Sk8man

Admiral Byrd and I gave it one last try after the discouraging results I had on Wednesday trolling for nearly 10 hrs without a hit. We left the ramp in the dark and got an early start on things at a little after 6 Am. Basically we worked the area both west and east of Hughes in 50-150 ft of water with 6 lines out the entire time despite the narly wind and intermittent light rain until 2:15 PM and caught a solitary brown 22 inches long on a downrigger set at 95 over 104 ft of water with a slider and that is what he hit and it was probably about 70 or so. No other hits and although we marked fish some were up quite high and it is hard to tell what any of them were or if they were even salmon or trout etc.....guess it is time we get started perch fishing on the Fingers and hope for better fishing in the Spring for the salmon Got a good shot when we were going out this AM though.

Fillet them first and take out the dark lateral line material (strong fish taste comes from there) and ideally smoke them in a smoker .....they can actually be great to eat

You might want to seriously consider the advice anytime is giving.After way over half a century of ice fishing I have returned to my original 'old school" sled and bucket approach from a two person Clam shelter for exactly the reasons mentioned above. My son uses a one person fold up and down Frabill which he loves and it is lighter weight than my clam (which usually sits either in the back of my vehicle or down cellar). When I first selected my shelter it was all about the room but it quickly became evident that the main concern is weight and pulling through snow especially the high wet stuff. I got sick of becoming exhausted before arriving at my spots and sweating etc. My sled and bucket approach isn't geared for warmth but rather mobility and the ability to change spots frequently and rapidly something you don't usually do with the heavier shelters or ones requiring a lot of time or energy putting up....something to think about....I've also had tents and popup tent like shelters in the past which can provide some shelter and are not as heavy and I still keep one for times when it is real bad weather. An additional advantage to not using a shelter is that you can see what is going on out there continually and I learned a lot starting out by watching old timers that way (even when they turned their backs to me and had holes in the top of their bucket to slide the fish in to without folks seeing ). This is my "old school approach" for when it is fairly bad out and it is called a Polar Pal (very light weight and mobile) and it folds up in about 5 seconds and I just throw it in the sled and go. There may be one on Ebay or at a garage sale etc.

Hopefully they are not "escapees" from gill netting activity

Great points Rick There is a lot to think about and mull over in this thread.I think the picture is becoming clearer in some respects as the season is rolling on (and the fish just aren't showing up) ....so much for the "delay" theory. After the other day I'm pretty convinced the salmon just aren't out there in any numbers right now for whatever reason (s).

Steve - thanks... I appreciate the compliment coming from you because I respect your opinions as well.

Victorinox and Dexter Russell are both excellent and they both hold an edge real well

Great posts Gill-T and King Davy and great sense of humor as well ....something we all need to keep at the end of this season. My son and I trolled from 7 AM until 430 PM yesterday from Sodus Point to Hughes and back without a hit with 6 rods out but worse than that we hardly marked a fish and very little bait and we fished from 40 ft. to 430 and back depth-wise. I had assumed that we would run into some matures enroute east or some silvers out deeper but it was a vast wasteland in appearance out there. Am I giving up on Lake O for ever? Hell no....it is just one of those years in a down cycle probably for most or all of the reasons stated and I look forward to giving it a go next year and hope for the best.....this situation is de ja vous for the many folks who have fished out there for many years. Don't lose heart....this lake has come back from many severe problems

Steve I was trying to explain to folks who may be new to this stuff (not the guys who have been doing it forever) that you can't just ask someone on another boat what speed they were catching them at and match up that number on your boat and think you will be exactly matching what they are doing. I didn't mean to be "long winded" or make anything 'complicated".

They look great Marty

John Mann is the best around too.

Tim makes a real good point here. Your speed is relative to the device on your boat and may or may not be directly comparable to the same device for a number of reasons on other boats with the same device.and it applies to both surface and down speed as well. For example, in the old days before we had the newer speed/temp devices we used a thing that you clamped to the gunwale of the boat and it had a gauge with different colored bands across it similar to a dial. the "needle" on it was attached to a wire a few ft long with a weight on it. You placed the weight in the water at the side of the boat and when you sped up it would make the needle go back and forth to different colors depending on how fast you went. You could make a little finer increments or gradations to the color bands by using either a black grease pencil or small thin colored piece of tape indicating either where a lure you tested at the side ran best or where you had a hit or caught a fish and then keep returning to that spot. The point is that it was a relative measure and would mean very little when referring to another boat even if it was traveling next to you using the same type device because of different shaped hulls, weight distribution in the boats, possibly the exact location of the device etc. The precise numbers on modern temp and speed devices depends on accurate calibration and these are not always on the mark either especially the paddle wheel types and for the reasons already mentioned may vary significantly from boat to boat or may even depend on weight distribution in a given boat. To answer the original question there is no one best speed for kings....the best speed for them is whatever you are catching them at with whatever you are using at the time on your particular boat under those same conditions using that same device to measure