Sandy creek fishing

[Benfolkhero]

I am new to this forum, and new to fishing in more then 12' of water lol. I grew up on sandy creek spring brown trout fishing, my brothers and I would troll in our parents canoe with stickbaits until the water warmed up, and the fishing slowed. Then we would focus on bass or pike. Now I have a Little larger boat and a couple manual downriggers and have been fishing out where the big boys play! I normally only use 4 rods and we have boated 46 fish so far this season. Including five this morning, 3 kings 1laker and 1 steelhead/rainbow (whatever they should be called this time of year). My question is dipsy divers...

I run two (one on each side) and I have them adjusted all the way to one side to pull away from the boat.

1. How accurate is the chart they give you? Seems like I was bumping the bottom but I didn't have enough line out for the depth I was in.

2. Speed, does it change with the kind of flasher or bait I am using. (I bought 1 of each style to see what caught more fish.)

3. How badly do I need a down temp and speed device (fish hawk)? Haven't people been trolling for like a million years without it?

Thanks for reading all this! I appreciate the info you guys post!

Ben

I listened to channel 72 today, very cool

[Xxx]

Looks and sounds like your doing just fine. Depending on what type of line your using you will achieve deeper depth than the charts show. Depending on the size dipsy they usually use 10-20# mono, so if your using a braided line you will get deeper than the chart shows, if you hit up with X amount of line out you should keep a record of this for your own knowledge. Next time out you will know with X amount of line out I was this deep, just keep the same pole with that dipsy. Speed will also get you deeper, the chart should read X type line at X mph again it's usually charted at 2mph so at 2.5 mph you will get deeper also, lots of factors that come into play, the charts on the back of the dipsys usually get you in the ball park give or take. The temp devices play a vital role when you find suspended fish, the fish that are suspended in their climate zone usually are active fish that are catchable, other uses are to find the right temp that meets the bottom, and you see hooks tight on the bottom those fish usually will strike at the right presentation. A lot of guys that just fish the hooks will somtimes be wasting time and fuel, not all fish suspend in there climate zone. There are some guys that will give up there sonar before their temp and depth gauge, that you can bank on!!! I have the Fish Hawk 4xd. I mainly got this to eliminate the guess work out of where my rigger ball is, just because my rigger says I'm 75ft down doesn't mean that's where my ball is. Blow back and strong currents can lift your ball 10-20ft up. A couple of years ago we were fishing 80ft down with hooks all at 80ft and deeper and we couldn't buy a hit, noticing that our cable had some angle back to it we decided to drive towards land till we hit up, with 80ft of cable out we didn't bump up till we were in 65ft of water, so we were fishing 15ft above the fish, not good, with the 4xd it has a pressure switch which tells us how deep our ball really is. Since I got the Hawk I run 95ft of cable out to reach 80ft in that same area with more hookups than before. It's a expensive device that some say they been fishing 50 years without and some will say they won't leave the dock without it. I feel it has helped us a lot. It's a decision that you have to make. I'm not Mr salmon buy any means and I'm sure I left some vital info out but that's a general idea of it, I'm sure there are well more experienced guys that will hits some different high lites for you on this topic. Tight lines to you!! PAP.

Edited May 24, 2015 by pap

[Benfolkhero]

Wow! Thanks... So much goes into fishing deep and there are so many variables to learn and understand. For the blow back on the downrigger cable I have been measuring the angle and using the Pythagorean theorem (a2+b2=c2) that's a lot like work lol

[Xxx]

Wow! Thanks... So much goes into fishing deep and there are so many variables to learn and understand. For the blow back on the downrigger cable I have been measuring the angle and using the Pythagorean theorem (a2+b2=c2) that's a lot like work lol

That theory works well, and for $800.00 you can but a lot of pencils and paper. LOL. Keep up the good work you will do just fine. One thing I'm a firm believer in is, time spent on the water is the biggest education you can get, learn from mistakes and move on, no one is perfect!!! Best of luck and tight lines to you!! PAP

[Justfish]

When the water clarity is stained or pea green, it is more important to get in the temp/strike zone.  But most of the time, all you need to do is get your presentations down close to the temp breaks/strike zone...and just fish!  You do need to be near the temp breaks (thermocline), but that is just a general rule.  There are plenty of fish that are caught above and below the thermo-cline as most people on this forum will validate.

 

Just get your rigs spread out down near the temp breaks.  The fish will find your lures.

One mistake many people do when they get drop back from their downrigger cables is to slow down, and they end up trolling too slow.  This is a big mistake, as many of the lures/presentations dont work well when trolled slow...they just sit back there like a wet noodle.   Keep your speed up, and you will entice those deep fish to hit. (like a cat chasing a mouse...a cat wont chase a dead mouse..but it sure will chase one that is running away from it.....same holds true for deep trolling with the exception of lake trout).

 

Some people will disagree with this, but dont over think things.  Just put out a good spread that you have confidence in....get them below/in/above the thermo-cline area......and just fish.....good things will happen.