Fishing without a trolling motor....

[DJD]

Hit the lake this morning with the expectation of some topwater action. We had several spots to hit...I had the day planned to fishing flats/grass in the morning and drops as the day progressed. Everything was going well.....first buzz bait fish was a decent 2lb bass. We worked the grass a little more and decided it was time to go hit some more grassy points. Trolling motor or 5hp only lake so we hit the trolling motor on high and took off.....3 minutes into the ride the TM stops cold. We tried all the things we could try. He is an electrician and a dang good low voltage man and that's what I do so we prolly were about as qualified as anyone to troubleshoot on the water.....plus we called the local expert and we all agreed it was not gonna be fixed without taking it apart.
Well here we are on lake Ellerslie in Lexington with the promise of a good topwater day and we can't go anywhere. We used the paddle to move around ( 18 ft Champion Bassboat) and when the wind blew we just fished where it sent us. Managed to catch 7 bass, channel cat and many green sunfish. Even though we had that problem we managed to have an enjoyable day plus I did well on a dropshot which was great....I am feeling more and more comfortable with that technique.
It just reminded me that sometimes life tosses you a curve ball but you can still have a good time.

[GeoFisher]

Hit the lake this morning with the expectation of some topwater action. We had several spots to hit...I had the day planned to fishing flats/grass in the morning and drops as the day progressed. Everything was going well.....first buzz bait fish was a decent 2lb bass. We worked the grass a little more and decided it was time to go hit some more grassy points. Trolling motor or 5hp only lake so we hit the trolling motor on high and took off.....3 minutes into the ride the TM stops cold. We tried all the things we could try. He is an electrician and a dang good low voltage man and that's what I do so we prolly were about as qualified as anyone to troubleshoot on the water.....plus we called the local expert and we all agreed it was not gonna be fixed without taking it apart.
Well here we are on lake Ellerslie in Lexington with the promise of a good topwater day and we can't go anywhere. We used the paddle to move around ( 18 ft Champion Bassboat) and when the wind blew we just fished where it sent us. Managed to catch 7 bass, channel cat and many green sunfish. Even though we had that problem we managed to have an enjoyable day plus I did well on a dropshot which was great....I am feeling more and more comfortable with that technique.
It just reminded me that sometimes life tosses you a curve ball but you can still have a good time.

Dang, that stinks..........

What did the problem end up being.....

[DJD]

Dang, that stinks..........

What did the problem end up being.....

We think the armature is shot. Water may have found it's way in and done some damage. The prop turns but it's rough as heck. It's his boat and he went home to tear it down.
I had a motor guide that did the same thing many years ago. I picked up some mono on the prop shaft which damaged the seal and water found it's way in.
Updated text says.....he has 25+ volts at the top of the TM. Prolly gonna take it in for repair now.

[MrSplitshot]

Well that *****, but glad y'all made lemonade out of the lemons.

That water is creeping back up. A few more rains and we might actually be fishing grass.

Heck, I managed 2 from the bank on buzzbaits in the grass fishing with Sara tonight. lol

[Devils Horse]

The down shot has won me money quite a few times over the years, Don. Good technique, especially when they have lockjaw. Keep it front of their face long enough, and sooner or later they'll eat it.

Generally only need to work it real 'finessy', but I've seen a few times when you had to shake the daylights out of it to get bit. Won a club T on Ky a few years back fishing 25 to 35 ft deep out on a river ledge near Moss Creek. Had to shake it vigorously for 4 or 5 seconds and stop. Soon as it stopped they were eating it. Some good sticks got shut out that weekend, but we caught them all day long both days on the down shot. Drug up some freak sized drum too.

Rather fish a big worm or crankbait in the summer, but I always keep a shakey head and drop shot in the boat.

[DJD]

The down shot has won me money quite a few times over the years, Don. Good technique, especially when they have lockjaw. Keep it front of their face long enough, and sooner or later they'll eat it.

Generally only need to work it real 'finessy', but I've seen a few times when you had to shake the daylights out of it to get bit. Won a club T on Ky a few years back fishing 25 to 35 ft deep out on a river ledge near Moss Creek. Had to shake it vigorously for 4 or 5 seconds and stop. Soon as it stopped they were eating it. Some good sticks got shut out that weekend, but we caught them all day long both days on the down shot. Drug up some freak sized drum too.

Rather fish a big worm or crankbait in the summer, but I always keep a shakey head and drop shot in the boat.

Jim,
i was using a 6 1-2 loomis rod medium heavy action spooled with 10lb FireLine. It may not be the best way to fish it but for me it worked well. I can see using some Flouro if the water was super clear. I also used gammy wide finesse hooks (I think that's what they were) and a KVD drop shot worm. It's all new to me so maybe I got the worm wrong??? But I don't see that it matters that much because my buddy was using Zoom finesse worms.
Anyway I was using a cheap 1/8 weight from bass pro that's long and skinny and it work great in that limestone rock we have in Lake Ellerslie.
These bass and green sunfish were hammering the bait. I fished it much like a Carolina rig and the hookset was basically pulling back against the tug on the line and reeling. I really like that technique now! We have a boathouse on the lake that I will be targeting at some point.
Its good to add another technique to the bag of tricks!

[Devils Horse]

Jim,
i was using a 6 1-2 loomis rod medium heavy action spooled with 10lb FireLine. It may not be the best way to fish it but for me it worked well. I can see using some Flouro if the water was super clear. I also used gammy wide finesse hooks (I think that's what they were) and a KVD drop shot worm. It's all new to me so maybe I got the worm wrong??? But I don't see that it matters that much because my buddy was using Zoom finesse worms.
Anyway I was using a cheap 1/8 weight from bass pro that's long and skinny and it work great in that limestone rock we have in Lake Ellerslie.
These bass and green sunfish were hammering the bait. I fished it much like a Carolina rig and the hookset was basically pulling back against the tug on the line and reeling. I really like that technique now! We have a boathouse on the lake that I will be targeting at some point.
Its good to add another technique to the bag of tricks!

Whatever rig you're comfortable with works. I'll use whatever spinning rod is on hand, with whatever line is on hand, long as it's 10lb or under. 1.0 EWG hook, Zoom 4 or 7" finesse worm (the occasional Zoom 4" lizard), and cheap weights that cinch on the tag end of the line. The weights that cinch on can be moved to adjust the depth of your bait, and they must be cheap because you will lose a bunch of them.

Like you, I seldom fish it straight down, cast and bump it along back to the boat. That's why I lose lots of weights, fishing straight down you don't lose many. Firm sweep to set the hook. Try to jar one's head and you either break off or pull that lil ole hook right out.

Guys in the club make fun of my drop shotting...till I'm buying cold drinks with their money. Then not so much.