Tacklebox

Greg,

AGM batteries are ideal for us fishermen. You won't kill them by forgetting to charge right away. I use the Sears Platinum - made by Odyssey. Expensive, but they last much longer. Surprisingly heavy for their size 'cause its all lead. If your trolling engine can't keep up with charging, a bigger battery will keep you going until you can recharge. I don't know how true it is but I've been told that an undersized/weak battery is also tough on your engine electronics.

Bill

My advice is to get another mast and put them on the gunnels. Listen to chowder about mounting stuff. My first boat I rigged up with a bow mount mast and quickly learned its not an ideal setup due to planer lines getting in the way during turns and high wind/waves. I made a couple 3' masts out of aluminum tubing, mounted a big jon reel on each, put an eyebolt thru the top and attached springs and pulleys. The masts then fit into outrigger holders mounted on each gunnel about midship. (pointed straight up of course) Easy to get to and out of the way. Moved that setup to my next boat too. My current hardtop has the lines running from the top. Its a little tougher reach but the lines are really out of the way.

#3483

Hit the lake at 6:30pm for a short trip and motored out to 200'. We headed north running 3 flashers and a spoon. The white spin doc/green fly took a hit right away but we lost the fish. No sooner got this 330' wire back out and it was smacked by a teenager we were able to boat. Turned the boat around and a short time later the same rig hooked up with another teenager. No marks to speak of until near dark then the screen lit up but it was time to leave.

Bill

Does anyone know if these are still available anywhere? They came with the used boat I bought on 4 Walker riggers and I hate to change them all.

Bill

It was a fun day on the water with good friends. We fished mostly 150 to 230' boating 3 kings to 15lbs, some quality steelhead, and a few coho and skippers. White flasher/fly running back 15' off the rigger was taking both kings and steelies for the first few hours. The purple NK right next to it took a couple bows. 50' down was where most of the action was. Melon NK behind 10 colors took a couple, as did a blue prism spoon off a wire slide diver. One good steelie took the geen flasher/fly running back 180 on the wire.

Bill

Tacklebox : Fishing Report

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TRIP OVERVIEW

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Date(s): 5/30

Time on Water: 6:00 AM – 10:30 PM

Temp/Weather: cool, overcast then sun

Wind Speed/Direction: W at 15

Waves: 2-4'

Surface Temp: 50°F

Location: Hughes

LAT/LONG: (GPS Cords)

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FISHING RESULTS

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Total Hits: 8

Total Boated: 6

Species Breakdown: (1 King, 3 Bows, 1 Brown, 1 coho)

Hot Lure: NK28

Trolling Speed: 2.4 mph

Down Speed: 2.4 mph

Boat Depth: 200 ft

Lure Depth: 20-50 ft

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SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS

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We motored out to 100' and setup heading for 200' where we had good action last week. As soon as we hit 200 a nice steelhead attacked the green NK parked down 45'. That was quickly followed up by a smaller steelie down 20, then the wire back 180 pulling a green echip and fly fires. We scooped a 9lb king and suddenly another steelie is on! By this time the lake is way beyond the forecasted wave heights. We decide to spin the boat around and ride with it. Well we spun a little too quick and got our first nice tangle of the year. By the time we were done cutting, the sky went from overcast to sunny and we lost our fish! After we got back near our waypoint though things picked up a little with a coho and wayward brown netted and a couple lost. Not bad fishing considering conditions but we called it quits early.

Bill

Sorry for the late report but had to squeeze in some time at the hunting camp yesterday. Fishing was good out of Hughes Sunday producing a nice mixed bag for us. We started out deep and stuck to a 190-230' troll. The bows were hot for a custom taped gold NK with orange behind 5 colors. White spin doc/hammer fly back 180 on the wire took a 19lb king and a purple/black NK down 50 took a smaller one. Cohos kept hitting the silver/orange and gold sliders.

Bill

Thanks for the report Wolfhound! Its good to hear the kings have reached our area.

I think this year IS going to be good!

Bill

Hughes Marina. The weather was perfect for fishing but I didnt expect much knowing how clear the water was going to be. It didn't matter. About 20 min after setting up the action started with one brown after another hitting our spread. We found a nice cove of warm water and had enough to keep us busy until 9:00 when it slowed right down. It was a slow pick after that. Silver, and gold rapalas and orange bombers all took there share. Besides the cookie-cutter browns was one little coho. About half the browns had marks.

The season is ON.

Bill

Storage space on your boat might sway your decision. Otter boats are great if you have the room. The collapsible boards are better for boats with space issues.

Bill

I'm looking for just the breakaway mounting bracket.

thanks

Bill

Gill-T, sent you a PM.

I have tried rubber bands so many times I could spit. I have tried different length leaders, lure sizes, distance between lures, leader sizes and drop speeds, and no matter what I do they come up 10 minutes later so helicoptered around each other I know it has been spinning around the main line for 10 minutes. I have finally just decided it may be something about the way my boat and set-ups run through the water?

Anybody have any thoughts that might help me? I have seen how deadly this set up can be on some days.

Just Fishing,

I bet your slider is wrapping after you release the main line and is running fine until then. You could try my method which is to use a small crosslok on the slider line and attach it to the mail line without a rubber band. Then take a rubber band and simply use it like a bobber stop by attaching it to the main line ONLY above the slider. That's all that is needed to stop the slider from working its way up the line. People find it hard to believe but I get good hookups that way - probably due to the tension at a decent speed. One rubber band lasts all day and serves as a marker on your main line when resetting. No more tangles.

Bill

A number of years ago we were well offshore from the Genny when one formed between us and land. It was clear skies overhead with a thin line of low dark clouds near shore. From the time it took shape, touched down and dissappeared back into the clouds was maybe 5-10 minutes. It certainly had our full attention!

Bill

I'll go with some of the above posts - steelies are more of a thrill than kings sometimes. I like catching cohos too. The others are more fun on spinning gear or light action trolling setups. And if the action dies late morning in the summer, I'm casting for smallies. Guess I just like catching fish!

We headed out looking for steelies Sunday, fishing from 250' to 450'. I'm happy to report they were plenty cooperative as soon as we figured out where they were. We expected temps to be up higher and started running a lot of orange and red but found the fish 100' down and changed colors. Had the riggers loaded with black/purple spoons. Our wires were out 250' with a watermelon 28 on one, the other white spin doc/hammer. It was an all spoon bite except for one nice steelie on the fly, along with a kype-jawed male coho in spawning colors.

Looks like another good weekend coming up. Good luck to all.

Bill

Stix, Sorry to hear you didn't do well. We had a little luck with an early bite. After an on the water repair of the trolling motor we setup in 150' with plans to head for deeper waters. The 90' rigger with black and purple mupped spoons produced our first king. Since it was only a teenager we were still going to try deeper but a 25lber right after that changed our minds. He hit a white spin doc and hammer fly off the 100' rigger. I'll try to post a pic. Had the spoons go a couple more times but didn't boat anything but a tangle. We just stayed in real tight the whole time. I had two wires out all morning without a touch. Only the east troll produced for us - couldn't keep speed west. We wanted to run into the weigh station, but its a long haul for nothing. That's one thing that bugs me about fishing from Hughes.

Bill

Walleye - I used to use a fishhawk handheld temp probe which now serves as backup. There are other styles that can be clipped to or dropped down your rigger cable. If you're flat broke you could always find the thermocline just by trying to bracket it with a pair of cannonballs, bring em up fast and check to see if they're warm or cold. It's a PITA if you change locations or conditions change - Sunday we could watch the lake start to upwell in different spots along the shore. Speed is a lot tougher. With experience you can get a pretty good idea from your dipsey's, but still no substitute for the down probe unless you are running a thumper rod. Angle of rigger cable is not reliable at all. Best to run a zigzag course and see if inside or outside lines get hit, or change speed often. Different days sometimes require different speeds from the same lures anyway.

Headed out with the missus for a couple hours in the evening. Found the temp at a good depth - 50 deg at 60' in 120 fow. White spin doc & fly and watermelon nk accounted for 2 kings in the upper teens. No fleas at all!? Currents seemed strange last night. Might have been tough without the down probe. I'm glad to see the temps up high because I hate fishing that 100'+ down stuff.

Bill

You can eliminate some tangles with a slight variation on mikejones setup. Instead of passing the swivel through the rubber band simply attach the snap swivel below the rubber band. I use a small 30lb snap, and rubber bands the size of a quarter.

The slider will want to slide up the main line but bumps into the band keeping it in place. Its pretty fool proof and (almost) never tangles. The small band prevents hanging up on your reel. I'll typically run the slider 5' above the ball.

Good luck.

Bill

I'm interested in some reels. You have a PM.

Stix,

It looked like an Arima I passed while heading out Sunday. I'm running a 18' silver/black Crestliner. I'll try to give you a shout next time out.

Jolly, good luck next weekend. Wish I didn't have other plans. Hopefully some big boys will be in your report!

Bill

Headed out in search of steelies Sunday. Ran out to a 1 deg break at 250' and never left the area all day. 1st hit was on the gold C5 prop wash spoon 15 back down 10. Rebel wee-Rs produced a couple off the boards, then the wire slide divers started going. #4 set on a short leash and raspberry 28s produced a couple of doubles and steady action for the day - all steelies 5lbs and up except for an 8lb laker and some juveniles. Everything was up real high with no hits over 30'. I was surprised not to see any coho. Perfect conditions made for a great time out there.

Bill

Finally took a break from hunting birds and went fishing. We motored out to a decent 1 deg break this morning around 110' and found some scattered 'bows. Most came deep off the wire diver and watermelon NK. While battling one of those diver fish had a second one hit our flat line! Did one fish off the rigger down 60. A couple more bows and a coho were caught over 160'. We saw some marks on the FF that looked like possible kings but we couldn't hook any. Nobody minded though 'cause catching those jumpers is a riot!