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Posts: 105
Location: Jane Lew, WV | I have a lake near me very similar to Cave Run in the sense that it's considered a "southern reservoir", has standing timber, coves, muddies in the spring, and is gizzard shad based. I have been trolling main lake points and the outer edges of inside edge flats (I have recently seen bait off points near shallow coves). I don't know if I'm going about it right or not but trying to learn. I've caught one, lost one, and have had 3 rips. I was wondering what advice you all may be able to provide on trolling the timber laiden coves. My assumption is to run shallow-ish baits, such as Wileys, muskie trains, short-lined tuff shads, etc. I figure I'll be snagging a lot of trees but with the luck I've not had on the main lake, I feel like the fish have to be back in the coves a bit? There is also an old river channel that runs through the majority of the lake, I have yet to completely figure out the channel, but I don't think it would hurt to try to run baits along the edges of that either. Thanks for any replies. |
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Posts: 66
| i don't have a lot of experience trolling in timber. i assume you mean standing timber. if it comes all the way to the surface, you may only be able to troll shallow runners.
first thing i would want, if i didn't already have one, is a telescoping lure retriever. it will pay for itself. you could try trolling slower than you would in the main lake and hold the rod. use a big-lipped crank bait. it will go deeper at slower speeds and will actually "back up" when it collides with the timber if you are going slow enough and sweep the rod back toward it to give it slack. you may also be able to put the motor in neutral or even reverse to give the lure time to float free of the timber. if the timber is close to the surface, be careful going in reverse.
you could even use the trolling motor to troll slowly and pump the rod to trigger a strike. you could also troll surface lures, like Top Raiders or Pacemakers.
Dave |
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Posts: 284
| We have held the rods so that you can use your arms to work the rod toward the lures when they hit and hold on the trees until they float up just a bit. The best lures we have found to do this with are Believers.
You can also jig Bondy baits in the timber. You'd be surprised how snag resistant they can be. If you do get hung up in a tree, you can bounce the Bondy up and down and a lot of times it will come free from the weight of the bait.
Edited by Dunlap 3/9/2017 6:15 AM
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Posts: 105
Location: Jane Lew, WV | I should have clarified, it is standing timber and the majority of it is exposed, however there are a few that are just under the surface.. I think I found all those, though  I do jig bondies for an hour or two on occasion there and have heard of others' success. I have yet to have luck with it but I do know it works. I also thought about trying to troll a rattle trap. I might throw a 207 Crane back, too, considering its buoyancy. I also have a Frabill (I believe) lure retriever. It extends to probably 15' or so and it has saved me a couple hundred bucks I'd bet.
Edited by darbogast90 3/9/2017 6:29 AM
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Posts: 456
| Troll some big spinner baits, they are about as snag free as you will find. Need to be pretty heavy weighted though to keep them down and willow blades are better then Indianas or Colorados. |
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Posts: 682
Location: Sycamore, IL | As stated above, believers are great in timber. I also like to troll safety pin style spinnerbaits in real snag prone areas.
Learn the old creek channel. I've had my best luck in reservoirs by focusing on where points and breaks meet the old river/creek channel. Not all coves are created equal. This is outlined in depth in the spoonplugging book and can help you eliminate unproductive water. Good luck! |
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Posts: 353
Location: Western U.P. | Trolling safety pin spinners and Swim Whizz/Believers as stated above can be productive in those conditions. I've found that more often than not smaller baits have been more productive in lakes like you've described, and have a couple of other suggestions to maybe give a try to. Use your electric trolling motor to slow troll the coves. Larger Rattletraps, 5"-6" Lazy Ike's/7" Livid Fish, and Suicks/Bobbie Baits have produced well trolling in wooded lakes. You will obviously need to give the Suicks/Bobbie's their action... slow, fast pulls, pause backwards, up, down, etc. Keep the action erratic, and hold on.
For the old river beds, jig Bondy's. You can also slow troll the old beds with your electric motor using regular Bondy's or Royal Orba's (my name for this is Jig Trolling). Give them the same action as you would jigging, but use the trolling motor to follow the river bed. With Shad in the lake, I would start with Pearl colored ones, and go from there. Good Luck. |
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Posts: 95
| Trolling believers is an excellent choice. Scott Donovan and I got second place in the PMTT in 2008 on shelbyville trolling believers in timber coves we probably bounced them off 100 trees each day going 3.5-4 mph and I can't remember a single snag they are the perfect bait for that application. |
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Posts: 105
Location: Jane Lew, WV | Thanks for the responses, gentlemen. I have a jointed believer, may grab another or two and employ some other stuff that was mentioned. Now Cedar, when you speak of troll jigging, you're still going fairly slow to jig, just using the motor to steer the channel, correct? That sounds like it would work well if one could dial in on the channel. |
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Posts: 20211
Location: oswego, il | I was just going to say be yourself, i thought you were asking about fishing with justin timberlake.
Edited by ToddM 3/10/2017 11:47 AM
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Posts: 105
Location: Jane Lew, WV | Nope, I'm fishing just in a timber lake but not with Justin Timberlake lol. I don't think I could stand too much of it, actually, probably wouldn't leave the launch! |
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Posts: 2752
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Yes, Safety Pin style like Musky Safari-Serial Killer or Dick Pearson Grinder
Or Muntz Angling Snagless Bucktails.
http://www.muntzangling.com/
Have fun!
Al
Edited by ESOX Maniac 3/11/2017 8:09 AM
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Posts: 353
Location: Western U.P. | darbogast90 - 3/10/2017 5:21 AM
Thanks for the responses, gentlemen. I have a jointed believer, may grab another or two and employ some other stuff that was mentioned. Now Cedar, when you speak of troll jigging, you're still going fairly slow to jig, just using the motor to steer the channel, correct? That sounds like it would work well if one could dial in on the channel.
darbogast90, Yes, use the trolling motor to follow the channel slowly. Vary your speed during different times of the year, day, wind direction, etc. Let the fish tell you what travel speed they like, so change it up if action is slow. You should be able to see the channel (or it's edge depending on how wide it is) with most electronics. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions. |
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Trolling Timber lakes