Solid advice needed.

[Tony G]

My fishing partners and I need a little help. We always catch a few fish on yearly venture to the Wilson/Niagra area. But I see/hear about guys catching a lot more fish than us. We will be up their the first weekend of May. It is my opinion we fish to shallow as I see/hear about good catches coming from deeper water (140'+). We spend alot of time in the 60'-100' range. For Kings what are you successful guys doing in early May??? Also I am considering using paddle/fly combos this year much more than in the past, what are you guys using for distances behind the downrigger balls?? Please help us have one of those 20 King days.

[larry]

Try trolling north - south or nw/se this will at least give you the opportunity to see what's out deeper (also helps your lures run better with the strong currents from the Niagara). If you have a small boat then don't venture out too far weather permitting, fuel needed to get back are concerns. Use the search feature of this site to answer specific questions you might have and if you can't find what you need then create a post. Dipseys, leadcore, copper, riggers will all help get your presentation down to the fish. Good luck and when you have that 20 king day please post some pics.

[Play Penn]

I have been fishing out of Olcott/Wilson a couple times a year for 7 years now. I don't always have great days but I've had my share. One thing I've noticed is that the fish don't follow any rules.

On one evening trip we found Kings in 120 FOW and hitting flasher flys between 30 and 60 ft down. The next morning we set up early in the same spot and it was a gost town. After a 1/2 hour we decideed to follow some other boats and started a 3 mph troll to the north to try and find them again. When we got to 300 FOW we started getting hits on our higher spoons. We found them between 300 - 350 and were getting marks down deep. For the rest of the morning we had good luck with spoons above 40 feet and flasher flys down 80 to 90.

I guess the idea here is that you have to let the fish tell you where to fish and what to use. I have found that if you get into the mind set of fishing the same depths all the time your chances of getting into the mother load is limited to being lucky on the few times you have to get out.

As your boat may limit your options, when weather permits and your not getting results try the outside edges of boat groups. There are usually fish around and you have the chance to find your own honey hole.

As for paddle/flys, I truly believe that even when your on a spoon bite the paddles help bring fish into the spread, I always have at least one in, usually the deepest. For distance behind the ball I use a simple rule that works for me, between 20 - 40 feet down 20 to 70 feet back, 40 - 60 down 10 to 20 feet back, 60 and below 10 feet back. I also adjust based on water color, the clearer the farther back.

Good luck this spring, may you contemplate buying a bigger cooler on your next trip!