Brown tips?

[topeye]

All you experienced brown fisherman out there. Any tips or tricks of the trade that would be useful? Speed? Depth? Color? Leader length? Anything is appreciated.

[Reelax]

Last week in Fairhaven...  this worked ok....8-14fow riggers at 5ft with spoons, black and silver. planer boards pulling storm, yozuri and rapala sticks, blue and yellow worked best. 2.1-2.4mph or even slower if you can.

 

Long setbacks, 150ft on planer and 80 on riggers...

 

Hope this helps...

 

Matt

[Sk8man]

Nothing beats current specific info like Matt provided.  Some general things to offer would include this: Run the lightest  fluoro leaders you are comfortable with (8-10 lb test if you can) Set your drag to accomodate for the lighter leader and the fact that there is little to no stretch in the fluoro ( it will come from your mono main line though). Run your lines as far back as possible. Vary your speed but keep it on the slow end for bigger browns. Don't use big shiny swivel snaps.  If you use one use the smallest possible ball bearing (solid ring) and black. Either tie directly to stickbaits or use duolock snaps or Fast snaps - not swivels. Run s curve patterns when you troll.  Occasionally putting it in neutral briefly and then re-engaging (this is often when they will hit  (after following the lure). Use your boards to exploit the shoreline and consider using only floater type stickbaits and possibly jointed ones (tolerate speed better too) to run right in very close to shore (so you don't hang up). You may be surprised how close you get them in non-trafficked stretches of water especially early in the day (e.g. at first light).

Edited April 24, 2013 by Sk8man

[topeye]

Thanks. So I have a snap swivel on my main 25# line. What Should I put on the end of my leader line to attach?

[Sk8man]

A small black barrel swivel at one end of the leader (and small blackball bearing swivel at the "business" end. You can either keep the swivel you have on there and attach the barrel swivel to that or take it off and tie directly to the barrel swivel at the end of the leader (cleanest option if you don't intend to frequently change setups). 

[Yankee Troller]

Run your lines as far back as possible. 

 

I have to disagree with this statement. It should read to run your lines as close as possible. Water clarity will dictate the leads you will need to run. Longer in clear water, and shorter in dirty water. We find that 100-150' leads work best most of the time. You want to avoid longer than needed leads. Your hook up percentage starts to tank when your running long mono leads. There is a lot of stretch, and most of the times with L or ML action rods you just cant get the good hook up.

 

BT fishing is really very simple and people tend to over complicate it. First off location is key. Be where the colored water is. Lure selection depends on water clarity. Speed is something we don't spend too much time with. 2.0-2.5 will work most times. Lighter flouro leaders in clear water. That basically sums it up.

[Sweet Caroline]

If there was only one piece of advice I can give you it would be to find the right water clarity. Green/Slightly stained  water = FISH ON! Leader length/lure selection won’t matter as much as the fish will active with this water clarity. Only have clear water and muddy water and the fishing will be difficult. Muddy water try bright/gaudy lures, clear water try natural colors with light line and long leads to try and get some bites, but most likely the fishing won’t be great in these conditions.

Hope this helps

[Sk8man]

150 ft isn't exactly "close in" its half the length of a football field Right now things will be tough until the water warms up unless you are lucky enough to happen across a pocket of water a few degrees warmer that has a color line....

Edited April 24, 2013 by Sk8man

[topeye]

Well lets hope I get lucky when I get up there.

[overthelimit]

If the water is clear fishing can be very difficult. 100-125 foot leads are typical for me. Finding water with color is more important than anything. I find that if I'm in about 6 fow and I can just barely make out the bottom = lights out brown fishing.

[topeye]

11 more days!!

[fletch]

A question related to water temp: if the Genny's water temp is in the 50s, does that mean that the browns will be out at the piers in good numbers? I ask because I am boatless.

Also, how long to the browns remain in close to shore?

Thanks

[Mortigan]

I think clear water was the issue today east off I-Bay. We ran from 15 to 75 & no colored water. Marked a few fish between 30 & 45 and tried every trick I could think of without ever getting hit.

Wonder if anyone claimed the planer board rescued at the Genny?

[tlombardozzi]

question, so if i am running storms or yozuris on planer boards, i would want 100-150 ft back from that?

[Sk8man]

yes and maybe even more in the clear water

[tlombardozzi]

Thanks. Anyone use slide divers before? I bought a pair but I can't quite figure out the settings and how they relate to both the diver diving depth and how it relates to lure depth from there. I have the chart but it is confusing

[Mortigan]

The lure will run at about the same depth as the diver.  The diver will run deepest and closest to the boat on a zero setting, shallower and farthest from the boat on a six setting.

 

Are you running the diver without a ring, with a small ring or with a large ring?  Larger ring = more resistance = deeper running.

 

Are you running mono, braid or wire?  Wire runs deepest, mono runs shallowest...

[J.D.]

tlombardozzi,  I have been using Slide Divers for the last 8 years as mono divers in the spring, and on my wire divers later in the season. I will never use a Dipsy or Walker diver again after fine tuning my program. ( not a slam on the other products, just MY opinion as a small boat solo fisherman )

 

Drop me a PM if you like. I'll be happy to help get you started.

[Kuba]

Jd, why don't you shere here? I also would be interested in your setup/ techniques.

[Mortigan]

So would I.  We started with Deeper Divers but just added a pair of slide divers.  Haven't used them yet though...

[J.D.]

.

Edited May 21, 2013 by J.D.

[fitz67]

Jim Thank you for taking the time to share your set up

Fitz

[mrclean]

There are a variety of ways to attack these bad boys. Right now yes water is clear but that will change. When I fish browns I dont use the conventional planner board way.  I like to set my lines straight back 250-300 ft. Depending on the presentation I may drop the down rigger ball 6 feet or so. But my favorite is the little cleo original with the naked lady on the back. That has always produced well for me. The original stinger chartreuse is one I would drop the ball with.

 

People ask why dont you use your planners. The reasoning is this... Yes fish scatter as boats pass, however I have found the "babies" if you will tend to be the ones scattering. Thats why I see  a good amount of small ones on the rack. But the big boys hold tight. They didnt get big by making the wrong move. So if your back that far and your presentation is correct you should get bigger browns on avg. You wont get as many as with planners for sure...But I believe the hogs are sitting right there waiting....

 

 

[tlombardozzi]

If the water stirs up with this weather, will the browns move in tight again?

[Sk8man]

Fish wherever the mudline is at back and forth at the edge of it regardless of where it occurs

Edited May 11, 2013 by Sk8man