4/23 Sandy Shakedown

[fisherman21]

Finally got the boat in for the first time this year. Focused on 7 to 11 feet of water. Boards with sticks and chinook divers and riggers with spoons. The chinook divers were the most consistent throughout the morning. Boards took a handful, and riggers were quite with only one fish. Finished the morning 10 for 15. 5 browns, 4 cohos, and a small king. No big fish today, but it was nice everything was working as it should. Lures that took fish today were: Michigan stinger perch(multiple fish), Michigan stinger pickle seed, bayrat ss red tiger, bayrat ss ayu, bayrat s3 green frog, and thunderstick jr uv green fire(multiple fish).

 

[whaler1]

Great job Manny!

[Pair of Jacks]

Nice work…how was the wind /waves?

[FISHIN AGAIN?]

Great job. We r gonna try it in mornin with East wind.  My Favorite.  Not

[fisherman21]

8 hours ago, Pair of Jacks said:

Nice work…how was the wind /waves?

Wind picked up throughout the morning. Waves started as 2s and built to 3 and 4s.

[McWally]

Nice rundown. 

[Pair of Jacks]

9 hours ago, fisherman21 said:

Wind picked up throughout the morning. Waves started as 2s and built to 3 and 4s.

Did the bite change as the waves got bigger?

[fisherman21]

12 minutes ago, Pair of Jacks said:

Did the bite change as the waves got bigger?

Stayed the same the whole time. Slow pick at fish all morning. 8fow was best to us

[Pair of Jacks]

8 minutes ago, fisherman21 said:

Stayed the same the whole time. Slow pick at fish all morning. 8fow was best to us

What is the biggest reason for losing hook ups?

[fisherman21]

1 hour ago, Pair of Jacks said:

What is the biggest reason for losing hook ups?

10 for 15 is a pretty good percentage lol, but the ones we lost were due to the following: had two coho jump out of the water during the fight and throw the hook, two on the divers shook the hook as we were fighting them, and we lost one on a stickbait mid fight, hook just pulled. Those thunderstick jr’s have small hooks, so it happens sometimes. It’s all part or the game 

Edited April 24, 2022 by fisherman21

[Pair of Jacks]

4 minutes ago, fisherman21 said:

10 for 15 is a pretty good percentage, but the ones we lost were do to the following: had two coho jump out of the water during the fight and throw the hook, two on the divers shook the hook as we were fighting them, and we lost one on a stickbait mid fight, hook just pulled. Those thunderstick jr’s have small hooks, so it happens sometimes. It’s all part or the game 

Wasn’t dissing you…we are (my youngest son, 3 brothers and my nephew) heading to Henderson Bay in a couple weeks for a week of walleye, browns, etc.  It is our first try at LO.  So we are seeking the wisdom and experience of fisherman like you.  Thank you for your insights.  Question—should we “set the hook” at initial hook up? 
 

Thank you

 

PoJ

[fisherman21]

9 minutes ago, Pair of Jacks said:

Wasn’t dissing you…we are (my youngest son, 3 brothers and my nephew) heading to Henderson Bay in a couple weeks for a week of walleye, browns, etc.  It is our first try at LO.  So we are seeking the wisdom and experience of fisherman like you.  Thank you for your insights.  Question—should we “set the hook” at initial hook up? 
 

Thank you

 

PoJ

Sorry if it sounded like I was upset, as I am not. No problem at all. When they hit when trolling that shallow, the hooks typically set themselves when the fish hits. 
I run my stick baits on in-line boards, so you have to fight the board and fish until you get the board in and unclip it.  When a fish hits those, they hook themselves.
For divers in shallow I run size 2 chinook divers set on the 4 setting. 30lb braid with an 8 to 10 foot piece of 15lb mono attached to the braid with and fg knot. That goes the the diver via a swivel. Then off the diver I run a 6 to 10 foot 12 to 15lb pound flouro leader to the spoon. It dives at a 2 to 1 ratio. So if you are fishing 10fow let out 10 feet on the reel, if you are fishing 6 feet or water let out 6 feet on the reel, and so on. The fish is already hooked when they hit these also. Just pick up and start fighting the fish.
For riggers, if it pops just pick the rod pointed up and reel down down fast until you get tight to the fish. 
 

This time of year we typically will troll at 2.1 to 2.5 at the ball.

 

Hope that helps you guys out, and hope you have a great trip. If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out 

[Pair of Jacks]

26 minutes ago, fisherman21 said:

Sorry if it sounded like I was upset, as I am not. No problem at all. When they hit when trolling that shallow, the hooks typically set themselves when the fish hits. 
I run my stick baits on in-line boards, so you have to fight the board and fish until you get the board in and unclip it.  When a fish hits those, they hook themselves.
For divers in shallow I run size 2 chinook divers set on the 4 setting. 30lb braid with an 8 to 10 foot piece of 15lb mono attached to the braid with and fg knot. That goes the the diver via a swivel. Then off the diver I run a 6 to 10 foot 12 to 15lb pound flouro leader to the spoon. It dives at a 2 to 1 ratio. So if you are fishing 10fow let out 10 feet on the reel, if you are fishing 6 feet or water let out 6 feet on the reel, and so on. The fish is already hooked when they hit these also. Just pick up and start fighting the fish.
For riggers, if it pops just pick the rod pointed up and reel down down fast until you get tight to the fish. 
 

This time of year we typically will troll at 2.1 to 2.5 at the ball.

 

Hope that helps you guys out, and hope you have a great trip. If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out 

Thank you so much…we are experienced walleye and striper fisherman and so trolling is our strength.  The flying fish are going to be something different albeit our favorite northern Ontario walleye lake has a great SMB population and we get some awesome tail walkers, but typical these fish are 5lbs and under.  We are going with downriggers and planer boards…copy all on planer boards adding a level of finesse to landing larger fish.  
 

Stripers tend to smash the stickbaits with a head butt which tends set multiple hooks.  So we do not usually lose them to hook pulling out.  When we lose a fish it is the result of line  or knot failure.  In Canada we go almost exclusively with worm harnesses spinner rigs for walleyes and to avoid losing hookup to short strikes we don’t set hook on the first hit…we allow the fish fully take the bait before setting the hook.  

 

For our LO trip, we are hoping to target those shore lines like you are doing.  Our setups are not really configured for going deep for lakers.  I will provide daily reports May 14-21.

 

Respectfully

 

PoJ