littleriver

jcupp, I believe he must have been using small diameter line for a couple of reasons. First, his reel holds 250 yards of 14lb test. To get 300 yards on his reel he had to go smaller diameter. Or he is lying. Second, all the big fish he catches in the video he gets down on the deck and lips by hand. His nearest competitor is just hossing his fish in the boat. Only reason I can think of for doing this with these fish is because he is concerned about the line strength. Bigger may work(not saying it won't) but getting 300 yards of it on a reel will require a bigger reel.

Post a pic Bluetick . Someone here may be able to help you figure out exactly where the bait went wrong. I have found more ways to screw up than I have found to fix so far. But still at it. Thats part of the fun and frustration. Congrats on finishing like so many have already said. Vic

Never used lead core line but see how this would work. I thought that stuff would be illegal by now but after a quick search they are still selling it .

Sonny, one would think so right? But the reality is many small fish are at these depths too. Regularly catch 12 inchers in the 30 to 40 foot of water on carolina rig and jig. But your right, they're more quality fish too. Just because they are harder to get at. At least this is often the case on Douglas.

Those are some massive fish Ben . Very impressive indeed. I suppose the size is due to the mild winter. Long eating season. Not a single 7 pounder was caught on Douglas during the elite tourney. We have a few in this 7-10 range but very rare fish.

Ben , There are a few hurdles that one must overcome first. Choosing line , reel and rod are on the list. Starks had a large capacity revo. Or if your like me, just use the bait caster you have that has the largest line capacity. May not hold 300 yards but over 200 yards of a small diameter line without backing is possible. Mine looks pre spawn for sure. Casting is a treacherous endeavour. Then the rod, a long cranking rod is preferred. But my 6'6" med action quantum will have to do for now. Finally the line. A quality fluorocarbon would be best. Yet, I chose to try Yo-zuri hybrid 10lb in green. Mainly because it was on sale at Ollies. 600 yard spool was 8 bucks. A very dense, sinking, low stretch and strong line. As you can tell I am not perfectionist. Can not afford to be but have to work with what I have or can get on a budget. Mark , the lure used will have a large influence on how hard it is to reel in just like any crank. I found the 6xd twice as hard to reel in as my homemade. This was due because of the wider action of the 6xd. My homemade with the tight action was much easier to pull. The 6xd was a bit slower to reach bottom than the homemade as well. The lures would stay on bottom with ease once there. And they stayed on bottom to the boat. Not sure yet what the max depth one can achieve. It will depend greatly on the lure and line used. Really required nothing too special. I have had harder days casting and retrieving dd 22s. Only to have them in the strike zone for a few feet vs hundreds of feet with this method. I think with shallower divers one could take them deeper as Snowman suggest and keep them there for a long ways. The trick will be discovering depths of the lures with your setup. Then use the right one for the given situation. Put it in their face and your sure to get bit. Once bitten Mark, I believe your correct about setting the hook. Just not possible. In the videos of Starks, he is sharpening hooks and every fish he catches just falls off the hook. Not much can be done about that except quality sharp hooks. I hope I am so lucky to get bit and have that problem to overcome.

Nah, Sonny your "right on" about line bow limiting depth. I do not think one can completely disregard this fact (unless fishing in space) and you made a good point. For what it is worth your d :censored:m smart in my book. However, with a thin, dense, low stretch, sinking line one can reduce the effects of line bow. This knowledge will effect my choice of line for cranking from now on. With 900 feet of it out and a deep diver tied on, not sure what the maximum depth one can achieve. I plan to find out this summer and who knows maybe catch a few fish along the way.

Never tried a sinker of that style . Would be worth a go. I am pretty careful where I throw a rig. But the best bites always come from the rocks. Thank you for the suggestion, Bob. Vic

X2 Definitely would move line tie to the bill close to where the bill meets the body. Perhaps just a little forward of that by a couple mm. Good looking shape! Should swim great once the tie is moved assuming it is ballasted properly. I would leave the original tie where it is and perhaps use it to attach some kind of streamer. Would look really cool and may not effect action much if streamer is light and does not produce too much drag. Might be fun to experiment with anyway. Good luck . Vic

Snowman, I like your idea of using smaller bait at deeper depths. I feel this would be effective here too. Now I just need to build some baits and do some fishing. I like Carolina rigging cranks too. It would work to get the depth for sure but not sure how stealthy the method would be to get those out of nowhere reaction strikes. Also some situations (big snaggy rock) maybe not so good. We have an abundance of this stuff. Still there are plenty of other places it would work great. Starks had 300 yards(900 feet of line) trolled out. A dense sinking fluorocarbon line. Brand and diameter unknown. The location he was fishing is known. What I can tell you is we have lots of soft red clay banks here on Douglas. The spot he was fishing is no exception. If a crank hits bottom and is not felt, your sure to see red on the bill of your crank. Stuff sticks like glue when wet. This kind of confirmation is enough to convince anyone, including myself .

Quickdraw sounds like a very nice book to have indeed. I imagine it includes type and diameter of line used? Sonny I think the type of line used and diameter of line will play havoc with your theory.

Ben That is exactly how Starks used the technique to catch his last two five pounders of the day to win the tourney. Pounding the crank into a deep ledge.

Her is the correct link I intended to post http://www.bassmaster.com/long-lining-how-deep-can-you-go Sorry about that....... John your right . Finding fish at those depths is the trick. These new $3000 + fish finders are doing just that. Sadly , while the pros are marking sunken tires and schools of fish at 30mph, I am am wondering if my cheap outdated finder is finding bottom as the depth indicator flashes 200ft at me every time I bump the trolling motor .

Here is a couple of links http://www.bassmaster.com/video/starks-basscam-videos http://www.strikeking.com/journal/00199/1.php