# Fathersday Trolling Lake Livingston - Help needed!



## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

I was out on Sunday morning to try the white bass on Livinston. We tried vertical jigging for the first hour but could not find them. Whe moved over to pine island to see what was there. Found many people trolling. Located the school on the deth finder and tried jigging. Caught maybe 1 or 2. I then decided to join the trollers. I tied on (2) 20ft jet divers like shadslinger said he liked. I tied a #13 silver pet spoon to one and tied a white spec rig to the other. A trolling we went up and down the island. After about the first pass, I notice we had a problem. Others were catching and we we catching ZERO. From what I could tell they were using hell divers and red jet divers. I think they were at 10-15ft and I was at 20ft. One small flat boat was using chartruse diving plugs and hooking up two at a time. I tried to troll with whatever was in the box but I think the magic depth was 10-15ft. On the deptfinder, it looked like the shad were on or near the bottom and whitebass above. Can anyone offer advise and tell me what I was doing wrong. We caught about 10 with 1 striper. I was in the 19ft kenner with 115 merc. 

On anther note- this reminded me of opening day of shrimp trawling season back in Louisiana. Everyone bunched up in one spot trying to stay out of each others way. To make things more interesting, a 50ft double rigger would pass thru going twice as fast with Diesel engines and now you and everyone else were trying to get out of the way just to stay alive


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Watch those other guys who are catching and try to match their leader length and how far behind the boat you let it trail, those 2 things can make a big difference as well as trolling speed.
I noticed today that the most successful trollers were letting it out a short distance from the boat, makes them dive shallower and you can get up closer to the bank without losing gear.


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## Ditto (Apr 18, 2005)

I was out there Saturday, what a mad house. I'm not much for crowds but I wanted my 11 year old to catch a few fish. We trolled back and forth picking up a fish or two at near the same spot each time but trolled all the way through so we could turn around. There was one boat that just made short passes through where the fish were stacked. Bad thing was he was by himself and wanted to show each fish and tell a story. Got fed up with the crowd and went looking for my own fish. Hard to do on a Saturday. All the usual spots had someone on them. And if you found a few fish, the first boat that came by when you had a fish on would stop and fish also. 

We were using the clear 20' jet divers with no problems. We caught about 10 - 12 fish before we left. 

There are some crazy boaters out there. My son and I had our limit and we were still catching some good fish but releasing them. A pontoon boat came by so I told them to drop their anchor and throw towards out boat, the white bass were stacked in between us. The were only ancored about 75' from us when this one boat drove straight in between us. I started hollering at them and waving my arms. The wife looked over at me then started talking to her husband. It was crazy. I don't think he cared one bit. 

I'll post a report and pictures tomorrow. Forgot my camera cord at home.


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Thanks for reponding. I also tried to troll thru and take a turn at each pass. Things did get a little crazy but had fun. I just needed a shrimp net and it would have been like old times.

I was looking at the lead lenths. one I had about 4ft and the other 3ft. It looked about like the others. I did make one pass with the diver out short but made no difference to me. How about the spoon? Do you guys use the same spoon as me? I also used the spec rig because I saw some pics with someone using it.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I use pet spoons, even though they are way to costly, because they work the best. Many people use a small one and they often catch the most, but I use a # 13, it seems to cull the small bass before they bite. I also use a regular white crappie jig and it out fishes the pet at times. Stripers straiten it out though.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

A deceiver fly tied in chartruse and dark and w/flash works very well in some situations out there. I don't know if its because the whites haven't seen them or what but at times it definitely outfishes the pet and is a lot cheaper. I usually run them about 18 inches or so behind the jet or, even better, fish it with a crankbait selected for the right depth.


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## tecohorn (Jun 16, 2009)

I'm just starting to get back into the swing of things again and I'm certainly not a pro but....

I agree with shadslinger..... Watch others that are catching them to set the length on the leader, speed and how far you let your diver out..

I was taught to count when using a hellbender/petspoon or hell-pets.. once you get it to start diving..

Count 1 whitebass, 2 whitebass, 3 whitebass and so on for the depth you want..

16 white bass should be near 16 feet deep.. Seems to work for me but is by no mean a scientific fact because of many variables..http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...l&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=variables&spell=1

Once you find the depth they seem to be activley feeding you can mark your line with a black permanet marker and won't have to count again..

When using the jet divers I let those out to 100 feet and let them do their job.. While I try and stay out of shallow water.. You could mark your line using a jet diver as well I guess but I didn't try it... The hell-pets caught a few more fish overall..

The problem I noticed in the past with hellbenders is if you hit something and bend the lip even a little they won't stay consistent where Jet Diver will.. As long as you let the same amount of line out and stay close to the same speed..

Hellbenders will also sometimes track off in one direction or another and not stay straight..

I didn't have any of these problems saturday because when we hit something we lost our hellbenders and divers.. I know what area to avoid now..

About 30 inches worked well saturday on leader length near Pine Island...


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## SaltH2oAssassin (Jan 25, 2006)

I found this when I did a search on "hellbenders and pet spoon"

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...ox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=G&um=1


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

I have a question on speed. I could not get my speed below 2.3 mph. Sometime ago, I think shadslinger or whitebass fisherman stated the best speed is 1.5mph. The merc would not go any slower. THere where those trolling slower than I and many trolling at the same speed or faster. I figured my speed wasn't the problem. Hell there was two people on a jet skee that launched with me and returned with me. They caught 20 and I caught 8. I don't know if it feels worst when no one is catching or when everyone is catching but you.


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Good article SaltH2o guy. 
Do you find you guys find you can let out more line for more depth and less line for less depth? Sound like I should have tried that more. I think shadslinger commented on this above.


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## Ditto (Apr 18, 2005)

We used the #13 Pet spoon with a white feather about 24-30" behind the 20' clear jet diver. I like the jet divers more than the Hellbender for the same reason as teco. Nothing more frustrating than having a hellbender keep surfacing becasue it won't track straight.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Some of those trolling pros were kicking tail today at the Southwest corner of the island, 3 and 4 at a time from a gang on a pontoon boat coming in when they pass through the school, I watched and adjusted until I was getting a double hookup on the 2 rods I had out. i had to get all right before I really scored.


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

I had a #13 pet spoon behind a 20' clear jet diver. The leader was about 30". I should have tried to change up more.


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## tecohorn (Jun 16, 2009)

Line length makes a difference in depth...

Here is a link that shows some of the depths vs. line length for some different types of divers/planers... With 15 lbs test...

http://www.straitlineanglers.com/Articles/Depth_Chart_For_Diving_Planers.htm

12lb line dives a couple of feet deeper
18lb line dives a couple of feet shallower



SaltH2oAssassin said:


> I found this when I did a search on "hellbenders and pet spoon"
> 
> http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hdguideservice.com/MarchA5.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.hdguideservice.com/Hellpet.htm&usg=__KvQlRqahsiY1T1c7g0w-9oDaZI4=&h=228&w=298&sz=10&hl=en&start=8&um=1&tbnid=zfdOOKFX6BHLiM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhellbenders%2Band%2Bpet%2Bspoon%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-USfficial%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1


I've never used the 3/4 oz weight but I've seen others using it...

I have no idea if it makes much of a difference.. I'm sure it does something...

Must be better or why do it...??


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

I think I am finally getting it. Length does matter! ------My wife lied.

I should have varied the line length until I started catching. I thought these jet divers went 20ft no matter what.


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## bueyescowboy (Apr 10, 2005)

I seen y'all racing by me headed for pine island fathers day.....quite a few of ya. I was generally out there on the 190 rd bed which we weren't having much luck. I think the white bass weren't "staying" in one spot. meaning the shad where moving around...the bass follow. but I did find a nice school at walkers lake. I jig. in fact, i haven't even carried out my tackle box in awhile. I just carry my slabs, and poles. I was out there all by myself. nobody in sight just wearing out the whites.
the jest of this post is...y'all are passing up alot of good area's to run across the lake, and fight alot of boats. not my kinda of fishing. not when i can catch my limit, and not burn 3 tanks of fuel. Sure, I ll go to the hump when all else fails. but usually, i am wore out from fishing and burnt long before that happens.
should i tell my story? lets say i wanted to tan some area's that usually don't get tanned....there i was middle of the lake....catching fish and tanning.....did anybody see the moon glowing father's day....come on you would have to have binoculars to see that far....ha ha ha
also i might add....i have a feeling the afternoon fishing will start to really turn on....i call white bass fishing ...drunk fishing...that where you stay out all night ...sleep half a day...get up at 3 pm and go fishing at 5 pm.


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