Intro to Pair of Jacks

[Pair of Jacks]

Greetings and Happy New Year to all!!  

My name Scott and my youngest son and I own a 2019 Tracker Laker Guide V16 with a 4 -Stroke 25 hp Mercury OB.  Our boat name is Pair of Jacks.  We have a Lowrance Elite 9 Ti2 with the muti-mode transducer including side-scan.  We are from Virginia  (Lake Anna), but I was born and raised in Millport NY about 10 miles south of Watkins Glen NY.

 

 I grew up trout fishing Catherine Creek and the big 3 Finger Lakes:  Cayuga, Seneca, and Keuka.  I left NYS in 1973 upon joining the USAF.  My one previous Lake Ontario fishing experience was back in the 1960s with my dad at Selkirk Shores State Park.  My dad later introduced me to walleye fishing in Canada back in 1968. We since made annual trips to northern Ontario until 2019 when COVID closed the border.  
 

After 2 and now going on 3 years in 2022,  we have had to cancel our Canadian trip.  So we decided at my brother’s recommendation to try Henderson Bay for some early spring walleye.  Our target dates are May 14-21, 2022.  We are experienced boaters having fished Lake Erie’s Western Basin while stationed in Ohio, Lake St Claire and Lake Huron(Thunder Bay) and numerous inland walleye lakes and rivers while stationed in Michigan; to the Chesapeake Bay and now Lake Anna while stationed/retired in Virginia.  Our Virginia fishing is focused on both wild and land-locked (stocked) striped bass as walleye fishing in Virginia is very spotty.  See attached photos  

 

In any case any important tips for fishing Henderson Bay in May 2022 would be welcomed.  Pair of Jacks is configured for trolling but we occasionally cast and jig depending on the conditions and where the fish are located.  I researched the web and found a few dated posts and YouTube videos on fishing Henderson Bay, but several questions remain unanswered….Safety is paramount so the first question is how rough does Henderson Bay itself get?  Second, are there walleye actually in Henderson Bay or are they out in the big water?  
 

Next is trolling questions…for walleye we troll between 1.5 and 2.0 mph using Daiwa SG17 and SG27 LCA reels on 7 to 8 ft medium action rods specifically matched to our reels.  We do set planer boards occasionally, but typically we stick to one rod per fisherman.   We use these same rod/reel combos for stripers and hybrids (striped bass x white bass) which can run up to 40” and 25~30 lbs as well as for walleyes.  Our reels are loaded with 10 and 15 lbs Trilene mono in clear and green respectively.  Our terminal tackle ranges from crawler harnesses with bottom bouncers to every model/color of Rapala and Cordell Redfins.  I still have a huge selection of Erie Dearie spinners,  but frankly they haven’t really produced a fish other than on Lake Erie.  I do have a nice selection of old Dare Devils and Johnson Silver Minnow spoons from my Finger Lakes trolling days that produced real strong Northern Pike strikes up in Canada.  We also have a big inventory of Live Target swim baits in 4 and 5 inch Shad models we use for stripers. We also have a few medium size Alabama rigs that are also popular striper baits….again Shad colors but can be configured with local dominant bait fish replica as needed.

 

We don’t expect anyone to give up their honey hole secrets, but general local knowledge hints would be much appreciated.

 

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

Respectfully 

 

Pair of Jacks

Edited January 15, 2022 by Pair of Jacks
Incorrect reel name

[sherman brown]

i don't know anything about Henderson Bay. but if you find the fish 30' or deeper you might want 2 reels spooled with about 300' of mono backing then fill the reels full of 30# or 40# power pro braid making sure to fill each reel the same. you want to get 2 Dreamweaver deeper divers from fishusa.com. the Dreamweaver is the same size as a dipsy with the ring on it, but it doesn't have a ring to mess with. set these on a 1.5 setting left and right. the one set to the right should pull to the right and the left diver should pull to the left. add about a 6' or 7' fluro 15# test leader. you can use the same dive curve as a dipsy and be close. or you can just figure about a 1 to 3 dive curve. for every 3' of line out the diver dives close to 1'. now with the arm set in the diver not so tight it doesn't trip. with the clicker on let out enough line to reach the depth you want to fish. put them in the back holder horizontal to the water. then put out your other lines.

 

if nothing happens with the divers after about 30 to 45 minutes reel up tight to the diver and pull hard to release the diver. reel it in to check for small fish. if you have nothing start over again going about 20' less line out. walleye will strike up better than down. if that doesn't help try going deeper. it just adds 2 lines to your spread. i have been using 3 divers per side on erie with great success. i also run 1 downrigger per side that catches some of our biggest fish. but just starting out 1 per side will work.

[Pair of Jacks]

Sherman—Many thanks for the tips.  
 

Respectfully

 

Pair of Jacks

[Pair of Jacks]

Sherman—which dreamer weaver model and color should I get?

[sherman brown]

I believe Dreamweaver divers only come in one size at fishusa.com. as far as colors I now just use black lite bite slide divers. but black is always good. but when i was using the deeper diver i liked to mix it up a little. i liked to use a purple diver and lure together and green diver with a green lure. but i never really paid enough attention to my catch rate to say if it worked or not.

[Pair of Jacks]

Thanks again for the insights.