Thank You for the Info. You definitely have it down to a Science. I've just been down lining shad on Old Hickory with much success, when I can find the right size shad of course, which has been difficult this summer.

Nice fish Aero.

Are you running a plate on your outboard? If not what size more do you have on there?

No plate on engine. The engine is a Mercury 225 Optimax. The boat has trim tabs (much like flaps on an airplane). I lower them to the down position to create drag. Engine has troll control so it is set at the lowest engine RPM (550). Keep in mind that the down riggers slow the boat down as well as the Planer Boards. I am trolling around 2.4 MPH with that setup. If I want to troll less than 2, the Terrova is used.

Nice fish! I really want to get out to Tim's Ford, I had to miss a tournament with the club a few months back. But I have been looking into boat rentals out there and hope to take the family.

Reviewing all these striper posts are killing me, it's the last freshwater fish on my bucket list and I want to catch one ... or two or three.. :)

But I don't have downriggers, or planer boards, so my question is; would I be spinning my wheels to troll some deep running crankbaits on PP early a.m. or p.m. off the points and islands on main lake? Might I actually pick one up doing this?

I have some pretty deep running Bandits that I have caught walleye on.

Thoughts?

We were running downriggers a week ago. Caught one on the rigger and 6 on crankbaits in rod holders off to each side. We had about 75-100' of line out on the rods (running a line-counter on one, so I know the measurement). We caught 'em ~25' down (depending on the lure-dive ability and line). Black and gold reef runner (like a very large, big lipped rappala - walleye bait traditionally) will run >35'. Also chartreuse tiger stripe cranks.

We were running MUCH slower than 2.4mph. We were running the big motor (i/o 3.0 litre), but closer to 1.7. Didn't touch the trolling motor all day. We got started with lines wet at 6:30am and the bite was over by 10 right at the dam on PP.

Thanks Salmon ... I may go "spin my wheels" in the next week or two.

I just happen to have some chartreuse tiger stripe cranks in my box too.