rswanson330

Well, That ain't good. They have succeeded in screwing up every smelt holding water body I'm aware of that they have been "magically" introduced to. Down here in the flatlands (CT) we used to have a couple great kokanee lakes that are no longer so too great due to the introduction of alewifes (East Twin and West Hill).

The thing is, I never read anything, anywhere about that lake!!! Its a great fishery.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking... I recall that the VT side was pretty shallow and it didn't start dropping until you got up to the barrels. One day I may rent a place on the upper lake and give it a shot. Thanks and Good Luck!!!

Are you fishing into Canada or staying on the VT side? I haven't been in Magog in a while, we used to fish for smelt thru the ice over the sunken islands. I haven't had my boat up there in probably 15 years, But I've wondered about fishing the upper lake. I've never been beyound the border marker bouys.

Yeah, I drive close to six hours to go up there for them. I haven't caught a big'un yet, But its coming.

I run sticks and spoons 75-100' behind the boat when I'm luck enough to get up there in April. Everything is off the board, I don't use the riggers. Tight to shore. I've had good years and not so good years. If you have clear skys and clear water you may need to run further behind the boat. Look for dirty water.

I run sticks and spoons 75-100' behind the boat when I'm luck enough to get up there in April. Everything is off the board, I don't use the riggers. Tight to shore. I've had good years and not so good years. If you have clear skys and clear water you may need to run further behind the boat. Look for dirty water.

If I recall correctly, the Big Jon installation manuals they recommend wiring directly to the battery or buss bar, Not a fuse panel. That's why I went straight to the battery. Everything else (except the planer boards) goes thru a couple distribution panels that I have wired in under the dash. I've attached the owners manual to this post. OwnersManualWeb.pdf

I replaced my manual downriggers with (used) Big Jon's last summer. They're wonderful. I also went electric with my planer boards, but that's not for this thread. You definitely want to keep the Big Jon's off the trolling motor circuit. Mixing 12/24 on the same circuit can't be doing you any good. I am running both downriggers on separate (isolated) 10ga circuits (Ankor Marine wire) off my cranking battery. The Big Jon's have a circuit breaker in them that should suffice, But I wanted to doubly insure so each circuit got a marine 30amp fuse incorporated into each circuit as well. I mounted tracks on each gunnel into which I slide the downriggers, And a properly rated plug for each rigger was installed into the gunnel as well. This way I can take the riggers off the boat when not in use.

Fished all day, 07:00-6:00. Four hits, One king around 15 lbs came to the boat. It was only a one day trip. Green was the color, got it on a green and white spoon. Oh yeah, Primarily stayed with the fleet in 80-140 foot of water, Salmon came from about 100', 80 down on the rigger... Doing the geometry with blowback, really about 72' down.

Good to hear that you caught fish. I'm headed up Wednesday for a couple days, Weather looks OK, maybe we'll be able to make something work.

Thanks!

Forgive my ignorance, most of my Lake O fishing has been for browns in the spring. But being retired now I'm considering making the trip up again. What is an "FF Bite"? Is that "Flasher/Fly"?

I found that putting it thru the (little) release flat works best, twisting it resulted in less "pops" when the fish actually takes the lure. I use Scotty Releases. You have to keep an eye on them, those cookie cutter browns have a tendency to hit and then just kind of hang on there, with the line still pinched in the release and very little discernable difference in the drag (line pull) where the release is coming off the planer line. I'm anxious to see what others have to offer, I've been doing this for quite a few years but I'm self taught and don't know what I don't know.

When I was up there a couple weeks ago we ran purple sticks off boards 150' behind the boat in 12-20'. We did best to the west of the plant, in the last hour of daylight. If you're fishing west of the plant, watch your chart... As you troll west the bottom comes up and you will run out of water before too long. I usually do well there if the water is stained, I feel that the easterly wind stacks bait up in the elbow before the plant.