[tkwalker]

There seems to be some confusion about fishing with the current and keeping your boat off of the bank/structure... That is the whole reason for using the Planer boards ... The boat is out off the bank 50 to 75 feet or more ... You have two inline planers working the structure ...

The reason you don't run Starboard boards in the river is one ...You need to be near the structure and ambush points ... trees, wing walls that are 20 feet from the bank and you want to run your bait between the wing wall and the bank ... Also usually your troll coarse is in line with navigational buoys so with swift current you have to plant the port gunnel of the boat right next to the buoy ... let your port side rods arch over the buoy ... If you were running starboard boards you have a good chance for the Bait ... especially large Skippies, Gizzard shade or trout to swim across the buoy anchor line and tangle ... ... Reverse engines !!! And get multiple lines in ... Believe me folks until you know exactly where your structure is (and 50% of that changes every Spring) You are going to get hung up ...

Remember when you are guiding or until even novices get a handle on this ... Most people who hired you have never fished for trophy Stripers ...

So you are fishing a bank 1 or more Generators on and you have pretty swift current ... The reason you don't run starboard boards is if you get hung up The Guide has to start and reverse the big engine ... Start taking up line and try to talk the guide party person who is not hung to get his rig in ... So the Captain is reversing with swift current and trying to maneuver the boat ...Take up the hung line reel ... .maneuver past the hang up and try to get free ... And also try to keep the client from releasing the spool that is hung and bird nesting your reel spooled with 50# big game trilene.

Now Eddy currents and back eddies (always in outside bends of the river) ... A totally different ball game I've trolled places on a regular basis .. It was part of my daily fishing routine (70 miles round trip everyday) that the boat would go totally side ways and your bait would be water skiing across the top of the water because you had to power up with the trolling motor just to keep control (23 foot bay boat with 6 batteries on board ..4 dedicated to the trolling motor ) ... So you say why fish that section of river ... Because in this particular spot, as soon as you come off the Eddy there is a hump and rock shelf under a bluff ... That always produces ... So you have to fight the eddies to get to the honey hole ...

Now what I have just told you are just some of the reasons ... But remember I fished primarily the Upper Cumberland where the river is swift and narrow ...

Now if I was on the upper side of the Cordell Hull Dam In some of the large creeks ... I would fish 7 lines ... 6 boards and one free line ...

This is just the tip of the iceberg on fishing for these beautiful fish ... Trial and error ... Hope this helps .... <'TK><