The family and I was planning to go to American Lake for some time to try our luck at Kokanee. We got to the Ramp VA side and decided to start trolling east of the Island and work our way to the othe end along the south side. The water was rough but not bada enough to cancele out the fishing. Well we tried the poor man down rigger with a couple of silver dodgers, 1 oz banana weights, and worm with yellow corn. but I don't think the weight was heavey enough. and I think that i also was going to fast (1.8-2.2 mph). and rain.
And some of the boat operators need to get some training on trolling because i don't think Zig Zagging is really trolling and trying to get by the boat at a good distance was challenging. But Had some good Family times.

sinkerswim

5/27/2014 7:18:00 AM

There's a lot of people that zig zag to some degree. It changes the speed of your lure as the boat changes direction. Will slow down or speed up depending on what side of the boat it's on.

Fish Dawg

5/27/2014 8:12:00 AM

Trolling in a zig zag pattern is a classic salmon trolling technique. As sinkrswim says it changes the speed an depth profile of your presentation and often induces strikes. If the inside of the turn (slow side) consistently gets bit your base trolling speed may be a bit too fast. If the outside (fast) side of the turn gets bit consistently your base speed may be a bit too slow. You can also apply the same logic to raising or lowering your gear a few feet to get into the zone where fish are feeding actively.

Tight lines and better luck next time. Thanks for your report!

Fish Dawg

DavidA

5/27/2014 9:30:00 AM

Thanks for the report Fox. Never been to American, but have been eyeing it seriously for the near future so any input from newbies to that lake, is appreciated. You might try viewing the video posted by Bob J. and Mike, on the info page for that lake. While I always appreciate their videos, if I recall, toward the end of this one they flash up a map of all the Hot Spots (until that time) on the lake. I think you may have covered much of the area that has the fewest Hot Spots. I guess my point is, it might be worth giving the lake another go, particularly elsewhere on the lake. Good Luck and if you do go back, please write about it!

Toni

5/27/2014 2:00:00 PM

Thanks for the report. Trolling in an S pattern is recommended for reasons above. This does make it hard to know where any one is going but at 1.5 miles an hour everyone should miss each other. Although I have seen trollers gear connect

fishingfoxs

5/28/2014 5:24:00 AM

Reason for the Zig Zag comment is that I'm from the midwest and when we troll for stippers and or walleye we troll in a straight line over an over hang so that is why I thought it was odd. thanks for the inlighting.

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