6-27-2014 Fish Report

[bfishn]

I discovered by accident that the fish wanted the baits slow, even paused briefly, in the 15-20 ft range. I had stopped paddling during a trolling pass to drink some water and had my two crankbaits back 100+ feet behind the kayak as I drifted with the wind. Within 10 seconds of stopping paddling I had a double hookup. My drift speed was probably just over 1 mph. This after not catching any fish while trolling through the school at 2+ mph for 15-20 minutes. 29 of the 31 fish came using this drift/pause method. I would simply paddle to get the baits down to max depth, then drift through the school. I would also turn the kayak from side to side every so often to create a stop and go effect. The other 2 fish came straight line trolling at the end of the day. I used some Bobby G's for a while but the wind made it tough to keep the baits in the strike zone. Every day is a little different. Looking forward to getting out there with you again soon, Green.

That's awesome! You found it, you figured it out, and you exploited it. Attaboy!

[YAKFM]

Did you clip on a 1 oz or more weight to get the #6 down for the slow troll?

Green, with 100 ft + of fluoro out and non-factory hooks the #6 Flicker slowly sinks for me once it is down in the water column. I first discovered this while stopping a troll to reel in a fish a while back. The rod that I did not have a fish on was sitting in the holder with slack line. I had been fishing over brush 25 feet down and I was catching fish suspended above the brush. After releasing the fish I started to make another trolling pass and the #6 Flicker that was sitting idle was now dragging the bottom in 25 ft. Once I got back up to speed the lure came up in the water column. This happened several more times that day, once hanging into a brush pile that wasn't more than a few feet off the bottom in 25 FOW. I didn't make contact with any of the structure while trolling, the structure contact only came after sitting idle for 30 seconds or more.

[ADD-Fishing]

I also get many hookups in the pause, presumably from followers. What hooks did u replace the originals with for the #6. I would think that the more natural slow fall would b really enticing on the pauses that you are doing. Although I think that the flicker with stock hooks tends to stay level with is good also. I just like a little fall. The one exception were standards may be better is when fishing tight to wood, whereby better avoiding hangups.

Id like to hear f&f's take on this as well. Think he mentioned that he switches hooks also.

[Feathers and Fins]

Trokar hooks are what I switch out to, I am still playing with another style of hook for near timber and other heavy snags and its promising but I don't want to say to much till I get the size down perfect.

The factory hooks are sharp no doubt and will keep a fish on but I have seen them fail and if hooked real good they bend way to easy working it out with needle nose which I do not like one bit. If you are fishing for stripers its a no brainer to have good solid hooks on.