What is trolling?
Trolling means pulling lures behind a boat at a steady speed, often on several rods at once, using a combination of divers, planer boards and downriggers to hold the lure at exactly the depth where the fish are.
The method is at its most productive when fish are spread over a large area — typically summer and autumn in Sweden's great lakes (Vänern, Vättern, Mälaren, Hjälmaren), or in sea bays when mackerel and garfish are running.
Tackle
Trolling reels with a line counter, so you always know how much line is out, are standard. Powerful 8–10 ft rods rated 30–80 g handle everything from big perch to landlocked salmon.
Downriggers or planer boards are the investment that lifts trolling from guesswork to method. Plan for 1–2 boards per side of the boat in calm fishing; a downrigger for depths of 10–40 m.
Lures
Crankbaits (Salmo, Rapala, Reef Runner) in 9–18 cm are the backbone of trolling. Colour and swimming action are chosen to suit the species and the season.
Large spoons (Toby 18 g, Pixee, Kuusamo Professor) on spinning rods, with no extra depth control, work very well for salmon and trout in Vänern and Vättern.
Leaders with a spinner blade plus a jig are a classic for Vättern char and combine well with a downrigger.
Where
Vänern: landlocked salmon and trout, and autumn trolling for pike. Vättern: char and trout over the drop-offs, plus salmon. Mälaren: zander and pike. Hjälmaren: zander. Storsjön: char.
Trolling needs a boat with a sounder (side-scan for preference) and GPS logging so you can come back to the same shoal. Learning to read the sounder is probably the single biggest skill in the method.
