Skinner 8/28

[P.A.W.]

It was hot and still all day. Water level was down and the inlet was flowing slooooowly. Water temps around 80-82. I was told they would bluestone last tuesday, but I didn't see any evidence of it. A bunch of floating grass and algae. The fish were a bit slow, but biting. I trolled a Rapala jerkbait along the north shore and had 2 in the boat in 1/2 hour. Then on to the south shore and metered a bunch of fish kinda deep in the channel so I set up the downrigger with the same Rapala at 30' depth. Hit 2 more quickly.

The stripers were scattered all over, but in pods. Mainly in 25-50 feet of water. The Largemouths were taking the usual pumpkin and oxblood finnesse stuff. I went home at 11:30 with 6 stripers and a few LMB.

[kaiyasdad]

see any boils? should be about that time for the east end to go off. what kind of downriggers do you have and what type of mount. i have been looking at a few models such as the cannon easy troll and was gonna get the gimbal mount. i have a 15ft whaler so trying to figure out how or where to mount them. thanks

[P.A.W.]

No boils today. As I mentioned most fish were metered kinda deep. I got the Cannon here http://www.basspro.com/Cannon®-UniTroll™-5-Manual-Downrigger/product/91023/-1323495 . I just used the basic mounting plate provided. Since I have a Tracker Bass-boat the casting deck is almost flush with the gunwale so it was pretty easy.

[HawgStalker]

P.A.W..... What is bluestone mean?

[P.A.W.]

It's copper sulfate. They add it to the water when sun and warm temps encourage algae blooms. Since Skinner is a drinking water lake they are willing to risk some minor effects to the fish for the sake of water quality.

[HawgStalker]

Rite on... Thx bro!

[jpod]

It's copper sulfate. They add it to the water when sun and warm temps encourage algae blooms. Since Skinner is a drinking water lake they are willing to risk some minor effects to the fish for the sake of water quality.

good info i was wondering the
same thing

[skunked again]

Congrats on your new downrigger. They are definately not cheap and that's for the manual. I have a cannon also. What was the length on your striper and what size do they get up to in your lake? (what can you expect to catch, not what is the biggest).

[P.A.W.]

Well Skunked, Skinner is a funny lake. Right now the stripers are averaging 1-3 pounds. Later on as they move into the east end the bigger units will be out foraging and we'll see 3-5 pounders regularly. In the fall and winter we will be seeing anything from 2 pounders to 10 pounders. There is always the chance (hope) for a bigg guy, but truth be told this is not San Antonio or Pyramid.... or even DVL. The lake record is 29 pounds but 15 to 20 pounders are a real trophy for this lake.

Yah, learning the downrigger is taking a little time. On Sunday I dragged a poor 2 pounder around for a while not knowing he was on because I didn't have the line release adjusted right.

[JAG107]

Nice catching PAW! Time for these rats to grow up a little though...