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We went NE out of Lorain to 54 FOW and immediately found a nice school of active fish.
We trolled north @ 2.0 to 2.5 mph, pulling a combination of BadMo spoons, Stingers, Flicker Shads, and Bandits. The spoons out fished everything, with no color being the more dominant. The fish were from 30' to 40'... 45' down. Punched a 3 man ticket. We probably caught 50 shorts, the typical 14"er's. Those little guys are everywhere and hungry.... next years "keepers".
How long do you troll with spoons behind dipsey's if that's what you're using before you check it. I've got mine set pretty light and I still am dragging the shorts.
I use 2 Jet 40's on the corners. And snap weights on big boards. You become accustomed to watching the differences in the rods and kinda know when a short is hooked up. All 8 of my rods are identical, so it makes it a little easier to know when something not just "right".
Thanks for the report. It looks like the fish are hanging around the area we talked about on the previous report. I have a question for you for my curiosity. Were all those 14"ers going after the bandits as well? I was able to at least cut the strikes down on bandits vs spoons last week. Just trying to understand if I can avoid more shorts that way, or I was just in the right spot at the right time last week. Thanks for the post!
None of the shorts hit the bandits. But they hit the spoons (Stingers, Badmo's, Scorpions) and they hit the Ficker Shads.
Hope this helps.
To answer Badboards question regarding checking your dipseys.I would check them every 10-15 min if you aren't busy bringing in fish or setting out all your lines.The great part about using dipseys is how fast you can check them and put them back out again.Which I can do in under a minute.We will run either one or two dipseys per side depending on water depth and if they are doing well catching. It's much easier to tell if a fish is on when running two or more dipseys per side for sure.Since we run identical rods and hi vis braid you can often tell if a fish is on by the different bend in the rod or the angle of the line in relation to each other.I keep a short Phillips screw driver in my pocket and I'm often adjusting the tension of that set lever.Want it just tight enough to not false release.That tension depends on your speed or how rough it is.But don't get fooled that a nice fish could be hanging on to your dipsey rod without knowing it.Happens all the time and even with bigger 3-4lb fish.I swear those fish swim up to that lure,grab it and swim with it without putting any more tension on your line.We do run snubbers, so that could factor in to the lack of any indication a fish is on though.But always prioritize what you are doing to maximize your catch. Obviously bring in fish first but make sure you bring in the inside lines first if you got a double.Then next is to get your lines out as fast as possible which means getting fish off and hooks out of the net. Lastly, check lines that might have a fish and then lines that have been running for a while without a bite to check for fish or to change lure or color.Good luck.
Thanks Bob. That was a good answer. That will not only help me but probably quite a few others. And yes I agree about the bigger fish too. Seems like I drag fish sometimes not only with dipsies but sometimes other baits too.
For what its worth- I was out by west sister island last weekend. I was using a 6 ounce bottom bouncer with crawler harness (32' water and 40' line out) and it was very evident when a strike happened. This heavy of a bouncer gets down pretty quickly, and does not have that force dive as dipseys do. Obviously you can't get a directional dive out of it but for right off the side of the boat worked great. To check for a short, no tripping dipsey to bring in, just real it up and drop it back out.
You can also use a snap wait to get down along side the boat to a desired depth. But if you are fishing multiple rods you need to get them out away from each other like you mentioned.Quote:
Originally Posted by bobthebuilder