nathanhooper

Either the fishing is really sloooooooow.....or you all have found some sweet honey holes. I'm going out this afternoon after work. As long as the wife does not have some other major plans for me that is. Figure I am going to layout a course and just troll over some new, and old, water. My objective is to cover ground today, hoping I'll run into a school along the way. Think I'll run bucktails on my downriggers and I should be able to run two more rods straight out the side with some deep divers, as long as they don't seem to interfere with the downriggers. Any experience with these cool fronts like this that blow through? I wouldn't think that it would effect them much as it will a while to change the water temp a whole lot. But I don't have too much experience on this.

Thanks. Do you run that much line out when you have them on down riggers? Seems like a lot. I was thinking more in the line of 50' at the most out if I am fishing 30' or so deep. So would a 1/4oz only drop 2' at 50' of line out? I've got 3/8oz right now, but am thinking of going with 1/2oz to 1oz in the future. So lets just call my 3/8oz a half oz for now. Would you expect a 1/2oz lure to drop 4' with 50' of line out? That does match up pretty close to one thing I found on the web for sure. I plan to fish mostly open water for the most part with them till I can get a feel for how they will handle. I might even just put them aside on windy days. That is the one thing I do like about crankbaits, they either just sit there or rise up some. I've hear a lot about bucktails though and wanted to give them a shot at least.

I am throwing a line out here in hopes someone has some good data. I am scouring the internet for trolling data on bucktail jigs. I am hoping to get an idea of X line out, with X weight jig, and X mph speed equals X depth. I've gotten some data, but not much at all. Its probably pretty close across the board, but I want to try and downrig some bucktails and hope I don't have to learn the hard way of how deep they run below the balls.

I am not a cat fisherman so I cant help much. But I think I can safely say, as you have probably already read, that it is advisable to use circle hooks on all your rigs. I also have personally talked to many that say small live perch is good bait. Good luck. I would think the more out the better. I would also keep a good eye on them. Set them late and get them early. Not sure of all the regulations, but I would be sure to keep in line with all of them.

Well the long and the short of it is I was running through a lot of fish last night pulling some of the bigger 6" lures and nothing would hit. I did try some of the smaller 3" ones also, but not till late and then had to pack it up. I would consistently see them come up to look at the downrigger ball and then go back down. I am not positive they were stripers, but the place is said to hold a lot. I know a friend caught some the night before last there. I don't think I was actually shallow enough is really the key here, but it got me to thinking about bait and all. I think next time out I will attach some spinner blades to the rigger balls, and then also get my lures up no more than 20' behind the ball. I just want to try to better match what they are feeding on. I have seen fish go after the craziest lures before so I know that if a fish is hungry, or enticed, enough it will eat anything. But I figure the closer I can get to what they are used to eating the better.

Never heard of Ballyhoo. Just looking them up now. What do you like so much about them?

Thanks for the info. I'm just thinking that while the "bigger bait = bigger fish" theory isn't too off base, if I want to increase my odds for catching fish at all then I should more accurately represent what they are eating. So while trolling a 6" lure does catch fish quite often, maybe I should stick to the 3"-4" range primarily. That's just my thoughts at least. I may try live bait again in the future, but I like the ease of lures for now. That's also what I have heard from the sources out and about, that threadfin are open, gizzard are cove. Which is also why I am looking at lure size because gizzard are usually bigger than threadfin, so it makes more sense to use the smaller size in the open and bigger in the coves.

I'm just trying to build a picture in my head as to what the stripers are going after. I've been learning a little about how shad live/grow in a lake. I figure I need to start imitating the bait fish more so and I'll start catching some stripes.

Which is more prominent in the lake? Do they occupy different area's of the lake? I've come to realize I need to start understanding the bait more than the fish. I know....it takes a while to get through my thick skull.

Sounds like a good time. I might have to hire you to guide me in my wondering pursuit of the striped fish of the lake.

Thanks for the report. I am finding that they are shallow also, even on the other end of the lake. I guess I have not had to deal much with the boat traffic as you all have. Of course, I don't usually get out much on the weekend unless its late. And I would think 8 would be late enough. I got out last night at 8 and all I had to deal with is an idiot wanting to load his boat. I was backing down the ramp when he pulled up to the dock. He then proceeded to drive around the area gassing it here and there causing lots of wakes. I simply just would sit there all calm like and wait for the waves to go away before finishing unloading. So I guess if your fishing and a boat happens to run into your lure as your casting it then its just one of those accidents that happen and could have been avoided if the boat was watching what was going on.

You could throw my knowledge in that tea cup as well. I have not tried anything other than regular lures. I might be wrong, but for the most part I would think stripers to be a lateral line hunting fish. In that they sense vibration/noise more so than sight. Which, in theory, makes sense. They are a low light feeder for sure to begin with, and they hunt for food rather than wait for it - from what I have been told. So unless they have some super sight that is out of the norm, at 30' below the surface of the water things disappear rather quickly the further you get away - even more so in the dark. That's not to say that those sight based lures would not work well, they could help the fish focus in for sure. I would try some deep stick divers if I had some. Cant find many that have much size to them though. I'll be doing some experimenting for sure. I am not giving up this year so quickly. Just have to adjust to the learning curve.

Strike King 6XD. There are some good articles on it and how guys "sproll"(longline) with them in bass tournaments. As I found out, line weight is a big issue with depth on these things. It took me a while to find the sweet spot with them earlier this year with the line I was using, so I am sure it will just take a bit more now that I am using different line. I am hoping that I can adjust the depth they run by how much line is behind the boat. Might have to use them at a different rod angle also. They also sell a 10XD, but I have a hard time paying that much for a lure. It is said to dive 25+ feet with just regular casting, and up to 40' with long lining. I would buy the app data if Precision Trolling would ever work up some on this bait. Right now its just trial and error. I am picking up some Scotty's today. With my homemade rigs it was just too much hassle to get the poles set up. I am going to be trying some of those stick baits again. I know they work well. I have fished and know of guys who fish with them all the time and come home with good fish. I just found out a little bit ago that one of the area's I was fishing last night did indeed produce some good fish either last night or the night before. They came from up in the 25' range though. And only after 10pm. Makes sense. I was starting to see more fish when I came up to 30', but had it stuck in my head that I should stay between 30'-40'. Oh well, one day I'll figure it out.

Got out again last night. I knew it would be a few days at least before I could get back out so I tried new areas and such. Got my rods spooled back up with some 10lb test. Boy does it let the lures get down further. I still have not figured out just how deep they are running, but it seemed to be anywhere from 25'-30'. I got hung up a lot and the last of the night was in what I would consider relatively clean water at around 29'. There were some times I would see it tick on 30' range. Maybe just hitting big boulders? Other times I got a little shallow by accident in the 25' range and would not see my lures tick. But that could just be the bottom being sand/mud? I went back to flat lining them. There were a lot of times I eased into the shallow, bringing it up to 27' ish feet, and did not see anything. So it seems that I can achieve some pretty good outcomes now if I so choose. I spent 3 1/2 hours out there and nothing but one lost lure to show for it. This happens to me each time this year when I try to target stripers. I remember it pretty well last year. In fact, I think I gave up the first week in August. I'm not giving up this year though. I am picking up a set of normal downriggers today that I got a sweet deal on and I am going to learn the ways of a friend of mine who uses them exclusively this time of year. All the fishing I did was at the mouth of Indian Creek. I did drag up to the Marina once, but did not stay long. Actually, I fished 4 different spots, and while I saw some fish, there just wasn't the size/amount that I had seen before. They must have been chasing elsewhere. Fish seemed to show up most around the 30' FOW again, but hanging right at the bottom. I am used to watching my friends sonar when we are fishing, and when we see the fish we catch on sonar they are almost always suspended up off the bottom some. I would welcome any advice for the upcoming week. I might convince my wife that we need to get out one night this weekend, sure would like to see her reel in a big one. Anyone been seeing the guides lately or heard where some good action is? I cant say I saw but maybe one guide last night. And that's a maybe. Of course, when I start trolling most of the time my eyes are on my screen and rods.

I'm in with F&F, size 9 please....

Well ok then. That's what I'm going to. Now if I can sneak away from work for a little bit....

Well, I started to say it was a report, but really just have a few words of advice. I was trolling with my downriggers, and feeling less than confident in their depth, I decided to lower them on down some more. That in itself was not the problem, but thinking that I could tell when they were hitting bottom was. After 3 hours of running over fish after fish, good bait balls, and just ideal fishing conditions, we decided the fish just weren't in the mood to bite what we had to offer... So stopped the boat and pulled the baits up. Wow, I have never seen line more twisted in my life. I would guess that about the time I let down the baits and came into some shallow water to see if I could see them ticking the bottom, which was about 30-45 mins into the trip, was when they caught moss and started their spin. I can imagine all the fish we were going by were just looking at the lure and shaking their heads... Lessoned learned. If your trolling by fish after fish and no bites, stop and check your lures. Even still, I would say that you should check your lures every so often. Oh well, have to replace some line now. I am tempted...very tempted to go with some 10lb line. Would this be very silly of me? These rods are strictly trolling rods. I do not cast with them at all. I also troll some pretty open water. The only times I troll where there is a lot of trees/brush is when I am going for whites. I am just thinking that with 10lb test I could get my lures down a bit more with long line trolling. If I am not mistaken, the trolling data book was based on 10lb line and when 20lb line is used you can subtract 25% from the depth. I have been using 20lb line and getting to 19'-20' with some of the lures I use. If you add 25% to that I would get to 24'-25'. That would be pretty close to where I am seeing fish for sure. Last night they were again holding at the 30' mark. I would think that a lure running 5' above their head would get their attention at least. Better than 10' above their head. And some of the fish were seen around the 25' mark, especially when we were close to the bait balls. Any thoughts? Is 10lb test mono just a broken line waiting to happen when fishing for striper? I know for walleye it would not be such a big deal.

I know, I have thought about putting one of those at the hiway by my property, but I am afraid others will start hunting near it...

You know, these deer out here do seem like they are always trying to get into someone's vehicle. You would think they would learn to wait till the vehicle comes to a stop and not while its going 55mph.

Yes, they are. I sure wish I could have put my friend I took out last night on one. I knew I had a good one just a little bit after I picked up the rod. I know some might consider it on the small side, but it was what I was hunting for.

Did you get out last night F&F? I saw a few guys in fishing rigs drive by me last night, had to wonder if it was anyone from on here.

Oh, I was going to add. My scales showed this guy to be a tad over 10lbs. But what I found very interesting was he had a significant amount of meat on him compared to that 20lb one I cleaned earlier this year.

That's what I thought too. Lets just say that I don't have that much experience with seeing a lot of these.

Guess I am not the best at giving good reports, but I can tell ya'll what happened while I'm out. Got out to the dock around little before 7. People were coming out, and I was a bit apprehensive about going in. It was a mean looking storm to our south that looked like it was back building our way from the clouds, but the radar showed otherwise. So I stayed at the dock for 30 mins or so fixing up all my gear and then I couldn't take it any longer and headed out. I found good bait fish sign and some good arches on sonar. In the 30-35 FOW range. In fact, there was one spot that held good sonar returns most of the night. So I rigged up my homemade downriggers with a bomber long A on one and a Cotton Red Fin on the other. They looked like striper lures.... I dropped the rigs down to where my sonar was showing them running at 25 or so feet. And then proceeded to troll for a few hours with nary a bite. I ran over fish that should have been hit it the head with the lures and nothing. I adjusted them every so often just to see if my depth was off, and still nothing. One time even had a fish come look at one of the balls and then swim down. Pretty cool to see that on sonar. So it was getting late and I figured I would try out the whole trolling a deep diver with the riggers. So I let out 50'-60' of line and dropped the balls down to 10'. Few passes over fish and nothing. Then I started going shallow to see if they were running deep. I ran over 26 FOW and maybe saw my rod tick a tad. I am running them on rubber bands so I should see something if its ticking the bottom. So I got frustrated, which happens when I am trying new things, and was going to call it a night. But, I decided to let the balls down to 15'-18' just to see if I could get the lures to tick on the bottom. I proceeded to ease into the shoreline a little at a time because in my mind it made sense that at 18' I should be hitting bottom at 38'. Even though I know from the previous test that I was not, still I was cautious. So I get to 35' and nothing, get to 30' and I am really starting to get nervous so I start watching the rod tips more than what's on sonar, I just would look at the depth. Then all of a sudden one of the rods doubles over and I think great...I'm hung. Then the band breaks and a whole bunch of line starts to peel out. So I stop and shut the motor off and realize that its peeling more line that I am going forward. Fish on! It was exciting to say the least. I had set out last year to boat a 10lb+ stripper of my own doing, in my own boat, and did not achieve that goal. So here I was fighting this fish that I knew had to be over 10lbs and was stoked! Well, long story short, good thing that in the summer they wear out quick when they get into shallow water. Because I got him up to the boat and goofed up landing him every which way. If he would have had more spunk I would have lost him. But I got him in and called it a night. So I'm still not sure how deep the lures are running, but I am guessing from what I was seeing most of the evening on sonar that I had achieved my goal of getting them close to the 30' mark. Most all the fish I saw, except in the deeper water, were holding close to the bottom. Now, I am curious, is this a striper or hybrid? I thought hybrid lines were broken on the lower ones. This guy had his upper lines broken. Either way, I am happy happy. I am going out again tonight and will do some more testing.

Well, something is always better than nothing I guess. . Wish I had been able to come out that week. That's the general area I fish so I am sure we would have seen each other. But at that point I was litteraly between two boats of which neither worked. If it's a yearly thing give a shout next time. I'll be able to help you out a little more.