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In search of the first bass

3K views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  StealthMode 
#1 ·
Thank you for the wealth of information on here. The reports are awesome and I wish I could give back and will do so when its worth reading. So far I have been out three times this year. First time in November and twice in December. The last time yesterday out of ac we were lines in at 6 and called it around 3. I can't seem to shake this skunk off the boat and me for that matter. Im curious what and how you guys are trolling. Yesterday were had a 24oz mojo on one rod with a green bunker spoon and the other rod was another 24oz and a shad on top. I let both rods out while moving until they hit and a few more feet. For a while put a third rod in with a bomber cd30 and not a touch. We trolled at about 2.5-3 knots all day. We were in anywhere from 30-45 feet of water. Any info is greatly appreciated.
 
#2 ·
I can't say much for the bunker spoon but as for the mojo's what I do is get up to trolling speed for me is 3.5 to 4 knots then I drop the mojo to the bottom you will feel the thump then I take one or two cranks of the reel and your set there is not much more to it than that as for the stretch's I measured out 150ft of line out and put a mark on my line and I let the line out just till the mark is past the last eye of my rod with the bombers I let out a little less line it seems the dive deeper with less line out this may be rite or wrong but I have had some success this way hope it helps oh and with the mojo's if I notice the depth change 5 to 10 feet I will crank up 10 15 times and re drop till it hits bottom and one two cranks up again
 
#3 ·
I put out 4 lines if conditions allow ( outrodders are a must ). I drag Mojos with a trailing mojo tandem rigs and Mojos with bunker spoons trailing. Most of the bass hit on the primary mojo rig. Troll as slow as the conditions allow. I drop the lines to the bottom, however instead of cranking up I let more line out. I found it most effective to troll as close to the bottom as I can. I monitor the depth and adjust the lines accordingly. Its a constant adjustment of every line. If the mojos don't lose paint, I'm not doing my job. Chartreuse has been working for me. We will switch things up with Stretch 25s if the mojos aren't productive. I do a complete swap, as its difficult to drag mojos and Stretches at the same time. Stretches require more speed and line to get them to the depths we want. I'd normally say find the bait and you'll find the fish, but our catches this year occurred without bait on the screen. Best of luck.
 
#5 ·
Sounds like your'e doing a good job. Its all about trial and error and finding out what works, and especially what works for you. Mojos i troll 3- 3.5 knots. drop to the bottom hold the spool a few seconds then drop till it hits the bottom again. Constantly monitoring the depth, i really only crank up if they are hitting bottom and ill let out more line if theres a significant depth change and no hits. And when theres a hook up i keep the boat trolling for 10-30 seconds, sometimes youll get lucky and double up. bunker spoon i wire line. Good Luck youll get it soon enough !
 
#9 ·
Other people people have already addressed techniques so my question for you is in regards to reading electronics. Were you in an area with bait? Were you marking fish? What was your trolling pattern? Below is a picture from one of my trips as an example of what to look for. if you notice the bass are the worm like marks and the bunker are the little marks. The bass were streaking through the bunker pods scattering them.
Electronics Technology Electronic device Gadget Snow
 
#16 ·
Other people people have already addressed techniques so my question for you is in regards to reading electronics. Were you in an area with bait? Were you marking fish? What was your trolling pattern? Below is a picture from one of my trips as an example of what to look for. if you notice the bass are the worm like marks and the bunker are the little marks. The bass were streaking through the bunker pods scattering them.
View attachment 359993
Not saying you don't know your chit, as you probably did better than me this fall on the bass run, but knowing a 'bass' is a bass on a finder, is pretty hard to classify unless you were there fishing/catching that day in the present.

Taking a learning stance - worm marks, more or less, mean the fish is swimming parallel with the boat's trajectory(chirp helps pick them up since they use pins diagonally & at horizontal angles to help clarify the marks projected screen area). Worm or squiggle marks - could be blues or bass many times, etc... This is where the downscan tech helps in identifying or differentiating these marks. If I was by my other computer, I'd send you some finder pics to help you understand what I am trying to depict.

It's called Bronco bustin' for a reason!! A fellow barner & good friend, the gooch, who is an expert on the tuna game, and a trophy bass hunter use to elaborate on how to know the difference - and this was reading a screen without downscan a decade or 2 ago! Fall days of bronco bustin' were probably the most most exciting times you can get along our coast. Just doesn't happen in southern jersey year in year out unless the water temps and bait match accordingly with our coastal depths.

On chirp scan, 95% of the bass marks can be closely associated with boomerang marks(perfect Tuna marks), but usually have a more distinct bronco effect on the screen, almost like a horse on its 2 back heels, or a bronco so to speak. Many shark species are similar in silhouette to bass marks as well, but are much easier to identify when having the luxury of downscan. True tuna hunters know when a perfect boomerang(sushi mark) shows up on chirp, and bass captains have a harder time ID'n their marks whether they are bass or blues.. unless downscan can differentiate. Basically, the higher speed of the fish(tuna, falsies, etc) helps distinguish the more distinct boomerang mark since the entry & exit within the scan area is a shorter & clearer, more distinct time frame.

3D scan is not really there yet in my humble opinion for many tech reasons(hardware & software), but downscan has been a huge game changer for the industry. Suggest everyone trying downscan out if they haven't already.

Knowing the difference between a wolf pack of early girl cow stripers versus a wolf pack of ghosts is now a night & day difference with downscan.
 
#11 · (Edited)
I run my mojos with a shad tandem, white shad on one side, natural on other, then i run a small umbrella rig with a trolling weight down the center, im out of ac also, but imo water insnt deep enough so i go north or south, 15 miles or so, close to the line where the water is 55/60 feet deep,, i set drags loose so hook doesnt pull, i dont have any luck with spoons, for what reason i dont know, but the mojo on bottom and shad on top has been effective, good luck
 
#12 ·
All good info here. Mtown I have an older garmin unit and can't say I trust it very much. If I bump the throttle it marks. It does read bait and second to last trip I was able to snag n drop several times using it. However I am not good enough to tell bass from bait. The area we trolled sunday we marked but it was very broken up and much time was spent looking at an empty screen. I'm going to have next week off to go at it a few more times. I was toying around with picking up an umbrella rig now that it seems like most of you run them.
 
#13 ·
Since you are not 100% confident in your electronics my suggestion would be when you mark bait to pound that area and when you think you've spent enough time working that bait pod keep working it. Troll the pod every which way imaginable, switching out lures, changing speeds. You may catch a stray bass trolling a blank screen every now and the. But your chances will increase much more trolling a bait pod. Just bc your not getting any bites on it doesn't mean there's not bass there, sometimes you've just got to wait them out till the bite turns.

i don't think buying another lure will make or break your next trip, you have spoons, mojos and stretches already. Conceptually you understand how to troll themes well. what you still have to learn is how to work a body of water and understanding what water and bait pods are productive and which ones are not. Hope this helps!
 
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