First Timer Here..

[Captain George]

First Timer Here..

Any insight is appreciated here guys, I am depending on y'all for help.. First time trip comin up here for the 4th with my father. We have been fishing Erie our whole lives and my dad's dream is to catch a King before he gets too old. Planning on staying on the West Side of the Lake and launching out of Wilson area. Two things are on my mind mainly, FLEAS and LINE ON MY REELS. I'm hearing that fleas will stick to 20lb Fire Line braid pretty bad and clog things up. Are the fleas that bad or do I have to respool my reels? ALSO, we have all of the equipment to troll, downriggers, spoons, flashers/dodgers, dipseys, etc.. The only thing we don't have are flies for salmon.. Are we at a disadvantage? We were going to stick with spoons and plugs like we do on Erie. Realistically here any advice would help. From what I read up on, find bait balls and look for marks. Fish will be suspended through ought the water column and target that area? Thanks in advanced guys, I'd really hate to bring the old man up and burn gas all day for no fish. I'd like to have the odds in my favor.

[Pa223]

Welcome to Lake O. Fleas can be tough this time of yr so using heavier line will help. Sounds like you will be just fine. Spoons will work but variety sometimes is the key. It seems that flasher flies off dispeys are working this yr so if you could stop and grab a cpl flies that would be helpful. Also do yourself a favor, grab a pretied meat rig or 2 and some herring strips at bait store and put it down in cold water and hang on.
I am nowhere near a pro compared to the rest of these guys so I am sure there will be a lot of other good advice. Good luck and post pics of your Dad's king!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[mr 580]

Put 30lb Big Game with 20lb fluoro leader on your rigger rods so you are safe with fleas.  Run wire dipsey's if you have them.  Check your drags as you can't have them hammered down tight.  Get some flies to run with flashers and check the sizes of your spoons.  You'll also likely be fishing deeper and faster than what you be used to on Erie.  Have good terminal tackle-kings will find the weakest link.  Have fun!

[Ryno23]

If you don't do anything else, get 2 face UV paddle pro-troll - Stud fly and a Glow Green Dot White Spin Doctor - Pro/Am Fly or Glow/UV Big Fin....run those combo's all day and you will catch fish.

 

[badfish]

Defintely get flies, ATOMMIK flies work well for me, any of the green stuff will work. Get some flashers(spin doctors and echips which are the rectangular flashers), you can get away with just getting MtnDew patterrns, white green dot, hammertime, green and white flasher works well, anything green dot will work. I run my fly leaders 22 in from head of fly to paddle. You can also run meat heads on regular Good size flashers with a 30-40in leader. 

Troll at between 2.0-2.5 mph at the downrigger ball(if you have a fishhawk), If you dont have a fishhawk then use your gps speed 2.2-2.6.

 

Glow and white dawn and dusk and overcast, chrome flash when the suns get a little higher in the sky, dont be afraid to run white and green in the sunliight, the white green dot spin doctor will work all day.

Good luck!

[Todd in NY]

Welcome to the forum and Lake Ontario. Good luck with your trip!