chinook

I would like to think that there are some real majors out swimming around this year. But I have to say that every year it seems a big king or kings are taken ( in early to mid summer) that we then hope for a 40#'er. I would love to see it happen again like the year of '99- Where 11 kings topped over 40 during the Fall LOC- the 20th place king weighed in @ 38# 9oz. I know that- for my friend and I caught it- Having said that-the same friend and I took a 31# 8oz king back on May 12th of '02- This can be confirmed by looking at the Oak archives- This one king was close to 5 pounds over the spring derby winner. In May of all times, so naturally i was convinced we would see a 40 that year, and never happened- Point being, we are very blessed to have the 30's swimming around that we do, for the Michigan guys would give an eye tooth for what we-myself included- take for granted at times- If it happens that would be great-Could it, absolutely-Will it ? Only time will tell- But my best guess would be that the winner will come it @ around 35# this fall-Best of luck to all, be safe and dream big- --Duane

OK thanks Ray- Glad you made it off the lake, plus had a good day-Good job-Duane

Ray, thanks for the report. Didn't make it up this weekend. I noticed there were tornado warnings in Albion yesterday afternoon. Did any touch down and how violent was the weather?- Have my equipment stored around Lakeside, and was just wondering if anything may have gotten whacked? Jimmy, I agree with Tom-Sounds like you had the best seat yesterday ---Duane

Capt. Jeremy- good job- enjoyed the video and loved the song-Duane

Maybe Capt. Carl and Tim Bromund can chime in here on this one- --Guys, I know what you're thinking-Duane

Ray, thanks for the update on Musky-Continue to hold him and his family in thoughts and prayer-Let him know that we the community of L.O.U. voted to let him catch the second biggest king of the fall L.O.C. -So he needs to get well soon- Psalm 46:10 says-"Be still and know that I am God" --Praying for his will to be done-Duane

Mark, Ray--!!!!! 'm glad someone else sees this-!!! was beginning to think that it was my !!! sight going bad- -Best of luck guys the rest of the season-Duane

Turkey, For your info- I can assure you that the Fish On is pulling targets as well. I have absolutely, positively no ties what so ever with the company but your initial post slammed this product as being junk-Your words not mine-In all honesty I've seen this many times in the past when someone gets on a site such as this, and raves about a product there is usually an agenda behind it. Share your program with the L.O.U. gang under the reports page if you are going to tout how great a product or program is. I'll say it again, having fished cut bait longer than you made mention, I'll take my chances with a 11" pearl fish scale, frog or white lightning flasher among many others, pulling a Davis cut bait head and would be willing to wager it will take the biggest king of the day for me-I wrote this up without the use of 1 exclamation mark at that- ! - oops missed that one-Duane

Andy, I think your problem may be in the fact you mention mag diver. I have seen this as well, if on a setting that kicks it way out to the side, and not properly set, the diver could actually roll itself, thus not only twisting your leader but on occasion not allowing you to trip it from the boat ? Have you had that problem as well? If so I'm convinced it is the way you are setting your divers. Had this happen to the new Walkers as well, til I showed the crew the proper way to set those mag divers- Just a suggestion- Also, as T.M. made mention, I use 40# test but use no snubber at all. Can't tell you the last time I had a break off with a diver with no snubber but it's been many years ago. Don't think they are needed-Duane

Ray, will keep Musky in thoughts in prayers. Thank you for bringing this to our attention-Duane

Capt, Jeff, I can honestly tell you that I was probably one of the first to use a superbraid on a rigger cable. That was the original Ripcord from Cabelas's some 10 years or so ago. That was @ 120 pound test. I never lost a rigger weight and it worked very well until the year the fleas showed up. In a nut shell what a mess it was to clean. Is there a time and place, if it were not for the fleas, mine would still be on my riggers. But I simply got tired of the mess and surrendered.--Duane

Turkey, the Fish On may not be the quality of the old Rhy's Davis, but it is in no way junk as in your opinion. We have taken many targets so far with the new premium grade as have others who have posted here. If you are not taking any shots with the cut bait, I would suggest that it is the way you are running it either in your program, speed or tuning of the bait head itself. -Duane

Shawn, good point - When's your next trip to the Oak? I'm hoping for next weekend-Duane

Mark, sounds like Stan lost the rig from behind his divers. Stan are you using wire, braid or mono? Mono is more forgiving than either the braid or wire. If you are using wire, or braid, what # test of leader are you running to the rig ? As Mark made mention, need more details-Duane

B.W.-thanks for your response and offer to come out to fish. But although Lake Michigan may have BigWeenie, Lake Ontario has bigger kings - Keep us posted -Duane

Mark, I agree with the rest of the guys and like it. Picking up on Ray's comment, have you found fluorocarbon to work the best --Duane

BW., when are we ( L.O.) getting a pic of Ashley -

Capt. Carl, thanks for the report. Good going with today's catch. Would really like to be fishing the Condor tomorrow, but prior family commitments is not going to allow it this time. Plan on being there next weekend , so I'll give you a call - Duane P.S. as far as copper-keep your eye out for a yellow float-at the end of it is 400' feet of it along with a gator stingray-and one angry freight train that busted me off last weekend this king was headed for the northern shore with a vengeance when last sighted-

Jim, good going. Nice pic- Last week the fleas were horrendous out of the Oak. What were they like today? --Duane

The At the Oak site has pics- http://attheoak.com/spoons.html -listed on their popular spoons page, of some you may need. However with the endless new ones that continue to be named, this page is somewhat limited, as of the last few years the DW super slims and Stingers have really taken off since this page was last updated - They do list however many old stand bys for those who fish the local waters of the Oak itself.

My opinion for what its worth, I've tried the many imitations and artificials, from the B.T.B. to B.W,the Baittrix. and etc. and nothing is as effective as the real thing. Since there is now a VHS certified free I would invest into it instead. Just my opinion however-Duane

The time of the year matters-But currently if I were to say only 2

- 42 second in both gold and silver back.--Nk's and Streaks

-Gator-Stingray-esp off a copper

-Get er dun-- oops thats 3 in Super Slims

Spike, yes cut bait will be available at some of the tackle shops. Fish On has some out now that is VHS free. This is packed in salt. If you purchase cut bait, make sure you don't get any of the left over that is packed in oil. The premium grade does need trimmed a little to fit the heads you speak of. We did well with it last week out of the Oak, but it appears that it will be a 1 fish per strip bite. Where as with the old Rhy's Davis, one could take a few targets before changing it out. As far as speed, each boat fishes a little different but mine takes them on the cut bait, from 2.0 to 2.6 speed at the ball. Find the spoons to match the speeds and you can run them in amongst your spread while using the bait. Lighter blades such as the Stingers,Streaks, etc on the slower side, and NK's -Pirates etc at a little faster troll. Some say less is more while pulling the meat, and on certain days that is very true. Some days the targets want the meat behind an attractor and other days just run clean off a rigger or diver. You just need to find what it is on any given day. Hope this helps-Duane

dp, Congrats on your fisrt place finish- Question-was your torpedo wire on the 4" spool ? reason I ask, I purchased 2 spools early in the year that were on the smaller dia spool. When I was at Capt Cove this past week, the makers of the wire ( via e-mail) said the initial batch that was made had many flaws such as kinks and frays. I loaded up one reel with it but as yet have not used it. I think one reason the fleas would load more, by looking at it with the eye, it looks smaller in dia than the 7 strand. It is much nicer to work with however from what I have seen.-Duane

Carl, why did you have to tell us that Leaving tomorrow for the Oak for 10 days, now you went and put a damper on the trip. In all seriousness, knew it was about time for them to start to show. Beautiful king you took the other day on your one report. Good going. Was she not in the summer LOC? --Duane