I was up near where the other 'Gonna chase the stripers' Stagers were fishing on the Sacramento River near Rio Vista.

Unfortunately, my partner bailed at the last minute and by the time I got my kayak launched I missed the tidal pocket for my planned drift.

Not one to give up, I tried a little trolling (live minnows 40" behind a dodger at approx 12' below the surface) but struck out.

I know how to successfully drift for stripers and troll for trout, salmon, tuna and halibut but will be the first to admit I know very little about trolling for stripers.

My assumption is that stripers tend to stay at the same depth in the water column independent of the bottom depth (ie, like salmon or trout).

The question I have is whether or not my assumption is correct.
Should I troll the same depth in the water column (eg, 12' below the surface) or troll 3' off the bottom (like you would for halibut)?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated (especially from the 'Gonna chase the stripers' crew)

PapaD

The short answer to my grandson's question is "I'm not swishing it, I'm crippling it." His next question,of course, was "Why?"

Here's why...

A few years ago (mid last century) Luhn Jensen may a lure called a Nordic Herring (NH). It was similar in many regards to the P-line Laser Minnow (PLM) but lacked the flashy colors.

Back then, nearly all of the gentleman that I fished with crippled the Nordic Herring by putting a very slight bend in the lure. This bend added an erratic circling motion (much like a wounded bait fish) when jigged or mooched.

So, applying the old tried and true crippling technique to the Laser Minnow seemed as natural adjustment as cutting one of the prongs off of the treble hook. (See: "PapaD, why are all of your treble hooks broken? The beauty of duplex hooks" for why you should try this.)

I've fished with my partner using the exact same lure jigging no more than 4 feet apart and ended up hooking up nearly 3 times more with my crippled version than his factory straight as a whistle.

Here's the how part...

The lure can be hard to bend between your fingers and thumbs and gets even harder the bigger they get. It's also difficult to control how much bend you get (i.e. goes from not bending to too much fast). Locking them up in a vice would probably mar the pretty colors.

The best (and safest) way that I've found to get just the right amount of bend is to lay them over a bamboo skewer (or anything else that is approximately same diameter) and push down on both sides until you get the results you want.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

GO OUT AND GET SOME!!!
PapaD