[DoubleG]

I haven't run downriggers on RV but I do troll Lake Ontario with them so I'm sure it's similar.

Use the heaviest weight that your downrigger is rated for, you should be able to find it on Cannon's website. This will cut down on the amount of blow back you will get when running in the deep water.

I mainly use Black's releases but in RV you can probably get away with Off Shore releases. If using the Off Shore type go with the light one, I think they are white, due the amount of stocked size trout there. Some of the smaller trout may have a hard time tripping a Black's if not set correctly and you will end up towing around the trout and eventually killing it.

When we troll Brown Trout in the spring we are trolling stick baits and spoons between 1.9 mph and 2.5 mph. I seem to do best around 2.2 mph. For Brown's I use the speed function on my GPS to track my speed. If you don't have a GPS, hang the lure over the side and adjust the speed of your boat by the lure action.

I run the lures 50' - 75' behind the rigger ball. Once you do get a few bucks saved up for gear buy yourself a couple of line counter reels, it takes a lot of the guessing out. At the very least buy a clip on line counter for now.

I use 12lb test with an 8' - 10' fluorocarbon leader usually 8lb Seaguar. Again, I'm trolling Lake Ontario so you could probably get away with a 6 lb leader. I find that Brown trout are very line shy so the floro leader is pretty important.

The best info you can get would probably come from Lebanon Sport Shop on 22. They will point you in the right direction for what lures they are catching them on and what depth you should start at and what fish are running the best because as the thermocline sets up it will move to different depths. So you will be trolling Browns and Rainbows near the thermocline but you will be trolling the Lakers real deep this time of year. They will let you know what to target. I buy my herring there when I go up and they seem like good people!

One other tip I can give you for RV is that there are a lot of sunken trees in the deep water where you will be trolling for Lakers. Use the clutch on the downrigger like the drag on your reel, don't tighten it all the way down just in case your ball gets hung up on a tree. You may still lose your ball but you wont bend or snap your downrigger boom.

I hope this helps and good luck!!

Gregg