How do you make adjustments?

[Doublebag]

Hello all. This is my first season trolling for lakers and salmon on Lake Champlain. Of course I've got a million questions. This spring I bought a used boat and it came with a full compliment of trolling gear - 4 downriggers, graph, etc. I've got a few years of experience trolling in Maine and I've made a few trips to Lake Ontario fishing in other boats. I've spent the last ten years or so chasing bass. Before that it was walleye and river/stream trout. You could say I'm a Champlain trout and salmon rookie with some trolling and general fishing experience.

This season on Champlain, depending on the number of licenses in the boat, I've run anywhere from 2 to 6 rods, typically with free sliders on the downriggers, sometimes a leadcore line and sometimes a dipsy rod. This puts as many as 10 lures in the water at a time. Getting all these rods set up can take up to 30 minutes depending on how prepared I've been before hitting the water. I usually handle the rods while my wife or guest runs the boat.

My questions are these: If your spread of lures isn't working as you anticipated, what do you look change up first? Do you have a system for making adjustments or do you just go by the seat of your pants?

Depth and speed seem to be the easiest variables to change, but changing out a lure on a downrigger or the distance behind the ball takes time. Pulling everything and running to a new spot can be very time consuming. Some days it seems like I'm just spending all my time pulling and resetting rods.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Hairbone]

What port do you run out of? You should hitch a ride with someone to learn or take a charter.

Trolling is an art built on past success of what has worked, or what will work. Mastering 2 rods is more important than filling a spread per the number of people on a boat. My spread and means of deployment will change numerous times based on the days conditions and the target species. Mastering a couple of riggers and chasing the marks will put some fish in the boat and build confidence

[Doublebag]

What port do you run out of? You should hitch a ride with someone to learn or take a charter.

Trolling is an art built on past success of what has worked, or what will work. Mastering 2 rods is more important than filling a spread per the number of people on a boat. My spread and means of deployment will change numerous times based on the days conditions and the target species. Mastering a couple of riggers and chasing the marks will put some fish in the boat and build confidence

Thanks! I've been running out of Converse. I don't know that a charter is in the works ($$$), but I'd be glad to fish with someone who wants to teach a rookie!

I've had some success this season but when things get slow I sometimes struggle with all the variables in play. Change speed? Depth? Lure? Color? Closer to the ball/farther from the ball? Pick up and move somewhere else? Etc. Just wondering if someone has developed an approach for making these adjustments in a rational way.

[Reelax]

If the bite is slow change spoons and dept often.... I like to change speeds by doing lots of ZigZags... I have been having good results with verticle blades this season, bling seems to be a good thing.

[Doublebag]

Thanks, Matt. Do you have any rule of thumb before you will change out a spoon?

[Reelax]

If a spoon doesn't fire within a half hr it is in jeopardy of being swapped out... Sometimes it comes out to play again, but finding what they want is the best part of the game...

[jimbow]

Be careful what lures you run together too. Some have different tolerances for speed (fast & slow) this can make your spread confusing. A fish Hawk also helps with speed & temp at the ball. Sometimes a GPS sez 2.5mph on the surface and you are doing 3.2 mph at the ball. This is important with many "baits" that you may run. Look at Tamiron.com for info in regards to this since Honeybees are one lure you must "tune" to run at higher speeds. they are a great lure and a simple change in the way the lure is attached to line will make a world of difference on how they run.

[Doublebag]

. A fish Hawk also helps with speed & temp at the ball. Sometimes a GPS sez 2.5mph on the surface and you are doing 3.2 mph at the ball.

Good points. I've noticed a strong current fishing south from Split Rock. Heading south, rods are torqued to the max. Turn around north, same speed on GPS, and rods lose half their bend. A Fish Hawk is on the long term wish list!

[Doublebag]

If a spoon doesn't fire within a half hr it is in jeopardy of being swapped out... Sometimes it comes out to play again, but finding what they want is the best part of the game...

Lately I find myself just swapping spoons all day....

[BottomDollar]

. A fish Hawk also helps with speed & temp at the ball. Sometimes a GPS sez 2.5mph on the surface and you are doing 3.2 mph at the ball.

Good points. I've noticed a strong current fishing south from Split Rock. Heading south, rods are torqued to the max. Turn around north, same speed on GPS, and rods lose half their bend. A Fish Hawk is on the long term wish list!

That's definitely been a steady 1+ mph current right there. I'd bump the fish hawk up to the top of your priority list. The temp is nice for finding the breaks, but speed is essential to knowing that your lures are swimming right and you're at the right speed for the species you're targeting. I caught fish before I had one, but I was mostly just getting lucky. If it were a choice, I'd take a budget sonar, a cheap Android tablet for Navionics, and spend my money on the x4.

[Doublebag]

. A fish Hawk also helps with speed & temp at the ball. Sometimes a GPS sez 2.5mph on the surface and you are doing 3.2 mph at the ball.

Good points. I've noticed a strong current fishing south from Split Rock. Heading south, rods are torqued to the max. Turn around north, same speed on GPS, and rods lose half their bend. A Fish Hawk is on the long term wish list!

That's definitely been a steady 1+ mph current right there. I'd bump the fish hawk up to the top of your priority list. The temp is nice for finding the breaks, but speed is essential to knowing that your lures are swimming right and you're at the right speed for the species you're targeting. I caught fish before I had one, but I was mostly just getting lucky. If it were a choice, I'd take a budget sonar, a cheap Android tablet for Navionics, and spend my money on the x4.

We think alike. This spring I bought a Raymarine Dragonfly 4 and an inexpensive 8" Android tablet. The Raymarine sonar display is installed at the transom. It transmits the sonar by a wifi signal to the tablet at the helm. On the tablet I run Navionics and the sonar simultaneously. This gives me sonar, SOG, and surface temp at both the transom and helm plus Navionics at the helm. Relatively cheap for the whole set-up. I would recommend it highly. X-4 is definitely next on the list.