Suspended Fish

[Karas3434]

Been marking alot of suspended fish recently, have been running cranks trying to pick them up and havent really been getting them like i think i should. My next idea is to try running crawler harnesses for them. My question is im not 100% how to get the harnesses to the depth i want them. For the cranks i just run 'X' amount of line to get 'X' depth (from the trolling bible). I would like to run harnesses between 15' and 35', whats the best method for this? bottom bouncers? snap weights?

[bridgeman]

bottom bouncers or lead core

[LLewellin]

Downriggers would be the best IMHO. You can run your baits just above or at the same depth as the fish.

[Bowhuntnsteve]

we've not had good luck with the riggers, we'll run off the boards 5 color lead core to get down that 40ish foot range or a dipsy with meat off the back. We'll even run a deep diver and throw some weight 50 feet up from the plug & run it all having success.
Like now we're fishing 78-82 fow and the eyes been in that 35-45 foot range.

[EyeKing]

Originally Posted by Karas3434

Been marking alot of suspended fish recently, have been running cranks trying to pick them up and havent really been getting them like i think i should. My next idea is to try running crawler harnesses for them. My question is im not 100% how to get the harnesses to the depth i want them. For the cranks i just run 'X' amount of line to get 'X' depth (from the trolling bible). I would like to run harnesses between 15' and 35', whats the best method for this? bottom bouncers? snap weights?

With a 2oz bouncer trolling at 1-1.3 it hit bottom in 18fow at 32ft. In 22fow it was around 42 to bottom. Hope that helps a lil.

[Burr]

One approach you could use, is the 50/50 technique. You're targeting a large range of the water column. Let 50 feet out, put on a 1 oz snap weight, let another 50 feet out, and put it in the rod holder.

On the next set - do the same, except use a 1.5 oz snap weight.

On the next set, do the same, except use a 2 oz snap weight.

Vary the weight, and keep everything else constant. When you start catching fish, bracket the weight around the setup that caught fish. Zero in on the most productive.

You could do the same with Lead. The trick is, to hold everything except one item constant. You may not know how deep any of them are, but you'll know the one with more weight is deeper than the lighter weight.

[Bowhuntnsteve]

also fish are more apt to come up and hit a bait than to go down