Gill-T

In April I start seeing them with regularity after the first little subtle drop in the bottom seen on your fishfinder. This depends port to port esp. if there is sand bottom but I would use 30' as my inside edge and 80' as my outside edge to target. In April, the 50' band of water holds a lot of fish. Typically, I catch them all over the water column at that time of year....from a 4-8 colors of leadcore to short copper, divers, riggers...everything. You may not need to dredge them off the bottom until May/June. As others have said, think 2 mph or slower. Pull off the trebles on your spoons and put a single hook on them or use a thin-gauge metal spoon that can troll down to that slow speed.

Ah Baitrigger you are missing out. If you are not bending the cup on a Michigan Stinger Mag you are missing bites.....just an example. Conversely, I don't touch a Stinger Stingray size....works perfect to me

Every spoon has it's sweet spot. Bend them, try different hooks, different swivels etc. etc. and find the result you like. I remember seeing Capt. Jerry's Evil Eye modifications in the water for the first time. Jerry makes an evil eye walk-the-dog side to side in a snapping motion to get browns to bite.

I guess I should have been more specific. If I am using a spoon such as an NK with a split ring, I put a barrel on the split ring.

Depends....If you are fishing Steelhead at high speeds, then a NK 28 with its stock split ring will allow for more spinning which is ok with the species. If you are fishing browns, you will be fishing slower with lighter line leaders. Fish will have more time to inspect your bait so have as little unnatural dangling and clanking off the end of the spoon the better. Target browns and the standard is a duolock snap to the lure to a lighter line leader to a small barrel swivel. Browns don't want spinning spoons but seem to prefer side-to-side waggling. Guys will go further increasing the darting snapping motion by adding a bigger treble or deepening the cup (bend) in the spoon.

Thanks for the replies. You answered my question about needing a big spread. I don't have the space to store anymore outdoor stuff and don't want to make the investment either.

Information confirms what we all have noticed.....adult Lake Trout are on the uptick. The south shore has a world-class Lake Trout fishery......they really need to paint a rosier picture in their assessment. I would love to take one of the biologists on staff working on the project fishing off Niagara County in March/April as they might change their negative vibe. Very difficult to evaluate the Lake Trout population in a lake as big and deep as Lake Ontario with the sampling methods and at the times of the year they are conducting the sampling.

Under $500...Hummingbird.

Finally the weather has allowed a good overhead shot. Looks like the river is still running muddy. Won't be long before Erie freezes and she clears. Looks like the Niagara flow has "normalized" out in the lake.

Get a Cabelas Visa card and earn points. You could end up with a free reel.

Browns and Lakers will be available to you. Kings and offshore steelhead will be hit or miss.

Depends what type of fishing your are doing... Casting jigs to Smallmouth.......spinning gear Casting in heavy wind...............spinning gear Casting light weight lures..........spinning gear Using light line...........................spinning gear Casting crankbaits/heavy stickbaits......baitcaster Casting/flipping around cover or docks....baitcaster Casting bait with a bobber...................baitcaster Vertical jigging spoons ...............baitcaster Using a Carolina rig.....................baitcaster Drifting 3-way rigs ..............baitcaster what did I leave out guys?

You had me at hello Paul....you had me at hello. All signed up.

$89,000 won't pay for the diesel to do anything, never mind splitting it up into bity pieces......as a taxpayer I would wish they would bank the money until the pot grows to do something more meaningful.

I think I would have tipped my hat to the dogs and said "you won today". Got to admire your tenacity thou.

Bingo....that is great advise.........or you could just use an otter boat and not worry about diving boards, freespooling kings etc. etc.

I have ZERO experience trolling a 600' copper.

Just like wire, it is always a good idea to let out your braid and reel it back in under tension so it lays on the spool tight with no binding. You can do this on the water with a 1 lb ball, a dipsy or at home at the local school sports field (attach a swivel to chainlink fence and walk 800' back...and crank it back in tight). If you rely on how the braid lays on the reel the first time you loaded it......you will be very disappointed.

Your bait on the 600' copper is 300' away from the bait on the 7 color. The only way they will get together is if the 600' Cu pulls over into the lure on the 7 color. Very possible for this to happen if you do it long enough.

F'cked up beyond any recognition. Isn't this site informative?

Most of the boats I know (esp. on the east end) in the summer are running only three long coppers at once. One on each side and a chute copper.

I am not making a commentary about if it can or can't be done with a small boat, rather if you had to untangle a mess in the back of the boat with a small vessel....it shuts everything down. God forbid you are untangling copper when another rod goes off. There is a big difference Paul.....and yes I fish out of my friend's 16' Polar Craft, my 23' boat, as well as some of the largest in the fleet. Maybe as part of the presentation Paul you could give suggestions on what best to do with a copper FUBAR at the LOTSA lecture as I am sure there is a trick to it. I look forward to the lecture. The original poster's questions are about using his otter boats.