Kayak Trolling for Trout

 It’s winter in Southern New England. A few months filled with equal parts excitement and longing. Excitement for long days ice-fishing on hardwater with friends, chasing flags and frying up some perch for dinner while the snow pillows down outside. Longing because, for some of us, the hardwater is fun, but it just doesn’t replace the excitement of being in the kayak and patrolling local waters for our favorite gamefish. Blistering red sunrises and veiled foggy marshes have been replaced by the brown-branched bleakness of winter fishing, and if you’re like me, it’s not too long after the holiday season that you start to get the itch to plop the kayak into the local waters and see what’s biting through the cold months. Thankfully, during mild winters with no ice like the one we experienced this year, robust stocking programs make rainbow, brown, and brook trout a fantastic option for finding consistent action when really, that’s all you’re looking for until the forsythia blooms.

            Let’s get something straight here before we talk about how to commence a true stocker beatdown: This is not trophy hunting. I’m not insinuating that you’re going to go out there in January and troll up a 20lb state record Seeforellen brown trout. These are stocked fish, most under 20” in size, and the goal here is to enjoy a rare experience: open water in New England during the winter. It’s all about the joy of fishing and getting a bend in your rod.

Location

            In both Connecticut and Massachusetts, the state keeps a record of which lakes have recently been stocked with trout. Typically in Connecticut we get a late fall and an early spring stock. To find a spot for trolling, I usually just pull up the local trout stocking data for Connecticut and go to whichever lake has most recently had fish dumped in. For the most part, I’m looking for somewhere close to home, and if possible, somewhere with a decent pickerel or pike population to keep things interesting while trolling around. This is a great time of year to explore new water as well, so take advantage of the chance to discover new-to-you spots that you could come back to in the warmer months.

Gear

            I’m usually aiming for two rods to be out while trolling. Typically, these rods are on the lighter side, around 7’ long and either medium or medium-light power. Normal bass spinning gear will work without a doubt, so don’t rush out to buy new gear unless you really want to. This year, I actually used my albie rod for trout trolling as well. The only change being a light leader added. In general, try to keep your reels in the 2000-3000 range, and rods between 6’6” and 7’6”. That’s not to say heavier rods won’t get the job done, but if you want to get a bit of fight out of these smaller trout, the best way to have fun is go lighter.

            If you’ve already got bass gear, simply use a small swivel or a line-to-line knot to add a long leader of 6-8lb fluorocarbon, or just your regular line if you’ve already got flouro on there. I like to use fluorocarbon leaders because flouro sinks, so it’ll help the really light spinners and plugs get down a bit deeper. You should use a longer leader, somewhere around 6-8 feet. This will be tough using a swivel, which will hit your guides, so I recommend a double-uni knot to attach your leader. Trout have great eyesight, and if you’re dragging 20lb braid past them they could get spooked before your lure even comes into view. I also like a long leader so that my knot isn’t hitting my guides as much when I cast, which, admittedly when trolling isn’t often, but with such light line it’s helpful to extend the life of that knot and lessen the worry about a break-off.

            Depending on the kind of kayak you have, you’ll want a rod holder or two so that you can get multiple baits out there. I fish from the Old Town AutoPilot 120, which is motorized, so I usually put one rod in a holder and then hang onto the other one so I can quickly feel any weeds if I go too shallow. If you’re paddling your kayak, you can put your rod in a flush mount rod holder or, worst case, just hold it between your legs. These trout aren’t big, so it’s not likely they’ll take the rod overboard.

            For lures, I like to use inline spinners and small plugs. My favored brands are Worden’s Rooster Tail spinners and Rapala plugs. There are budget spinners out there, but I’ve had issues with them not spinning properly, so I usually just put down the $3-4 for a nicer brand. Typically, these stocker trout will be in water less than 15’ deep, so I keep the spinners light, in the 1/16^th or 1/8^th ounce sizes. My preferred colored is yellow, black, or chartreuse, but generally these fish will hit most common colors too, firetiger being a good example of a universally productive pattern. In terms of the plugs, you want something that’s both small and dives 3-5’ or 8-10’ deep. Color us up to you. I had luck on a smelt pattern this winter, but perch patterns and any typical silver/black/white combo works well too. I usually head to a local shop early in the winter and buy in bulk, that way I’m not sweating it if I lose one to a toothy pickerel.

            One issue that you may encounter when using inline spinners is the annoying line twist. Essentially, the blade on the spinner turns at a speed that also turns your line, eventually causing massive snarls, especially with the light line. After some internet researching this winter, I found a great trick which I can confirm eliminates most line twist issues. Using a pair of pliers, pinch the wire just below the line tie on the spinner. Using another pair of pliers, grab the circular line tie part of the wire and bend the top half-inch of the wire at a 45-degree angle. This basically creates a “keel” on the spinner, and even the blade’s momentum isn’t enough to spin the entire weight of the lure around and twist the line. It works like a charm and still catches just as well. Using this trick saved me so many headaches this winter. I strongly recommend it.

On the Water

            Once you’re geared up and launched, it’s time to start trolling. I’ve found that these stocker trout tend to find a section of a lake they like and sit tight there in large groups. Once you find them, it can be lights out. One day in February this year, I hit a new-to-me lake in Connecticut and spent 3 hours trolling aimlessly without a single bite. Eventually, I went into a shallow cove about 5-8 feet deep and found them. In an hour and a half, I had landed 14 brown and rainbow trout and my day was made. So, if you can’t seem to get a bite at first, keep searching the lake. Once you get a bite, keep repeating that trolling path and it’s likely you’ll find more fish.

            To get started, take a nice, 75% strength cast behind your kayak. No need to launch the lures way back, even 20 feet will do just fine. For speed, if you have a fishfinder, try to stay around 1.5-1.8mph for best results. These fish are active, but it’s winter, so going slow is helpful. If you don’t have a fishfinder, no worries. Cast your line out and try to travel fast enough so that you can see or feel the rod tip vibrate with the motion of the plug or spinner. Go just fast enough to keep that vibration going, and you should be at the right speed. If you are getting weeds, either go deeper or faster and see what happens. Sometimes the trout are near the bottom, but I’ve also gotten plenty of action from fish in the upper half of water column.

            I like to target progressively sloping coves which I know have vegetation in them. Fish will hang around this vegetation even in winter, and many times you can spot the trout marks on the fishfinder among the bottom veggies. Bigger trout, if they’re in the lake you’re on, might be in deeper spots or near sharp drop-offs, but the stockers for some reason seem to enjoy sloping coves with weeds. Most of the time, the stocker trout will be in water between 5 and 15 feet deep, so try a couple different passes at different depths and see if you can get them going. You may also be able to spot their location in calm conditions when they rise to the surface and create a ripple. Sometimes, they’ll even jump out of the water a bit, so be observant.

            You may be tempted to stop and cast for these fish once you zero in on their location. The reason I stick to trolling is two-fold. First, even with an ultralight rod and reel, it can be tough to launch these small spinners very far, so you will be covering less water by casting. Secondly, trolling in the kayak is just flat out fun. I still get a rush out of seeing my rod kick back and bounce around when a feisty brown grabs my lure. If you’ve never trolled from your kayak before, give it a shot and I think you’ll find it to be a blast.

            The winter of 2022-2023 has been short on snow but long on open water trolling trips, and I’ve had a ton of fun tangling with these fish. Sure, they’re stockers and you know they’re in there, but the goal here is to take advantage of getting outside during the dreary, darker months of winter when there’s no ice fishing to be had, so why not try to find some feisty trout action while you’re at it? Using these tips should help you break the doldrums of winter and, if you can pinpoint them, wrangle up a handful of beautiful, spunky trout. Good luck!