Not having a fishing buddy sucks!

[jigngrub]

Re: Not having a fishing buddy sucks!

Trolling downstream will be pretty easy, trolling upstream will be nearly impossible by yourself. You'll catch more fish trolling downstream anyway, fish face into the current and wait for it to bring the food to them.

Your boat will be fairly easy to control going downstream and you can even knock it out of gear if you need to.

You should try trolling for those steelies, they'll eat the same lures the stripers will and they taste pretty good too.

Honing your trolling skills elsewhere will make you more comfortable on the river. Do you have a GPS to monitor your speed? They're really a very handy tool for trolling and you'll catch more fish if you know the speed that they like.

 

[Lodge Creek Kent]

Re: Not having a fishing buddy sucks!

You can jig for stripers too. I like to catch them on light tackle during the summer time by jigging. Also if you find some rocks or underwater obstructions you can drift and cast bucktails for them. I only troll for them during the Spring and Fall runs. I don't know about out there, but here on the bay some people anchor up and chum for them as well.

 

[island mike]

Re: Not having a fishing buddy sucks!

Throwing out an anchor is an invitation for disaster, don't do it. Your fish will end up wrapping the line around the anchor rope! Keep the motor in forward gear at idle, this will keep slack out of the line and keep the hook in the fish if you're using the outboard... but a trolling motor would be easier to control.

Aren't there other areas to fish besides the river, and other species to catch? If you sit at home waiting for someone to go fishing with you, you'll never get to go.


Tending to babies is womens work... putting fish meat on the table is the mans job, always remember this.

I hope your joking..

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Not having a fishing buddy sucks!

Trolling downstream will be pretty easy, trolling upstream will be nearly impossible by yourself.

Not necessarily, I troll up and downstream, though I would agree that trolling downstream is easier. One thing you can do trolling upstream is stop when your lure gets to a productive spot and drift back, then troll the lures past the spot again, stop and drift, troll past the spot again. I'll do this a couple of times on my "honey holes". If you have sinking lures, this won't work.

 

[ajgraz]

Re: Not having a fishing buddy sucks!

Agreed with the guy who said check out local (to you) fishing forums. I did that when I got started fishing out here years ago, and got a ton of experience from the older guys. Now I'm one of the middle-aged guys with more boat than free time (see: wife, kids, house and car maintenance, commitments, etc.), and the younger dudes on the forums are always hitting me up to give me gas money to take them out fishing.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Not having a fishing buddy sucks!

I hope your joking..

Not even a little bit.

You can jig for stripers too. I like to catch them on light tackle during the summer time by jigging. Also if you find some rocks or underwater obstructions you can drift and cast bucktails for them. I only troll for them during the Spring and Fall runs. I don't know about out there, but here on the bay some people anchor up and chum for them as well.

I like to troll the lipless crankbaits for them like Rattle Traps and Rattlin' Raps, they always run straight and true no matter how fast you're going, they don't run too deep so you have to worry about them snagging, and Stripers love to bite them.

Jigging is also very productive, but jigs tend to snag more... or they do for me anyway.

 

[ngt]

Re: Not having a fishing buddy sucks!

What line do you use? I have a couple poles set up with 65 pound braided. Will that be ok, or should I run a 40lb mono leader off of it to the lure? Or does it matter?

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Not having a fishing buddy sucks!

You should be ok with the braid, but set one up with a leader and use one without to see if it makes a difference.

How wide and deep is your river and how big do the fish get?

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Not having a fishing buddy sucks!

Yes, how big are the stripers in your river?

What line do you use? I have a couple poles set up with 65 pound braided. Will that be ok, or should I run a 40lb mono leader off of it to the lure? Or does it matter?

I run 65# spectra with a 40# topshot of mono. The topshot is about 10 yards long and tied to the spectra with an albright knot, mono doubled over and spectra wrapped around about 20 times.The mono will give a bit of stretch to the spectra and not act line a big rubber band of running all mono. Once you get the fish boatside, you will have all mono out so the mono will stretch if the fish rolls or heads off on another run. Tie a long enough topshot so you can re-tie several times before having to replace the topshot.

 

[ngt]

Re: Not having a fishing buddy sucks!

I've seen pictures on the local bait shop's monthly email of 50+ inches coming out of the same water. I've never caught one that big though. Not sure if their trolling, or just out in the bay further. Biggest I've caught is 27 inches, but I've seen striper jump that were 3+ feet easy early in the morning. I never seem to get bites from them though. Sturgeon run through here too, but I've never heard of people catching them on lures. Mostly ghost/grass shrimp, bullhead, frozen stuff, pile worms, or something more stinky.

Do you put scent on your lures?

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Not having a fishing buddy sucks!

If this has been covered, sorry, but all you single fishing guys should be using a tether (lanyard)for your boat motor too. Especcially if you are trolling. If you fall overboard, your as good as cooked without the lanyard. I do musky fishing solo all the time, but not w/o a kill switch on the motor, way too much can go wrong. Be safe and fun fun either single or not!
It snowed last night in Metro Detroit- no boat fishing for 3-4 months, time for ice!!!