NEWBIE TRYING TO LEARN. ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED

[rcbaron100]

New to the spring fishing scene in Lake Ontario. Looking for basic tactics and tips. Lures. Set ups. Trolling speeds. Etc. Went out on Olcott on June 5th when apparently a new tournament record got set for total pounds of fish caught and got skunked. Reminded me of when i first started fishing lake erie tribs five years ago for steelies and watched every one else catch them. Clearly a learning curve here. Planning on hitting the Niagara Bar this sunday. I have downriggers, dipsies, an assortment of spoons, spin doctors, flashers, and some atomic flies. Needs some help on how to use them. Looking for suggestions on how to locate fish. Are there any good books I can get. Or websites to go to and learn. Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance and good luck out there.

[ray koziatek]

heres some good basic beginer info that will help the new guys understand whats going on in the water ,click on attheoak site for some basic setups then all ya gotta do is appy it................http://www.attheoak.com/anderson/Therma ... ine.html...

[Shade]

Rc,

First of all read the fishing reports that are for Olcott and Wilson. I would go back to Olcott this week end instead of the bar. You want to set up in 200 fow and work up to maybe 350 fow. Look for good color or scum lines. Run your riggers from 30 to 60 feet to start and keep an eye on you fishfinder for good hooks. Run your wires back about 180 - 300 with Sds and Flies with dipsys set on 2.5 marker. Green flies, green spoons with blue or orange mix, black spoons with white ladder back to start.

You need a speed and temp prob to locate 41 - 50 degree water at the ball and run you speed at the ball between 2.2 - 2.4 to start. Watch your trolling direction and speed at all times. You will have to try different speeds but be patient.

If you wallet allows you may want to hook up with a charter and see how they set up. They will show you the basics but ya gotta ask questions. Go through this website because there is a lot of info on here right now.

Good luck,

Shade

[carpedium]

I have got to say that over the past month I have learned a whole lot by just going thru all of the topics in this sub-forum (questions about salmon trolling) one by one. Then expand to other sub forums. You'll find that guys like ray k and many others are more than willing to share their experience and expand on any individual topic. Including non fishing topics like the link between boot camp and bowel movements.

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[chowder]

Get this book, read the whole thing & then go back & read the chapter for the season you are in. http://www.amazon.com/Great-Lakes-Salmo ... 522&sr=8-1 Then book a charter w/ one of the best guys in the area you plan to fish the most-it will greatly shorten the learning curve and really flesh out the book (and even though it's few bucks look at it as the best way to maximize the huge investment you have all ready made in all that gear). -Andy

[RYE]

RC, I agree with Shade, if I were to start out again by myself, would do things alittle differently. Would begin by hiring a charter for one or two trips and ask a billion questions during the outings. There's no secrets a good captain will keep from the novice wanting to learn and there are alot of good captains out there depending what port you prefer using. Personally, it would have saved me a ton of money in the beginning by learning from a professional on what's needed and what's simply fisherman catching......I too suffered the learning curve when I began trib fishing. Remember standing on that bank for hours just watching what the guys in the water were doing. Same can apply to the boat fisherman who does not have seasoned fishing companions to draw from.. Hope this helps, this site is a good one, any questions you have along the way, will be addressed I'm sure, good luck to you on the water.....

[IA bowhunter]

RC,

I agree with Shade also, a charter shortens the learning curve tremendously.

If you still plan on going out this weekend I would still heed Shade's advice with Olcott. We had decent luck from 200-275 last week, most of the time on the water was spend right on 250 fow with West and East trolls both hitting. I am sure the Bar is happening but we had good luck at Olcott, just my .02.

Attheoak.com is a very informative site Ray mentioned, I have learned a lot from there

Paul

[hawkeye625]

Rc,

Just started fishing Lake O a couple of years ago myself. You came to the right place for knowledge. Search this site for "spread help" posted last year. I picked up alot of good info from the thread. I also would advise booking a charter or trying to find a first mate that has the day off and offering them $$$ to go out on your boat and help you out (just a thought I had but haven't done yet).

I went out on a charter in May and picked up a few good tips but most of what I learned came from this site. The best advice I can give is to make sure what you are running is running correctly. Stick with one brand of spoons (your preference) to make sure they all run the same and take a good look at them beside the boat before sending them out. My biggest mistake was mixing spoons/brands and not getting the right action at varying speeds with all the spoons/lures. It's very basic, but if you're only running 4 rods and 1 lure isn't running right you decrease your chance of getting bit by 25%. Plus you may be spooking fish from your spread.

Keep your spread simple to start with and vary your speed until you get bit. The second mistake we made had to do with speed. We were running too slow all day and didn't realize it til the kicker ran out of fuel and had to troll with the big motor (pushed us .5 mph faster and wham all 5 rods fired within minutes!) Good times!

Ask for general info at the local bait shops before you launch. They are all very helpful and usually give you spot on information (unless of course there's a big tourney that weekend).

From what I've learned start with 2 dipsys with spinny's and flies or flashers and flies and two riggers with spoons and cheaters/sliders. Stagger them so you cover the water column you are marking fish in. This is our basic 4 rod set learned last year and usually produces fish. If you are marking fish, vary speed until you get bit. When one lure gets bit often we start to switch other rods to that lure/color. If things stall out, go back to what was working. Sometimes it's all spoons, sometimes it's all spinnys. Give them what they want.

You can get caught up in all the copper/lead core/wire divers/torpedo divers/slide divers etc. etc. etc., which all work and some days work well, but keeping things simple to start out with will save you alot of head aches and $$$. You can always add things to your arsenal as you learn.

Keep reading old posts and ask questions...these guys are all great and willing to help.

Good luck and tight lines.

[Has Been]

The thing I ALWAYS say & still do is to keep things simple . First & most important thing is LOCATION. If you are not on fish, you won't catch many. Also what to use/do at what time of year or situation or location is key IMO. Spoons off riggers are best & easiest way at first. Now till Mid Aug.

[joejv4]

One thing I'm surprised hasn't been hammered on yet - fishing reports.

Search for and read every recent report for the area you plan to fish. when tourney's aren't going on, folks come right out and tell you where they're getting fish, what they're getting them on (bait, color, size), depth (fish in fow), and speed (up and down).

LOU's tweet reports, along with their North/South Shore reports sections will go a long way toward putting fish in the box.

The whole get a charter and ask questions idea - absolutely a must if you want to learn quickly. I went on a charter with Capt. Pete from Prime Time (see Captains Corner section of LOU website) last year and learned a ton from him. The charter captains that I've ever talked to, all are really good about teaching clients who want to learn, so book a charter and ask a lot of questions, especially about gear that you already have - you'll be glad you did.

Tight lines!

[Mortigan]

We did the same - went out with Capt Rob Westcott on Legacy for spring browns in April, learned a lot and had a ball. I've done a lot of reading on this site over the last six months and am just starting to understand how little I actually know.