Finger Lakes - deep trolling Cranks/Sticks?

[GreenLaker75]

Hope everyone is having a good summer so far! I've been curious, are people having success on the FL's trolling stick baits or crank baits (similar sticks like you run in your spring shallow program) down to depth? I'm picturing like the walleye guys do with cranks. 

 

Is this something people do or have tried? Im scratching my head coming up with reasons why fish wouldn't grab a stick bait wiggling by just like they would a spoon. 

[lyk2fish]

Don’t scratch your head, .........apply it, and you will have success.......any method of getting a lure in front of a feeding fish can work,  I know many including myself that do this type of program or at least add it to the spread with success. Try it knowing your dive chart and it will work. Part of the fishing adventure is coming up with ideas and trying them, many don’t work, but when you find the one that does.........it’s all bent rods and screaming drags from there.  Go get em!

[Trouthunter]

This will work on those big browns that hang off the points in the lakes give it a try

 

[chowder]

I always have cranks in the mix, let the fish decide

[T-Rok]

I use sticks on lead core a lot with success. That being said, sometimes it works better than spoons. ..sometimes spoons work better than sticks. Gotta run some of each and then modify to the hottest lure/depth. 

[killer_kerry27]

I run both pretty much whenever I fish FL. Usually spoons on riggers then mix it up on outside rods with deep diving sticks and other sticks and spoons on leadcore. Morning when fish might be up higher in water or toward shore sticks take a lot of shots in my experience, and I’ll start moving over to more spoons later in day as fish sometimes are found out deeper. I’ve had better luck with certain sticks than others but that depends on the day. Best is to mix up what you have out there and see what consistently gets fish and different species as that’s a good indication to me of what more fish want. 

[Pair of Jacks]

I am going up to Seneca Lake mid July to mid August and will be running numerous combos of spoons, sticks, and cranks.   Spoons on downriggers and dreamweaver divers. Sticks and cranks on in-line planer boards.  
 

I bought a lifetime subscription to an app called Precision Trolling Data which gives me various line/speed/depth chart for just about every stick and crank ever made…I am almost exclusively a Rapala user but I do have a portfolio of older vintage Natural Ike crank baits that are incredibly reliable for multiple species.  Here a link to YouTube info on the App:  http://youtu.be/IBlh5d7XORo

 

Sometimes I try to get real complicated by combining the Precision Trolling Data and interpolate the depth charts when putting sticks and cranks on downriggers.  I will provide full reports on each fishing trip.

 

Pair of Jacks