Blue Knight

I've always used 11" Hot Spot flashers with meat. My top colors have been Bullfrog, Weasel and White Lightning. As for fly I use the 8" Hot Spot.  First thing in the morning either Bullfrog or Weasel once it's sunny switch over to the Green Haze UV 

Ha! that's a good one!   Hey guys the only reason I put that in I don't want to  tick anyone off thinking he only talks about those products just to promote them. If I  didn't believe in them I wouldn't mention them! 

Being prostaff for Hot Spot the spoon I run regularly is the Hot Spot Apex. I normally run the 5.5 or the 4.5 and I can run them at pretty well any speed. Since they're plastic obviously they're light. The only size of Apex that has a problem with speed is the size 4 which shouldn't be run any faster than 2.5 mph because of the shape of the mouth of the spoon. 

I've had my Scotty's for over 20 years and never had a problem and I was running charters for most of that time. Still using  all four of them.

One thing to remember is you can't charge a UV spoon or flasher like you can with a glow finish. The UV's absorb UV light when it's applied only, either from the sun or a UV light.

What you have to remember is UV is the only light that can penetrate water down to 500ft. I've had good luck with Hot Spot flashers that have UV and also their Apex.

My top color for bows or steelhead for years has been watermelon. I've always said if I was going into a strange area of water the first color I'd put down is watermelon. As for lure  my top producer for these fish has been the Hot Spot 4.5 watermelon Apex.

I just answered your post on Spoonpullers! As I said I'm prostaff for Islander and all you need is a touch of light grease for using them in freshwater. The only other thing I do to look after my Islanders is loosening off the drag as soon as I'm done fishing. I do that with all my reels. The only problem I've found with Islanders is I never ever want to use a level wind again!  

I ran charters out of Port Credit for over 30 years and finally sold the big boat and got a 19 footer that I could trailer around. Shortly after getting that boat I had a problem with one of the charters out of Port Credit. I was fishing in the same direction as a number of boats which were travelling "inside / out". The charter decided he was going to run parallel with the shore and I had nowhere to go. The he came on the radio saying if we knew about the navigation act. I replied if he was familiar with the Criminal Code and pulled out my badge. The skipper had been hired by the owner of the boat who knew me well and when I got back to shore the owner came up to me, apologized and said he was looking for a new skipper. Oh! yes I was a police officer and Port Credit was also the area where I worked!  

UV light can penetrate water down over 500 feet, deeper than any other type of light. Even on a cloudy day there is still UV present & will affect your UV lures. 

ANY ONE KNOWS WHERE YOU CAN GET GOOD QUALITY FROZEN WHOLE HERRING OR HERRING STRIPS IN MISSISSAUGA OR GTA AREA?

Shortwave have them in. Bill just ordered ,ore and they'll be there now

I've fished Lake O for 40 years and before I retired served as a police officer for 33 years primarily in the Port Credit area. In that time I had to take part on a number of occasions assisting in the search and recovery of people lost in the lake. That is part of the reason I very rarely went out on the lake on my own and if I did I would always wear a life jacket. Obviously with the cold temp of the lake a life jacket may not have helped but it would have increased his chances and aided in recovery. It's a tragedy for his family and for all of us that go out on the lake. I've said many times that there's no fish in the lake that's worth risking your life for! 

It would be a good idea to get yourself the book "BIG WATER EDITION PRECISION TROLLING"!  That book gives you all the info you need on fishing with dipsys both with wire line and several lb tests of mono. It also has a section for lead core. 

Do you carry extra insurance for your charter in case someone has a knuckle injury?

Good one Gill ha! Everyone that's had the opportunity to use them has said they were fantastic. Fighting one of those fish in Lake O with those reels is challenging as Big Mac said and everyone wanted to have another go with them. I use my line counters on the dipsys but never used them on my riggers. I've never seen a need for that!

So you're running a fly reel on a downrigger? What is the benefit of doing that? I think it would cause fatigue with that little handle.

That is not a fly reel it's a mooching reel. I don't know how many years you've been fishing Lake O for Pacific salmon but I've been doing it for forty years and I'm still a rookie compared to the boys on the west coast. If you ever go out there it's going to be hard to find a salmon boat using level wind reels, they all use mooching reels. Pretty well the only time you'll find them with a level wind is if they're fishing for halibut! It's a fantastic experience using a mooching reel and as I said I'll never put a level wind on a rigger again!

Just got my Islander MR2LA and now I've got four Islander reels I'll never have to use a level wind on my riggers again. What Islander have done is incorporate all the best features of the MR2 & MR3 reels into the MR2LA. The framework is the MR2 with its free spool capabilities but has a large arbor like the MR3 with a larger drag knob for easier drag adjustment. I put the line on her last night and I'll have her christened next week.

If you get some Hot Spot Rollerbaiter bait rigs they come equipped with one! 

I've had Scotty's for years now and never had a problem. When & if I ever have to replace them it would definitely be Scottys. 

I believe it a method of fishing for chinook where you use two hooks to bait a dead herring. You drift in your boat with the bait on the bottom. I also believe there is a method where your drop the bait to the bottom but also reel it up a bit stop, and repeat.

That's the actual purpose for those rods but they are also use for downrigging using a "mooching reel". I have three Islander mooching reels and if I never used a level wind again it wouldn't bother me.

Since I'm Pro Staff for Hot Spot who were the originator of the plastic flasher I've never had the need to use a spin doc.

I've fished from St. Catherine's to Bowmanville but mainly in Port Credit. I use the 11" with cut bait and the 8" with a Howie fly. My top producer both with meat and a fly has been Bullfrog. That is until Hot Spot came out with the Agitator. Since I started using these, I tied up two in tandem and ran them right off the ball and then ran a Hot Spot Apex Popcorn or Rocket five feet above and behind the last Agitator. That combo has out-fished everything else I've had down. One thing about the Agitator is you can run a spoon or body bait directly behind them without interfering with their action.   

One more advantage with the Rollerbaiter is you don't need any toothpics! They're spring loaded and all you have to do is press down and insert the strip, then you're good to go!

I would seriously suggest looking into a Scotty Black Box if one is required. That's the company that came out with the system originally but before you invest any cash just check and make sure you have a voltage problem. The Scottys are the only one's used out west in BC.

Fleet Tracker I can't understand why you had a problem. I've run them on my rods without a problem. I also run a tandem set up off the rigger with a spoon or body bait running five feet above and behind the Agitators. The swivels on them are top of the line. I'm usually running 2.8 to 3.0mph.

Gerry I've been prostaff for Hot Spot for over thirty years. I always run cut bait behind my 11" flashers and flys behind the 8". I'd strongly suggest you get some Hot Spot Agitator flashers to run ahead of your spoons. The thing about the Agitators is they won't interfere with the action of the spoon or even a body bait but they certainly bring in the fish!

I would have to think a regular flasher would interfere with the action of a J Plug or Lyman. A Hot Spot Agitator will give the same amount of flash as a regular flasher but it won't interfere with the action of the plug.