reelintense

Definately need to play with speed, and direction. I dont know if you have a probe for down speed, but as you are now in a time of the year when currents 40,60, 80 feet down can be in a different direction than currents on top you really have to adjust and watch carefully. I would say you want to be more around 2.6-2.8, but that is at the ball or where your "lures" are running. You could be going 2.6SOG on top and be doing less than 2.0 or over 3.0 down below. And it is directionally based, so watch your lines, the angle of your downrigger cables...etc. Vary speed during your troll, especially if your passing fish on the screen and they arent checking things out or hitting. Keep varying colors and your depths. Sometimes I move a rigger 5 feet up or down and all of a sudden its getting hit, where before it was dead. And like Just Fishin' said, you are now on the side and let recent reports help guide you to correct depths and speeds and colors, to start....if that dont work, start changing out.

Nick....please continue to dance, do tribal rituals, sacrifies or whatever it takes. I am starting my "go away Native American wave dance" later today!! I agree....the fish gods might want you to pick a different ROD color. Just sayin' Wayne....Do you need me to bring anything on the boat? Life raft....more ropes like on a crab boat....dramamine.....chum bucket? I know how Martin gets when he is cookin Bratwurst!!!!!! Maybe I will grab my kids bike helmets and some padding incase we are falling all over the place into each other???? Just trying to be prepared! Waves will be 3-4'.......fishing will be phenomenal......and good time will be had by all........regardless! or i will be wrong and thrown overboard as a sacrafice to the lake. But hey.....all in the name of fishing and being a good team member! PEACE OUT!

I release alot of fish....80% or more and most are fine. Lakers at times seem more a problem than many others with their swim bladders....but with kings...specifically big kings that are tired....i was taught to do a tail wrap. I have used a dock line....with the eye, i essentially do a laso around the tail and drag the fish for a few minutes to help resuscitate (sp). You can hand hold it as well, but that is not always fun or practical. Once I reset my line or wash down the back of the boat, 95% of the time, the king has regained its energy and swims away. At least I dont see them come back floating. Just my two cents

bawaaaaaaa

NOOOOOOOOoooooooo........... oh wait, that means its back out there to be caught again! YESSSSSSsssssss....... I am sorry Steve......it hurts, i know!

10 color took a 24lb king and lost another large fish a week ago for me, besides the fact it keeps taking steelies. I love it out on a church board for high fish, that are around! Worth it in my opinion!!!!

Hell of a fish! Awesome just awesome!

Awesome. I struggled 2 for 4...both lakers and just couldn't find much. But did manage to lose by probe and ball. And no idea how. Line was in retrieval mode.

Second dibs..!

Thanks guys for the input and helping me realize its not just me. The first 8 years I was fishing on someone else's boat, it was mornings 9 out of 10 trips. Maybe we took an afternoon/evening troll once or twice a summer, so my perspective was not as evident as to how good evening bites could be. If what your saying is true Vince, last year was anamoly and hard for me to gauge from, because morning bite was decent and I took less evening trips. Now I am seeing more of how good the evening bite is and maybe I should sleep in more!!! LOL Probably not, I will just have to make the most out of the morning bites and hope I set up in the correct water for the fish!!! Tight lines! Jason

Well that clears it up! I guess it's easy to call them different, when they look so much different side by side. So I assumed same family, but more like cousins. Thanks for explanation Tim, it is appreciated!

i will stand corrected and am not afraid to admit that. I was told several years ago (apparently incorrectly) that a domestic rainbow was not the same as a steelhead. This was at a point where i caught a "rainbow" for puposes of this discussion that looked nothing like a steelhead. Downrigging in Lake Ontario off I-bay in +/- 150fow. It was much squattier or football shaped like a healthy brown....had a beautiful well developed rose colored stripe down the side and while the head resemled that of a steelhead it looked nothing like what I think we all call steelhead. Where we see a hint or light pink stripe, but the body is mostly steel/silver and long and thin body! At this point i was told that a steelhead was a cross much like a chin-ho (chinook/coho) where rainbows and some salmonoid variety had been breed. I was not sure if that was accidental (as does happen in nature, like Chin-ho's) or if it had been engineered by man that way. But i didnt question it....sorry, but i trusted the source. So now I have googled several websites to understand anadramous vs resident rainbow. Maybe I got a resident rainbow that was lost out to Lake Ontario, or maybe they occassionally go out there or maybe it was just a really beautiful looking steelhead of different shape and size and color.....but that is why i made the incorrect statement that they were different. Similar but different....but I stand (or sit) corrected. Sorry guys! J

Technically a steelhead and a domestic rainbow are different fish! If he indeed caught a domestic rainbow. A steelhead is a hybrid rainbow/salmonoid and while we throw these two fish into the same category, they really are different fish species. Like a tiger musky and a "regular" musky!