Markhum2006

I did the same thing as you and purchased size 00 ones online and thought they were too big when I got them. I tried them in a smaller lake (nothing hit them) and on lake Ontario with success. I have caught all sizes of Lakers on them from 2 lbs to 25 lbs. I tried running both larger and medium sizes at the same time and found they produced about the same in terms of numbers and sizes. Now, I have only fished for Lakers 3 times and used them so my experience with them is limited. I would say rig it and just try it. I caught my smallest and largest Lakers on the size 00.

I will pop the release on streakers if I find none are hitting. I also pop them when I want to change my lures to let the bait slowly rise to the top before reeling it in. You would be surprised how many fish I catch this way. I also lower and raise the ball often. I have also lowered the ball on a streaker that came up, looked and went back down if I have my bait is trailing far behind the ball. My theory is that they are active why they came and looked in the first place so maybe if I can get my bait in their face, it may trigger a strike. It works enough for me to keep doing it (although it could be that another fish was following and the sudden change in the depth and speed triggered that fish to bite). Another trick I have found works well is whenever I see a streaker dropping back down, I quickly raise the ball about 10ft. The quick burst of speed (works better with spoons I find) of the bait sometimes gets to turn around and come up and hit the bait hard. What ever your method, I think changes in depth and speed helps on the slower days.

Yes, I was using spoons. I was fishing all depths from 40 down to 100ft. I guess I honestly wasn't paying attention to what depth the bigger ones were hitting but I will pay more attention in the future. So the shakers don't like really hit on FF or meat rigs?

I am new to salmon fishing. Just went out for the first time last week on the north shore and had some success. I was happy to justify spending the amount of money I have this past winter on salmon gear (lures, rods, reels, fish hawk, etc.) by bringing home some fresh salmon. I told the wife, I can either spend money on salmon in the grocery store or on the lures and bring home fresh fish for years to come. As long as I keep bringing home fish, I will hear less and less about the cost of this expensive habit While fishing, I was catching a bunch of shakers but every now and then I would get into a bigger 20+ fish (about 1 big fish for every 10-15 smaller ones). My question is do salmon of the same size school together or is there a mixture of size? This is assuming salmon even school together. If people are fishing and they start to catch nothing but shakers, do you leave the area or keep working it to get the bigger ones that may be there? It can be a hassle to be constantly resetting everything due to the smaller fish.

I was wondering if anyone has a power cable and transducer for the older fish hawk 840 that they are not using and want to get rid of?

I bought two of these this year and fished for lake trout every weekend. I have had no problems at all but I immediately changed out the generic 150lbs cable with premium cable and I bought downrigger snubbers from Scotty to soften the rising and lowering of the balls. Worked perfectly for me all year and never lost any balls. One thing I learned early on was to speed up the boat a bit (in a straight line) when lowering from the surface down deep to prevent any tangles.

Hello everyone, I am excited to find a forum for fishing on Lake Ontario. I am completely new to fishing this great lake and would love some advice and hints on getting my first trout or salmon in this lake. I have fished for over 20 years on in-land lakes but now I want to venture out onto this great lake. I am in eastern ontario so one of the first things I am curious about is whether anyone fishes for salmon or steelhead/lake trout in the Kingston/quinte area including Wellington? I hear lots about Port Hope area but is this the farthest east people travel to fish? My boat is an 18ft Nitro 188 sport with a 150 HP so I can't venture out too far off shore as I have the greatest respect for the lake and how ugly it can get in no time. Do you have to be miles off shore to catch these fish? How is the spring fishing in the eastern part of the lake. Thanks for creating this forum. I am excited to learn about fishing the great lake and looking forward to my first salmon, steelhead, brown, laker, well, anything really