Best King techniques

[Chinook Chaser]

Reaching out to some of you seasoned king slayers. I don't have any copper or lead core. I have 2 riggers 2 dipsy rods and my rods for the boards. With what I have what is the best combo to run. I could stack riggers, run 2 dipsey rods and then a few off the boards with a drop weight. 3oz would get me down about 30 feet. Or I could take those downrigger rods and run them down off the boards as well. Any ideas or suggestions would be great.

[Paul Czarnecki]

It all depends on where you are fishing and how deep the kings are in that area. Two riggers, each with a single rod, and two wire divers are really all you should need to catch almost any King that swims. Many charter captains have made good careers out of killing kings with that exact setup.

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[LongLine]

My advise would be to always keep one rigg'r in the water and experiment with the rest until you find what works for you. 

 

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[ReelPower]

Full complement of Spin Doctors and flies off the riggers and dipseys with a stinger rod of you choice down the chute. Fish the cold water, avoid the temptation to fish the surface steel for action even though it might be slow, turn on the fish when you find 'em.

[Chinook Chaser]

So you guys would recommend not stacking riggers? Rod down the chute would be the one I am talking about with the in line weight(snap weight), deepest I can get this with what I currently have is 30ft this is with a 3oz weight.

[mr 580]

X2 on Paul's response. Concentrate on getting your riggers and dipsey's in the right water. Rather than stacking on the riggers add a slider for bonus fish. You can run board with snap weight but likely that won't be deep enough for kings at 30 feet. Get your rigger and dipsey program going then worry about getting a productive deep board bite with cores and coppers.

[Chinook Chaser]

It's hard to fight the urge to get out as many lines as possible. I wanna catch as many as possible. What if I put on about a 5oz weight? That's gotta get me down better.

[tiogafishaddict]

I've had good luck with using just the 2 riggers and 2 divers... mix of flasher/fly and spoons. I don't have down speed and temo so I constantly change things up and keep an eye on how the riggers r running. Same with dipseys. Very lucky to learn from some great guys that fish east.

Just got the copper finally. Dont be afraid to do your own thing.

[Frogger]

I think the tips from the top guys out there that were given seem to make a whole lot of sense. When you think about it, and what I learned this past winter from these guys is spend your time finding the Kings less time monkeying with rods trolling through dead seas. If your dead set on having a rod down the shoot go get a 300 or 400 copper other than that I like the two rigger rods and two dipsey attack plan.

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[Paul Czarnecki]

So you guys would recommend not stacking riggers? Rod down the chute would be the one I am talking about with the in line weight(snap weight), deepest I can get this with what I currently have is 30ft this is with a 3oz weight.

If you really want to put out every rod you own fish Lake Erie for walleyes--that technique works there.

Here on Lake Ontario, more often than not, LESS IS MORE. As in....you'll get MORE than enough salmon action by running 4 rods properly than you will running 8 that are doing nothing more than making your boat look like a pin cushion.

2 rigger rods with a single bait (either spoon or flasher) and 2 wire divers with spin doctors or e chips will produce plenty of salmon action IF your speed and direction of troll is correct and, of course, there are kings under your boat.

Good luck.

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[JakeyBaby]

If you really want to put out every rod you own fish Lake Erie for walleyes--that technique works there.

Here on Lake Ontario, more often than not, LESS IS MORE. As in....you'll get MORE than enough salmon action by running 4 rods properly than you will running 8 that are doing nothing more than making your boat look like a pin cushion.

2 rigger rods with a single bait (either spoon or flasher) and 2 wire divers with spin doctors or e chips will produce plenty of salmon action IF your speed and direction of troll is correct and, of course, there are kings under your boat.

Good luck.

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Spot on ^^^^^^^ not to mention you can work a specific area a lot easier and faster with less rods in the water!

Edited July 8, 2015 by JakeyBaby

[Chinook Chaser]

Thanks guys for all the help! When I go Friday i will run just the dipsys and riggers with a mix of flasher/fly and spoon. Think I will start with a flasher fly on one rigger and dipsy. Then others with spoons and hopefully I can find good temp I can find the kings.

[Paul Czarnecki]

Where will you be fishing?

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[TyeeTanic]

It all depends on where you are fishing and how deep the kings are in that area. Two riggers, each with a single rod, and two wire divers are really all you should need to catch almost any King that swims. Many charter captains have made good careers out of killing kings with that exact setup.

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^^^^ What he said.

[Has Been]

i have a 21' w/ 4 riggers . My best setup is 2 Dipsey w/ flasher fly or meat & 1 rigger down w/ flasher fly or meat & 2 spoons, one 10' above & one below .Do not crowd strike zone w/ to much stuff to spook fish. If they don't want the flasher, put a spoon on  one dipsey but I almost always keep one flasher out. The secret is to find the fish & if you do if they are biting you will have enough out w/ that setup to get them to hit . More is not better. When  I use my little boat off the  mouth a lot of times  I use 1 rod off one one of the 2 riggers I have on it & never more than 2  and catch as much or more than most out there.

[sea yea 2]

I can run 8 rods with 5 on riggers and 3 dipseys but i rarely do. If anything ill run 4-6 rods( depends on # of people as well) with 3 dipseys and 3 riggers.

I usually keep flies up top and run meat deeper. I spread a couple spoons and a plug around to complete my spread. I try to run about 40 feet between all my setups and only match depths if its a dipsey and a rigger( ie rigger down 50ft dipsey out 250 on 3 for 50 ft down)

[Chinook Chaser]

I am out of Hughs marina. West of sodus.

[hawkeye625]

Also keep in mind, when you do find active kings it's not uncommon to have multiple fish on at once.  How many angry kings can you handle at the same time?  2 are a handful, 3 gets hectic, any more than that is pretty much chaos, at least with only 2 guys on board.

 

If you really want to run the 5th rod, I'd suggest picking up a torpedo weight to match the depth you want to achieve.  They work pretty much like a drop weight and you won't have the added cost of a copper/leadcore set up.  You can run it on any rod and vary you lead length, short for aggressive fish or longer for negative fish.  Also easier to clear out of the way than a long line (copper/lead).

[Chinook Chaser]

Thanks for all of the help. When using a flasher and fly how long of a leader do you use?

[Paul Czarnecki]

You'll get

Lots of responses to that question too. To sum all of them up--22-32". It doesn't hurt to vary your leader length--they all work (at times) 😀

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[Chinook Chaser]

Thanks I have one that's a little short at 20 and one at 24 to try today. See what happens.

[pvelyk]

Best advice I can give having done the rodeo once, taking time off and coming back is get some confidence in one or two spoons.  Go out knowing this spoon get hits and always put it down.  Once you have that confidence playing with the rest of your setup is not very stressful because you know you have a proven lure working for you and if the fish are there you will get hits.  The other lures and setups become the bonus and when they starting going off you got more lures and setups to add to your confidence list.  But the best thing to keep in mind is keep it simple, don't try to get fancy getting more rods out just use what you have setup and get confidence in your setup.  I would avoid playing games with weights on flat lines for now, use your riggers and dipseys and build from a base setup.

Edited July 10, 2015 by pvelyk

[Chinook Chaser]

That makes sense. Have a few spoons that I usually run. Tried flasher flies for a short while yesterday and no luck. We also had a mostly blank screen until we moved in shallower. Then picked up 2 on spoons.

[Chinook Chaser]

Yesterday 7/10 was a little puzzling. I will elaborate. Heard some reports of good screens and kings around 150 to 180. We started at 150 and had good temps around 60. Fished 150 to 180 from 6 until 930. Blank screen most of the time. Moved into between 80 and 120 and marked a ton of bait but not many big hooks. Temps were not good untill on bottom. Most hooks were marked much higher from 60 up. If wanting to target kings do I stay with the temp this time of year or fish the bait which was mostly high in the water column as well. Coho we got was down about 40 which was 60 degrees. I know that they will travel out of there comfort zone to feed but is there a general patern I can follow. I don't think there is.

[Paul Czarnecki]

Fish the fish not the temp. Most anglers are WAY too fixated on temp. The fish don't care and neither should you.

The ONLY time I concern myself with down temp is when it shows a down break. A hard edge where cold water meets warmer water. That attracts and holds fish and that attracts and holds my attention.

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