Finders Keepers

Hey Nick - We were doing them early on NK black raspberry and black green glow taped mag spoons with the white back. Then it quickly turned to a flasher/fly bite around 9am. Our riggers were set between 45 and 65 ft down. Didn't make it out on Sunday - looks like that may have been a good thing! Are you going to be out any time this week? If so, I'll give you a shout if I'm out...

My unit is the Furuno LS6100 and the filters were "on", so I turned them off and that helped. However, I still lost the weights below 65 ft. pulling lines. I didn't see any other settings to fiddle with, but we were hooking into fish and I may not have gone through all the screens. I think I may just tilt the transducer a bit. I have a second FF mounted on board that we use for shallow depths in the bay, I can always use that one if I need the true depth at any time. I still find it strange that I can't see the weights though. The only other factors I can think of are 1) I have been going by the SOG on the FF and not the new GPS that I am still getting accustomed to (can't get the SOG to display yet) and setting up (I need a set of maps on a flashcard) so I think I may be trucking along a lot faster than the FF says, or 2) I use 11' rods on the riggers and they are angled fairly high (say 60 or 70 degrees off of horizontal versus tipped down towards the back of the boat like I see on a lot of the charter boats) so when I keep them taught perhaps they are pulling up on the weights and creating more swayback. Once I get the GPS all situated I will be able to check the speed.

Yeah it's been nice fishing the last few days under 70 ft rather than 130+ like the last couple weeks!! (especially with manual riggers!! )

Finders Keepers : Fishing Report

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TRIP OVERVIEW

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Date(s): 7-25-09

Time on Water: 6:25 AM – 12:00 PM

Temp/Weather: 70°F sunny turning overcast

Wind Speed/Direction: South at 15-20 MPH subsiding to <10

Waves: 1-3 Footers then 1 ft chop

Surface Temp: 67°F

Location: Port Bay and slightly west

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FISHING RESULTS

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Total Hits: 8

Total Boated: 2

Species Breakdown: 2 Kings

Hot Lure: Silver Prism echip/watermelon fly

Trolling Speed: 2.7 mph

Boat Depth: 130 - 200 ft

Lure Depth: 35 - 65 ft

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SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS

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Got a bit of a late start due to a bass fishing tourny being run at our launch! I think we were 9th in line to hit the ramp. Anyway, finally got on the water at 6:25 and set-up over 80 fow in front of Port Bay. We marked a few fish around 50 ft down and continued to troll out deeper. It wasn't long before we had the first release on the 52 ft rigger over 130 fow on an NK Black Raspberry Mag, but no hook-up. We turned around and went back through the waypoint and the same rigger fired over 130 fow. We landed a real nice 20 lb king (and 2 lb lamprey) and my buddy Colin (2nd timer on the big pond) was very happy! Set back up and headed back through our waypoint and hooked up again on the 62 ft rigger with a mupped Black/Green Glow Ladderback NK. This king was at the surface within seconds and soared completely out of the air right behind the boat!! This fish was BIG (I would easily say 25+ lbs). When the fish hit the water it took off like a rocket screaming across the surface all the way out to 250 ft, followed by two more leaps out of the air!! What a show! Colin continued to fight this monster all the way back to within 50 ft of the boat (I had all lines clear for the landing of this beast) when it made a mad dash right towards the boat. When Colin caught up the fish was gone... What a fight though!! We set back up and the fish had disappeared, so went into search mode and found them again 2 hours later a bit west when our 175 ft wire took off screaming over 140 fow with a silver prism echip pulling a watermelon fly. It ran out to 575 ft and shook free. Another good fish lost! As soon as that rod got reset it fired again and we boated a nice 16 lb king. Over the next hour we hooked up two more times on the same rod and once on the 65 ft rigger with a UV Green Echip/NBK Fly, but unfortunately we couldn't keep any of them buttoned!! I would say it could be the hooks, but those flies were brand new out of the box and lazer sharp. After 10:30 the fish shut off for us and we called it a day at 12:00 with a 2 for 8 record.

A great day on the water, two good fish in the box, and some great memories and visions of the "Monster that got away" that also gave us a great show! Here is Colin with his fish:

The 20 lb'er:

Both fish back at home:

I'm hoping to get out a couple times this coming week as long as the weather holds and tornadoes aren't touching down like today!!

Nice fishing Tank! Let's hope this great fishing lasts all summer!!

Thanks for taking me out Woody! If you want to head out in my boat next week, let me know! Also, the next time that we're going to stack the kings like cord wood, I'll grab my cooler!

I don't recall the exact model, but it is a Furuno unit similar to the LS4100 (dual freq, black & white screen). I will have to check the filtering for surface and down signal. I generally set the frequency gain as high as I can without getting a lot of scatter on the screen. The transducer is set so that it is flat with the bottom of the boat, as the instructions suggested. I will check the model and settings tomorrow when I'm out and see if that works.

I have tried using the 50 kHz and I still lose the weights off the chart. Last time out I was running the weights with 85 and 95 ft of cable out with one line attached to each and I couldn't see them on either frequency...

I use 15lb sharks with standard non-coated cable (no probe yet) and if trolling at 2.7 on the surface, I lose the sharks at 60 ft with nothing attached to them. I typically never see my rigger weights when trolling deeper than 50 ft, but on other boats I have seen them mark the weights down to 100+ ft. Is this because they have the transducer tipped back instead of level? I have thought about doing that...

Fishing right now is superb!! Much better than last year!

I hope it holds through the Fall LOC!!

Hey Chris,

Nice job on the kings! I had a bit of trouble keeping mine on today (I was out in front of Port Bay and a bit west working 130-160 fow), but it was fun none the less!

Finders Keepers : Fishing Report

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TRIP OVERVIEW

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Date(s): 7-22-09

Time on Water: 6:00 AM – 10:30 PM

Temp/Weather: 70 foggy, turning mostly cloudy

Wind Speed/Direction: Light SE

Waves: 1' / Calm

Surface Temp: (68°F)

Location: Port Bay & Slightly West

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FISHING RESULTS

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Total Hits: 10

Total Boated: 4

Species Breakdown: 3 Kings, 1 Brown

Hot Lure: Green Echip w/ Green Glow Fly

Trolling Speed: 2.7 mph

Boat Depth: 140 ft

Lure Depth: 85 - 95 ft

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SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS

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What a great day on the big lake!! Hit the water at 6am and began to set up over 90 fow straight out in front of Port Bay. The screen was full of marks (bait & fish) 70 ft down to the bottom, so I started setting the riggers. Put the first one down 95 ft and began to set the second. Just as I had set the second rigger the first one fired and it was GAME ON! I had farted around with that second rigger line (re-tying, then changed my mind a couple times on what to send down on it), so I was over 140 fow when that one hit. After a good 15 minute fight I landed a very spunky (and slightly colored up) 18 lb king:

The screen had consistent marks all the way out to 140, then went went blank. So after boating the fish I turned back south and the 85 ft rigger fired right at 140 fow. After a great run, it gave me a few good head shakes and was gone! The remainder of the morning continued the same way with hits coming every 15 to 30 minutes and mostly at the 140 fow mark. I really wanted to get back into the 100 fow mark where the screen was lit up when I first set-up, but the active fish out at 140 fow kept me busy enough! Riggers were set at 95 and 85 most the morning, then when they went silent I pulled the 85 ft rigger and put out a wire line 425 to 450 ft. It wasn't down long before it got wacked!! First a small shaker that shook free halfway back to the boat, then a good rip without a hook-up, then the next fish was insane!! It wacked the wire so hard I thought my rod holder was going to break!! This thing screamed out to 750 ft on its first run and it felt BIG! I slowed the motor up and after several more runs and 25 minutes I had it into 220 ft of wire left, then it went crazy with huge head bobs and shakes and I felt the hook pull out... I would have liked to have seen that one for sure!!

Today was one of those days where the fish would hit when I wasn't paying attention (under the bow looking for something, leaning over the back adjusting the motor speed, playing with my new GPS, etc...). Ended the day at 10:30 and was 4 for 10. I just couldn't keep them on today... but at least all my gear made it back into the boat!! They only wanted GREEEEEEEEN today: green echips with green glow, green bay packer, & green crinkle flies. Chartruse echip with hammer fly also took a few hits later in the morning. They also wanted my boat at 2.7. Any slower or faster and they wouldn't hit. Here's a few more pics of the kings and the brown on the back deck:

I'm hoping to get out Friday with Woody off of Hughes for some slammin' king action!

Way to go Billy! Despite the cost of lost gear, it is definitly better than watching the rods sitting still all day. I'm wishing I had been able to get out last weekend!! Oh well, hopefully the kings will stick around Port Bay straight through the Fall LOC!!! If I catch any with some gear hanging out of their mouth (other than my flies), I'll let you know!

Nice job on the kings Woody - great picture! How far out were you running your wires? How did the screen look all morning?

Sizewize, the Walkers and the dipsies with the ring are the same size or very close (holding one on top of the other). As stated earlier, the shallower depth is likely a result of the thicker SS wire. However, I am curious to know just where my wires have been tracking now!! Apparently they have been shallower than I have always thought, but they still continue to produce, so I guess what I have been running has been more important than how deep I have been running them!

That's probably it then. Looks like a change over to camo is forthcoming for my wires...

Hey Nick,

Early on Friday it was bumpy if you went out past 160 fow. I think it was even more so on Saturday (we didn't get out on Saturday).

Ok, that might explain it. Have you run the SS wire before and if so, have you found that the fish prefer the camo over the SS?

Hey Gambler,

Yeah, I think we are going to try running them both next time out. I know Woody has the bronze colored wire and I have the SS wire (same lb test), he has 9' Eagle rods with ?? reels with full 1000 ft spools, I have Tekota's with about 900 ft of wire on the long 11' blue diamond single roller rods (I forget the manufacturer offhand), I don't think either set-up has backing, both had similar amounts of fleas...

When we swung into 120 fow and the 525 ft wire on #2 setting wasn't hitting bottom, I decided to try running one wire on a #1 setting out 450 ft to see if we could touch bottom, nope. I have always heard that Tekotas are fairly accurate on line count, so we were very surprised to not hit bottom. I would have played with them more to see how much wire would have to be out to touch bottom, but we were hooking up with fish so I didn't want to change our program.

Hey Billy,

The reason I ask is that I was out on Woody's boat last week and we were running dipsies on his wires out less than 200 ft on a #2 setting and we were hitting bottom in 80 fow, whereas the other day we were running the Walkers on my boat on the wires out to 525 ft on a #2 and never hit bottom when we swung into 120 fow. Both times we were pulling echips/flies. Any thoughts? I thought it might be due to underwater currents, but we were going in all different directions at that depth of water.

Has anyone noticed that the new Walker divers don't dig as deep as the Dipsy Divers? This past week at one point I was running the Walkers on my wires out 450 ft on a #1 setting and 525 ft on a #2 setting in 120 ft of water without touching the bottom. Has anyone else noticed that the Walkers run a bit shallower?

I've run LJ dodgers, echips, and spin docs all behind the sharks with great success. Usually I run them anywhere from 5' to 25' behind the ball depending on what the fish want (I usually start with one close behind and one back a ways and see which fires first). If running real close behind the ball, I also stack a spoon on a fixed cheater 10' above that usually gets nailed if they don't like the dodger combo.

Also, Yankee Troller and Iceman, what pound cable are you running on your riggers?

Yeah, our arms & backs got a work-out, not only from the long wires, but I have manual riggers with 15lb sharks too! So bringing those up from 100+ ft every time was a lot of work. But I don't mind working out and getting a tan when we're sliming up the back of the boat!!

Also, after about noon or so we started marking a ton of high marks in the 20 to 50 ft range, so that is why we moved one of our riggers up to 48 ft of cable (running about 35 ft down) to see if we could get those to go and we found out soon that they were steelhead. We had to come in soon thereafter, and I am wishing we had moved a rigger up sooner. So if you see high marks, don't be affraid to run some shallow steelhead lines!!

I have to say, that was probably one of the best days we've had in over a year. And the weather couldn't have been better! However, looks like the bigger kings were off of Oswego that day as indicated by the LOC board... or it could have been simply due to the increased number of boats prefishing for the Pro-Am there. Hopefully the fishing will stay hot and we can throw some bigger fish in the mix! We did have two slam our wires that came unbuttoned that may have been 20+, we'll never know, but that's fishing for ya...

Finders Keepers : Fishing Report

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TRIP OVERVIEW

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Date(s): 7-10-09

Time on Water: 5:00 AM – 2:30 PM

Temp/Weather: 78°F and sunny

Wind Speed/Direction: S at 12 MPH becoming light/variable)

Waves: 1-2 Footers, Calm

Surface Temp: 69°F

Location: Port Bay to East of Silos

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FISHING RESULTS

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Total Hits: 14

Total Boated: 9

Species Breakdown: 5 Kings, 3 Steelhead, 1 Atlantic

Hot Lure: White Echip/Little Boy Blue Fly, Die Hard Mag, White Echip/Ultra Violet Fly, Green Echip/42 Second Fly

Trolling Speed: 2.5-2.7 mph

Boat Depth: 120-160 ft

Lure Depth: 80-130 ft

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SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS

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Got on the water with Woody a little after 5am and set-up NE of Port Bay over 80 fow. The screen looked fantastic with bait and quite a few fish all hugging the bottom. We worked 80-100 fow for an hour or so without a touch so we decided to slide out a bit deeper to the 100-130 fow range. Soon thereafter we boated a small king over 115 fow on a white echip/ultraviolet fly. We had a couple more releases on the riggers running purple glow spoons with nobody home and our screen began to go blank so we took a swing out to 160 fow (which looked barren) so we turned back around to slide back into the 120-130 fow range again. On the way back one of our wire rods got slammed over 150 fow. This major ran out 150 ft of cable within seconds!! Then a few hard head bobs and it was gone! That one hit a green echip/42 second fly out 500' on a #2 setting. Once we got back into that 120-130 fow range we began a steady pick at them picking up several kings, a couple steelhead, a nice Atlantic, and a 16" lamprey. The lamprey was left on our fly after one of our wire rods got hammered, then dropped:

We ran our riggers with 120-165 ft of cable out, our wires were out 450 to 575 on either a one or a two setting, and our best sfc speed was 2.6 mph. Fish came on the following: white echip with white glow ladderback/little boy blue fly, green echip/42 second fly, diehard mag spoon, purple glow R&R mag, white echip/ultraviolet fly, and white with green glow spots echip/black white glow fly. Things slowed down a bit after 1pm, but just before we were about to call it a day, we doubled up on the riggers with a nice 13lb king and 7lb steelhead with the riggers out 48 and 135 ft over 125 fow. We ended the day 9 for 14 (biggest king was 16 lbs) and wish we could have seen/boated the majors we lost!!

Here are a few pictures from the day:

We're hoping to get back out on Monday...