Fishing Deep

[I FISH ALONE]

I see the fish marked along the bottom but seem to have trouble staying deep, unless I use my downrigger, I have planers and sinkers but rarely seem to be deeper than 15 ft unless it's attached to the rigger. Am I dragging tackle too close to the boat or too fast? I'm going to fish "heavy" on Monday. I troll using my 150 merc as low as it can go without bumping in and out of gear. What do you guys do?

[jeenyus139]

jig. it was productive on tues. you wont go wrong by droppin some metal on their heads.

[Shellback CVA59]

Three things effect the depth your lure will run. Speed, length of line out behind the boat and actual diameter of the line inself. Some walleye fishermen have a book out, called Precision Trolling. It has charts showing how deep many different lures run at certain speeds and distances behind the boat. They used a specific diameter line and mention that depth would be effected by going up on down on line size. Anyhow, the slower you go, and the more line you have out behind the boat will let your lure run deeper. Actually the length of line does reach a point where it's no longer an issue, probably about 150 feet.
There are commercially made canvas trolling bags that can be used to slow your boat down for trolling, or some folks just drag a 5 gallon bucket with holes in the bottom. Also there are devices that attach to the motor and drop down behind the prop to slow you down.
Although the Precision Trolling book is geared to fresh water fishing, it has a wealth of info about how to put your lure at a specific depth by flatlining, dipsey divers, jet divers, and leadcore.

[I FISH ALONE]

Thanks guys for the info, and I'll look for the trolling book, it' will give me an excuse to go to Bass Pro Shop before finding it online.

[AFISHANADO]

Are you fishing with the tide or against? We used to troll against
the tide with wire line and only need 10 to 12 oz. To hold bottom
in 40 ft.we would troll in one direction in line with the fleet
then race back and get back in line. Look for boats lined up and
get in line, if you stay at the correct speed and your presentation
is correct, all your questions will be answered.