Clipping my 6-pound mainline to the downrigger, I felt a bit out of place. I was used to doing this on ocean-going salmon excursions, not in shallow lakes for trout. After I dropped the 5-pound ball to 28 feet, it didn't take long before the first strike.

Smile Blades are an excellent terminal gear attractor that fish love. They also offer little water resistance when the fight is on. Photo by Scott Haugen.

A quick snap of the wrist, and the fight was on -- a 2-pound trout and myself, locked in battle. It was great! Not only for the fight, but also because the 'rigger got the Wedding Ring spinner down to where the fish were holding.

With basic trolling gear, that would have been tough to achieve.

Later that day, my two sons fished the same lake with me. Eight-year-old Braxton chose Mack's Flash Lites, while his younger brother Kazden, 6, picked Mack's Hot-Wings tipped with half a night crawler.

Both are low-profile setups that allow for easy trolling. And when the hit comes, you feel it.

"This is a huge one," yelled Kazden. "He's really fighting hard!" The aggressive strike had nearly yanked the rod from his hands. Minutes later, he was holding up a 4-pound rainbow. He couldn't get his line back in the water fast enough.

With the new fishing technology, we now have a series of lightweight options, from downriggers to terminal gear, to flashy attractors and more. Trolling light for trout has never been more popular and productive.

FLASHY ATTRACTORS
On today's market, there are many attractors used for trolling, from simple one-piece plastic flashers to multiple metal-blade setups, to bendable Mylar and more. Some meet specific angler needs. But which one to use often comes down to personal preference. Other factors that influence which trolling rig to take include what lake you're fishing, at what depth, water visibility and light penetration, the amount of fishing pressure and whether you're going after educated fish or fresh planters.

For my boys and me, our goal was a lightweight trolling setup to maximize the fight of the fish, from hookup to the time we landed it.

Rigging a 1-ounce trolling sinker inline, I needed to find a setup that required little speed to function properly -- to achieve our primary objective, and also to use minimal weight to sink to our targeted trolling depths.

With a trolling sinker tied to the main line, I attached a bead-chain swivel to the other end, to prevent line twist. The bead chain's opposite end snapped into the trolling attractor, and to the other end of that, a 3-foot leader tipped with a Wedding Ring or Smile Blade.

In recent years, our family has rated Mack's Flash Lites among the top in slow-trolling gear. But Hot-Wings are quickly becoming a close second. Incredibly lightweight, these trolling flashers require little movement and make for very pleasant, easy fishing. The Hot-Wings are rigged inline, with a trolling sinker connecting the main line to them. A leader of 30 inches or so works well.

There's no rudder on the Hot-Wings, and only those two blades incorporated into the system means ultra-low resistance while trolling, and later, fighting fish. In fact, the blades on the Hot-Wings will spin with ease while trolling at a mere 1/4 mph.