Thursday Sept 17th - marked lots, caught one

[jrr]

Spent a good part of yesterday floating around the Elbow. I went out to 105FOW to start and marked stuff on the bottom or just off the bottom. Threw body baits at them and nothing. A good pack of boats were in shallower so I trolled towards 60FOW. I changed speed, tried harnesses, kept moving things around given that I was marking things every little while all the way in.

At 80FOW we picked one up on a pink body bait. But I couldn't get another one...

...and what happens sometimes is strange. My auto-pilot will loose its mind and I get a big of a zig zag going. That is when the fish hit. The boat speed is either faster or slower than 1.8-2.4mph when they hit. I don't know exactly when because they don't always release on the down rigger. I can tell when the cable moves funny. I have had them hit lead core doing the same zig zag.

I need to figure out what speed is the right speed for my boat and lures. I know when they are hitting worm harnesses the slowest my boat will go is ideal -- I have had days with 8-10 fish in a couple of hours in the boat. Body baits and spoons are harder to figure out. I know folks on here generally say faster is better (2.6-3mph) but that has never worked for me. The zig zag thing confuses me even more!

Btw, if you are in an 18 foot and under aluminum boat with no top or anything and there is are 1+ foot waves. Its hard to see you out there.

 

[SOUTHWIND]

An old Elbow saying..............."make a turn, catch a fish". The lure on the outside of the turn will speed up and rise in depth and the inside turn lure will drop and slow down.

 

[marcel]

I have been using elastic bands half hitched around my line & then put the elastic band in your release clip. You will be able to tell if you have a fish on that hasn't pulled out of the release.

 

[jrr]

An old Elbow saying..............."make a turn, catch a fish". The lure on the outside of the turn will speed up and rise in depth and the inside turn lure will drop and slow down.

So what you are saying is use the 'zig zag' feature in my autopilot?! Pretty sure more than a few guys would swear at me on the radio.

 

[SOUTHWIND]

Not sure how your auto pilot works but just manually initiating a zig zag when you're clear of traffic works when everything else isn't.

 

[jrr]

Not sure how your auto pilot works but just manually initiating a zig zag when you're clear of traffic works when everything else isn't.

It will use a heading as a centre line and you can set the pattern size. Sounds like it is something I should try when away from the crowd.

 

[FisherPrice]

I find that the worst driver gets us the most fish for us. Zig zag pattern....He does create the most tangled lines however....