Thread: Lake Lochloosa

when you say tightline trolling, what exactly does that mean?

Originally Posted by CrapHead27

when you say tightline trolling, what exactly does that mean?

We spider rig with 3/4 ounce slip sinkers on the main line (we use yellow hi-vis 6 pound test) with a small (size 12) snap (not snap swivel, just a plain wire snap) tied to the end. We use round sinkers I pour myself from molds I got in Australia.

That is the main setup on each rod.

This snap below the sinker is where we clip on the rigs. Each rig is an 18" piece of 4 to 6 pound clear mono (usually Stren) with a jig or hook on one end and a SPro size 8 swivel tied to the other. Those SPro swivels are TINY, yet are 50 pound test. We use them a lot with our salt-water rigs too.

We pre-tie a bunch of these rigs so we don't have to worry about changing and re-rigging at the lake. If you want to change jigs, just un-clip the one on the line and clip on the new one.

We do not use double rigs (AKA, the Capps and Coleman style rigs) for a couple of reasons. We are not tournament fishing so are not interested in catching every last fish in the lake and also it is not worth dealing with the tangles that sometimes occur. Last, Lochloosa is a shallow bowl. You do not have to worry about a 30 foot water column with fish at some unknown level. They can't go up and down very far in 8 feet of water. If they were 10 feet off the bottom, they would be two feet in the air and you could shoot them like quail.

Lochloosa has few snags... you usually do not have to worry about hangups.

We troll at about 1 to 1.5 mph and try to cover as much water as possible. Most of the people fishing Lochloosa are wind-drifting. Which is perfectly fine if that is what you like to do... but they are not catching the numbers of fish we are with the fish still on their summer pattern.

Tom

3/4 ounce seems pretty heay for fishing so shallow? Are u trolling with the gas motor or the trolling motor?

Originally Posted by CrapHead27

3/4 ounce seems pretty heay for fishing so shallow? Are u trolling with the gas motor or the trolling motor?

We are trolling at about 1 to 1.5 mph and the sinker is necessary to keep the baits down..

Tom

PS: We troll with the trolling motor. 80 pound thrust Great White on a 22 foot Sea Chaser.

Fished Lochloosa again today (10/02/08)

Fishing is still pretty tough. Water is still wind-roiled and dirty. We only caught 34 today total and kept 19.

Fish are scattered. You have to keep moving to put fish in the boat. Some wind drifting boats caught very few fish today.

Today's color was white. There was no doubt about it. We tried other colors and white worked best. If you have BRIGHT chartreuse or green, that will work OK too, but white and white combinations paid off today. My buddy caught most of his fish on a white-chartreuse tube and I was fishing my standard white chenille wooly jig with a bright orange tail.

We lost some pretty good fish at the boat today ... gotta work on our net coordination.

Two gar and two bass today also.

Tom

Shoot, I'll take 34 anyday! Nice report and thanks for the tips! :D

When you troll are your spider rigs on the front of the boat on either side and do you troll forward (boat going forward) or backwards?

Originally Posted by SpeckTracker

When you troll are your spider rigs on the front of the boat on either side and do you troll forward (boat going forward) or backwards?

We troll sitting in front of the boat with the boat going forward. My buddy bought an Add-A-Seat and we both sit on the foredeck. He trolls 5 rods off the bow on the left side and I troll 5 on the right.

Tom

Crappie trip was a bust... Got to Lochloosa at 7:00 on saturday and it was like a zoo..... First we ventured out to the north side of the lake and joined a horde of about 20 other boats and didn't get any... Then headed over to west side of the lake and drifted by the opening connecting to Orange and picked up three real quick and then nothing.. Fished till about 2:00 and then headed to our cabin... Ended up going two more times that day, did a mix of trolling small grubs and drifting and didn't pick up anymore... After being pretty dissapointed we didn't wake up to early this morning and did a little bassin around 9:00 or so... Buddy picked up a small one and I lost big boy in the lilly pads... Wind was pretty bad and the water seemed dirty... I don't know if our baits were getting down far enough I was only weighing em down with some a couple split shots??? Couple other guys did pretty well today though, saw em filleting some slabs at the dock.....

Originally Posted by CrapHead27

Crappie trip was a bust... Got to Lochloosa at 7:00 on saturday and it was like a zoo.....

Which is why we never go on the weekend.

... did a mix of trolling small grubs and drifting and didn't pick up anymore...

What do you mean by 'small grubs'? What color and did you tip them with minnows?

The wind has really gotten the water discolored and the fishing is pretty tough right now.

Couple other guys did pretty well today though, saw em filleting some slabs at the dock.....

It takes a while to learn that lake, but after you do, you catch fish.


Tom