Jetski Salmon/Trout Fishing?

[Stephenleo]

Over the last two summers i have spent probably 30 hours out on the lake trying to catch any sort of salmon or trout from my seadoo with out any fish to show for the time. This mainly consisted of me trying to jig for a lake trout using a deeper pro mobile fish finder tied onto my seadoo and slowly driving around until i saw a school of bait or of fish. this only resulted in one hit on a 3 oz jig head i poured with a swimbait on it, which broke during the fight. i’ve been trying to jig using 2 oz spoons but i can normally only get a short amount of time over the spot before being pushed away by current. 

Recently i was given a trolling rod so i went and bought a dipsey diver followed by a deeper diver. I’ve gone out a few times for 4 to 5 hours at time using my one rod dipsey setup without getting any hits. Still using the deeper ive been marking fish from 160 to 75 feet of water over the last two weeks and have tried fishing most areas of the water column but have spent most of my time around the 80-100ft mark mainly marking smaller fish in the 15-30 foot range with occasional lakers, bait pods and marks 40-65ft down. I have had a lot of apparent follows when fishing the top 15 to 30 ft but no takers. Nothing much when fishing the 40-65 foot range only a very few marks that would hover below for a while regardless of turns or speed changes. then i have tried fishing 5 foot from the bottom using my deeper diver with a spin doctor and a spin n glo attempting to catch a laker. 

I try to wash my hands frequently on the water with dawn dish soap, i have a flash light for my uv spoons and set my jetski from 1-3 mph with normally shows up anywhere around 1.6-2.8 mph on my fish finder. using a roughly 6.5 ft lead on my dipsey to a variety of spoons.

Considering how new i am to this and how little i know i figured someone would be able to offer some guidance on the best way to catch any sort of fish from the lake and better decipher all the information i’ve seen and known what to do with. This is a decently long running goal of mine i would love to have a fish to show for

Open to any suggestions and i can provide fish finder screen captures if that’s of any use. 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Stephenleo

[Stephenleo]

I’m in rochester and typically fish genesse towards braddocks

 

Any spoon, lure, or technique recommendations are appreciated 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Stephenleo

[fisherman21]

I would continue to hit the 80-120 area with 1 1/2oz jighead a and a 4”white paddletail or 1 1/2oz to 2oz jigging spoon or blade bait. It can be done. Get a drift bag to slow your drift. 

[idn713]

13 minutes ago, fisherman21 said:

I would continue to hit the 80-120 area with 1 1/2oz jighead an and a 4”white paddletail or 1 1/2oz to 2oz jigging spoon or blade bait. It can be done. Get a drift bag to slow your drift. 

 Do this and you def need the drift bag. Ontario Lakers are lazy and covering water till one bites is the name of the game. You want a slow drift, and toss your jig head in front of the boat, drop to the bottom, jig till you aren’t vertical and do it till your arms fall off. You will def catch fish. 

[Stephenleo]

So is there no reason to be trolling with the dipsey? I figured that allowed me to cover much more water than my jigging. Is a spread needed in order for trolling to be effective? 

I’ll look at getting a drift bag for my jigging because any more time over a spot would be very helpful. 

[Pete Collin]

I'm curious how the drift speed of a jet ski would compare to that of a boat, especially with a sock behind you.  On the one hand, there is less crafft above the surface to catch with wind, but way less inertia for the wind to overcome.  I used to use a handheld gps to mark my hotspots, on the new boat it's all up on the chart screen.  Once you locate a hotspot, it is good to quickly motor back upwind once you pass out of them.  The lakers tend to follow a contour.  Looking back, I bet my most successful days were ones where luck had the wind blowing me right down the pipes of where they were lying.  When the wind is blowing at a right angle to shore, you often drift out of a school within a matter of minutes.  So you spend a lot of the day picking up and moving.

[Stephenleo]

31 minutes ago, Pete Collin said:

I'm curious how the drift speed of a jet ski would compare to that of a boat, especially with a sock behind you.  On the one hand, there is less crafft above the surface to catch with wind, but way less inertia for the wind to overcome. 

In my expierence on days without wind and minimal current the jetski does fairly well at holding its position especially if at a good angle with the current but with any wind my body and lifejacket acts like a sail catching enough resistance to help move and spin the seadoo. With decent waves or current the jetski doesn’t hold position for very long at all. Hoping to get out to see how a drift sock would effect this 

[newmike]

Where are you fishing out of? Just a few hints here.one thing a spinanglow is usually meant to be fished behind cowbells if you fish a with flasher and fly a stud fly is a good all around 1 with the 2 face uv flasher. For kings A 124 mm (sz 4) deeper diver set on 0  is a good dipsy style  to use with 30 pound Power Pro and about 250 feet out at 2.6 miles per hour. That should get you about 80 feet down.  A size 5 deeper diver will get you down to about 100 to 110 feet.  A 6 foot leader from the dipsy Is fine But it's gonna be one hell of a Battle to get a good sized salmon into the net. a 5 foot leader is even okay. 21 inches from the flasher to THE back of the hooks of the fly... late  In the year 90 to 120 fow early in the year 120 to 150 feet.  I have a friend I'm fishing with this weekend out of Henderson who has a downrigger on the back of his jetski. we're going to try for lakers I'll let you know  how he makes out.

[Pete Collin]

1 hour ago, Stephenleo said:

In my expierence on days without wind and minimal current the jetski does fairly well at holding its position especially if at a good angle with the current but with any wind my body and lifejacket acts like a sail catching enough resistance to help move and spin the seadoo. With decent waves or current the jetski doesn’t hold position for very long at all. Hoping to get out to see how a drift sock would effect this 

Sort of analogous to hunting from horseback!

[Stephenleo]

5 hours ago, newmike said:

Where are you fishing out of? Just a few hints here.one thing a spinanglow is usually meant to be fished behind cowbells if you fish a with flasher and fly a stud fly is a good all around 1 with the 2 face uv flasher.

Fishing out of rochester with Gennesee towards Braddocks being my main stretch. I was fishing the spin doctor with a spin and glo 5 foot off the bottom with my deeper diver trying to catch a laker, however no takers. Not sure if that was the best approach for a lake trout off the jetski using a dipsey but it seemed the most possible at the time. 

Appreciate the information on fishing flies and depth i’ll likely give a try next time, probably tuesday morning, if the lake is permitting.

Any advice for a better approach for trolling for a lake trout?

[newmike]

Green number 5/0 cowbells called lemon-lime. With a florescent yellow or charteuse spinnin glow,  the type with a peanut fly on it.  Like you said I fish it 5 feet off the bottom but it'll be tough to do that without downriggers.  My last trip out of Henderson a couple weeks ago I caught 22 lakers in 2 days. Down your end of the Lake  I am not sure when your best chances are.   I troll at 1.8 for the lakers.  I am fishing at 150 to 160FOW

[13owhunter]

I would try and get my feet wet with Lakers.  They are easy to catch. You have to be creative to get something on the bottom in 120 foot plus with your rig.  30# braid with a heavy sinker aka "thumper rig" might be a good choice.   You will catch fish with cowbells and a spin glow a couple feet off the bottom.  Also can run a spoon or flasher fly for kings a little bit higher. 

 

Edit: surprised you didn't catch a Laker if you had a flasher and spin glow 5 foot off the bottom.  Maybe not optimal but I think you'd get bit that way. Maybe slow down a bit? 

Edited August 26, 2023 by 13owhunter

[Stephenleo]

Appreciate the advice on the cowbells for lakers, i was worried it would be too much pull on my trolling rod but i think going slow enough i should be able to manage it. 

 

I’ve seen a lot of marks shallower in the 100ft of water range in my area with a decent amount being in the top 30 feet of the water column then a few marks around 45 to 65 deep i’m assuming are salmon and the occasional mark of a laker on bottom at 100 ft. Are the marks at the surface likely trout? and is it worth targeting these fish up within 100ft or are they more likley to bite if i go out and find deeper colder and more comfortable water for the fish. No fish hawk makes fishing the temperature difficult. 

[Stephenleo]

7 minutes ago, 13owhunter said:

 

Edit: surprised you didn't catch a Laker if you had a flasher and spin glow 5 foot off the bottom.  Maybe not optimal but I think you'd get bit that way. Maybe slow down a bit? 

Only put like an hour and a half into that but had a good feeling about it. i spent most of my trips trying to troll for salmon in the 45 to 65 foot range

[13owhunter]

You can probably just drift with a thumper rig and get a descent speed range. If you can contact the bottom consistently and go real slow you will catch Lakers with just about anything.  Easier to hit bottom consistently  with a heavy sinker than a dipsey. Catch Lakers until you get bored of that then go for kings. This site has the best info out there.  Read up and ask questions....

[newmike]

Marks in the top 30 feet might be brown trout

[seeyawader]

The thought that "Lakers" are easy to catch is deceptive,,Mexico Bay for instance is great for Lakers but they move around, sometimes you see them in 120 fow but they are only active in 150 fow, or they migrated somewhere else. Salmon are way worse. The problem is finding active fish when you have a line in the water, I would suggest finding someone to network with when you are out there. I don't fish that area of the lake but if I did it would be a blast to see you hook into a 25 lb king and drag you around,,,,GOOD LUCK

[Skippers Trophy 01]

On 8/25/2023 at 8:52 AM, Stephenleo said:

So is there no reason to be trolling with the dipsey? I figured that allowed me to cover much more water than my jigging. Is a spread needed in order for trolling to be effective? 

I’ll look at getting a drift bag for my jigging because any more time over a spot would be very helpful. 

I think if you start out trolling with the dipsy you can cover some area, which can lead to identifying areas you want to go back to and try jigging. 

As far as a spread being more effective, most times yes, but there are also times where it can work to your advantage to have only one rod out.

Good luck and let us know how you make out, I have always wanted to try it.

[greenhornet73]

As a kayak fisherman I would also suggest trolling dipseys until you mark a pod of fish then jig them.  

[Stephenleo]

Planning to go out at first light monday morning as the lake looks accommodating. Going to fish wonder bread, carbon 14 and probably flounder pounder at first light till the sun starts shining then i’ll switch to either a flasher fly or a yellow blue spoon. Planning on jigging when i troll over big schools of bait rather than trying to jig fish that i mark. Not sure what depth ill start in considering the winds we’ve had but i’ll go out and try to figure it out. Will keep updated and appreciate all the tips and information i’ve gotten. Definitely need to look into a drift sock especially towards fall with staging kings. 

[Stephenleo]

Update. 

After several trips between now and the first post finally a good update. Went out Friday september 1st. Slept through my alarm and didn’t get out till 8. Went to the genny to fish the pier heads for stagers until 10 with no luck. Headed out to 100 feet and trolled a mag spoon to 150 with no luck. Went out too 200 and started trolling my mag spoon, fish finder died around 220 feet but i continued trolling blind and slowly adjusting depth out to around 250 ft when my rod finally went and line started pulling crazy. Fought the fish and landed a small king but had the reaction of landing a 40lb fish. Finally something to show for all the hours spent. Planning on heading back out tomorrow and trying again, not sure if i should head back to 200 where i was and put more time into that water or if should fish for staging kings in search of size and skein for float fishing this winter. 

[Skippers Trophy 01]

Congrats!!! You put in the time, now it’s time to get some rewards.

[newmike]

Good job!  The diligent shall be rewarded... My buddy's jetski broke down so he didn't get out.. but we did manage to catch about half a dozen lakers in a couple days at Henderson.  Good luck out there.