Setting up spreads

[Gill-T]

I was wondering what percentage of everyone's lines in the water have spoons? What percentage have a flasher/combo? If a flasher bite is happening, do you pull all the spoons out of the water?

[Billy V]

What are you targeting? Makes a big difference....

[Gill-T]

Ok, lets say Kings

[GAMBLER]

I start out with on flasher in my rigger spread and atleast one on a wire.

[Fishtails]

For me, it depends somewhat on the time of year. The earlier in the season it is, the more spoons I start out with. I don't know why really, that's just what seems to work for me. I've been told I don't run enough spoons later in the season, that's probably true ??

Early on in the spring season, I start out the day with maybe a 75% spoon spread. That tunes down to about 50% to 60% spoons by late June. By mid to late Aug, I was running spoons about 33%.

That's my starting point, but I let the fish decide and give them what they want.

Rod

Team Lucky Enuff

[Gill-T]

I would have to say this year I ran similar to fishtales. Lots of spoons in the spring....including behind flashers, mostly because it was so successful and I could not get flys to go. By the end of August, it was spin doctors and flies almost exclusively.

[ray koziatek]

spring -80% spoons (coho rig 2) no flys west end,,, summer west end lake 70-spoons, 30 fly,,,east end 70 fly 30 or less spoons,,,,late summer west end 30% spoons 70 fly,,east end 80% fly,this is my first fall (late sept-oct)fishing back to 80% spoons or higher for me on the west end,,,,this is not nessesarly what i ran but what was my best catch ratio for each type...

[larry]

The currents you are fishing should help you decide on what to put down.

Spoons are more speed forgiving and will work in most conditions, if you try forcing spin docs to run in strong currents you will not generate many hits. They may work better if only run out on the dipseys in tough current conditions. Spoons have even more erratic action run across stiff currents and will pay dividends.

Also, cut bait,sd's will catch larger fish so if shakers are a problem on the spoons it may call for more flash in the program. When these are firing you put less down and get more. Don't get caught up in percentages because even if this helps you catch 10% more fish you'll still have to make up 20% more lies, 30% more excuses as to what got away and 50% more gas to get the 10% of the lake that has the 90% of the fish. Go figure...

[ray koziatek]

THERE YA HEARD IT FROM THE LIPS OF LARRY THE PROFESSIONAL ,guess this poll is over,now i gotta start lieing,complain about those stupid hooks not working proper,andfigure out where the he!! all the fish went i found last trip!!!!!!!!!!!

[GAMBLER]

Larry,

Forcing Spin Doctors? Spin Doctors have a speed range of 1.5 - 4.5 on the fast setting and .5 - 1.5 on the slow setting. If you can't get hits on Spin Doctors in a current, try changing the setting. With a speed and temp unit, you should be able to get a Spin Doctor to work. If the speed at the ball is 2.8 in slow current and 2.8 in a stronger current, the Spin Doctor should work them same. Just adjust your boat speed.

[larry]

Whoa, tough crowd, first off the "professional" by my name has nothing to do with being a charter capt for 27 years on L.O. it is some beta testing my son "BlueEye" is working on for the improvements to this site.

Secondly, my point was to have fun and catch fish not to worry about if you have the right % of each lure down. Yes, I agree SD's can work under many conditions with those adjustments but when they're not firing you can waste a lot of fishing time adjusting leader length, switching holes. flies, colors, trying to get the action just right to trigger hits when sometimes a simple low cost spoon will put fish in the box even when conditions are less than ideal with a lot less effort.

[GAMBLER]

Even if a flasher is not firing, it should be left in your spread. Flashers suck fish into your spread from a distance. They may not hit that rig but they turn away and see a spoon and crush it. Without it in your spread, that king may not come into your spread. The OLD LOGIC of flasher/ fly rig are for August is out the door. Too many people still go by this old logic. I start running flashers in May and leave them in my spread all season.

[motoman]

anyone ever run some flashers off the balls with nothing behind them and set a spread up above them ? -hook the leader too the balls is what i mean?

[Yankee Troller]

i cant vote b/c it all depends on my mood and whats been hot. This year by fly bite didnt take off till mid summer. We used a lot of spoons..........especially up west this spring. So what I would do is spoon the riggers and put paddle son the wires. Towards late summer everything had a paddle on it.

[Billy V]

Definitely a tough crowd Larry! For those of you that don't know Larry, he's one of the very best spoon fishermen on the entire lake and he's been at the wheel for just about every one of the Runnin Rebel's Pro-Am events, even winning a Challenge Cup or two along the way...might be worth listening to what he has to offer. I know I've learned a lot from both him and Jerry in the past.

[cdelong]

What is the reference point from east to west.... the Genny??

I had decent luck with just spoons this fall and my largest King on a J-plug just 1/2 mile from the river.

I'll gladly "hire" one of you big guns in the spring to take a ride on my boat and show me the ropes for a day.

[larry]

Billy V. thanks for the support ol' habinero buddy. Motoman, yes running a

flasher off the ball is a religion in Canadian waters, it hasn't caught on much here yet but according to one Capt. we met in the ProAm it made a big difference when targeting salmon with one as opposed to not running one. You'll need to add a back weight line to hold the flasher in line. Flashers and spin docs are imitating feeding salmon, the trailing bait is the meal that the real salmon think the fake one missed. Spins do a better job imitating a salmon strike because the loop they make more closely resembles a salmon checking the bait with his verticle line for vibrations from the bait. That said, it will also have a negative effect when fish are smaller or if your targets are brown trout because they won't want to come in amoungst those feeding salmon you're imitating, they could but more often they'll shy away.

[ray koziatek]

looks like blueyes is gonna put (jerk) under my name just when i thought i was ..............

[No Promises]

I was running flasher fly set ups in April for browns. They may not be a 8" spin doc and hammer but a flasher and fly. When I say set up's, I look at more than if the fish came on the rigger, or a wire, or copper. The set up on some days may be the whole side of the boat. What a few guys said earlier it is not if one rod is hot I look at what side is hot. Both sides of my boat are set up are vary different. I may have as many as two rods just to complement the one rod. That set up rod may have a fly or a spoon but alot has to do with the weather. I agree completely with Larry. Just because the "The Dog" was hot yesterday it may not be the next. If it's 4+ foots my set up rod would have a spoon on it and have flasher near it. I know that if that same spoon is run in clean water it just sits there. The flasher is catching the fish, it's just not on the same rod.

[larry]

Forget it Ray, I'm just Chad's guinnea pig for the site, the things we have to do for our kid's... I don't post a lot so I might have worded things badly, especially with the "professional" label, but my intentions were to help and keep it fun. Keep posting and stay real even if you don't get it right every time it's usually witty and funny.

Gambler: you are correct with not waiting till August to put out the heavy artillary, the Niagara ProAm in June was won by a Canadian Team that ran SD's , CB's and spoons. This is strickly a big fish tournament set though and not a charter catch everything set. It also struggled the first day of the tourney in Niagara currents and their spoons kept them in it. In other words, try it first and find what's working and go with what works.

[Gill-T]

Yep Larry....a Guinea Pig with a Marlboro hanging out of it's mouth!

[Storm Warning II]

anyone ever run some flashers off the balls with nothing behind them and set a spread up above them ? -hook the leader too the balls is what i mean?

I actually run a flasher, actually, usually an Opti Dodger right above my deep rigger that is ALWAYS a Silver Streak Mag Ole Yeller or Hot Lobster.