Indian Point to Baxter 6-15 6-16

[rps]

Does anyone bother to use braid and single hooks like shown here?

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-XPS-Freestyle-Jig/product/90542/

[Champ188]

When you guys are drop shoting are you always finding them on the depth finder or just going to some tried and true places. I have only done it once and the guy I was with lived by the fish finder screen while drop shoting.

Bgc, if you aren't confident in your graph-reading abilities, don't be afraid to try drop-shotting "blind" as it will help you get started with this tactic. I catch a lot of fish out of boat slips by pitching my bait into them without actually going into the slip. Of course, when you are fishing more horizontal like this, your bait needs to be on the bottom.

For vertical fishing, I would suggest going to an area where you know fish live, such as a favorite bluff end. Get right over the ledge where the bluff end drops from say 18 feet to much deeper water and drop your rig to the bottom. The presence of trees is a bonus.

Bluff end fish normally stay pretty close to the drop. Keep working this tactic out to 50-60 feet of water, but realize that once you reach about 30 feet, there will likely be a thermocline and you should start to see fish suspended right around that depth, so you'll need to bring your bait up from the bottom to the depth at which you are seeing the fish. They aren't likely to be below the thermocline because there's not enough oxygen.

Hope this helps get you started.

[Bgctrading]

I need to invest in some quality electronics. Can someone suggest a good one for the bow and one for a transom. Just a good introductory set up.

[rps]

I have both of the major brands currently, but if you are going to buy two new units, I suggest you stick with one brand and connect them to work together. What units to buy really depends on your budget. I would suggest very different units at the $1000, $2000, and $3000 totals and I assure you $3000 for two units does not come close to some setups I have seen.

BTW, Raymarine's Dragonfly and the Garmin units are getting rave reviews because of their chirp capability. An inexpensive option would be to buy 1 Dragonfly 5 DVS for $300 and an additional transducer. You could mount one transducer on the troll motor and one on the stern. Then you could mount a ball mount like Ram makes at the location you did not mount the one that comes with the unit. That way you could move the unit front to back with only a simple disconnect and reconnect. Later, when you want, you could buy the second unit. Just a thought.

[Bgctrading]

Thanks for the quick reply I am headed to Google to do some research. I have always just been the passenger in the boat but this weekend I am going to pick up my first own boat. It has some older electronics (like 10 years old?) So I need to dive right in and get some new stuff and learn to do it right.

[5bites]

What electronics does it have? I was able to see a crappie jig on my garmin 240 10 years ago. Also the Lowrance x15 came out then and really got the ball rolling on graphs.

What you can get is just budget and preference. There's things I like on Lowrance and Humminbird but I run two Humminbirds. Next time I buy I'll look into the Garmins I'm sure.

[huntest]

I am glad that I spent the money to network my two Lowrance units. I can share the map, share waypoints, and share a transducer if I want the co angler to view the same image. Side and down scan can be shared as well.

[5bites]

Champ, when you pitch boat slips what weight are you using? For straight vertical fishing I use 3/8-1/2 but that would be a little much I'd think for dragging and pitching.

[5bites]

I am glad that I spent the money to network my two Lowrance units. I can share the map, share waypoints, and share a transducer if I want the co angler to view the same image. Side and down scan can be shared as well.

This big time. This year I networked mine together and its mucho more betterer.

[Bgctrading]

That dragon fly sure does have some impressive images. The boat has an eagle and a hummingbird not sure the exact models. Down and side scan would sure be a plus and having them networked seems great. I can see my 500 dollar budget heading out the window in a hurry.