Winter Trout Trolling in Laurel?

[tookjrichswife]

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[tookjrichswife]

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[ARJ]

Has anyone tried this? I am curious as to what types of baits you use, depth, line, speed, etc. It seems like there is a lot of action in the summer at night with bait. How large do the trout get in Laurel? I can remember back in the 60's that the trout in Cumberland would get huge (3-5 pounders were pretty common). Do the trout in Laurel get that big or are they mostly stockers?

Thanks in advance for your help

[dcbasser]

I don't know about the trolling part but we catch several while bass fishing thru out the winter on silver buddies or just about any red crankbait you can throw. Have caught some nice trout in the 16 to 18 inch range and would average about 1 to 3 lbs. See a lot of folks trolling and they like to use rapalas countdown lures which seem to produce very well.

[Boatnut]

I havent actually trolled for them in the winter...however when I had my houseboat at holly bay, I would troll for them ALL the time. I used spoons exclusively for them. Have caught several in 3 to 5 lb range and a lot of good eating size. U need a method to get your spoons down to where the fish are though. Several ways, including : dipsy divers, jet divers, downriggers or try a "3 way" using a 3 way swivel with one leader going to a deep diving crank and another leader going to a spoon. I used mainly "michigan stinger" spoons with copper backs. Jet divers would probablly be the easiest thing to use. I like the "40" jets myself.
Good luck.

[ARJ]

Thanks for your help. I have the necessary trolling equipment - dipsies, jets, snap weights, and downriggers - but I probably need to downsize my trolling rods and line (light rods with 6-10 lb test) I normally troll for stripers and muskie and all of my tackle is geared for 20 lbs and up. What speed would you recommend to troll? I can get my boat down to about 2.2 mph with the main motor. I suspect that I will either need a trolling plate, drift socks, or use my bow mounted electric.

[Boatnut]

Most of the time, I would troll between 2.0 and 2.4 but in winter you might want to slow down a little. I used my main motor with trolling sock out each side. and used the bowmount to steer with (minnkota with wireless remote). My downrigger rods were "light" with 10lb line but I used my regular trolling rods which have 40/10 power pro on them with the dipsy's and jet divers.