Has Been

Took a virgin out for Small boat tactics out of my new home port this morn & managed to land a few kings for him w/ a few more knock offs. Always fun to see the faces of guys new to this . They almost always comment on how powerfull the fish are. J plugs as ususal. Only thing I put on this time of year. Last few fish landed on an old Shakespere rod I pulled out of the neighbors garbage I put an old 27H on. I love doing things like that

I hear that El Nino throws a wicked split finger fastball .

I put about 12 3/4" or 5/8" holes in bottom . Also remove metal handle and drill 4 holes for harness in ring where handle was. take 3/8 3' or so section of rope and make harness so you can attach lead line to boat & you pull from center. one on each side of boat bucket tied midship so it drags in front of your riggers. Take time to adjust rope length. Been using for 30 years. Work great.Big part of my presentation. They are in & out of the water all day long.

another 20# female this morn first light at Sandy. Glo Green j plug. Very slow . Not a lot of marks or jumpers. Out for a few hrs last night & not a hit.

Went out of my new " Home Port " of Sandy this morn & after 3 trips out I finally got a good king. Went 1 for 2 on J plugs out in front of the creek. Been out a few times the last week or so and have not seen much. Guys in the creek got a few after the rain but has since been slow .Not the structure or fish I am use to at the Oak but fun none the less. I'll figure it out in time. Try again in the morn.

Complete Tune up & Wires first IMO . No ethanol gas., Also Fuel /water separator filter

Went out of the Oak and picked up my bro at Johnsons. We found Spring salmon trolllind a nice hump that comes up from 38' to 30 '. Got to be some smallmouths on that, Right? A few goby hits & that was it. Marked a few bait schools on it, But that was it. Waste of time but my curiosity is satisfied. My buddy refed a Skeet shoot in lewiston. Went out to the fort and saw guys catching smallmouth & guys at club say they do well there & in the lower river ,so they are there. Might be worth the trip.

Welcome to the club

I was told they take a snelled hook and put it on the split ring w/ a larks head . Put a worm on an drift with it as slow trolling . Is this how you would fish them. I have a few. I think B& E has some but not sure.

Late Aug at least on the West End The Fish can be down 120' or as high as 30'. Throw temp out the window that time of year as long as there is no upwelling. Fish Marks or bait. Can't tell you the times I have caught kings without a mark on the screen. Run 2 flasher fly or meat off the dipseys .I use 65# braid on mine w/ no probs for years. If the Fleas are bad you have to check them every 30 min or so. On The Riggers you could put 2 more flasher flies or meat spaced apart 25-30'. Or put down 2 spoons. I like mags but the 28 size gets fish also. For spoon color I like Blk green glo Spook Blk/silver purple Silv Purple Glo Frog . I like a little glo on all my spoons that time of year. Some days they don't want the flashers but I like to keep at least one out that time of year. If you get a hit at a depth, don't put everything at that depth to spook the fish. For speed if you don't have down speed( I don't ) you can use your GPS for SOG . Direction of troll can be critical. Troll in s curves. Use A bag or bucket to dial it in.Play w/ the throttle . I start out w/ 25' leads for my flashers and my spoon a little longer & lengthen as day goes on if no hits. I also like get my dipseys away from the boat as the sun comes up . King can be very skittish some days. Good Luck.

What I think happens with the slow down as August winds down is 2 things. First the mature salmon don't eat as much. Also during summer peak the fish are in many smaller size pods and are actively looking for bait & swining around a lot & covering a lot of water. Twards the end of Aug they start to school up. So instead of 10 pods of 10 fish there are 5 pods of 20 fish and so on so your chances of happening on them gets less & less. I like to fish pre spawn staging areas in 60 -120' of water late Aug. I have a few hotspots I rely on and they ain't that big. But the fish seem to be there every year. After labor day till late sept off the mouths .First light & before dark are best times but during the day you can get hits also doing the right thing in the right areas.

Different spot this morn. Did 8 or 9 mix of small & large some nice fish but no trophy. A few nice rock bass, nice to see them making a comeback . couple of small pike & doinked twice more. Dropshot, hulas & senkos all worked. My future is bright.

Creek. I would like to experiment for smallmouth out in the lake but It would be a time consuming search. I found a rise down by Johnsons I may try soon.

Second the Keep rpms up for oil pressure. Had to rebuild mine after a lot of hrs. I also use buckets & have for 30 years. Tie midship ahead of outdowns. Work great.Also stabilize boat in rough water. My boat came w/ a 15/17 prop & I use a 15 1/2 /!5 now. I lost some top end but it gets up on plane eaisier & better in rough water. Trolls a little better also. I would add a cleat on each side below the split in the 2 slide windows. That way you can throw the bags or buckets out and leave a line attached so you can pull them in easy from the side. My buckets are in & out of the water all day to vary thing & draw hits.

Out first light again this morn . Slow bite for me . Boated 3 smallies , All keepers but nothing big. Drop shot 3" senco green pumpkin was it. Hula grub let me down, Cant get a fish on a crankbait or topwater last 3 trips. Side note. What is it with all the deer this year. They are everywhere.

Got out early yest and went down for afternoon/Eve trip. Was bang bang when I first got there & it cooled off quickly, Hula grub again & Dropshot a gander sassy shad type of thing. Wound up w/ about 7 smallmouths 3 16-18" range & 2 Largemouths. All were keeper size. lost a few more. Nice trip.

Were you on the end on the west side ?

i have a 21' w/ 4 riggers . My best setup is 2 Dipsey w/ flasher fly or meat & 1 rigger down w/ flasher fly or meat & 2 spoons, one 10' above & one below .Do not crowd strike zone w/ to much stuff to spook fish. If they don't want the flasher, put a spoon on one dipsey but I almost always keep one flasher out. The secret is to find the fish & if you do if they are biting you will have enough out w/ that setup to get them to hit . More is not better. When I use my little boat off the mouth a lot of times I use 1 rod off one one of the 2 riggers I have on it & never more than 2 and catch as much or more than most out there.

mouth

Went to the Oak sun morn first light . Full moon so I figured it to be slow early and it was. Not a hit till about 7 , then things picked up somewhat. Got 5 smallies , biggest about 18" . Also got 2 sheepheads, one about the size of a sheet pizza. Shaky & Dropshot senkos were the ticket.