Question about trolling for hybrids

[badbrad]

I'm new to the site and this is my first post. I live in South Central Kentucky and have been trolling for hybrids for the past four years. Started out through trial and error and used what I refer to as "Poor boy Downriggers" a DD-22 with rear treble taken off a leader of line and then whatever bait I planned to use. I experimented with diving discs before witnessing first hand the effectiveness of the downrigger. I purchased two downriggers for my boat last year and have already increased my catch ratio considerably.

My question deals with the hybrid itself. The thermocline on our lake usually sets up at around 15 ft. I target this depth throughout most the summer. I've been out numerous times in the early afternoon and really struggle with finding schools of fish on my electronics. But almost like clockwork, the last 45 minutes of the day, the fish begin appearing in certain areas of the lake. The action is fast and furious until dark and then like a light switch, they shut down.

Is this typical behavior for the hybrids? I've tried searching and fishing deeper water in the early afternoon thinking the fish have gone there to escape the heat, but darn if I can find them anywhere. I know the last hour of the day they are actively feeding and chasing the schools of shad. This is when I can consistently catch them, however; the feeding frenzy is very short lived. We catch them good till dark, and then they seem to disappear.

Just curious if this behavior is consistent throughout or if it's unique to the lake I fish. I also wondered if any of you have found success trolling at night for them. Sure would be nice if you could so you could escape the heat of the day.

Appreciate anyone willing to share some of their knowledge.

[YAZ]

Thats a hybrid!!! When it gets hot, and a thermocline sets up good, you can set your watch by their feeding patterns. Any other time of the day, you may as well go to the bank and take a nap in the shade. The morning bite seems to change a little, but the evening bite is very predictable. At dark, they are done. I have only caught them after sundown a couple of times. They may feed later into the night, but I'm long gone by then. Thats here in Indiana.

[Daveo76]

Same way on the Ohio River at the tailrace I fish. Morning and late evening. Depending on their mood, at times they bite all day though. Just drives you crazy trying to figure this fish out. Here's one from the other day that happened to be around after 9:00 AM.

[nate4023]

hey bad brad just our of curiosity what lake are you fishing in central kentucky, me and my dad fish herrington lake in kentucky and about the same thing happens, we might caught a couple smaller hybrid or whites before but then we will start caughting them in about the same spot about a hour til dark but there usually the bigger ones(5 to 12 pound range). We have a similar story been fishing with bill normans and bombers and switched to downriggers but we cant seem to caught anything with them aren't really sure how to yet.

[Slowretrieve]

My Indiana experience is the same. You catch them at dawn and dusk unless there's a storm coming in or an overcast day. They bite well when a storm is brewing. I'm not sure about downriggers, as I have yet to use them. I rely on casting spoons and rarely use live bait. The big ones come onto the flats as the sun sets and they travel in hunting packs, chasing the bigger shad onto large flats, herding them until they run out of water, then smashing into them. I believe the bigger fish stay near the bottom while the smaller ones thrash around at the top.

When I see them on sonar, I see the cloud of shad and it is usually surrounded be large fish and I assume are wipers. No shad, no wipers.

I also notice they don't like boat noise, so I have to use long baitcaster rods and heavy (3/4 to 1 oz) casting lures.