Want more fish

[Chinook Chaser]

It seems like catching trout and salmon on  lake ontario was much easier around 10 years ago. We would simply put out some nk mags and slam the salmon. Didnt even have a fish finder. I am trying to get serious again about this type of fishing and it seems like things have changed and its not as easy as it used to be. Anyone have ideas why this is so? Maybe they dont stock as much as they used to. Also some general questions on how to run my lines, currently I have flea flicker and everything tied direct to swivels and no leader (this is how I used to do it but it was 14lb mono, before fleas).  Is this wrong? I here a lot of talk about florocarbon leaders, and should I tie my spoons direct and skip the swivel? I also tried running dodgers and flashers with a fly and it doesnt seem to matter what type of swivels I use I always end up with a tangled mess to the point that I have given up using them for now. Any ideas would help, burning up lots of fuel with no fish!

[insufishent]

your flasher fly problem is probably due to the amount of line you are running between the dr ball and the flasher. salmon are not line shy i run 20 lb flea flicker to the swivel no leader for trout i use 12lb leaders 10 feet long. also your speed is a factor some days the magic number is 2.3 the next it could be 3.4 and it makes all the differance in the world. also try running nk28 instead of mags.

[Kuba]

Last year I used SDs with spoons all the time, had great luck. This year I'm just running bare spoons with same results.

I don't use leaders at all, the smallest possible swivel attached to the spoon, no tangles and no twisting. 20lb line here.

Sds at one point were twisting my lines a lot. And I mean a LOT! That was with swivels that come with them.

[Sweet Caroline]

Been fishing the lake seriously for 25 years and the past 5 years have been the best ever for us. I would say 10 years ago was when it was just starting to get good. we have had some record catch rates the past few years according to the DEC. Fall river mouth fishing was spectacular during the late 80's early 90's from mid-August to mid Sept when I first started but pretty tough "numbers-wise" in the Summer. Nowadays the May-August bite has been insane and starts slowing down late August. Not sure why the change from the past but I''m not complaining.

[Big Dave]

The water cleared up and some invasives came into the lake ,  fleas, gobys, etc.   Things change. Good ballbearing swivels are a must.   If you hit bottom the swivel on the dodger or flasher may get dirt in it that won't let it spin like it should.

[LongLine]

The water cleared up and some invasives came into the lake

 

 

BINGO!  You're going to have to move out a little farther than before and try more "stealth" type  approaches.  i.e. leaders, dipsy's etc.  Also be careful not to fish "under" the fish.

 

Tom B.

(LongLine)

 

 

[Chinook Chaser]

Thanks everyone for the great info! Tried it again a couple of weeks ago. Ran 6 lines, 5 riggers one dipsy. Had lines from 40 down to 90. Trolled for 4 hours with nothing. Tried different speeds marked a ton if fish but nothing. Changed spoons several times. Added about 30 foot leaders to my 30lb flea flicker line using 14lb mono with a blood knot as well. I will keep not give up.

[Tim Bromund]

The stocking numbers are the same as 10 years ago, plus with all of the natural reproduction going on, there are a LOT more kings in the lake than there used to be.  Invasives have cleared the water up so much that the tactics have changed quite a bit.

 

5 riggers is way to much these days IMO, I used to have 4 on the boat but with all the other delivery options out there now, I took 2 of them of and only run 2, 3 seems to be a popular number for riggers on a lot of boats if you have good access to the middle of the transom to run a chute rigger.  We run a lot of different presentations now that weren't all that common 10 years ago. 

 

I typically run a 6 rod spread, 2 riggers, 2 divers and 2 lead cores or coppers off of planer boards.  On occasion I'll run double divers (2 per side with 1 on a 1 setting and the other on a 3.5).  Divers are run mostly on 30 lb seven strand stainless steel wire, or if it's not flea season, super braids like power pro or fireline. Overall the program is much more stealthy than it used to be.

 

What port did you fish out of? 

 

Do you have a down speed and temp probe on your boat?

 

We're running a lot more Flasher/Flies than spoons these days, particularly for kings.

 

Tim

Edited August 8, 2013 by Tim Bromund