troll with a fily rod?

[TigerTrout4wt]

So Im going over my bass equipment and I had this thought. Can you troll with a fly rod? Im sure you can but how effective is this? I really only want to do it to find fish. It really takes the point away of fly fishing but trolling has always been used as a way to find where hungry fish are.

 

[JerryC]

I've done it a few times up in Canada and once fishing off of North Wildwood. In Canada I used my 8 wgt with an intermediate sinking line. I have a 6 inch fighting butt for it so I was able slip into the rod holder and just kept an eye on the rod tip while I was driving the boat. We were trolling 10 feet of water. Picked up a couple of smallmouth and small pike doing it. The salt water troll was years ago when I first started. I had an 8 wgt with a floating line. We were just off the beach of North Wildwood and small blues were hitting our lures, and they weren't a whole lot of fun on 20 and 30 lb trolling rods. I tied on a balsa popper I'd picked up from Orvis and dragged that behind us, I caught a dozen 12-16 inch bluefish.
I'd suggest a floating line with a popper, slider, Crease fly or gurgler if you're looking for bass. Run a 6- 8 foot leader and let out 50 or 60 feet of fly line out, if your reel has a drag tighten that down and hold on to the rod if you're driving the boat.

 

[Mike]

Have done it for stocked trout in a Poconos lake. Works well with streamers and pink power worms and the added benefit is that the catch included nice crappie and bluegill.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Yes.
Over the years I have seen many guys with fly rods troll here.


;-)

To answer you real question, you can but certainly not the best equipment for the job.

 

[Dave_W]

I'll do it from time to time when paddling a canoe or kayak.

Yes, definitely not ideal equipment but it can and does catch fish. Back in the day, it was common in New York and New England to troll streamers behind rowed boats.

 

[acesedgley]

I too have been known to do this while rowing to my destination in my Kayak, and have had success doing so.
Last year on Mauch Chunk Lake I did this as it was so windy it just made no sense to try regular casting, so I let out line with a clouser on the end and let the wind push me along. Caught 4 or 5 LMB that way.

 

[mike_richardson]

I read some articles on musky fishing where guide will troll with flies because as they make the turn the fly will still move where big lures will just sit there dead.

 

[TigerTrout4wt]

I got a chance to try it a little when I was on my local lake monday. I didn't seem to catch anything and it was hard to keep the fly lower in the water I was trying to target. I had to let a lot of like out to get it down. I used a sinking line that goes to 10 to 15ft. The line has a red indicator to let you know you are down that far. The other rig was a floating line with a smaller fly that was most likely about as deep as my leader (about 4 or 5 feet). I hope to mess around with it more but it does work. I almost want to put flies on a spinning rod and try it. I have no idea how that would work though. I would almost need to make a indicator on the spinning line to know my depth.

 

[Solitariolupo]

I use flies on my spinning rod all the time sometimes a small weight or sometimes just a bobber to add weight.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Trolling flies was a standard way to catch Land locked Salmon in the spring as well as bait fishing for trout early in the season. The old "knuckle buster" casting rods were used for bass. Spinning outfits showed up at the end of WW2. Quick reels and the old stand by Mitchell 300 were some of the first that I remember. All this "fancy" tackle today is just technology pushing forward. Fly rods in salt water? who would have "thunk" it. GG

 

[sandfly]

I do it all the time, great way to fly fish in lakes and large rivers from a boat