I have a question

[dieselhp]

A few weeks ago I was fishing the lake and catching fish 65-100 fow. I day after a big blow I came out of the river and saw fish jumping all over. I am thinking the lake turned over. Ok if so the mature fish are going to going to run the river. Now to the question. If the lake turned over, I assume the temp came down enough to bring them up. Why are fish still being caught in 300 fow. Does it have to do with the age of the fish and the ones that are going to spawn? Do the younger fish stay in deeper water no matter the temp? Yet I fished 65- 100 fow after that and nothing.

Thanks for the help

Rick

[GAMBLER]

Next years juvinile kings and steelhead will be out there all the time at this time of the year. You will still find some spawners lingering out there too. Most tribs. get late runs of kings. Usually the Genny sees a second good run around Halloween. The steelies don't hit most tribs until Halloween also. Go out there and fish in the section of water above the thermalcline. The steelies can be anywhere in that slug of water but for the most part, the kings are down near the thermalcline. Good luck.

[rail bird]

What you have this time of year are fish that are going to spawn and fish that are not. The fish rolling on the surface close to shore are staging for the fall run. They are not in their prefered temperature range as at this point it's all about reproduction.

The water temprature plays an important part as to whats going on with the non staging fish. What you tend to get this time of year are fairly uniform tempratures in terms of depth and across the surface. The thermocline is often very deep near shore. If there are non staging fish near shore they are hugging the bottom and may be very difficult to target.

As you go away from shore you will eventually find some cooler water and a thermocline closer to the surface. I like to target the area where the thermocline is less than 60 feet down. If you don't have down temp and there are no boats fishing off shore to give you a place to start you can still find fish. Head a few miles off shore then put down a clean spoon set up using NK's or some other spoons that work well at higher speeds. If you have two riggers drop one down between 50 and 60 feet and drop the other between 30 and 40 feet. Run a free slider on each rigger and you will have the water column pretty well covered. Get your boat speed between 3 and 4mph and keep heading deeper untill you take a hit. make sure your lures are wobbling and not turning over at the high speeds. Once you find a fish you can work that area.

Later in the season The cold water will push closer to shore and that will bring the fish in. At that point you can look for surface breaks for places to start.

Good Luck

[dieselhp]

rail bird

Thanks for the info! What is a free slider?

Thanks

Rick

[Don M.]

A free slider is a leader with a swivel and a clip. Hook the spoon to the clip or direct tie it and after you set the downrigger hook the rig using the swivel to your line and let it slide down. It will settle at the belly in your line. You can also use a rubber band looped on the line to SET a fixed 2nd spoon in place after you zero in on the depth the fish are at. Just loop the rubberband on the line at the desired depth and hook the swevel through the rubber band and then onto the line.

[dieselhp]

Thanks Don I will have to try that.

Rick

[traveling man]

dieselhp, i will be out of oswego sunday. give me a shout, i will be on 68 or 5. maybe we can find some silver fish. what do you go by on the radio?