I park my probe rigger at 50 deg , usually a flasher . Temp is all over the place some days . On my other rigger I stack 2 rods 20 ft apart , both spoons . And run that 10 ft deeper than the probe. So I have 20 ft of what I consider prime target zone .
Then I let my dipsys or slide divers so one is on the lower end and one on the higher end. I don't use junk lines .
Seems to work for me . But if I'm marking deeper fish I lower the stacker down 25 ft lower to check it out . There are a lot of fish out of temp .
Past month I got kings in 60 deg and 44 deg water . I think temp is overrated . But it's a starting point . And as Aug progresses , temp becomes less important
I was thinking about this and I may try and solder the split ring shut like a jump ring . Should not be hard .
I figure the only reason is if I need to change out the hook . I'd just cut the whole works off and start again .
I'll try it today and let you guys know
I'll bet this might be a covid thing .
Stuff was hard to get and they used what was available.
Yes , there must be a bad batch of split rings out there , because it's going around with other anglers . I lost one the same way , came back with just the spoon . I changed the split rings and hooks twice on that spoon and a few others as I have been checking . I thought I read some other guy had the same happen. If it's spread apart a little , change it .
I don't care how sharp your hooks are , some days they just don't take it well , like they nip at it . I go thru this jigging all ways . Whether it's light line long rod jigging , or bass and pike .
Trolling there are days you can't keep them on. And some days you catch all the hits .
My goal was to fish the Summer LOC as much as possible this year . We fished a lot but not as much as I would have liked. I really could go every day for a while lake permitting.
From beginning to end the fishing was great . Some days better than others . I think we only had one bad day and that was 3 fish . 15 to 20 hit mornings were common . I did a few afternoons and a couple I could not keep rods in the water at times .
We managed 2 LOC board kings that both got pushed off the board . Mine Friday .
We fished 70 to 180 ft . Never went out past that . Did not need to . Fish were from 40 to 110 down. Riggers and dipsys with my slide divers the star a lot of days .
Best lure hands down was a Carbon 14 mag .I have one that's landed 30 fish conservatively . Also the same with a silver ladderback. Stingray NBK , copper NK 42 second and others . Some days it didn't matter .
The first flasher I ever bought maybe 30 years ago or more was the best . A Blue Angel with a carbon 14 pattern Gary D rig . Other Spin Dr and 8 " pro trolls worked well with glo Gary D s . The secret was to find fish.
Seems like the kings are starting to migrate east a little . It is pretty much Aug so that's no surprise .
Best king fishing I've ever seen summer wise . It was fun .
Ok , I just checked . In 2021 as I remember we had an awfully lot of rain in the fall . The kings that usually stack up in front of my cottage till they get a flow and run the creek got sucked up in the system . The skien fishing that year wasn't great so I went upstream fly fishing , because there was good flow and I don't go when there is low water . It was lights out and was all fall till mid Dec. I'm sure all the South shore streams experienced the same .
And 3 years later we have great king fishing . Coincidence ?
Very few skips ,which is a bad sign .
If Lake Michigan kings have rebounded , it has to be bait .
The optimism for next year may be suspect . Many years we have had great fishing , been excited for the following year and it was a dud . This has happened before . So enjoy what you have now .
According to the correspondence I had with a high ranking DEC official who asked me not to post our back and forth on here for obvious reasons, Lake Michigan kings are the same as LO kings . We have all caught a bunch of kings this year . What I noticed about the 2 board king we caught were they had shoulders , girth , whatever you want to call it . A lot of the ones we catch look like Skamania steelhead . Long And skinny . Maybe it's just me .
Don't complicate things . Proven spoons and flasher / fly or meat rigs.
Watch Yankees reports and use what he does .
If that doesn't work it your location or presentation
I have learned , you really need to have patience .Sometimes the fish arnt hitting . If you put down proven go to / confidence lures a lot of times it's just a matter of adjustment . Doing wholesale changes is huge mistake IMO. You wind up with a mess no self respecting salmon would hit Look at Yankees reports . He uses the same 10 lures pretty much all year . And he is as good as it gets .
If I'm marking and not hooking up I change 1 lure . I keep my provens down . I have one carbon 14 that has been down every minute I have been out there since early July .
Location depth and speed .
My depth finder was experiencing this same thing . Also my depth raider was squirrely also . I put a nose filter on my gas kicker and it all went away .
Maybe you could put one on your negative an positive leads on you depth finder or trolling motor .
Looks like they got her out and it's sitting on the trailer by Tommy's . And that's a good thing .
Let's Hope it's not to big of a job drying it out and getting it back up and running .
Aw man , that sucks . Seen him drive by the cottage a bunch of times .
Hopfully they can float her back up dry her out , and be back at it very soon .
Good luck
Not as good this morning as yesterday afternoon but really how could it.
Still did very well from 100 to 190 down 60 to 95 ft . Spoons and flashers both worked .
The D- rig managed another board king and I beat my son out by a few oz . Probably won't last till the end as fish get bigger every day .
It's no longer fishing , it's catching .
Out for 2 hrs . Boated 11 and lost a few more . Kings and a laker .
Ended the day with a triple . Asked my brother if he had enough and he said yes , thankfully .
Just a few days ago I was at my bench and had a meat rig I was messing with . I took the treble upside down and put a few drops of the clear finger nail polish I use on my jig heads on it where the hooks come together . It dries fast so I repeated it a few times . Looks good. And it's not bulky.
It's no secret the bite has been great. Really ,what more could you ask for?
We have been going out mornings and doing well . Sone days better than others . 15 to 20 bites are common . With great screens .
Our best lures have been Carbon 14 mag , black glo green and the like .
Gary D rig has been very good also .
80 to 150 seems to be the best 50 to 90 down . Our best was a 24 # 8 oz board king ( which actually was 24 # 12 oz , but that's a story in itself ). Sat, I believe, we boated 4 Steelheads in the total .
Yesterday afternoon I took my brother and niece out. Boated 7 salmon and lost some more in a few hrs . I wore her out .
Hope things continue .