Wedding Ring tips?

[bernduffy]

I have a lot of success getting trout to strike a slowly trolled wedding ring with worm behind a dodger or lake troll, but a miserable rate at getting them to the boat. I know some of the strikes are fish biting the worm (which breaks off), but many are hook-ups, some lasting 30 seconds only to come up empty. Last Saturday, I had five on hook and ended up leaving with strong odor of skunk all about me. BTW: I threw other hardware at them, but they were really only going for wedding rings, pink in morn, green/black later. This is mostly in lakes that have been stocked.
Any tips?

 

[GDBrown]

You probably have the same problem most of us do. When we troll with a wedding ring and some lake troll flashers it puts the rig way out behind the boat or at least 50 feet of line out in my case. With a light weight rig (4lb test in my case) the line stretches a lot when setting the hook which means sometimes it is not really set at all. The only way I can get them in is to reel hard until I've shortened the line length enough that when I reset the hook it actually happens. Make sure your hooks are sharp, too. I sharpen mine after each fish just to make sure.

Hope this helps,
GD

 

[troutdude]

You are using the RIGHT colors (pink and the green/black combo). I have caught a lot of trout on those.

2 tricks:

Adding a trailer hook (haven't tried that, but it would likely work well).

Threading your worm onto the hook TAIL FIRST. That way, the head is on or near the tip of the hook. Remember, fish are predators. As such, they will strike the head for a "kill shot". If you're worm is upside down...they are likely striking above the hook's tip and possibly getting lightly foul hooked.

Good luck.

 

[Thuggin4Life]

All good points. also try to retie the rig with your line of choice and use a bigger/sharp hook. I always retie mine and use my trusted eagle claw hooks i use for trout trolling. size 4 i think.

 

[troutdude]

Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Thanks Thuggin.

I also re-tie mine on better/stronger mono line (often longer line too). I also sometimes replace the blade w/ a larger one. And a better hook is a great idea too.

 

[The Nothing]

All this retying makes me think you should just be building them to your specs to begin with. Saves some quarters too.

I tie mine up up on 6 or 8# BioLine mono with a size 4 trailing hook and a size 2 head hook - aka Worm Harness. You can also tie on a third trailing hook as well, but that gets to be too much for me. I've been toying with the idea of running a #6 treble as a trailer to improve hook ups, but not sure I want to deal with that potential mess, especially since I mostly fish C&R.

With this setup, though, I'm ready for trout in the lakes, or ditch the flashers and bounce the setup off the bottom in the Columbia for Walleye...

I don't think it matters which end of the worm you thread onto the hook though, I don't think fish know the difference between the head and the tail of a worm - i know most fishermen don't.

 

[troutdude]

All this retying makes me think you should just be building them to your specs to begin with. Saves some quarters too.

I tie mine up up on 6 or 8# BioLine mono with a size 4 trailing hook and a size 2 head hook - aka Worm Harness.

Great point. And come to think of it, Don Green at Fisherman Shack (south of Monmouth) has at least some of the components needed to build our own.

If it wouldn't be too much trouble...I'd like to see a pic of your "worm harness".

Thanks for chiming in.

BTW, I believe in the head/tail theory with worms. I got the idea from an article from Oregon Fishing Hall of Famer Buzz Ramsey. It makes sense. And ever since I tried the technique, I have gotten many more fish on than just merely strikes n' misses.

 

[bernduffy]

Thanks for the good counsel, friends. I already use a braided mainline so stretching isn't the problem. I too sharpen hooks regularly. I have experimented with red wiggler worms threaded in a variety of ways. Seem to get the same action as nightcrawlers. I will rebuild what I have and pick up components for more experimenting. Anyone try weighting in front of dodger to go deeper?

 

[troutdude]

I have used small "banana" weights in front of a flasher set, for greater depth. But, I have never fished w/ Dodgers (or Mariners either LOL). So, don't know how well that would work. Plus, I wouldn't suggest banana weights greater than 2 ounces. Might as well switch to using a down rigger to go deep and consistently fish at specific depths.

 

[chrisohm]

I like finding good info on here and this thread would be great for the tutorial section as well...am I wrong?

 

[Merle]

This is just my opinion. I do not consider myself to be an expert. I use the wedding ring 18"-24" behind a little 8"- 3 willow blade flasher that I found only on E-bay. I use just enough nightcrawler to cover the hook. The hook is exposed much the same looking as a dry fly. The crawler is for scent and is not the main part of the lure.

 

[bernduffy]

In spite of all this good advice, I still had a difficult time on Hagg yesterday. Landed one, lost five. Two of those were definitely on the #4 hook: got them to within ten feet of the boat...then they came off. One looked to be 15". (Gosh Dangit!) I double hooked, tried different worm configurations. I'm going to try trebles next time. I'm willing to lose a couple (more) lures to snags if it improves my catch ratio. Also going to try the kokanee hunters trick of using lures that can slip up the leader so the fish cannot use them to leverage the hook loose.
BTW: these strikes came on a variety of hootchies, wedding rings and lures with one thing in common: color was pink, red or orange. Some flat lined, some down 20-30 feet. Most behind a dodger or lake troll.

 

[troutdude]

I don't recall if I already suggested this but; but I have good success by trolling just a large Little Cleo brass colored wobbler. It works well all by itself.

 

[Throbbit _Shane]

The other day i got one trolling a Thomas boyant lure in my pontoon. i need to find some used rod holders so its easier to troll lol/

 

[steelheadstalker31]

Switch to braid main line and mono leader. It will eliminate the hook setting issue, and switch out the single hook for a size 12 thin wire treble hook. The thin wire is important as it allows the hook to go in much easier. I believe the VMC size 12 that bimart carries is a thin wire treble. I use this set up for kokanee and rarely loose a fish.

 

[brandon4455]

I don't recall if I already suggested this but; but I have good success by trolling just a large Little Cleo brass colored wobbler. It works well all by itself.

agreed little cleo's kill trout as much as litter and overfishing LOL

 

[bernduffy]

Thought I'd check back and report that after trying out various tips suggested here, the thin wire #12 treble hook is a revelation: it hooked and held a 19" pikeminnow throughout one heck of a fight. I'm hooked on these hooks! Thanks, steelheadstalker31. I would never have thought #12 was big enough.

Anyone have a line on acquiring wedding ring bands? I'd like to propose to a couple of fish...that they jump on these lures!

 

[GraphiteZen]

I like finding good info on here and this thread would be great for the tutorial section as well...am I wrong?

The tutorial thread is intended mainly as a resource for step by step instruction of a particular application. Or as close to that as possible.

This thread resembles a lot of other OFF threads that don't qualify for the Tutorials section.

Thank you for the interest