Dead bait Trolling

I don't do much trolling with fish baits, I find it  hard to do  as you either cant get the bait to roll or spin properly or it spins too much causing line twist. Some times I "give it a go" and then it usually back to the lures because with them I at least I know how deep they will run and what sort of action they will have.

Most of the Ferox trollers and Salmon trollers use spinning mounts that have a weight and a pair of celluloid fins  mounted round a spike that is put into the  fish baits body via the mouth and then the hooks are bound with wire or sewn to the body of the bait..............this is too much hassle for me, so below is a selection of mounts I have used when dead bait trolling.

The first one is called a Rotary Salmon Killer by Pro-troll   this is basically a plastic clip with a fin to make the bait roll. To use you prise apart the clip and insert the bait fishes head into it  ,there are spikes in the clip to hold the bait in place  you then leave the large single hook free to hang near the tail of the bait.                                                  When you put the bait in the water you will see that the fin will make it have a "rolling" action like a wounded bait fish " the Americans call it the Death Roll".                                                                                                                The only problem with this bit of tackle is that it is supplied with a mono leader which is ok for Salmon but in waters where you will encounter Pike this will need to be changed to a wire leader as the Pike will bite through the mono.

Pro-troll head

Pro-troll with rubber fish to show mounting

Anther item  from the USA is a Bechold fish head this is a plastic hinged holder that fastens round the head of the baitfish and is held in place with a rubber band. It has teeth inside to hold the bait and two fins on the outside (a bit like a Devon minnow) to make the bait spin, again it comes  with a mono leader so you will need to change this to wire if there are pike about.

Bechold head

Bechold with rubber fish

The next item is the one I favour cos you can make it yourself and make it to suit the size of the fish you use for bait, I saw this on a American site and it was called a "Shad Harness". All you need is some brass strip, a fine drill and split rings and hooks and you can make as many as you like. You can get the brass strip from B&Q or Model shops.                                            To make one you get a  strip of brass say 6" long , file a point on one end  and  round over the other end, then drill a hole at each end to take a split ring  or snap link swivel.                                                                                                                You then make two wire links with a treble hook on each and get a large snap link .

To use you insert the strip near the tail of the bait and shove right trough until it comes out at the mouth,  you then get your wire link with the hooks and put them on the snap link and then put the snap through the hole at the sharp end and then put each hook on one side of the bait.                                                                                                                                                When this has been done you can put the bait in the water to see what type of action it has, it is probably just lying in the water doing nothing, but what you do now is to lift the bait out of the water and give it a bend, the brass bar inside bends and this will hold the action that you have set, a small bend for a slow roll or a bend like a Banana to have the bait  spinning like crazy. I just set mine to roll about 1 or 2 times second.

  Above are some pics that should explain how to make and use the "Shad harness"

I have a few people contacting me asking where they can get the minnow mount on the left hand links column on my web page  would suggest they ask at some of the more traditional tackle shops as they are available.                                                       At times when I troll with minnows I use what the Americans call  "Crawler Harness" they use it for trolling "night crawlers" .This is just a few beads, two hooks and a spinner blade, it is very effective one day we had 23 trout on loch Awe with this method .We used minnows or worms and when we ran out of bait we tried a rubber fish and that worked too, it is deadly when trolled past a Burn mouth when it is in spate where trout are waiting for food to be washed down to them  .