During the early spring months the Rainbow Trout can be scattered throughout the water column on larger lakes, ranging from 80 feet right up to the surface. The days when you don’t mark fish on the sonar doesn’t mean that they aren’t there! Majority of the time they are just subsurface and your sonar unit can’t “ping” them for a reading.
A very successful way to target early spring Rainbow Trout is by surfacing trolling. Most anglers are familiar with fast trolling a buck tail fly with no weight. This can be a very successful presentation however, on the flat water days when there is no chop it doesn’t tend to produce as well. Another great technique is to fast troll a Lyman Plug with no weight right on the surface. Lyman Plugs can be “tuned’ easily by simply turning the eye of the screw where your swivel connects to it. By tuning the plug it will provide a fast erratic whipping action just subsurface that drive the fish crazy!
https://youtu.be/GuQhxU2R7aY
On flat water days when the surface is like glass run your plug further behind the boat, I prefer from 250-300 feet! It is such a fun and exciting sight to watch a Rainbow Trout nail the plug and tail walk across the water! The fight is exciting as there are no weights, no flashers and no downrigger clip; just you and the fish!
Trolling speeds may vary from 2.5mph all the way up to 4mph. The action of your plug will help determine your speed. Put the plug in the water next to the boat and adjust your speed until you see the action you want, then let it out.
I prefer colour patterns in the yellow, blue and white as they mimic young Kokanee and these colours have always produced well for me. However on the darker cloudy days or murky water I will switch to darker blues, blacks and purples to create more contrast in the water. Some excellent spring Lyman Plug lures that I recommend for best results are, Size #4 Plugs: Trixie #176, Stairway to Heaven #137 and Lucy #10. Lyman Lures now offers Size 3 Flatties Plugs, great spring patterns are: Rainbow Blue #14, Salmon Slayer #62 and Ontario Special #177. Don’t forget to check out Lyman Lures line of Buck tails – McFly that are just new to the market!
For more information on spring surface trolling tips please feel free to contact us by commenting below. Don’t forget to check out our BC Fishn Facebook Page and share your fishing pics and stories!
Tights lines & please take a kid fishing!
Danny Coyne
Danny@BCFishn.com
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