CaptSpike

Oh I'm betting my next week report they will be much closer. As posted many fish were caught closer thru the weekend. Many boats reported fish stacked over the deep water down 140'. I think they are getting ready to push in. We saw a bunch deep like that one day. I was letting out 140' rigger line to get down 115' (on probe rigger) so I didn't try to get down to them. Mark

The one thing I can't get down is how to catch fish before the sun is high in the sky. I can't buy a fish before 6:30. I even had glo spinnys and fly, and glo spoons. The picture looks like you dream about but I can't get a fish to go. What am I doing wrong? One thing I did realize is more lines in the water = more water covered=more fish. Also keeping your speed constant is a big plus. For some reason my motor wont run steady between 900-1000rpm, which in most cases gets me the perfect 2.2 speed I'm looking for. So I have to constantly adjust up and back which is tough on the wrist. Had the motor looked at this spring and they said they tightened the throttle cable, didn't make a difference. All our fish came trolling 2.1-2.2 not any faster or slower. Also only caught one king on a spoon. The rest on spindoc/fly combo's. Not sure why I even bought any spoons, lol. Oh well any help on the low light trolling is appreciated. Heading back out Wed. -Sunday for my final vacation and hope to put fish in the boat early when the picture looks good. Mark

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s):8/12-8/15 Time on Water:varried Weather/Temp: Wind Speed/Direction: Waves: FAS Surface Temp: Location: LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: lost count Total Boated: Species Breakdown: Hot Lure: 42nd spin with 42nd fly. mountain dew spin with mtn dew fly. Trolling Speed: Down Speed: 2.1-2.2 Boat Depth: 100-400 Lure Depth: 75-115 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Arrived Wed. set out first dipsy on a crawl and before the second was deployed had a rip. Partner lost the fish........Got all set up and rigger went off down 115 on a NBK spoon mupped. 360' of water. Trolled around and several more fish. Was going to call it around 1pm as we drove out all night and had another flurry so we stayed until 3pm, all on wire with spindoc/fly combo's. Day 2 was dead for us. One 10lb brown boated with many hits missed. Day 3 was another great day. Slow morning as we found the fish late over 360 after boating two quick ones the bite died but the fish were still there. We broke for a ride to the tackle store and went back out around 4. Same location and the fish were still there. Boxed out and threw back a few. Sorry I don't have exact numbers as I'm in a fog still. Lots of fishing/sun/ and driving.......Saturday another tough day for us, only one Coho. People were getting fish, I could hear that on the radio, just not sure where, definitely not by us, lol. We only fished until 2 as I needed to put the boat away foir the return trip and didn't want to fish late and do it in the dark. Be back out Wed. thru Sunday again. I'll let you know how we do. Mark

Riptide posts on reeltime forums. If you check out the tuna forum you'll see he is the main man for the schoolies. In fact I think he is likely the main man for all species. He defintely has his finger on the pulse of the fishery down there. Nice new boat last year too. Mark

Rod I saw a post on here earlier this year with pics of the second keel mounted. They may have even given a report on how they tracked. Not sure I could find it again but I'd bet a search on otter will show it eventually. Mark

This guy is pretty good: http://www.riptidecharters.com/ That time of year you may want to think schoolie tuna instead. CK

CB I am going to try the Chamberlain release this week. It says 4.5 lbs when dialed to full. I think it will be enough to sink a sharp hook home. Not sure if it's enuf to hold a spinny though. We'll see. I will also try below the probe with a release. I guess my main question is how close the probe is to the weight. It looked like a driect link would put the Cannon S&T too close. Spike

They sell an checker that goes inline to check your ant. and output on the radio. I got mine at Boat US. Also just because the radio is new doesn't mean it's ok. My buddy bought a new radio and it didn't output, could only hear, like yours. He exchanged it for another and never had a problem. I also read somewhere if you try to transmit a VHF without an ant. hooked up you could have a problem (blow something up inside??). Anyway if by chance you tried it before hooking up the ant. something may have gone wrong then. Just throwing a couple suggestions to check on if the USA/INT isn't the problem. Spike

Spent the day switching the boat over from local fishing to Lake O fishing. Checked all my DR terminal gear and found a couple weak spots, re-terminated and good to go. All I have left is to check the air in the tires and pack the truck up on Tuesday. Be fishing Wednesday. Now my question , thought of as I was re-terminating the riggers: Last year I picked up a Cannon S&T. This set up requires me to connect the probe to the cable which I do with a spade connection. In order to have cable hang out of the termination swivel that connects to the probe I used a Walker brand connection. Now here is where things get a little fuzzy. I didn't think you want to connect the weight directly to the probe so I made a 12"" give or take cable with swivels on each end. One end I attach to the weight the other to the bottom of the probe. I also run MAG10's which have auto up stop that uses a plastic link. Last year I ran that link below the probe which brought my probe out of the water every time the rigger comes up. Looking today at the way I had it set up I thought it would be better if I had the S&T probe stay below the surface so I moved the plastic link up. Now my set up is: Cable to walker swivel termination with tag end with spade wire connection. Plastic link, swivel to the top of the probe (connect spade connector to probe), 12" wire line with swivel connected to probe bottom and other end connected to the weight. I used a Scotty release last year the connected with a long line snap. This allowed me to connect to the cable above the probe. If I used an in-line style (blacks, chamberlain) where would you connect that? To the top of the probe? I am trying to get a feel for the average set up using S&T probes . Where releases are placed and what is the distance between probe and weight. I'm also thinking of running some flash off the riggers. Would running flash off the probe rigger be too much since it already has the drag of the probe? I only have two riggers so that is why I ask. You know prepping to fish is almost as fun as fishing, and on some days better, LOL. Thanks, Mark

Last year I put up this post and got a few responses ( I'd like to think it helped a little on all ends, lol), so I figured I'd post again this year. Heading out the Aug. 12th thru the 16th and again the 18th thru the 23rd. If anyone wants to share info on where what is or isn't happening I will do the same. We are fishing out of Oswego. Not fishing the tournament or anything like that. Just out to have our yearly good time. PM contact information if your out the same time and would like to share. I know I wont get any full time lake O fishermen to respond, and I don't blame them. If your a part timer like myself and would like help finding fish, we can figure it out faster with more than one boat. I'm just saying. Mark

I'd also ask if your weights are different sizes. That could cause a problem. I fished last year with a cannon S&T and was 140 on the rigger to get 120 on the probe. I have the standard cable coated 150lb and 13lb atomic weights. I did have blowback but not unmanageable. Spike

Out here we run horizontal attractors off our downrigger weights. We also have vertical flashers that run inline from the ball up to the main cable. Has anyone tried that out on Ontario? Some days the rigger with the attractor is the only one to fire. They do add extra drag but the plus's may out weigh the minus's. Thanks, Spike

Just got back from Cabela's again. Very limited spoons and variety of manufactures for NY type spoons. The spin doc's are almost gone as are the flies. I don't see them restocking either. Looks like it's back to online or wait until you get local to the lake to buy any gear again. Oh well. Spike

What he said. Same thing happens tomine down 90 or so feet. Wet towel no problems. Just make sure you remove the towel before hitting the rigger ball up so it doesn't get wrapped with the cable onto the spool. Spike

Good idea. I have three hookum pads. Right now two are filled with Lake O spoons and one with local. I ordered the med pad pack and hope to switch the locals to that and fill the other large pad with Lake O spoons. Once I start to organize my gear for the trip ( less than a month away) I'll post a pick and let you guys name them. I do know a few of the names so I'll fill them in before I post, lol. Spike

We have a page here that has pic's of most of the designs. I was hoping to find them all on one page, lol. Maybe I'll just take a picture of my spoons and then look them up dloading the pages and make a book myself. Not sure how I'll handle the flies as some look very similar. Spike

I bought a bunch of spoons to get ready for fishing in Ontario last year and this year. At the time of purchase I had looked to see what spoons worked best and ordered them. Problem now is if someone calls out the name of the spoon I have no idea what spoon in my arsenal they may be talking about, LOL. Is there a picture guide with all the patterns of the popular spoons available anywhere? I also have the same problem with all the different A-Tom-Mik flies I bought. I wouldn't know the name of one from the other after I opened the package. Need help! Spike

A long time ago I used a cut bait rig to catch salmon on Ontario. Last year I was going thru my box and found the "heads" to the two rigs I had. I put new leader material on them and brought them out to Ontario with me. Problem was I was told there was no cut bait available anymore (remember I have been away since mid 80's, fishing mostly saltwater). Anyway this year I see some posts about cut bait again. Is this something that will be available at most tackle shops again? I remember the method was quite effective when I used it. I wish I could remember what speeds I was using it at, lol. Guess a little trial and error should figure it out easily. Also did anyone try Berkley's imitation cut bait? They have a gulp version too. Thought I might try those for a bit. Less than a month and hopefully some calmer weather patterns. I can't wait! Thanks, Spike

That is what I figured but thought I'd ask anyway. Out on the ocean you get pretty much the same thing, except there I have connections and I was an integral part of the loop, LOL. Spike

Years ago we just ran certain lures with others because the speed gave the right action on the lures. I am reading a lot about boats "running programs" which I assume is just a certain set of lures that run good together. Is there more to it than that? I was thinking of posting the question. Maybe they mean certain colors as well??? Just trying to catch up on having not been out there in a long long time (mid-late 80"s, lol). I realize browns will be fished differently than kings vs lakers as far as a program goes ( certain lures). The question is what are the "programs" for any one species targeted? Thanks, Spike

I ran a six pack out of Newburyport Mass since 1991. Untangling lines is my specialty, lol. Website: http://mermaidchartersfishing.com Well last year I only had one fubar, which took less than ten minutes to straighten out. It happened when I let one dipsy out too fast. Lets just say they went out slowly from then on, lol. I'm looking at prices and the copper is $217, which I have a rod to put it on already. Another wireline set up is going to be around $100. I'm thinking getting both and worse case I run the copper down the shut with the standard 4 rods I already run or add a dipsey to the side with the whole deal. If it gets to be too much I can always have a back up dipsy or rig it a a thumper if the copper goes down, lol. I'm liking one of each then I can see what all the copper fuss is about and have options. Any opinions on the best place to buy? A-tom-mic I'm assuming. I do like supporting the local guy also. Does he have a storefront yet? Wierd I was in Oswego last year and couldn't pick up anything local because he was online only..... Spike

OK I just piled over a ton of threads on copper and multiple dipsys. The multiple dipseys sound great, just need to get by the learning curve of deploying, which I think I could do with what experience I have trolling (trolled the canyons on my buddies boat with 11 rods out many times, deploying is a factor). The copper sounds interesting but in some cases sounds like a chore reeling in all that line. We have groundfished over 350' and reeling in fish from that depth can be a workout, lol. OK so now the dilema. Do I pick up two more dipsy set ups or just get a copper one. If I only had two guys in the boat I wouldn't know what to put out. The two riggers and two dipsys or two riggers and a dipsy and copper. I had great luck last year on the dipsy rods so taking one out of the equation seems like the wrong thing to do. Then again I read sometimes the copper will be 75% of the hook ups......... Please keep in mind I get out there about 10 days a year only. Maybe I'll go with the two extra dipsys and pick up a copper set up out there if I hear the bite is better on the copper while I'm there. Decisions decisions. Thanks for all your help everyone. Great information for the brain. I just hope I retain it, lol. Spike

OK so say I run copper down the chute and lead core off the side ( inside of the dipsy). If a dipsy rod goes do the lead and copper need to be cleared to prevent tangles? I sometimes get tangles landing the measly LLS we have here when they get into the trailing leadcore line. I have to believe the king would need that cleared as well. Also for the copper I would think that could definitely tangle as well. Maybe less is better. Just run the extra copper down the chute, switch it to the oposite side of the boat if a wire rod goes off and try to keep the fish off the side that it hit on when landing. This should work as long as we don't get another hit while juggling lines around. then I could have a mess on my hands. I have been there done that on the tangling thing. I think have a tangle free presentation down pretty good, however running extra dipsys or copper will be new to me. Spike

So it sounds like copper is the real deal then. Do you have to pull the copper every time a fish is hooked (since it's down the chute)? Maybe just move it aside? Thanks, Spike

I guess I forgot to add I usually fish in late July to mid August. Not sure the planers are worth it then. Erbyjoe I do have a Lund sport angler. I was also thinking about the 4 wire rods but wasn't sure if I should go for that or a copper set up. I know last year the first trip fish were out deeper over deeper water. Fishing over 500-600'. Lots of boats using copper. Next trip two weeks later most of the fishing was over 125-350'. Most of the boats were not using the copper due to the increase in traffic. So I would hate to have a copper set up that I could only use a week of my NY season. I am not sure how much tangle problems a 4 dipsey set up could be. Would the outside ones be run further back/deeper? We did have a few kings that got into the dipsey when landing last year. One line wasn't a big deal but two could cause a mess. Was hoping to get some feedback on that. I can't wait. Just hope the reports get better before I arrive early August. Spike