Justfish

A successful alternative method to trolling, is just drifting and casting. When the water is gin clear, I do much better just drifting across rocky points, structure, or creek mouths (if they are flowing). Just position your boat well up wind, turn the motor off well upwind and far away from your target fishing area.....and just drift and cast. Doesnt really matter what you choose to use, plugs, spoons, whatever. My favorites are white rooster tail spinners, and white mister twister on a light jig head. When the water is gin clear, and you are fishing near shore....I much prefer just drifting and casting to trolling. The motor, trolling, planer board presence thing is not always the best method when fishing near shore.The trolling and motor/planer board set up spooks and scatters the fish when the water is crystal clear. Give it a try, you will be surprised.. If your a fly fisherman, casting large streamers works really good as well. Give it a try, trolling is not always the best weapon of choice. Good Luck!

When the water clarity is stained or pea green, it is more important to get in the temp/strike zone. But most of the time, all you need to do is get your presentations down close to the temp breaks/strike zone...and just fish! You do need to be near the temp breaks (thermocline), but that is just a general rule. There are plenty of fish that are caught above and below the thermo-cline as most people on this forum will validate. Just get your rigs spread out down near the temp breaks. The fish will find your lures. One mistake many people do when they get drop back from their downrigger cables is to slow down, and they end up trolling too slow. This is a big mistake, as many of the lures/presentations dont work well when trolled slow...they just sit back there like a wet noodle. Keep your speed up, and you will entice those deep fish to hit. (like a cat chasing a mouse...a cat wont chase a dead mouse..but it sure will chase one that is running away from it.....same holds true for deep trolling with the exception of lake trout). Some people will disagree with this, but dont over think things. Just put out a good spread that you have confidence in....get them below/in/above the thermo-cline area......and just fish.....good things will happen.

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That makes perfect sense. I prefer the larger profile, more flutter and more flash and more body and stays more true behind the flasher/blade. But I am sure both work just fine.......I worked at B-E Tackle for years back in the banner years.....Most of this stuff (especially all the bizarre colors) are designed to hook the fisherman, not the fish. I remember one old guy that never fished or bought ANYTHING other than various size black and silver Rapala. Various sizes, floater, countdown, etc, etc. He never fished with a spoon, fancy colors, dodgers, etc, etc ever. He caught as many fish as anyone else, and won the spring derby one year also.

I think it is on backwards, now that you mention it and I look at the photo. Hey, maybe backwards is the new forward? Who knows.

Various width/size rubber bands work fantastic if you are using lighter line. The bigger the rubber band, the more you can crank your rod down while trolling. They provide awesome hook setting tension much like the off shore.... (versus just an "open or closed" position on the blacks)

Got it! ( on the blacks releases). Just my own personal preference.....I have never been a fan of any release that requires you to twist the line to "hold it in place" (blacks) or a release that required you to thread it like a sewing machine (Roamers). But thats just a personal thing on my end. I always prefered "direct linkage". Im sure they all work Go get those jumbo steelies

Do you use offshore releases? Are you using rubber snubbers on your Dipseys? What worked for me back years ago.......Offshore releases..........put the line at least 3/4 of the way in as that increases the tension. Razor razor sharp hooks. The nice thing about offshore releases is you dont get any "draggers" (small kings or lakers) as the line will actually slide a bit and "pulse" your rod tip when you get a skipper/dragger on so you know immediatly when it happens. But....and a big caveat.....this was all pre-zerba mussell days and the water clarity was always that perfect sea foam green. So I am sure things are different lately with the gin clear water.

I asked you a valid question, (from an information sharing perspective) and you respectfully answered! Very much appreciate that. I think the gentleman must think ":it must be a kid" posting for some unknown reason. Or possibly one of the worlds greatest fishermans that wrote the book. Not sure. Many thanks for your response, and good fishin

Not a kid....ran a boat out of Arney and the Oak for 7 years full time back in the late 80s and early 90s. Did about 130 trips a year. I was just asking an "unloaded" question......thats all. I appreciate the response. I was asking from an informative perspective. I had problems a long time ago with short hits, but once I switched to off-shore releases (versus blacks or roamers or others) that problem went away. Trust me.....I wish I was a kid again

Got it...thanks for the response! Good fishin

Good reports filled with good info and humor. But just curious, how/why do you loose so many fish? This is not a "loaded" question or a "jab".....it just seems that your "hit" to "landed" ratio is not good? From my experience, once you get a beak hook, squid hook (on the flies) or a treble hook in past the jaw bone......its hard to loose them? I was just curious for info? Are you loosing the fish or breaking them off? Great reports, keep them coming!

I agree with past post......keep constant (but not too much where the pop the release) pressure on them when letting downrigger weights down. If you do that, it shouldnt happen. Are you stopping or going in neutral often when using dodgers or spin docs? Blacks releases are ok, but I prefer offshore brand releases (Offshore tackle). They hold true and you can set them to be light or heavy release simply by how far you put the line in the release. And the biggest benefit of the offshore releases is that you can easily tell when you have a small/tiny fish on which you cant with the blacks release because the line is twisted and "set in place". The offshore release you will see the line slipping when you have a small skipper on (which means you are not dragging it around wasting time)