cowbell set-ups for lakers

[bluewater]

Just wondering if someone could explain a typical cowbell set-up to me.  I use just about everything for lakers except those.  Just looking for with or without flasher, distances and what goes after the cowbells.  Thanks.

[John Kelley]

No flasher, just the spinners, and you can try a variety of lures behind them from 12"-24" behind the cowbells.  I have been using salmon flies behind mine, but kwikfish, spin-n-glows, and spoons are also popular.  Silver base color seems to work better than gold on Lake Ontario for me as well.  Hope this helps.

[gokudl3]

Peanuts too

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app....Doug

[Fish Hunter]

Yellow, or green/chartruse cowbells seem to work pretty good for us, in front of peanuts, or spin-n-glo's.

[bandrus1]

just an fyi if you dont know the slang term peanut they are called wobble troll by some brands

[GAMBLER]

Use Hammerhead cowbells with a peanut or Spin n glow 30" behind the cowbells.  Run 2 riggers 1' - 5' off the bottom with one 10' behind the ball and the other 15' off the ball.  Keep your speed between .7 and 1.7 mph. 

Edited June 11, 2013 by GAMBLER

[Lund SSS]

Use Hammerhead cowbells with a peanut or Spin n glow 30" behind the cowbells.  Run 2 riggers 1' - 5' off the bottom with one 10' behind the ball and the other 15' off the ball.  Keep your speed between .7 and 1.7 mph. 

....and if anyone knows a thing or too about "chickens" it's Gamble.....         sorry Brian couldn't resist

[bluewater]

Thanks for the detailed info guys, I am planning an all day trip out of oswego saturday and have 1 really good "chicken" spot, lol, that I do well in so I thought I would try a few cowbell set-ups in hopes my catch ratio goes up a little. 

[bluewater]

Use Hammerhead cowbells with a peanut or Spin n glow 30" behind the cowbells.  Run 2 riggers 1' - 5' off the bottom with one 10' behind the ball and the other 15' off the ball.  Keep your speed between .7 and 1.7 mph. 

I was looking online for these cowbells what size do you use?  I see they have the 3,4,5 sizes or does it really matter?? Do you run the peanuts/spin n glows bare?

Edited June 13, 2013 by bluewater

[GAMBLER]

I run the 5/0 90% of the time.  4/0 will work when the fish are heavily pressured. 

[bluewater]

Went out of Oswego today with my new laker set-ups, hammerhead cowbell with peanuts and spin n glows went exactly as you had described gambler and did well landed 5 lost one.  They were much larger also than the ones I normally catch thank you for the info, great new set-ups.

[GAMBLER]

Went out of Oswego today with my new laker set-ups, hammerhead cowbell with peanuts and spin n glows went exactly as you had described gambler and did well landed 5 lost one.  They were much larger also than the ones I normally catch thank you for the info, great new set-ups.

 

Glad I could help. 

[bluewater]

Largest one was probably around 15 pounds and 31 inches long!!!

[BP Swing]

Can someone give me a clue as to what size/colors to use of the spin n glow and peanuts to use on cowbells? (WTF are peanuts-small salmon flys?) Thanks

[Sk8man]

Hold on....I'll take some pics of setups for you to scope out and maybe it will be clearer.

 

1 pic - Light weight hammerhead cowbells in sizes 3 and 5

 

2 pic - conventional cowbells (formerly called "flashers")

 

3 pic- "beercan cowbells with a Twin Minnow (used like peanuts for lakers)

 

4 pic - Spin -N-Glow used like a peanut behind the cowbells

Edited August 9, 2014 by Sk8man

[BP Swing]

Thanks buddy. Maybe a flatfish or quickfish might work if going that slow too. Its crazy that setup works and doesnt scare away everything within 10 miles. LOL Will def give it a try. Im getting tired of the Salmon thing this year and I like lakers anyways.

[Sk8man]

A flatfish or Quickfish will work...have to troll slow though 1.6-2.2 (max).  (slower with riggers) I run mine (cowbells) on separate roller rods with a 32-36 oz weight. You can tell when the speed is right regardless of whether you have a down speed indicator or not by the rod tips that should pulsate rhythmically.

Edited August 9, 2014 by Sk8man

[Kevin J Legg]

Gamblers got it right.

[GAMBLER]

Flat fish and Kwikfish work but you can not hit bottom or they will pick up zebra muscles. Lakers like whites, glows, silvers and sometimes wacky colors like all pink.

[Sk8man]

I'd like to qualify or "rectify" something before it generates questions....the disparity in the speeds mentioned by Brian (Gambler or maybe should be called "Mr.Laker" ). I've fished cowbells (formerly called flashers) for lakers on all the Finger Lakes where they occur ( for more than 40 years) and also fished for them on Lake Ontario and in my view both of us may be correct. While most of my fishing is on lakes like Seneca, Keuka, Cayuga and Owasco etc. Brian fishes them intensely primarily (and very successfully) on Lake Ontario. The lake currents in these bodies of water (and indeed on each of the Finger Lakes for that matter) are very different in many respects and they are always varying in direction, intensity, location, and duration and change often even within different sections of these bodies of water on a given day or sometimes within hours with wind changes. Lake Ontario seemingly has very diffuse but strong current compared with the other smaller bodies. When trolling flashers you want to be trolling against or across (e.g. diagonally) but NOT WITH the current to be most successful with flashers (or most other methods). This is for a number of reasons but most importantly all the blades will revolve better and your weight won't hang up as easily and the action of the lure whether it be peanut, Spin-N-Glow or spoon, or cut bait etc. will be much livelier. With stronger currents (Lake O) the cowbells have much more resistance against the front of the blades so the trolling speed may be reduced from what it is in less strong current (some of the Fingers). I also assume that the .7 -1.7 is the down speed. My reference is to GPS as I don't have a down speed indicator. Most of the time the rod tips and feel of the rod guide my speed (looking for that rhythmically pulsating tip). The bottom line is if you are fishing Lake O with flashers follow Brian's advice the slower the better usually and if fishing the Fingers you may want to take into consideration what I mentioned above.

Edited August 9, 2014 by Sk8man

[GAMBLER]

.7 to 1.7 is my down speed. Over 1.8, the cowbells thump really hard and the catch rate goes down. Also I find more big fish like the slower end of the speeds I listed.

[Sk8man]

Yep there is that point there that it be comes ineffective if you go too fast if in doubt go slower.....and I fully agree the big ones like it slow most of the time...especially fishing them in the winter.

[Big Water]

I never intentionally target lakers at Lake O, but how would running a 1 or 2 color leadcore off of the rigger work?  I'm not crazy about putting the ball that close to the bottom in the event it gets caught on something but I know when I'm targeting them at Seneca it helps to bounce bottom with the ball once in a while.  With the core, you could keep the ball off of the bottom and let the cowbells churn up the silt.  I'm assuming peanuts and spin-n-glows ride higher than the cowbells since they would have some amount of air in the cavity.  Any thoughts?

[Sk8man]

I think rather than risking hanging up a cannonball and losing a leadcore rig I'd just go conventional and use a rod set up for cowbells with a heavy weight (32oz sinker) and bounce bottom with that...much more control over it and less risky. I use a n SWR (secret weapon rig) which is what you are describing but not with cowbells mostly with a spoon. The cowbell approach with leadcore gives much less control moving over a changing bottom structure.

Edited August 9, 2014 by Sk8man

[signalman]

Hey les I run a mini set on Seneca sometimes and it work,s well on the laker,s.small silver set of flasher,s and a peanut behind behind  off of the downrigger.