Deep Water Trouting

[Trav]

We are all familiar with the drop shot style. Wieght suspended below a palimar knot hook set. Well in Taney the same methods can be used.

Thing is you dont want a weight to be your descender. Use a jigging lure like a lil george, a hornet or even a ratrap as your wieght. I even have used spinnerbaits.

And avoid touching the bottom. Touching the bottom will spook the brownies.

Above that on a 12 to 20 inch interval slide in a sluggo or a soft minnow bait with the palimar knots. I usually use 3 to 5 hooks up the line to cover a 6 foot area of presentation. I even use marabus and roadrunners at the top of the section to descend in weight and size in the presentation.

Even if you are just floating deep water and you cant pinpoint certain cover, you can spread out your base with this simple tactic used for tuna. I catch all my brown trout off of a multiple strain presentation.

Some of my lure combos get pretty ugly but the majority of my fish(all be it small) are caught on the upper baits on the presentation. But the ugly ones at the bottom catch the big ones.

[Bman]

Thanks for sharing your insights Trav

[Trav]

No Problem.

[smac]

2 things-

1) hey trav- you ever troll for the browns? last year a friend and I were fishing one of phil's tourneys and had a good bag of fish- 2 browns of about 23" and got beat by a guy with an 8 lb'er from lower taney. I can't remember the guy's name, but I was told he catches browns like that fairly regularly. Just as you have stated- takes a lot of time for the big one to hit- he didn't even have a limit- didn't need a limit. Anyway- do you troll, and if so- with what and how deep?

2) Bman- great fish pic on your id. is that from taney? when?

thanks.

Scott

[Bman]

2 things-

1) hey trav- you ever troll for the browns? last year a friend and I were fishing one of phil's tourneys and had a good bag of fish- 2 browns of about 23" and got beat by a guy with an 8 lb'er from lower taney. I can't remember the guy's name, but I was told he catches browns like that fairly regularly. Just as you have stated- takes a lot of time for the big one to hit- he didn't even have a limit- didn't need a limit. Anyway- do you troll, and if so- with what and how deep?

2) Bman- great fish pic on your id. is that from taney? when?

thanks.

Scott

Scott,Thanks,That was a Brown Male 301/2"X21" girth 17lbs 3oz from Taney upper end last fall.Caught on 6X tippet,on a size 18 tan scud.Fight took nearly an hour.First hooked the Toad around the big hole.He took me up around rebar,and then back down just before big Hole,almost had him to net,the Dam blew"that horn"turned on 1 unit,short story,I fought that male with rising water and faster current down to the MDC boat ramp(almost)before he was brought to net.Here's the best part,I owe it all to Chuck Gries from Anglers & Archery!

We the Dam blew the horn,I called Chuck at his shop,it was the end of the day and I figured he would be there.Thank god he answered,I have had the priveledge of Chuck as guide in recent years.All I said was,"Chuck I'got a big one going" and minutes later there he was, net in hand as we chased that fish,Chuck expertly netted him,all I had was my cell phone camera,so Chuck took the picture!Lucky me!I hooked& played him 1/2 hour before Chuck came to the rescue.This is why I support Trav so much,it really is a lot sometimes to get that pic of a really outstanding catch/release.

Regards,Bruce Omans (Bman)

[Bman]

Scott,Thanks,That was a Brown Male 301/2"X21" girth 17lbs 3oz from Taney upper end last fall.Caught on 6X tippet,on a size 18 tan scud.Fight took nearly an hour.First hooked the Toad around the big hole.He took me up around rebar,and then back down just before big Hole,almost had him to net,the Dam blew"that horn"turned on 1 unit,short story,I fought that male with rising water and faster current down to the MDC boat ramp(almost)before he was brought to net.Here's the best part,I owe it all to Chuck Gries from Anglers & Archery!

We the Dam blew the horn,I called Chuck at his shop,it was the end of the day and I figured he would be there.Thank god he answered,I have had the priveledge of Chuck as guide in recent years.All I said was,"Chuck I'got a big one going" and minutes later there he was, net in hand as we chased that fish,Chuck expertly netted him,all I had was my cell phone camera,so Chuck took the picture!Lucky me!I hooked& played him 1/2 hour before Chuck came to the rescue.This is why I support Trav so much,it really is a lot sometimes to get that pic of a really outstanding catch/release.

Regards,Bruce Omans (Bman)

I forgot the important part...Fish was released in great shape to fight another day!What a feeling to release such a trophy!

Thanks Chuck!

[Greg]

I've fished with Chuck too. I agree he's a great guy and I learned a lot from him. So are the owners/staff at river run outfitters. I try to patronize both shops.

I've never caught a fish as large as the one you just described (on a fly rod anyway). But your story reminds me of a fish I caught several years ago. An approximately 8 1/2 lb rainbow on 6X tippet. I had the generator turned on too as I was trying to get him in. I thought I had lost him several times when he got out into the current. But I finally did manage to get him in (luck and maybe a little skill) and get his length and girth. And someone in the crowd that was watching me watching me volunteered to snap a quick pic before I released him. I really had no idea how big he was in pounds but when I talked to Chuck about it later he estimated the 8 1/2 lbs based on the measurements. One of these days I hope to catch a brown of similar size on a fly rod.

Greg

[Trav]

I do troll some. Not as much as I used to but it can be very effective.

For some reason I dont really like it very much. Can get pretty high maintanence when they are running water out of the dam because of all the debris that floats in the lake. Seems I have to reline my spools almost evertime I troll because when you get tangled up in leaves and stuff your swivels dont work properly and those nasty little twists start to mess up the mono. Although I will run some deep divers in the heat of summer when the water isnt running just for a change of pace.

Bman, You have me beat. My biggest brownie was a 14 pounder that I caught back in '03. The landing wasnt as dramatic either. I think I had it boated, weighed and released in 20 minutes. Of course I was using 10 pound test on a stout 6ft spinning rig out of a boat in open water. I can imagine the fun off a fly rod in shallow water current from the shore. I would have enjoyed watching that.

[Bman]

It was an adventure,I thought I was going to get wet/bust my b_ss for sure!but didn't!

I'm getting a replica made.

[Project Healing Waters]

Trav,

I sent you an email via the site, but I changed my email address due to getting rid of Mediacom recently, and there's a malfunction in the system that won't send me a new verification email. So please respond to that email at ken@kenmorrow.net Thanks.