Trolling: What patterns?

[Wes]

I saw 2 black deceivers mentioned, I used a black snake fly for summer nights trolling river flats, they seemed to like that, probably like 2 of them even better. Trolling small clousres didn't work for me. What else has worked for you in what conditions and on what line?

[SamRiley]

Can't help you much Wes since to troll rarely. Have seen first hand how black deceivers will get pounced on at night though. I'd bet that an olive and white deceiver on a full sink line trolled over sand flat would be a killer daytime combo.

[notime]

I have had a lot of luck trolling 4-5" clousers, but generally on smaller fish in the daylight hours. I like the clouser because it stays below the surface and drops quickly. To be fair, I haven't trolled a lot of other patterns.

[Wes]

It's not the most appealling style of fishing but some places are really too tough for me to make any pausible presentation and/or it's tough water and I won't put the paddle down log enough. Some of the spots I troll are entertaining enough just running the yak through. I can tie deceivers, snakes and clousers so those will all go in the rotaton. Guess I'm just looking for typical search patterns that don't twist line or have some other negative feature inherent in the pattern.

[rockfisherman]

I've had luck trolling all sizes of flies, from one inch worm flies on a floating line to 14 inch bunker patterns on a deep sink. Most of the time I search with a small to mid size (4 to 7 inch) deceiver or flatwing on an intermediate line. I'm tying up some Abrames American Eels that I plan to give a good workout this year. I trolled some last year, but not enough to make any conclusions.

[joev]

Paul You have some pics of that fly ?

Ruge Thanks for the fly its my first.I will post a pic tonight.Its nice.Thanks again.

JoeV

[rockfisherman]

Hi Joe,

Tying instructions and pictures are here:

http://www.stripermoon.com/talkshop2/messages/1294.html

Paul

[Wes]

Paul, great looking fly. Is the flatwing style of any pattern less prone to spin and twist?

[rockfisherman]

Wes, I like to think so, but I don't have any hard evidence. Most of the time I use pretty heavy leaders, nothing under 20 lb. tippet, so that helps keep twisting down. On a big fly and a sinking line at night, I might just use a shot of 5 feet of 40 lb. fluoro. Paul

[gm]

Conomo Specials in any appropriate color combinations , any "jig-type" heavy flies . Had good success trolling w/Cortland Quick Descent line and a beefy 8' or so leader.