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[eat_sleep_fish]

Howdy folks,

I am looking for ways to control the depth when trolling from a canoe.  Mostly trolling willow-leaves, spoons, or spinners, wedding bands, but I'd like to try to get down to specific depth ranges without using a downrigger.  I've never used a deep six before, do they allow you to "dial in" the angle so that you can try to cover a different depth range?  How much difficulty do they add to playing the fish?   I haven't experimented much with using different weights either, banana weights, or slip troll weights.  Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts,

Thanks,

[Bavarian Raven]

to be honest, when trolling from my canoe i just go by "feel" that the willow-leaf is deep enough. i catch enough fish so i figure it works. but if you want to be scientific about it, measure out your line and mark it with inc at every ten foot increments, thereby allowing u to estimate the amount of line out and the depth. there is probably a much better way of doing it, but this is how I would do it. best of luck. cheers.

[Matt]

You just have to get a sense of how deep you are going by taking into account of your line diameter, weight, speed, lure drag and the depth of the water when you touch bottom.  Find an area where you know the depth and figure out what combination of weight and speed gets you there.  Takes practice, but its doable- I fished a tonne from a canoe when I was a kid on holidays in the interior.  We caught lots of rainbows past 8lbs trolling from a canoe.

[troutbreath]

Protraction and line out is the formula. Also a downrigger on the canoe is the way to go on bigger lakes. That and a fish finder to figure out the depth of the fish holding level. Might not even to get down deep? Fish finder is what you need. Also like to use 2 or 3 ounce "bettys" to get down deep with lures or trolling. Lead core line too. Best way of checking your depth is to have someone in a boat behind checking your rigs out with a fish finder. Takes the guess work out.

[Matt]

Protraction and line out is the formula. Also a downrigger on the canoe is the way to go on bigger lakes. That and a fish finder to figure out the depth of the fish holding level. Might not even to get down deep? Fish finder is what you need. Also like to use 2 or 3 ounce "bettys" to get down deep with lures or trolling. Lead core line too. Best way of checking your depth is to have someone in a boat behind checking your rigs out with a fish finder. Takes the guess work out.

I bought a Scotty lake troller and attached it to our Clipper Tripper canoe and it was too much drag to fish for any extended amount of time.  I was pretty fit at the time, but the drag of 3lbs of lead and 50' of 100lbs cable was too much for me.  You might be able to do it for a while, but it takes any pleasure out of trolling.  I'd suggest 6oz slip sinkers.  With 15lbs line, you can get as deep as 50' down with an Apex.

[troutbreath]

True enough about the drag Matt, but it keeps the fork hand/arm ready to chow down fish. I usually use a 2.5 four stroke motor when the downrigger is out