Westwood wrote on Apr 4^th, 2014 at 3:56pm:


Last year we caught more trout than ever. Didn't keep count 'cause we were having too much fun. I'd guess we ended the trip with about 30 or so between the two of us.... but it was early in June and the fish were still shallow. My estimate was 8-15ft and we more or less hugged the shoreline while trolling.

Oh and I've caught more lakers from camp (2) than jigging (0) and I've spent a few hours jigging tinsel jigs through likely spots after a successful trolling pass with the same jig. Catching a laker from a campsite on a beetle spin or a fat rap is always special.

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I find just the opposite. A sudden burst of speed and/or a turn has always produced for me pretty much any time of year. Reeling in quickly before drifting into a cliff works too. A friend of mine swears slower is better. We both catch trout. Go figure.

Jimmar, You said that lake trout hit when you stop, turn or slow up.  What that is telling you is that you need to fish deeper.  If you have a thermometer you should get down to the 40's for lake trout.  I don't think most people go slow enough when trolling for trout.  Getting down 40 feet is hard to do even at a moderate paddling rate.  Vertical jigging can be very productive once you find the trout.

Actually Kerry these freestyle jigs are quite good when it comes to quality and are comparable to the butterfly jigs in size and shape. It would be interesting to give them a side by side comparison. My suspicion is in the smaller sizes the products would be comparable but that is purely speculation. My last trip I took the Bass Pro freestyle jigs and the 2 times I used them they got eat. I need to really apply them in a contentious manner.........find a rock pile with a nice showing and drop them down.

The accepted technique is to drop them to bottom and then snap the rod briskly say a foot or even 2, let them drop while reeling in some slack and pop them again etc. etc. If bottom fish were my goal I would work them up about 10ft off the bottom and start over. When you snap upward is when you hook the fish.........often on the braid you can feel them hitting it.......when ever I feel a hit I jerk but usually the fish is just there when you do hookup.........usually you never feel them eat as they hit it on the drop. When you "pop" the rod it should be much like setting a hook.......but remember with braid there is no stretch so a hard flip of the wrist will get the desired action as well as set the hook if the fish eats. Understand that the wire on the free swinging hooks are a bit thicker than say on a crank bait and although plenty sharp they will need a little authority to find purchase. Flimsy rods would make a poor jigging rod. Xtra fast action is ideal, that being a soft tip that loads quickly.

I believe the fish become infuriated with the erratic motion and become determined to catch it. Thus a different trigger for fish who may not feel like eating and spurn other offerings. In the natural world there is little mercy and creatures who are hurt and wounded become instant targets.......I believe it is an instinctual response.

I probably would not invest lots of time in one spot. If I didn't get bit quickly I would move on. Ideally a dedicated rod would be employed. Troll along, see some fish and grab the jig, drop it down for a few snaps and see what happens. No bites, set the rod down and move on. Rinse and repeat throughout the day.

My strong belief is that the larger fish can be caught this way. Big fish are often so conditioned to eating at a certain time.......and eating a certain fish and even eating a certain size fish that trolling by with a perch colored crank often does little or nothing to evoke a response. But introduce the wounded erratic frustrating piece of painted metal and the predator awakes. Must Kill! Kill! Kill!...............Come to Daddy big Girl 

Jaximus, these are similar.  I'm guessing they are nowhere near the same quality as the Shimano version but way, way cheaper.
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@MT, ive seen a bunch of tv shows with guys using them on salt water and wondered if they would be worth trying. im always looking to expand on my lure arsenal, so i may just have to pick one up! looks like our trip is going to be july this year due to scheduling conflicts, so i may need to try some different tactics

jimmar wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2014 at 2:57pm:

I often troll to find fish then stop and cast or jig. Usually works good for walleye and if I find a pocket then seems like there is usually a big Norther near by.

Last year we had a real good lake trout trip and caught most of them trolling. It was the first week of June. Seems like they usually hit when we'd stop or turn or slow up for some reason. A few times I reeled in the slack, ready to start paddling again and found a LT was on. If memory serves when we went back to jig and cast the same spot where one was just caught, it was not too productive. Maybe I haven't figured out how to work the jig yet just right  for LT. I did catch a few on a jig by casting and bumping the bottom on the retrieve.

"do you guys ever stop and jig once you get a hit on a trolling pass? what do you use if you do?"

no, but on one of the lakes on the Allagash, a ranger had told us of a "hole" that was deepest part of the lake (this was earl or mid-June - fish were already deep) - how to line up landmarks to get there, then just drop a flutter spoon to bottom and jig it - no bait;  we caught one laker that way in deep water.  didn't spend a whole lot of time there.

something like a Johnson's silver minnow would be my choice - lots of flash for down in deep water