Trout pond snagless lures

[Grey-Jay]

It's been many years since I trolled spring trout ponds with spinners, occasionally getting snagged on the bountiful bottom structure. When I think of weedless hooks and lures, I think of pike and bass lures.

Are there trout lures or rigs that are effective in getting less snagged on underwater structure, assuming that means avoiding an open treble hook?

[Grey-Jay]

It has been many years since I trolled spring trout ponds with spinners, occasionally getting snagged on the bountiful bottom structure. When I think of weedless hooks and lures, I think of pike and bass lures.

Are there trout lures or rigs that are effective in getting less snagged on underwater structure, assuming that means avoiding an open treble hook?

[richard1726]

I think, you would have trouble at the moment of trout hook-up. Maybe a small investment in equipment to retrieve the stuck lures might help.

[Pumpkin QAAD]

Are you fishing for brookies?

You can try a 3 way swivel to make sure the spinner isn't on the bottom.

My experience in spring is that the brookies aren't near the bottom. Others might have better tactics than I but when I troll I let out a little bit of line at a time making s patterns around the lake to figure out what depth they're at. My line rarely (really never) goes to the bottom unless something goes wrong. I guess a big tree if I went to shallow would catch it but I will avoid that shallower part when trolling. I certainly will come back to it though and see what's hanging out by the log! I find trolling with wooly buggers + spoon and a teaser is surefire way to get brookies in spring, but they are not deep (10 feet of less)


If it's that small or shallow a lake you may want a different tactic but even the places I fish that the guys on here call puddles are pretty nicely sized for trolling.

If you're fishing for lake trout, or later in the season, you want to go deeper but someone else may have better feedback for you than I would about that.

[vtflyfish]

[QUOTE=adkayaker;181992]

Originally Posted by adkayaker

It's been many years since I trolled spring trout ponds with spinners, occasionally getting snagged on the bountiful bottom structure. When I think of weedless hooks and lures, I think of pike and bass lures.

Are there trout lures or rigs that are effective in getting less snagged on underwater structure, assuming that means avoiding an open treble hook?

Maybe a conversion to fly fishing is in order. We never lose flies to structure.

[Commissionpoint]

Originally Posted by vtflyfish

Maybe a conversion to fly fishing is in order. We never lose flies to structure.

I sure do. #2 Grey Ghosts on a slow retrieve for spring salmon almost always go missing among the boulders at the mouths of streams. Thats where the action is though, so its the price you pay.

[EagleCrag]

kayaker: There isn't much that outfishes "Adirondack bacon" (worms) for brook trout but if you are trolling, a streamer behind a lake clear wobbler is often good medicine and will keep you away from snags. I used to vary the distance from the wobbler to the streamer so that the wobbler gives the streamer some action. My experience has been a little different than pumpkin's. I like to cast in to downed trees & brush along the shore. I find the brookies like the cover.

[Pumpkin QAAD]

I try not to cast often when trolling. Everybody does have different tactics I guess.

But trolling is also a good way to explore, especially a small pond to create that mental map that you come back to when trying other tactics.

I assume you will be using a kayak?

VT isn't all tongue in cheek, trolling a wet fly behind a kayak with it's inherint silence and jerkiness is a great way to catch brook trout and if you stop to fish some structure you won't be jammed into a log when you start up again.

[Adirondackman]

I'm probably the only guy in the world known to even get a dry fly snagged more than once!

[St.Regis]

A-man - I've lost plenty of dry flies too, and lots of in places I had no right to lose them either.

[richard1726]

I usually snag/loose my flies to the wind. Too much lion taming in my background!

[Adirondackman]

Originally Posted by St.Regis

A-man - I've lost plenty of dry flies too, and lots of in places I had no right to lose them either.

Thanks - I feel better now

[bassanglers912]

Originally Posted by St.Regis

A-man - I've lost plenty of dry flies too, and lots of in places I had no right to lose them either.

You mean you're NOT supposed to cast lures into trees?? Then why do they always put those things right over the best fishing spots???


As for the original question-
I have read about people clipping two of the hooks on a treble, making it semi-weedless.
Mepps makes a 'weedless' lures: http://www.mepps.com/information/bla...28#description
I used them fishing for pike in Alaska, with a Mister Twister to keep the weeds out of the hook, it was amazing. It also may help with preventing snags.

IMHO, you can't beat a 3 way swivel when looking to slow troll or drift.

[dssguy99]

Eaglecrag, when you say "Adirondack Bacon", are you refering to "trout worms"?

[Hamj]

[QUOTE=vtflyfish;181999]

Originally Posted by adkayaker

Maybe a conversion to fly fishing is in order. We never lose flies to structure.

I must agree with VT here, and skip trolling and drift!!

[vtflyfish]

[QUOTE=Hamj;184165]

Originally Posted by vtflyfish

I must agree with VT here, and skip trolling and drift!!

Welcome back! How's fishing up North???

[EagleCrag]

dssguy: Yes, Adirondack Bacon is another word for worms. I picked it up from Patrick Sisti, a guide out of Indian Lake. When I'm targeting brookies, I usually stick with fly gear, but we were after lake trout and browns on this particular venture, so I chose an ultralight spinning outfit instead. I did try a few streamers behind the wobbler, but didn't get any takers. All the fish we caught were taken near the bottom in about 20 to 25 feet of water. We also marked a lot of fish on our finder in one section that were suspended at 25 feet in about 30 feet of water but we couldn't get any takers. Not sure what they were. I don't know if the pond we fished has smelt or whitefish, but I could see bigger fish mixed in with the others. As this pond is close to the road, we were fishing out of a small aluminum boat (to answer someone else's question).

[ADKpete]

Any idea e.c. On the water temps. at the 25' depth?

[Hamj]

Before we get off topic I'll throw in a tip, this is for rivers but it will help with less snags, for comp fishing we tie all of our heavy anchor flys (heavy fly at the bottom of our rig) on jig hooks. Since this is the fly that bounces the bottom most of the time by having the hook pointing up it slides across the bottom better.

Thanks VT, its a great start to the season, I have way more flexible hours so i'll be on the water a lot more and we can finally fish together. Also for you other guys I'll wear my gopro more often so you can grab some tips.

[QUOTE=vtflyfish;184212]

Originally Posted by Hamj

Welcome back! How's fishing up North???

[EagleCrag]

ADKPete: I have no idea what the water temp is at the depth the fish were holding. My fish finder also records the water temperature which was 40 degrees on the surface.