king temp question

[dremarquis]

Hi all,

 

i just got my fish hawk x4 and have yet to take it out on Lake O. The temp chart that came with it states that the optimum temp for kings is 44 degrees. That seems a bit cold to me.

 

1. what temp do most of you shoot for with kings?

 

2. what temp do most of you shoot for with steelhead?

 

thanks,

 

dre

[bottom-feeder]

43 to 46 been good last few weeks....however they are starting to be taken up in 60 degree area as well....almost that time of year when temp is out the window (fish the marks )

cant help ya with steelies as I don't target them but I think I have heard around 50 degree

[keith]

44-48 degrees seems to work best for salmon for us, but as noted in the earlier post.  Salmon can be anywhere depending on bait, time of day, time of year, etc.  Steelhead typically are in the 52-58 degrees range.  

[bandrus1]

we put probe at 50 and run a rig above it and a rig below it.. if I ran 2 riggers id run 1 at 46 and other at 52

[Sheepdog264]

I like to put my spread in the 47-52 range and run a deep rod right below it

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[motoman]

42 to 54 for summer kings.

[Lund SSS]

For me this year it's been....50 and as Bandrus 1 stated go some above some below. The most important part has been finding the fish when you do you "cash in...!!!"

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Edited August 5, 2015 by Lund SSS

[Adk1]

42-44 as per captain keating

[JakeyBaby]

Fish your marks!

[Jeremy Goodison]

I always park my probe at 50. Then I fish lures as warm as 54 and cold as 42 . Once rods start to fire we dial it in a little tighter however there is always a meat rig or flasher fly swimming that 42 mark all day. Steelhead when we run offshore is always best for me when we're getting mid to high fifties in the upper 50 feet of water.

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[Tim Bromund]

I always look for 42 deg for the bottom of my spread. Everything else is above that, but i always have at least one line down in the ice water. Most of my bigger kings over the years have come out of the cold water.

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Edited August 5, 2015 by Tim Bromund

[Yankee Troller]

Don't fish temp! Fish marks on your FF. This weekend we caught kings in 39-40 degree water in Canada, and and last week we caught them at the Oak in 60+ degree water. In my opinion too many people worry about temp. For years we started at 60 degrees and worked deeper into the colder water with our spreads, but the more and more we fish Summer temps the more I realize it doesn't matter as much. Use that probe to repeat speeds they are liking that day.

[Sk8man]

Now that is the information I'd be going with especially at this point in the season    and fishing the marks anywhere around any bait is always a good idea too.

[skipper19]

Don't fish temp! Fish marks on your FF. This weekend we caught kings in 39-40 degree water in Canada, and and last week we caught them at the Oak in 60+ degree water. In my opinion too many people worry about temp. For years we started at 60 degrees and worked deeper into the colder water with our spreads, but the more and more we fish Summer temps the more I realize it doesn't matter as much. Use that probe to repeat speeds they are liking that day.

Yup! What Rick said!...Temp will drive you crazy and you will have everything running the same column of water based on that probe alone. Watch the finder and fish the marks. Otherwise you will have everything running in the so called preferences temperature, and then you will come on fish showing on the screen and discover you are way outta range for them with your setups. Pick a range to start with 60 degrees and down to 46 or so. Scatter the sets. No science! See fish and adjust from there. This is August fishing...not necessarily way off shore either unless you target the steelhead!

Speed on that probe is more important than temp...If you see the fish!

[BAZOOKAJOE]

Yup!! I fished for the last 5 years without a temp probe. And caught a lot just fishing the bait and marks.

[Sk8man]

For those folks just starting out or new to fishing for king salmon some additional basic information (based on my own experience at least) about them may help or be in order. Kings are a very special fish with special circumstances when compared with trout or most other fish for that matter. They have a very highly defined life cycle with fairly strict time limits imposed on them to feed, grow, breed and die. This situation needs to be considered when fishing for them at different points in the season, and it is especially important as we move toward the Fall. There are also big differences in fishing for mature vs. immature fish as they have very different needs or habits in their respective  parts of the life cycle.  The imatures wil actively feed all throughout the season increasing their growth rate rapidly while once the kings mature they are concerned mainly with procreation and propagation of their species and their feeding needs decrease as the season wears on and drops off rapidly with the changes going on in their bodies as the staging and actual spawning starts to occur.  These mature fish are now motivated and maybe "obsessed" with spawning concerns and the search for their ancestral root locations, "mates", and territorial defence of nesting or potential nesting sites so they become very aggressive in their behavior and this behavior is very different than feeding responses. Out in the lake as they are searching for or homing in on the streams or locations of their origin or birth they may unleash their aggression on any object coming to their attention especially if they perceive it to be a threat of some sort to their instinctual spawning concerns or processes.  In this case the use of bright shiney highly colored up or erratic action lures and attractors are the things to go with to provoke them and get them to evoke the aggressive behavior. Sometimes this even may translate to them attacking the attractors rather than the spoon or fly itself.

 

At this time of the season a much different "mind set" is needed to be adopted by the successful chinook fisherman. It is all about getting the the mature kings attention and provoking him to respond. The immatures will still respond to spoon and fly presentations as in feeding situations and scattered at different depths or mixed in with matures while staging kings may not respond to anything at all or only if provoked (sometimes repeatedly) and sometimes they can be seen in large groups on or toward bottom looking like stacked up cordwood off the mouth of or near stream mouths waiting for the water levels or conditions to be good for spawning. To be successful catching them it is necessary to understand this basic pattern in their behavior and the changes in strategies needed  to consistently catch them and during this time water temperatures are nearly totally irrelevant to them

Edited August 5, 2015 by Sk8man

[tinfin]

Well said Sk8man!

[dremarquis]

thanks very much to all who replied - i really appreciate the input!

 

andre

[Lined-out]

Great Information folks and best of luck when the derby starts!

[GlassWater Outdoors]

Thanks Sk8. 

[flashpoint]

Right on Sk8man! I agree with everything said....my findings if you fish off shore ( for us out of Oz I consider this 300 plus) is that temp plays more of a factor...but you have the option of setting high spoon rigs to pickup steelhead & keep your FF's around the deeper marks ( above & below 50 degrees) to target kings.

Once mid August hits....& these big adult kings are bottom hugging in 125 fow to 60 fow....temp is OUT! Don't be afraid to hit them on the head Laker style and run your rigs with in 4 to 6 ft of bottom. Piss'm off.....& watch the drag scream!

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[Patriot]

If I'm not seeing fish, I fish both sides of 54. But when I start seeing fish, that's where I put most of my eggs

[steelfire]

Right on Sk8man! I agree with everything said....my findings if you fish off shore ( for us out of Oz I consider this 300 plus) is that temp plays more of a factor...but you have the option of setting high spoon rigs to pickup steelhead & keep your FF's around the deeper marks ( above & below 50 degrees) to target kings.

Once mid August hits....& these big adult kings are bottom hugging in 125 fow to 60 fow....temp is OUT! Don't be afraid to hit them on the head Laker style and run your rigs with in 4 to 6 ft of bottom. Piss'm off.....& watch the drag scream!

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Well said!! Exactly what I do every August!! As a matter of fact...it's time!!

[Jeremy Goodison]

That's the better answer Patriot.. Fish temp if going blind however if your seeing them on the screen that's the temp they like at that day and at that moment

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[Jkopacz]

Usually set bottom rigger at 44 degrees,but always test the ice water,taken many large kings in 37 degree water,i did not believe it eithier,setting rigger at 150,no action bring up slowly 10 feet at a time,same with divers set for 300,bring up slowly ten foot at a time,this time of year its been deadly at times for us,try it see what u think

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