Salmon Trolling in the fall

[chugbug]

Hi guys , I am a finger lakes fisherman most of the time , but I can't stop the urge to come up to the big lake in the fall !! I want to try to get into some salmon off Sodus point this September with my downriggers , I thought I would run some J-plugs and was wondering if I should run a wire line ,dipsey- dodger fly set-up , will they hit the fly this time of year ?? I can't decide what line to run as far as pound test for the kings and if I should use a leader , I would rather just skip the leader and the extra knot ,but I no it sometimes is necessary to go with a heavy mainline for the flea and then a leader . Whats the best way to go . Thanks Bruce

[WalleyeLJ]

Hey Chugbug,

Last year was my first on LO, but flasher/dodger & fly combos are definitely a hot weapon. We're running dipseys and copper for the first time this year as well, but I can tell you what's already worked for us.

30# on the main line, 50# for your leaders if possible. We used mono last year, but were going to braid this year. There's a lot of advice from the more experienced anglers in older posts here on the board.

The fish we took last year ran about 50/50 flasher & fly combos versus spoonos (NK 28 + MAGS). The year before my Dad took all his fish on flasher/flies. It all depends on the day and how your set up which will work best. Good luck - we hit the water next Sat - I can't wait!

[chugbug]

Thanks walleye , Nice boat , can anyone else help out also ?

[steelfire]

I have fished the last 8 years on the 3rd week of September off of the mouth of the salmon river. #1 lure j-plug, #2 anytype of nk that has green.

#3 is the flasher fly. #4 is the jointed rapala. I have done well on all of those. this will be the first year that I will include copper in my spread. I have a feeling it will be deadly on staging kings!!! 3.5 weeks and counting!!! cant wait!!! anybody use anything diffrent???

[chugbug]

Steelfire , what depth should I target that time of year for the kings , or does it depend on conditions , are they normaly on the bottom when staging in front of the creek mouths or up near the suface , trying to figure out where to run the riggers !!

[steelfire]

Chugbug,

It verys year to year. at that time of year you can always count on some fish hanging out around the mouth of the river. That has a depth of 5 to 10'. If fish are there run the lures above that I mentioned.(especially the j plugs) When the fish are shallow I run no more than 3 riggers. I usually run about 100' leads off of the ball. The deadliest set up that time of year is a plane old flat line run 200' behind the boat.

I have caught them as far out in september as 80' feet of water. same deal use the above mentioned lures just shorter leads off of the ball. And the other thing that is important is get away from the pack of boats that is always present. Find the unpressured fish and you will have more fish willing to hit!! start shallow and work your way out deeper. hope that helps!

[motoman]

you do have a fish finder right , well look at it and you will see them ! then fish for them in the depth that you see them . just like the finger lakes

[steelfire]

Motoman,

I think, at least for me I dont mark many fish when they come in shallow. I think they scoot out of the way when they here you coming. Usually if they are deeper than 30 feet then I will see them. I have a lowrance lcx25c and i usually dont miss much with that unit.

[chugbug]

Thats what I was thinking ,if there real shallow 10- 15 ft or less I don't think I will mark them , not only are they spooked but the cone angle from the transducer is so small its hard to pick them up .I have the lowrance x 135 , good unit , I start marking fish good in the 20 ft level and don't pay much attention to the stuff above that as my sensitivity is turned up to about 85 % to pick up the fish and my lures down deep , so there is some interference up in the 10 ft range on the screen . . I'll turn the sensitivity down a little when I get up there and see what pops out on the screen .Just trying to find a starting point , thanks for the help .

[motoman]

youll see fish on the finder, in the 3rd week of sept. in the mouth of the river you can see the schools of them running around with some polarized glass"s, but there not the fish too target , very line shy, like he said up above move away from the boats look for there depth and fish just above them and you should hook up ! good luck

[chazx2]

I'm reading your posts here and am getting some great info, I'm new to the trolling scene for salmon, and am defenatly a greenhorn at it...I'm coming up the weekend after labor day for my first outing, I'm launching out of Port Ontario, and hopfully you Gents could point me in the right direction, They say to troll the mouth of Salmon River, But in what Direction??? also How's the Trench ??? I see you are using J plugs, What is a Good StandBy color For me To Purchase, I don't Have any And Want to buy a few, also are they ran behind any type of flasher dodgers??? thanks for any help possible... By the way any of you guys come down to NE Pa look me up I'll always be willing to take someone out Trolling For Stripers on Raystown Lake.....

[steelfire]

You can troll the mouth of the river first thing in the morning but I have a sneeking suspicion that more of the fish will be out in the 60 to 80' range. i will be up the weekend after you. In lowlight the #4 green glow ladder back j plug and in sun bloody nosed silver j plug are killer! try a mixture of spoons also like the nbk's and die hards. good luck and report back, I will be looking for info on depths!!

[chazx2]

thanks steelefire

[cdelong]

do you have to run a leader off release on the ball or can you just run your regular line off the release on the ball? I'm running 20# Trilene on both my reels and I have 12# finned balls. I got myself a few trolling combos with Shakespeare T20LCL reels and Bigwater 8' 3" medium rods. They seemed to be a good value between price/performance when I was looking around.

sorry for the newbness... I'll be heading out next weekend for the first time around the river.

[steelfire]

I run my regular 20lb main line thru the ball release. I use a 6' flouro leader before the lure.