What to do?......What to do?............

[CaptSpike]

Heading out to Ontario this Friday. This is my game plan, tell me if I'm crazy and suggest a better on, lol.

First find fish. Start looking in 80-120' of water for bait and fish. If nada head further out.

Once bait and fish are located drop temp gage to check for temp range. Look for 48 if I can find it. Put deepest lure at that temp and work up. First lure out will be a white spin doc with white fly. Cheat a NK28 silver green glow spoon above that.

Second line out a wire set up with purple dipsey dragging a bloody death spin doc and matching fly, let back oh say 180 to start??

third lure will be second wire set up with a mountain dew spin doc with green crinkle fly. Let back 220 or so?????

Fourth rod out a savant spoon alwive pattern (not sure which one first) with a orange and black NK28 cheated above it.

That was my plan and changing if things don't fire.

Below are pics of what I have available so if you see a better combo or have another suggestion for location depth etc, I'm all ears.

Thanks,

Spike

Took out the pics, removed them from the site by accident, no need to put them back up as I got my answers.

Thanks!

[Richard]

My preferance would be the blue dolphind set up in lew of the bloddy death with the chartruse (sp) dipsy. I am sure others would disagree. I would think with the temps lately the fish would be a little deaper than what you have your wires set at. I would start with my wires set at 250' and 225' unless you are marking fish at a depth less that 70 feet. 250' at a 2.5 setting should be around 82' down and the 225' should be about 75' down. Two weeks ago our fish were down 100 to 110' down. I would let more wire out every half hour if not getting hit, in 25 foot increments. Our fish and bait came over 90 to 110 feet of water.

Good luck and tight lines.

Richard

[TrophySeeker]

Have you has success cheating a spoon above a flasher/fly? I only tried that once, and had enough tangles not to try it again.

[Fish Magnet]

I would drop my deepest set down to about 40 or 42 degrees and work up from there. All my biggest fish have come in the real cold water.

[Tank]

Have you has success cheating a spoon above a flasher/fly? I only tried that once, and had enough tangles not to try it again.

Sponge, I do it, not a ton of success, they usually take the flasher/fly, but never a tangle either. I run the fixed cheater 15 feet above the flasher. Tank.

[TrophySeeker]

Tank,

I've had the opposite problem. I would typically get hits on the cheater, usually a steelhead. A six foot cheater line can get pretty tangled with the flasher fly. At least it did for me. I fish alone about 1/2 the time, so I need to be creative to get as many baits in the water as possible. The Flasher/Fly w/cheater spoon took fish, but made a heck of a mess. I now stick with spoons only when using sliders (cheaters).

[Tank]

Sponge, I think your saying that when the fish hits the cheater it gets tangled with the flasher/fly when you bring the fish in?? I do understand that, but like I said I have taken most hits on the flasher/fly. I thought you meant you get tangled while trolling around with out a fish on. I have had a few tangles when landing a fish hooked on the cheater, but I usually just cut it and tie another. Tank

[jekyll]

My mother wouldn't let me play with the blender when I was a lad. That sticks with me today. No cheater with a flasher/fly in any position. Those suckers are like a blender. I don't want anything going through that but a fish, no cheater to get FUBAR'd. I stick with spoons in both positions.

[CaptSpike]

My mother wouldn't let me play with the blender when I was a lad. That sticks with me today. No cheater with a flasher/fly in any position. Those suckers are like a blender. I don't want anything going through that but a fish, no cheater to get FUBAR'd. I stick with spoons in both positions.

So you would just run the spin doctors alone or on the wire, is that how I understand it? Will be my first time using spin doc's, always used dodgers in the past.

Thanks,

Spike

[REELJERKS]

I run spin docs and E chip flashers off my riggers with fixed cheaters...the trick to it is to bring the down rigger up with the line still in the release...if a fish hist the fixed cheater than you dont have to worry about that and if you have to cut the cheater to untangle no problem it's only 8' of floro!!!

[TrophySeeker]

"the trick to it is to bring the down rigger up with the line still in the release"

I must be dumber than %&$# today. How or why would you keep the fish from tripping the release? You basically use the downrigger as your reel? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of enjoying the fight?

[jekyll]

Spike:

I save the cheaters for spoon rigs only. F/F off rigger, dipsy or copper without cheaters. DR with a spoon and cheated with a spoon. It may ony be a bit of flouro but it takes time to clean up tangles and rerigg cheaters. If you have a large crew, that's a different story. I fish with a small crew and don't want to spend time untagling and retying cheaters. Your results may vary.

[Tank]

Reeljerks, I agree, thanks. Sponge, what Mark means(correct me if i'm wrong) is if a fish does not hit and your bringing the rig in, keep it in the release until you can grab the cheater off the line and then release the mainline from the release. with out a fish on. This way you only tangle when a fish is on....but your reply made me laugh..and not in a "laughing at" way at all!! Tank

[TrophySeeker]

See - I told you I was dumb. I didn't even think about bringing a rigger up without a fish. In my little imaginary world that never happens...

[Tall Tails]

We always run cheaters above the attractors. We also handle them like Reeljerks does. When there are Fish to catch in Mexico Bay (ha ha) that cheater above the the attractor can get HOT!!!!!!!!

You need to think about your lead off the ball with the attractor if you are running it more than 12 feet you could tangle because you giving that attractor a long leash. In a king set my leads are typically short so I can run that cheater with little problems.

[Rich D]

Here is another thing to throw in the mix. A friend of mine showed me this from Mich. Instead of running the your typical 5-8' leader for your slider/stacker, make it short, like 18"-24". I know you are going to say that short? YUP and it works killer, and you will not get the tangles to your main lure. Brian that is another little tidbit, lol. We deploy these all the time whether it is for the slider or the mupp rig, and I will use it above the flasher also. Good Luck.

Rich

[Tall Tails]

[jekyll]

Let me better target my concern with tangles. I'm concerned with catching a fish on the cheater and having the cheater slide down to the flasher.

Does the tension of the fish stop the flasher from spinning and ultimately tangling the snot out of the cheater?

[Tall Tails]

Jekyll,

If the cheater slides all the way to the attractor, all that should tangle a little bit will be the fly leader. I am not sayin it wont make a mess in the net!!! But I would rather put fish in the boat and deal with a tangle than not. Since dodgers came back from the dead a few years ago one of the hottest sets has been the cheater over the top.

Ask Brian your dockmate about this and tell him Brian from tall tails was talking to you about it. It is one of there go to programs!!!!!!

Good Luck with it!

Brian

Team Tall Tails

[jekyll]

Guys, I can admit when I'm wrong. I experimented with this heavily and it works well when using the DR to bring up the rig. My riggers hadn't been keeping up with the dipsies but once I started mupping the riggers they surpased the dipsies. I matched colors to present a bait school scenario. All hits came on the fly.

Thanks Mark and Brian.