Asking for help..........Please

[GlassWater Outdoors]

We are headed up to Oswego for a week at the end of August. I am experienced with Lake Trout fishing as well as Browns and landlocks but from what everyone has been telling me the LO salmon is an entirely different creature.  I am hearing to leave my spoons home because the end of August bite is pretty much strictly on meat and flies. If there is truth to this I will just buy what I need. Currently we are running an 18.5, center con with a 115 and a 9.9 kicker. One major question I have is down here and up on Champlain currents are not a big issue. I don't have a probe nor will I be able to get one before this trip. Will my 10 pound pancake weights be enough?  My plan was to keep it simple and run two riggers and 2 dipsys that it. (yes 2 people onboard).  My other question is.......... is it imperative to run wire on my dipsy rods? 

[bandrus1]

Buy a few paddles and flies.. End august they will be in tighter you will be okay with your weights with 2 riggers and 2 dipsies you will be in fine shape to go after fish as long as u have GPS speed and fish finder

[GlassWater Outdoors]

Yes and Yes on the GPS and Fish Finder. I have high end on both. Thanks for the reply.

[bandrus1]

You will be fine maybe 2 stinger paddles and 2 spin drs with a tom mik flies

Maybe one back up set up in case of a break off

[Sk8man]

It is indeed very beneficial to run wire (e.g. 30 lb 7 or 19 strand) on your dipsey rods.

[GlassWater Outdoors]

Thanks Sk up to this point I have always ran braid but I think I will switch to the wire. If not for anything else It will help me match what the couple of other boats I will be running with will be fishing. Saves a lot of computing in my already struggling brain. lol  I am going to wait to buy most of my flies and paddles up there as to try to help the local economy and keep the money where the fish and fishermen are. It seems to have a lot of local shops in the area.  Do you find much of a difference in the workability of the 7 over the 19 strand? 

[ontherise]

I say keep the spoons on board, I've caught late summer kings on them. Especially magnums.

[GlassWater Outdoors]

I say keep the spoons on board, I've caught late summer kings on them. Especially magnums.

You have no idea how happy that makes me!!!! I hate to fully leave my comfort zone. lol

[bandrus1]

You def can catch them on spoons that late no questions asked.. They are just really active in Aug and a stealthy spoon presentation is not needed

[GlassWater Outdoors]

You def can catch them on spoons that late no questions asked.. They are just really active in Aug and a stealthy spoon presentation is not needed

I will keep the mags on board. Thanks

[wicked salmon]

I'm very dependent on my fish hawk probe. If you watch the angle of the down rigger cables you can get a idea of the current. When in doubt troll north to south.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[GlassWater Outdoors]

Great advice Wicked. Much appreciated. The FishHawk is next my list but it isnt going to happen before this trip. Manual fish hawk temp probe is going to be the only fishhawk item on the boat

[TyeeTanic]

I caught a 35 lb salmon on an alligator spoon in mid-August. USE SPOONS.

 

I get 60% of my hits on wire diver SD and flies. USE SD and Flies or PADDLES and Flies!

 

We have landed +20 lb salmon on 300 or 400 copper, with meat. Ditto with meat on riggers. USE MEAT OFF COPPER and/or RIGGER!

 

LOL. Sorry to poke fun. But there are no real hard core rules out here.  The fish change from day to day, one day all fly bite, another day mostly spoons, another only meat.  And I literally mean it changes in a 24 hour period.

 

If you're on the US side, why not 3 rods per person? Aren't these the rules there? (I am in Canada, North Shore of Lake O).

 

For 6 rods, I would start off as follows:

 

- 1 rigger spoon at 44F, put a slider on this rigger with another smaller spoon.

- 1 rigger with 11" paddle and meat (cut herring or whole anchovy is what we use).

- early in the morning, 1 x 7 to 10 color leadcore on a UV spoon, off board.

- early in the morning 1 x 250 or 300 copper on SD and meat, off board.

- 2 x wire diver with SD or protroll and flies.

 

If you don't have boards for the copper or leadcore, Than consider another wire diver, and

put either a SD/fly on it or a straight spoon (off 8 to 10 ft leader).  You can maybe run a flatline

down the chute (but I don't like to do this).

 

If you're going to buy boards get TX44's.

 

For divers, yes wire. Fleas are out there by the bucket now, and accumulating on lines. Braid will be useless, and mono has WAY too much stretch, will be difficult to pop the dipsey and result in losses. Get 7 strand, 1000 ft of wire. Fits on a Convector 30D reel perfectly with about 150 ft of braid backing.

[TyeeTanic]

Great advice Wicked. Much appreciated. The FishHawk is next my list but it isnt going to happen before this trip. Manual fish hawk temp probe is going to be the only fishhawk item on the boat

 

If you are using the Fishhawk TD, that is a great device for the money. Put the TD on a dedicated rod with 10 to 12 oz's of weight. Check water temps every 30 minutes and adjust lines into the 44F - 52F territory (most targeting 48F, with a few at the top and bottom of this temp range.)

[Sk8man]

Not sure whether you have the older round wheel type Fish Hawk with the probe and 100 or more ft of probe wire or the newer TD model but  despite the fact that temps change with currents, location and the rise and fall of the thermocline it is very useful to at least take temp readings when you start out now that the thermocline is forming or has formed.  With the old model you may need additional weight (sinkers) to get your probe wire as straight down as possible (but not too much to overly strain the wire) and let your boat come to as near a stop as possible before deploying. The TD can be attached (carefully because the original attachment release is flimsy plastic) to your downrigger wire and with the boat stopped run it down a hundred ft or so and take readings every five ft as it goes. Bring it up relatively quickly and record the temps at each 5 ft interval on a recording sheet and look for the steepest change in temps (largest change in degrees) that will be the location of the thermocline. . Look for bait and or fish activity there too but the kings are known to go out of the so-called "preferred" temp to find food so they may often will be in water in the lower forties so if you are spotting fish around the thermocline always run at least one or two lines with say a flasher/fly or Spinney below it in the 42-48 degree temps. The wire will help greatly getting down in that range with large dipseys.  I'm a 7 strand guy so no real experience with the 19 but the guys that use it on here seem to like it real well and they feel that it exerts less friction on the tip of the rod

Edited July 21, 2015 by Sk8man

[Has Been]

Late Aug at least on the West End The Fish can be down 120' or as high as 30'. Throw temp out the window that time of year as long as there is no upwelling. Fish Marks or bait. Can't tell you the times I have caught kings without a mark on the screen.

 

Run 2 flasher fly or meat off the dipseys .I use 65# braid on mine w/ no probs for years. If the Fleas are bad you have to check them every 30 min or so.

 

 On The Riggers you could put 2 more flasher flies or meat spaced apart 25-30'. Or put down 2 spoons.  I like mags but the 28 size gets fish also. For spoon color I like Blk green glo    Spook   Blk/silver purple    Silv Purple   Glo Frog . I like a little glo on all my spoons that time of year. Some days they don't want the flashers but I like to keep at least one out that time of year. If you get a hit at a depth, don't put everything at that depth to spook the fish.

 

 For speed if you don't have down speed( I don't ) you can use your GPS for SOG . Direction of troll can be critical. Troll in s curves. Use A bag or bucket to dial it in.Play w/ the throttle .

 

 I start out w/ 25' leads for my flashers  and my spoon a little longer & lengthen as day goes on if no hits.

 

 I also like get my dipseys away from the boat as the sun comes up . King can be very skittish some days. Good Luck.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Has Been

[GlassWater Outdoors]

Thanks Tyee,  I have boards I just figured I would run as simple of a set as I could at the start till I could figure the whole game out a little. I am gonna just fish it as I would my hometown lakes vary the speeds and see what goes. 

[whaler1]

Thanks Sk up to this point I have always ran braid but I think I will switch to the wire. If not for anything else It will help me match what the couple of other boats I will be running with will be fishing. Saves a lot of computing in my already struggling brain. lol  I am going to wait to buy most of my flies and paddles up there as to try to help the local economy and keep the money where the fish and fishermen are. It seems to have a lot of local shops in the area.  Do you find much of a difference in the workability of the 7 over the 19 strand? Braid

Braid works fine

[GlassWater Outdoors]

Sk I have the newer mod and first thing I did was replace the clip.  Has Been Thanks a lot. All great advice guys. I am extremely appreciative.

[tuffishooker]

Ditto on spoons !either clean or as a stacker with a Spin Doctor and fly .

[John Kelley]

I say keep the spoons on board, I've caught late summer kings on them. Especially magnums.

I will have to second that!!  Caught them on spoons all season long.