Striper/Hybrid fishing at Tims Ford this morning
 

Had a great trip this morning on Tims Ford fishing for Hybrids and Rockfish. Boated a total of 12 fish. Count is a follows: Six Rockfish (largest four were 8, 9, 12, and 22 pounds). Six Hybrids (largest was 8 pounds).

Fish were all taken trolling with the Planer Board setup.

http://i58.tinypic.com/2ew1d83.jpg

Took 15 minutes to land this 22 pound one! Shot lots of GoPro video.

Great fish! That's a giant for Tim's! You sure have them figured out!

Yep, that is a real nice one!!

Nice fish.


Regards

Very nice fish! I see that set up and I think I would get everything tangled up when I have a fish on.

That's awesome

Here is a link to the YouTube video that was created this afternoon. The total length of the fight was about 15 minutes. You will see a boat dock on the left as the battle started. By the time the fish was landed, the boat dock was just a speck. The boat was moving at 2.4 mph so in 15 minutes it would have traveled slightly over .6 miles.

http://youtu.be/jQOcYaUJC44

I figured the fish would not survive if released, so I iced the fish down and fillet it at home.

No sooner than I had all the rods set back out, a 12 pounder hit on one of the down riggers.

Once again that was awesome. What kind of rods and reels do you use?

Nice fish, Aero! You sure have had a heck of a summer. I can't wait to get back out!

Alex

Rods are 7' medium action Ugly Stiks from Walmart. Reels are Okuma Convector line counter reels, 20 Series. Line is 20 pound Power Pro braid with 20 pound flourocarbon leaders.

http://i57.tinypic.com/wa6j2d.jpg

I am seriously impressed that you can run that many lines by yourself. I get more than three out and I start feeling overwhelmed!

Alex

Very Nice. I ran into a school on Thursday. Tons of Fun. Two Questions. 1. What Depth? 2. What Bait?
Thanks...

The fish seem to be between 20 and 25 feet. Hybrids are surfacing so they may be all over the water column.

For the most part, I am using 1/2 oz. white saltwater jig heads with 4" Chartreusse Sassy Shads with glitter. Also using hair jigs from Captain Jim at striperfun.com. Using Tennessee Thumpers on the down riggers (also from Captain Jim). This requires stiffer rods and lower geared reels. Using 30 series Okuma Convector reels for the down riggers. Using 10 pound down rigger ball set at 20 feet with this setup.

22 pounds is bigger than any I've ever caught

Once again great job thanks for the info on your set up too.


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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.