Outdoors
The BDN outdoors section brings readers into the woods, waters and wild places of Maine. It features stories on hunting, fishing, wildlife, conservation and recreation, told by people who live these experiences. This section emphasizes hands-on knowledge, field reports, issues, trends and the traditions that define life outside in Maine. Read more Outdoors stories here.
A friend and I were trolling streamer flies from my 21-foot Maine Freighter canoe one spring when I caught and released seven trout in about 12 minutes.
My fishing partner had one strike and no hookup during the same stretch, even though he was using an almost identical fly.
The difference wasn’t the fly.
My sinking-tip line was running several feet deeper than his floating line, and the trout clearly preferred that presentation.
There are more than a dozen small lakes and ponds within a 30-minute drive of Presque Isle, most of which are clear of ice a week or two before the larger regional lakes. We were trolling size 8 single-streamer flies in late April when the action started almost immediately.
Motoring away from the dock, I cast about 25 feet of line into the boat’s wake. Within 30 seconds a trout struck. Putting the motor in neutral, I played and released a lively 10-inch brook trout. Once the boat was moving again, I cast into the wake and hooked another fish within 30 seconds.
In the next 10 minutes, I caught and released seven trout from 8 to 13 inches. My boat buddy had only one strike and no hookup during that time.
Pretty sure I knew the problem, I coaxed him into switching rods. Just a few minutes later, he hooked and landed a fat, feisty 12-inch brook trout. Five minutes later he caught another fish.
Our outfits were nearly identical except my reel was loaded with a sinking-tip fly line that caused my streamer to run 3 to 5 feet deeper than his floating line, depending on trolling speed.
This has happened so often over the years that I now bring a second rod and reel with a sinking-tip line on spring outings.
About a week later, another longtime fishing partner joined me for an afternoon outing a day after celebrating his 80th birthday.
Before we met, I stressed the importance of using a sinking-tip line if possible and mentioned that I had several sinking leaders available.
Make a gift in honor of the good that comes from BDN journalism in your hands, and help raise $60,000 this spring to support our reporting. Make a donation now.
The next day, after we launched the canoe, he admitted he’d only been able to find a full-sinking line. Instead, he borrowed an old Atlantic salmon tactic we’d used years earlier and loop-hitched a 3-foot section of lightweight lead-core trolling line between his fly line and leader.
Within minutes, the improvised setup worked, and a trout grabbed his streamer fly.
I’ve seen anglers add sinkers to leaders and even to monofilament line to troll flies deeper, but this was a first for trout trolling. With age comes wisdom, I guess, and the “old dog” had found a new trick that worked.
Spring anglers often spend a lot of time thinking about fly selection, but line choice can matter just as much — sometimes more. The correct line — and even the correct leader weight, length, color and density — can turn a bust outing into a boon day.
On larger lakes, I’ve often used a full sinking line for the first week or so after ice-out. It works well before the lake water “turns over” and fish move up to feed nearer the surface.
I keep spare reel spools with floating, sinking-tip and full-sinking fly lines in my tackle box and can change over to match conditions in less than five minutes. I also use a sinking leader on my spring fly lines to help keep the fly running level and deep. A regular leader on any style of sinking line is counterproductive.
I’m not a fan of lead-core line for spring fishing. There’s no need to troll that deep. Weighted lines are best for late-summer deep trolling or downrigger fishing.
A Dacron color-segmented trolling line will work on fly rods, baitcasting reels or spinning outfits for Rapala-style plugs, medium lures and tandem streamers. These combinations troll 3 to 6 feet deeper than floating lines and leaders.
Early-season anglers using spinning or baitcasting outfits generally use monofilament line for trolling or casting. I bump up to 8-pound test from my standard 6-pound summer monofilament, and I prefer a red-colored line over semi-clear because it seems to blend into off-color spring water.
When lakes and rivers become clearer, I switch to fluorocarbon, which is stronger, nearly invisible and more pliable than monofilament. Another option for spring trolling is braided line. Braid has almost no stretch, which yields more solid hooksets and less chance of breakage.
Many anglers don’t give a lot of thought to line choice, but the right line for certain conditions can make or break an outing. This is especially true for spring trolling, fishing nymphs and late-summer low-water dry fly fishing.
Open-water season is underway, so it’s time to check over rods, reels and tackle — especially lines — and get out casting and trolling.
