WB 6/3/2024

[Paddler]

My humble advice is to pull worm harness on bottom bouncer, we catch a couple with cranks each trip, worm harnesses on bottom bouncer out fish the crank baits by a large margin.

Thanks for the advice, I get it.  But I haven't bottom bounced since 2005 when I bought my new boat.  I'd bottom bounce in my Alumacraft, but even back then I gradually converted to trolling cranks.  Tom Pettengil, who worked for the Division back then, got me into it.  In that Alumacraft I boated 14 walleye in two hours on SR7s out by the lightpole one evening.  I also boated 25 wipers before noon trolling cranks on the east side of the bay one day, too, so crankbaits work.

In addition, my Hewes isn't set up for bottom bouncing.  It's designed to handle ocean fishing, they call it a Searunner, so it has a high bow.  I don't have a front electric as a result.  I can get down slow enough to BB using my drift sock setup, but haven't done so.  Kind of a shame, too, as I have some very nice St. Croix rods and Ambaseur Ultra Cast reels I never use anymore. 

Yesterday was likely due to the cold front that came through, and I think that crankbaits will pick up soon.  I agree that early in the year bottom bouncing will outfish crankbaits, I just lack the patience anymore.  I'm prefer covering more ground and love hearing the reels go off.  I'll probably head up Thursday, hopefully with better results.

Your boat sounds similar to mine, I have a Wooldridge Super Sport Offshore. The guy I bought it from had it built to guide in saltwater off the Kenei in Alaska. I like that I can keep fishing when other people have to get off the lake when the wind picks up. The semi hard top cabin also makes a big difference keeping us comfortable in all weather conditions.

Yours is a bit bigger than mine, but same idea.  Wooldridge makes a nice boat.  If I put a bow mount on mine I could bottom bounce pretty easily.  But that would mean extra batteries, etc, and I prefer trolling.  I fish the same way for wepers and walleye as I do for tuna offshore.

Do you fish saltwater?

No I wish I could afford to tow it over to the coast, I pretty much fish Northern Utah and South East Idaho in my boat. My boat is 2009 20’ it didn’t have a trolling motor on the bow when I bought it and the kicker motor had almost no hours when I bought it in 2018 the last guy trolled with the main motor for salmon in Alaska and Lakers at Flaming Gorge. I added the trolling motor and 2 additional down riggers, I have 4 now to mainly target Kokanee, with no wind my kicker pushes my boat at 1.5mph at idle and I steer and make speed adjustments with the electric motor. Yup your right about batteries I have 3 31 series AGM in the bow for the trolling motor and 2 in the back for starting and accessories.

My boat is 20' with a splashwell, so I'm guessing yours is 2.5-3' longer.  Too bad you can't tow to the coast, it's heaven.  I get ~11MPG towing to the coast, and La Push is ~1040 miles one way.  Gets expensive.  A tuna run is ~130-145 miles round trip, and fully loaded I get 4.5MPG.  Plus, gas is more expensive in Forks, currently $4.69/gallon.

I may not go this year if kokanee fishing is good.  I have plenty of white fish in the freezer, walleye, rockfish, etc, and am booked on a three-day long range trip for yellowfin and bluefin out of San Diego in October.  All I need is salmon.

I run one battery, which works fine as trolling maintains the charge.

Do you have an autopilot?