Just kind of want someone to inpsire me to give it a whirl. My dad lives over there and I know that they are there. I’ve got a sea hunt with outriggers, hds 7, plenty of salty gear.
Do I troll bb herring on points like a king mack rig? Can you buy them or do you have to catch them?
How about spoons, are they options?
BG
Thing is if you wanna pull bbh’s you need to do with a trolling motor… You have one.?
I don’t have a trolling motor. Need one for the speed or for the sounds?
BG
For the speed. The fastest i have ever pulled live BB’s is 1.5mph and that is really fast. I like to pull boards and freelines around .4-.7mph. A TM with cruise control is great for this.
“Sea~N~Stripes”
21’ Hewes Craft Custom
115 Evinrude
As long as the wind isn’t too bad you should be able to drift. Some use a drift sock to slow them down. I’ve also heard of people using 5g buckets as a ghetto drift sock. Watch for fish on the surface and cruise points searching for fish on the fish finder. Take a look at striperskiff’s last post. That will show you what striper will look like if you hit a good school. If you don’t have a bait tank a cooler and a bubbler will keep two or three dozen alive. Not sure where to buy blue backs on russel. maybe the guys over on striperboard.com woudl be able to help you with that. They will help you find bait, but they are usually pretty tight lipped when it comes to where and how.
Wellcraft V-20 sportfish with a 200 Evinrude
Yeah, I’d imagine lake fishermen would be tighter than offshore.
I’ve got a great live well, so keeping them alive shouldn’t be a problem. Can you effectively throw a net for them?
BG
Lots of trees in Russel so you will want some heavier tackle to have a shot getting a big fish out of the trees. Fishing/trolling bluebacks on heavier lines will hurt the action of the bait and generally its hard to keep bluebacks alive when you troll them fast. Gizzard shad or trout can be pulled much faster and if your going to a lake with the potential of whoppers like Russel, you might as well pull the magnum sized baits. The boat ramps at Russel are generally in remote locations and quite a few break-ins occur to trucks there while unattended. Empty your truck of valuables and keep your doors unlocked to save the hassle of a broken window. Your best bet without a trolling motor is probably to drift as Tom suggested or anchor up and float big baits out on ballons or planer boards with the aid of wind or current…Russel is not known for numbers of fish but it certainly has some giants. The fish there don’t have to battle the effects of thermal squeeze evry year like our fish in Lake Murray and they gorge on the trout stocked in the tailrace below Lake Hartwell.
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…
Would that mean up the lake would be more productive than say around 72?
Again, do you catch trout and Shad our buy them? If catching, techniques?
BG
I would think up the lake would be better. You should probably buy them in Anderson, though there might be a place in Calhoun Falls that has them. Or Rob Hedrick at the Bait Hole probably has some Gizzards by now. He is near Soap Creek Marina on the upper end of Clarks Hill lake…
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…