RETNAVYENCM

Could you give me advise on what to troll with,
I just bought a set of Penn 635 Fathom Master Downriggers 4 ft boom and all the junk that goes with them the Gimble swivel mounts that fit in the rear rod holders.

I see downrigger rods?
Are they different?
I just bought a bunch of New Penn Rods & Reels when I got the boat?

I have not ordered the weighted balls what weight should I use? 6-8-10lb.

We went down to the mouth of Butchers Creek Sat there were a ton of boats trolling and proclaiming
"CONTACT" on channel 68,we watched them hauling in several stripers.

I pulled longlines and lost 2 umbrella rigs but we never got a strike! We tried the deep diving Rebels and lures like that to no avail.

Everyone was using downriggers looked like Cannons.
They were catching these at 36 ft.

We started out in Clarksville trying to find Bait, at 5am very few shad so we were out of luck with the downrods.
My son watched the others hauling in the stripers and we came up empty.

So I decided to buy downriggers....

Bait bucket where did you get your downriggers at? I think 6 pound lead balls would be fine for the lake and you can troll almost anything you want. A lot of guys use bucktails with rubber teasers, curly tails etc. I have trolled with my brother in law with white, blue or chartreuse bucktails with the teasers. you can always troll live bait or crankbaits too, silver and gold trolling spoons etc. Please let me know how you like your 635's. don't know what kind of rods you have for trolling but you can get decent trolling rods at wal-mart for about 65$ each. e-mail me if you want more info. You can always buy jumbo shiners if you think you may not be able to catch bait

RETNAVYENCM

Thanks for the reply,
You can send me a bill for fishing therapy....

I got all of the Downrigger stff at BoatersWorld on line, hope to have them on by next weekend......
More expensive than I thought it would be!!!!!!!!

Hey these folks that we watch trolling were all using their Gas Motors @2.5 mph I usually use my trolling motor at .5 mph and the shad still die pretty quick.

How do you troll that fast and not kill the bait????

Using Downriggers and Bucktails is it better to go faster???

There were several Pontoon Boats in this trolling parade I did not see a trolling motor on but 1 of the @ 15 boats.

Thank You for all the help!
The Bucket

when you troll with the trolling motors and no downriggers you have to troll slow to keep your bait down deep. the general rule of thimb for line out with no downriggers is seven to ten feet of line out for 1 foot of depth behind the boat. see how slow you can troll with the outboard but you can still troll with the trolling motor. what are you keeping your shad in, I mean what kind of bait tank etc?

BAIT BUCKET,

THOUGHT I'D GIVE YOU MY 2 CENTS WORTH. I USE CANNONS NOW USED TO USE PENNS. I USE 8 LB. BALLS. I USE 71/2 FT. FLIPPIN STICKS RODS WITH PENN REELS. THIS TIME OF YEAR, I TROLL DOUBLE BUCK TAILS, WHITE WITH GREEN/CREAM WORMS. I TROLL BETWEEN 1.5 TO 3 MPH USING 4 DOWNRIGGERS AND PULLING 2 OR FOUR LEAD CORE. START THE BAIT BEHIND THE BALLS FROM 20 TO 40 FEET. THE STRIPERS WILL START SCHOOLING PRETTY QUICK NOW THAT THE WATER IS WARMING UP. IF I CAN BE OF ANY HELP, HOLLER. SETTER

RETNAVYENCM

I AM USING THE 33 GALLON TANK THIS IS BUILT IN BEHINH THE LEANING POST.
IT IS NOT INSULATED! I USE THE FROZEN WATER BOTTLES TO KEEP THE TEMP DOWN. ROCK SALT AND A KA1100 KEEP ALIVE MICRO BUBBLE SYSTEM THAT CREATES A CURRENT AND KEEPS O2 IN THE WATER. I USE COFFEE CREAMER WHEN I GET AMMONIA AND I KEEP THE WATER EXCHANGE DOEN ON VERY LOW EXCHANGING @15 GALLONS PER HOUR.


THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY SETTER!
WHAT IS LEADCORE????????
YOU DROP YOU DOWNRIGGER BALL CLIP ON AND RUN 15-20 OF LINE BEHIND THE BALL DRAGGING BUCKTAILS.
GOT THE COLORS.....
ARE DOWNRIGGERS THE WAY TO GO NOW WHILE THE WEATHER IS HOT OR DO I NEED TO KEEP BAIT AND USE BUCKTAILS?
BOTH OR JUST ONE?

THANKS BUCKET

if you pull various baits until the fish hit something then switch everything over to that you should do better than starting out with all of the same baits

BAITBUCKET, I'M NOT THE ONE TO TELL YOU ABOUT SHAD. 99% OF WHAT I DO IS TROLL. WHEN I GO IN THE WINTER, I STILL TROLL. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS I CHANGE BAITS TO CISCO'S OR REBELS AND EVEN SPOONS. I TROLL WITH SPOONS IN THE SUMMER ALSO.
LEADCORE IS AS IT SOUNDS. A STEEL INNER AND CLOTH OUTER LINE AND IT IS DIFFERENT COLORS FOR MARKING YOUR BAITS. THE COLORS CHANGE EVERY TEN FEET. WHEN I TROLL WITH LEADCORE, I USUALLY USE 4 COLORS FROM THE REEL UP TO 6 OR EVEN 7 COLORS. JUST DEPENDS HOW DEEP THE FISH ARE. AFTER YOU USE LEADCORE FOR A WHILE, YOU WILL LEARN HOW DEEP YOU ARE FISHING AT EACH DEPTH USING THE COLORS. HOPE THIS HELPS SETTER

Baitbucket -- what exactly are you doing with the rocksalt? Are you puting this in your holding tank or do you use it as the go between (5 gallon bucket) from the net and holding tank. I use rock salt and water before I place the Shad in the main holding tank and it really gets those guys cleaned out and seems to get the scales in better shape.

SETTER

YOU USE SPOONS?
SORRY TO SAY I AM NOT FAMILIAR WITH SPOONS.
CAN YOU GIVE ME A NAME BRAND?
I KNOW REBELS I HAVE LOTS BIG ONES.
HAVE YOU USED UMBRELLA RIGS.
EVERYTIME I PUT ONE ON I LOOSE IT IN THE LAKE.
THEY WORK LIKE A CHARM AT THE BEACH.
LOOKS LIKE A WHOLE SCHOOL OF BAIT FISH.6-12-18 SWIMMING BAITS.

DO I NEED LEADCORE TO USE WITH THE DOWNRIGGERS RODS????
I THOUGHT THEY (THE DOWNRIGGERS) GOT ME DOWN TO THE DEPTH THE FISH ARE AT.

THANKS SETTER FOR YOU HELP.....VERY MUCH!!!!


RK
I TALKED TO THE GUY IN SMITHFIELD MAY AT MAYCRAFT
HE TOLD ME HE FISHED KERR LAKE 20 YEARS.....PUT SOME ROCK SALT 1/3 OF A COKE BOTTLE... BLOW SOME BUBBLES INTO THE WATER AND KEEP IT EXCHANGING AND KEEP IT COOL AND THE BAIT WILL MAKE IT ALL DAY LONG.....
HE TOLD ME TO USE ICE.....I USE FROZEN WATER BOTTLES, I BRING A WHOLE COOLER OF THEM AND HAVE A FLOATING THERMOMATOR...I TRY TO KEEP THE WATER IN THE 70'S.
WHEN WE CAST NET THE BAIT I DROP IT IN ANOTHER 5 GAL BUCKET AND LEAVE THEM IN THERE FOR A FEW MOMENTS THEN MOVE THEM TO THE OTHER TANK VIA NET.

THANKS FOR YOUR RESPONSE, EVERYBODY!!!!!!

THE DUMB BUCKET!!!!

BB
YOU DO NOT NEED LEADCORE USING DOWNRIGGERS. I USE 4 DOWNRIGGERS AND ALSO I PULL 2 OR 4 LEADCORE LINES. IN THE SUMMER, PULLING 4 DOWNRIGGERS AND 4 LEADCORE, I HAVE 16 BAITS IN THE WATER. IF I'M JUST PULLING 2 LEADCORE WITH THE DOWNRIGGERS, I HAVE 12 BAITS IN THE WATER. VERY SELDOM DO I RUN ALL THE BAITS AT THE SAME DEPTH. IF I'M MARKING FISH AT 25 FEET, I TRY AND RUN BAITS FROM 22' TO MAYBE 30' OR 32'. SOMETIMES WHEN YOU HIT A SCHOOL OF STRIPERS, THE SMALLER ONES WILL BE MORE AGGRESSIVE AND HIGHER UP IN A SCHOOL. THE BIGGER FISH USUALLY ARE DEEPER PICKING UP THE CRUMBS FROM WHAT THE SMALLER FISH TEAR UP. I HAVE NEVER CAUGHT A STRIPER IN KERR ON AN UMBRELLA RIG. I ALSO HAVE AND TRY THEM ONCE IN A WHILE. ON DOWN RIGGERS I USE 1/2 OZ. AND 1 OZ. BUCK TAILS THIS TIME OF YEAR. ON THE LEADCORE, I PULL UP TO A 3 OZ. IN FRONT AND A SPOON FOLLOWING ON THE 2ND LEADER.
HOPE THIS HELPS. SETTER

BB I FORGOT. THE SPOONS I USE ARE CROCKADILE 3 3/4" AND SUTTON SPOONS. THE SUTTON SPOON HAS COPPER ON ONE SIDE AND CROME ON THE OTHER. HOPE THIS HELPS.
SETTER