46 ROD & CREEL 



CHAPTER IX. 

 TROLLING FOR RAINBOW OR CUT-THROATS 



MANY lakes are much too deep for fly fishing, and the 

 only way the big trout that live in these can be caught is 

 by trolling. It is not a very scientific form of sport, 

 nevertheless the person who does it properly will often fill his 

 basket when the person who does not will never catch a fish. 



For this work a light spinning rod of nine or ten feet is the 

 best, or at a pinch a strong fly rod with a short tip. Any sort 

 of reel will do provided it will carry fifty yards of good, strong, 

 plain or oiled silk line. 



Use a good strong gut cast from four to six feet long. The 

 amount of lead you use will vary according to the depth of the 

 water. As a general thing for lakes like the Saginaw, which 

 is five miles long, three-quarter ounces of lead with twenty-five 

 yards of line out is about right. If you have to use more lead 

 you might as well take a hand line and have done with the 

 sporting part of the fishing altogether. 



For baits there is nothing to equal a plain silver one-inch 

 spoon with a gut hook five or six inches behind, on which is a 

 worm, a piece of meat or the eye of a fish. 



A landing net is a necessit} r or you will not get one fish 

 out of six. 



Unless you are fishing a shallow lake, you row your boat 

 slowly as close to shore as it is safe to go, paying particular 

 attention to any points where there is a bit of shallow water, 

 as these are a favorite place for fish on the feed. 



In lake fishing you can never tell when fish will feed, often 

 they will do so for about an hour or two, then not a strike for 

 a long time, then without any apparent reason you begin to 

 catch them again. Often the middle of the day in a boiling sun 

 is the time they bite best. Early morning, unless it is warm 

 and cloudy, is seldom any good. 



These lake fish fight exactly like the land-locked steelheads. 

 As soon as they are hooked they are out of the water, once in 

 a while they rattle out line, out usually come rigOit at the 

 boat, make one or two splendid jumps (frequently shaking the 

 hook out) and then put up a hard fight until the very last. 

 Even when you think you have them at your mercy, the sight 

 of the net will often result in another struggle. 



