ErieBuck

Yes. Autopilot is a game changer -- not sure how you are trolling solo without it! I guess you can pull it off on a flat lake, but with any wind you are screwed trying to land the fish

After losing a couple rigs myself, I learned to leave longer tag ends on my improved albright knots (braid to weighted steel) and also adding a dab of super glue. Some people will trim the tag ends down once you have a good fight or two but the super glue seems to prevent any slip at all. This setup worked great on my last trip -- landed 5+ 20lb+ with no issues.

Yes I hear ya, I certainly prefer offshore fishing even though I don't eat them! But to not have to run 10 miles out when you have a smaller boat, older people onboard or sea sick prone people, it's enticing. Personally, I've only tried inshore staging fishing a few times without much success. Hoping to to do a little of both for my upcoming trip. How does your technique differ for the inshore stagers compared to offshore?

good deal... any good bait marks?

Great pic!

Capt Hajecki puts big fish on deck -- consistently!! Looks like your best action was out deep still... when do you think you'll start targeting the stagers stacking up inside? We should be getting close., right? Headed out this weekend to wilson

Looks like you had a good trip! Best action was in tight, fish near the bottom? What speed seemed to work best?

Head back out to Wilson for some more action. Hopefully we can repeat last month's magic! Let me know if you're going to be around to collaborate!

Nice work!! Jigging for Lakers is a lot of fun for sure. What type of jig were you using?

Sounds like you guys had some great action and a good time, congrats!

Great work, glad you had another successful trip! Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Well you will have a chance to catch our fish as we successfully released 90% of all we caught this week using a rapala lip grabber tied to a paracord and towing fish behind the boat for a few minutes to revive… this may have been the highlight of the trip. I hate just tossing a fish overboard to float away. Yes I know they are going to die anyway, but I have respect for these magnificent creatures. We caught over 20 matures in 3 days, and ended up cutting the trip short due to weather and my old man being tired! Key take aways… we were fortunate/lucky to find bait and fish in a short period of time but we were prepared with all the right gear to put fish in the boat once we found them, and we weren’t shy about changing things up when it wasn’t working. Every day is different and the fishery is constantly changing. All you can do is to have a plan based on limited information — weather patterns, reports, previous experiences etc, and then adapt from there. My two 300 weighted steel setups on inline planer boards caught 75% of our big fish. We rarely marked fish when we marked bait… but they were lurking on the perimeter… It was a heavy spoon bite but meat and flashers drew them into the spread and still produced several 20lb+ fish. My spoon rigger and slider caught a lot of steelhead which were blast and kept things fun between the big kings. There are some incredible steelhead out there… Good luck to all fortunate enough to experience this amazing fishery and thanks to all who contributed knowledge to make our trip a big success!! Fish on!!! Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Great work I’m sure your clients were thrilled! With regard to not being able to revive fish… have you tried towing them behind the boat with a Rapala lip grabber and paracord? We successfully released more than 20 mature salmon this week, most were caught on long lines with an extended fight, including a 27lb monster that was dropped on deck during the photo op… I thought there was no way she was going to make it, but within a few minutes started swimming with the boat. We only had a couple that were hooked too deep that didn’t swim away. I know it’s one more step in the laborious process but it’s special being able to watch them revive, look you in the eye, and swim away. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Caught over 20 fish today, 12 mature big salmon and many on long lines which can be completely exhausting/lethal for the fish. When I hooked them behind the boat to revive, I got to see that beautiful creature up close in its habitat as it came back to life, unhooked and swam away. Really cool. Just be sure to hook the salmon on the area between their tongue and jawbone with lip grabber. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

The bar is on fire this morning — 5 matures in first hour. Mostly 300 copper bites on mag spoons, one meat rigger. Now just got another monster on wire diver Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app