John Kelley

I use to target them with stickbaits off the planer boards in the early morning(4:30-6:30 a.m.), way up shallow anywhere from 8-15 FOW at the Oak. I used small floating rapalas and went about lake trout speed, or maybe somewhere between laker speed and salmon speed, like 2.0-2.2 or so, and did fairly well. I would usually also run a couple rods shallow on the riggers, with small spoons about 50-80' behind the balls. Usually used smaller rods with 12-15 pound fluorocarbon line for the browns. Use lighter releases on the boards, really loosen up your downrigger releases, and really watch those downriggers, because it is very easy to drag even 8 or 9 pound browns around sometimes and not even know there is a fish on. I hope this helps.

Cowbells all the way, you can't lose. Put them down until they are bonking the fish in the head with them, and go as slow as you can go, and still get them to spin, and you will slaughter them. Peanuts and spin and glows work good, but so do mirage and geen flies behind the cowbells, I have found. Good luck with those lakers!

I'm with Chris on the heavier and deeper lines to the outside on my spread, but I really think it depends on how you run your spread, as well. I usually run a 10 color off of one board, a 200-300 copper off the other board, and a 4 or 500 copper right down the chute. I don't normally run too many other lines off of my boards, but if I do it is usually a surface line for steelhead. If I keep my copper and leadcore on the boards way out to the boards, I avoid tangling with my longest copper down the chute. It also keeps them from tangling with my divers. I don't worry too much about which rod will go under which rod when the fish hits, I am more worried about tangling metal lines, because it is absolutely no fun to un-tangle them!

I look at temperature as a starting point, but like has already been stated, fish the bait, because the kings will be somewhere nearby. Like Tim says, though, I always like to keep one rig (Usually a meat rig) down in that ice water, and the biggest fish I have caught have also come from the cold water.

Go ahead and use 12 pound test on spoons all you like, that makes the spoon manufacturers very happy!! I go with 30 lb. Big Game all the way to the swivel, and have not found any difference in getting bitten, versus using lighter lines. What I have noticed when I try to go light, is that yeah, I might get lucky and land a few nice salmon, and then that big screamer comes along and just eats the spoon off of my line like it was candy. I use mostly Moonshine Magnums, and they are not cheap. Remember, this is not some finesse game, and these fish are not walleyes. When you are trolling @ 2.2-3.0 MPH, the fish are not swimming up slowly and eyeballing it like they are when you are jigging or live-bait rigging. It sure sucks when a 25-30 pound fish comes up and rips off your lure, and this can happen even if your drag is set light. King salmon are tackle busting, rig wrecking SOB'S!!! Good luck!

I would choose the Oak this time of year, for sure!

Yeah, I had really good luck last year with an 11" paddle and a 3 twinkie meat rig on my 400 copper, right down the chute. Always took fish, and usually the biggest fish, as well. No trouble tangling with it way out there like that, either.

Still for sale?

Priceless memories, buddy!!

Nice report and some great fishing, man!!

Nice bunch of Browns, Captain Rick. Bummer about the customers cancelling! Great report, as always!

Those big cat pics that always circulate all over the net are the European Wels catfish, and they are not even on this continent! Big blues will push the 150 pound mark, but there is not one on the books over 200 pounds, that I am aware of.