8-9 no luck again

[trollerdenden]

trolled u rigs today from waltons to beckys and bettys. marked a few but no hits and no takers. fished yesterday 8-8 from christmas tree to gills and 3 islands same deal no fish and no hits. looked back at my logs from earlier this year and from march until now i have fished a total of 88 hrs with only 1 fish to show for it. dang i wonder why i continue to do it.

[mwardncsu]

Aug 9, 2015 13:03:18 GMT -5 trollerdenden said:

i wonder why i continue to do it.

Probably because of this....


Hang in there - you'll get them figured out.....

[Gator]

Dang dude. You are way overdue. That's for sure. Maybe concentrate on one specific area like bull run or b&b and wear it out. Trust me. Do you have sonar?

[mwardncsu]

A few months ago at the Striper Club meeting, one of the members gave a presentation about "thinking like a striper", but one of his key points was if you're doing the same thing over and over the same way, and it's not producing results, then change what you're doing. It's easy for us all to fall into a rut on how we like to do things - perhaps the worst scenario is when you are having some success, so you stick with it - but if you were to change a bit more or be more adaptive you'd have even better results.

In your case with having limited results, let's diagnose how you're approaching it. Can you provide a little more details on how you've been approaching things that is not working......
- time of day
- type of u-rig, how far back, what type of line, speed
- depth if you know it
- areas fished - fishing the same area year-round, or different areas
any specific features you are targeting - points, etc - or just pulling up and down the middle of the creeks / channel, etc


I'm not going to be the best resource on the trolling side, but definitely a number of guys on here they are - and willing to help out - the more we know about how you're going about it now, the more help they can provide... plus everyone learns in the process.

[smlmike]

I will/should be down this weekend if you would like to meet up and I show you what I have been doing. I normally catch two a day at least pulling U-rigs. I just suck at remembering to report or what I actually did that day!

[lund1]

This is an intriguing thread...and I'm sure it's being followed by many. I'm one of those underperforming and overly equipped fisherman that is often confounded by the reports of " great trips" ...I'm happy for guys but often wondered why I don't have big days.
I think the biggest revelation was understanding the importance of contour. There's a huge difference between dragging baits or artificials up or down the lake vs indentifieng points, shoals, drop offs , holes and humps...and focusing on them.
I credit Yam and Gator for educating me on that. Yam calls it fishing from home. Study the map and get a strategy. I can't say that I now have big number days but I feel like I'm fishing with a location reason. I don't seem to catch too many big fish but I do avoid the dreaded skunk.
88 hours on the water with one fish screams " make a change". Lots of guys complain about not catching fish but they don't put in the time. You're putting in the time and absolutely will start to boat a few.....try doing things differently.

[mwardncsu]

Lund - spot on. While these fish don't generally suspend on structure like bass - they relate to it and use it to their advantage - to ambush bait, to run "protected" between spots, etc.

You'll also see a pattern with the fish holding at certain depths different times of year - and find them on those contour lines. I don't take enough note of that when fishing - but it is also why I try and take sonar pics to refer back to in the future - and why I share them here for others.

You can't just go out and drive the boat and expect the fish to jump in (though note I'm not saying this is what trollerdenden is doing) - it's a puzzle to figure out the how's and why's and that's the fun part - putting together all the pieces - trying new things - trying whacky things and occasionally being rewarded for those changes - and learning in the process.

[striperjohn]

This time of year these fish generally stay deep and run the ledges. They will come shallow on rainy, cloudy days and when Wt is lower because the bait do. If you run the ledges at say 30 feet and follow that contour in an area you have marked fish you should fair well. Its been my experience that stripers unlike strippers will not go down for bait. So keep your bait above the fish.

[smlmike]

I agree with Striperjohn & others wholeheartedly! I get out early usually before 6 a.m. and drag U-rigs in 18-30 FOW. Never had much luck any deeper than that. Points and humps are both areas that stripers can ambush their prey. Stripers are up higher in the water column early in the morning, same goes for dusk. I usually quit fishing by 10 a.m., depends on the boat traffic. Just remember if you not familiar with these points and humps the changing water depth can bite you in the a** real quick (hung up). I fish the same area most of the time and I still get hung at least once. I have a new Navonics map card (1 ft. contours) on the way to help with this issue also.
Let us know your set up, what depths you are fishing, etc., we might be able to help get the skunk off the boat.

[mwardncsu]

One thing that can also help - especially if you pull the same areas all the time - both Lowrance and Humminbird now have ways to let you create your own maps from the sonar data you record. I think Navionics does as well.

Of course, you have to keep in mind the lake level changing a bit - that foot or two can make a difference when you are tickling the tree-tops.

[trollerdenden]

I thought i would reply to my post since so many people have commented on it. First i have been striper fishing since the late 80"s. I used to help a guide from time to time with clients. So i have over 25 years exp striper experince. So im no dummy when i comes to striper fishing. I think this is a surprise to many bout my luck but it really shouldnt be. Theres lots more like me out there you just dont hear about them. I live 45min to upper end of lake and over 1and half hours to lowre end. So coming to the lake at nite to catch live bait and then returning home is kinda hard to do. I work 50 to 60 hrs a week mon threw friday. So the weekends is all i can do. So fishing with artifical is kinda my only option most of the time. Yes from time to time i catch bait at 3 0r 4 in the morning and then wait for daylight to fish. But thats fairly hard to do getting up at 2 or 3 after working alot of hrs. i Have good electronics on my boat. I Troll with lead core and downriggers. Umbrella rigs and plugs and spoons. I have jigged from time to time with no luck. I use live bait with planer boards whenever i can. So as you can see my boat is set up good for stripers. And im pretty good in knowing striper movements from season to season. I also fish roanoke and blackwater. I fished a average of 4 to 5 times a month and the last fish i caught was in February. So my guess is that i have the worst luck possible and that i should take up knitting or basket weaving! Cause as you can tell by this post im just no fisherman!

[Gator]

You're welcome

[mwardncsu]

Trolllerdenden - sounds like you know your stuff and just on a bad dry spell.... as Gator said - you're due..... hope you didn't take offense to those offering suggestions & feedback.... If nothing else, others that may be in a similar boat, but don't post for whatever reason learned something from the discussion as well Would love to see more from you as there are a lot of guys on the lake that troll lead-core and there is not a lot of discussion about it on here....

[epic]

OK I'll jump in here and give you my 2 cents worth.  I actually live on the lake and fish frequently.  From late June thru Sept, I only use artificial and have had very good success.  I use Sufix lead core (thinner than others, less drag) rigged with two 4 to 6 inch sassy shad, yellow, white and see through green seem to produce the best.  Leader from lead core to three way swivel is 10 to 15 feet of 20 pound fluorocarbon, 5 foot leader to one bait 15 pound fluorocarbon leader 1/2 ounce jig head.  The leader is 3 foot long, 15 pound fluorocarbon with 1/4 ounce jig head.  I run this set up on 4 rods and let out about 5 colors and run at 2.7 to 3.0 mph.  I will start on the Gills Creek side of Christmas Tree island and follow the Blackwater river channel towards Gills Creek.  I start there in the evening and keep running until dark.  Have done that for the past 3 weeks and average about 3 to 4 fish per eve.  At dawn I will go up the Roanoke starting at the state Park and head for B&B's staying just slightly to the east or west of the main Roanoke river channel.  If all that fails I start running points in 30 to 40 foot of water hitting points heading back to the State Park from B&B's.  Hope this helps.

[Gator]

Hey Epic,

Hope this helps? Heck yeah it does. THANKS!