gsp w/o a trolling motor

[nofish]

my trolling motor doesn't work and i am dying to go to gsp. i'm trying to find a good used one but in the meantime can i go there w/o a trolling motor and be productive and w/o pissing people off? i would think that i could cruise into a spot and anchor w/o to much comotion. probably spelled that wrong. i would be going on a weekday around 9am.

[Cornbread]

i would think you could at that time during the week. You may not know till you go. I have a 55 lb foot control Min kota great shape. PM me if your interested.

[Travis C.]

How much current is up there?

Would someone be able to put in across the channel at that ramp then troll over?

[Cornbread]

pretty sure you could but if the wind or current changed or you used to much battery it may be difficult to get back. A little sketchy for me now,but i would have done it when I was younger.

[Travis C.]

I have a couple boats and right now the big boat is covered up. I can't really put it in the garage to drain/dry back out too much clutter. But my other is a 14ft alumicraft with a 44lb thrust.

[Cornbread]

I would have a plan B for sure if I did that, You could always float bait all the way to flippers if you had someone to get you back to your truck or dropped one off at flippers on the way.

[Travis C.]

I could just suck it up and clean out he garage... :D

Thanks for the info.

How is the ramps on these cold half frozen days?

[Reel Tune]

I don't know if I would rely on one source of power.

[Cornbread]

Not sure about ramps. I try to have a bucket o road salt with me when I go this time of year . You can get it when they salt the roads there are piles where the salt trucks stop and leak some. Or you can buy a bag. i have been stuck at a ramp though in 11 degrees.

[Jim]

Travis,
A trolling motor from the ramp to the stream plant canal would be a bad idea. You would need to go up river to get back and by then it would be a low battery situation. The canal has a decent current and you need the trolling motor a lot to move around without a gas engine. Plus the winds shift around in the river bend and you may have a long slow return trip.

nofish,
As for needing a trolling motor to fish the canal, you don't. It is nice to have but not necessary. Just idle slowly up to a spot and anchor off to the side. Many times my trolling motor battery will be dead from use before I finish fishing and I will just idle around to get to a spot to soak some baits.

As for picking a spot, the whole thing is pretty good and the fish move up and down it. Fish a spot for a few hours and then move to another if nothing is happening. Many times the bite will go on and off as the bait and predator fish move around. Too much moving around can hurt the bite for the stripers. The smaller fish don't seem to care.

On weekend it get crowded so you can't always get up to the end of the canal because boats will already have most spots. It really doesn't matter very much as I have caught fish from almost every location in the canal.

Striper fishing is very hit or miss especially if there is a lot of boat traffic. Even on a good day it is not a sure thing. Just use a range of baits from big to small and you will find something biting. Also, when it is slow for you it is usually slow for everyone. When the bite is on, everyone seems to be catching.

Good Luck,
Jim

[nofish]

thanks jim and cornbread. jim, when you say canal is that the spot where the discharge water moves into the river? i'm just dying to fish there and i didn't want to wait to get money for a trolling motor. cabinfever.:D

[Jim]

Here is a pic of the stream plant canal (in red) and nearby boat ramps.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_sDYG4l16JBk/TSZ3FtK4KeI/AAAAAAAAAiE/o3y8EhaG86M/s800/stream%20plant1.jpg

Be careful getting into the canal from the main channel as the small island is almost completely eroded, but only inches stick out. It is very shallow near that island and in many other spots out of the main river channel and the steam plant canal.

Flippers Ramp (Bull Creek Ramp) is on the north side of the lake and Coles Ferry (limited parking) is on the south side. There are plenty of other ramps you could use to get there, but these are the two common ones. If you need to see more about the ramps, pictures, or directions, check out my google map of Old Hickory Boat Ramps (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=212671949052925360825.000489a502ddeb3cea44e&ll=36.362693,-86.364899&spn=0.230024,0.528374&z=12) that I did for part of a larger lake modeling effort.

Hope it helps,
Jim

PS - This is a total community hole. I talked to some nice guys in from Ohio that were fishing it for the first time on Wednesday. Take your time and go slow in the canal and give people a little space and you should have no trouble. Remember lots of people will have baits out downstream of their boat so don't run right up on their lines. And trolling in the canal is annoying for everyone else.