the tip.
When it quits bobbing you'd better
reel in and clean off the weeds. A
hookful of weeds is not much induce
ment for fish to strike.
For wall-eyed pike put dipsey
sinker on your rig and troll deep, and
if you get. strike, troll back and
forth over the same water, as they
feed in schools. A fine artificial bait
for the wall-eye is the underwater
Dowagiac with the green notified back
and white belly. DIXIE.