rswanson330

That's good news, We're up for a week. If we didn't catch fish, it wouldn't be the first time. Re: Lakers, How deep are you fishing? For example "150-190 west of the plant", I'm assuming that's 150-190 feet of water. How deep do you run your lures in 150-190 feet of water? Or do you just futz with them until you flash or catch a fish?

My buddy and I are coming up next week, we'll be fishing out of Catfish Creek. We'll play lakers if the browns don't want to cooperate. Please post any helpful information. Anybody doing any catching?

Let me know if you're going to be fishing the week of 4/18-25. The camp doesn't (or didn't two years ago) have internet, So I won't be posting much. But if you're going to be on the water that week I can let you know how we're making out. Purple sticks were the trick two years ago, seeded watermelon spoons prior to that, brown sticks prior to that. And there were a couple years where we couldn't buy a fish. We've run into kings this early... But only a couple times. They were always partial to a black, white and pink spoon for whatever reason. I'll post what I can, I may have read that they have piped internet into the camps now.

Catfish Creek Camps. Its a fishing camp on Catfish Creek. We stay in a mobile home, the boat is in the water on the dock... Wake up and head out in the morning. https://www.catfishcreek.com/

18#... The biggest I've ever caught (in about five trips over 10 years) was just under 8. Nice fish. We're headed up again 4/18 for a week out of Catfish Creek. You released that fish, right? I'm looking for a wall-hanger!

Full size boards off a planer mast.

Thanks for the tips; Re: FishUSA and The Okuma Cold Water 153D, they're $5 cheaper than that with free shipping from Amazon ($87.60). I keep vacillating between the SeaLine SG-3B and the Okuma Cold Water 153D reels. And 15# fluoro leader for springtime browns? I feel that's high, but I also have fish break off at the net with the 8#... And those fish are usually not the cookie-cutter 3-pounders. Anybody else have a thought on Spring Brown Leaders?

And which reels do you like? I'm sure this has been covered a million times, But I'm having a difficult time finding any current posts. I've always run 6-8# fluorocarbon with a 6# fluorocarbon leader behind a ball bearing barrel swivel for early brown trout. I fish behind planer boards on Lake Ontario (Pulaski/Mexico/Oswego area) in April. I only get up once every few years, now that I'm getting closer to my golden years I try to get up every April. I'm going to replace my brown trout reels this year, I've been using Abu Garcia bait cast reels that I bought used from an fellow in Florida 20 years ago. I'm leaning towards replacing them with Daiwa SeaLine Line Counters, I want to stay in the $100 range. I have SeaLines spooled with 14# fluoro in case the kings are in, I swap the reels if the need arises. Then I'll drop down 40' and 80' with downriggers. OK, enough rambling. Is anybody using braid on their planer boards? What about braid on their downrigger rods? I know the difference is stretch vs no stretch, I fish braid exclusively in Long Island Sound (my home water). But this trout/salmon thing is totally different. I think the stretch of mono might be a good thing. And its a lot cheaper; I'm spooling four reels (eight if I do the salmon reels as well). And, while we're at it, does anybody have a recommendation for a light line counter reel? (These reels will be specifically for browns, I have the other reels for larger fish). The last time I looked into this was when I first started going up for spring browns back in 2009, and that's when the braid vs mono posts I've found lately were posted. Thanks for your thoughts!

Hi Hookedupf7, We stayed at Catfish in a trailer this spring for our brown trout outing. They are plenty adequate, but a little beat up. Mid-April nights were cold and the windows didn't lock shut (they fluttered in the wind), but it stayed plenty warm in the trailer. Running water, stove, refrigerator with freezer, bunks, a queen bed (I got the bed), toilet, TV and a shower. It ain't the Ritz Carlton, but it served us well for a week. The trailer we were in could sleep five, and that would be cramped. But there were only two of us.

Hi PD. Tough fishing, I hope to get up there again late summer and share your misery. Regarding your banner... Our forefathers fought and died for the right for you to wave that flag any way you want. I'm not a Trump fan, but I don't hate him either. But that's not relevant to the topic. We (fishermen, republicans, democrats, whatever) don't have a problem until you CAN'T wave that banner. That day will be a dark day in the US of A. If flying that flag makes your heart go pitter-patter, then fly on, my friend.

Just west of the plant,10-20 fow, purple sticks. 4 in the box so far

Nothing yesterday,too windy. Nothing yet this morning, we’re headed down towards little salmon.

8 browns and a small mouth this morning, found stained water way down by salmon river. It was slim but we were persistent. They liked brighter colors today, again 12 fow.

Fished Tuesday morning west of catfish creek, pickedup two and missed threeon spoons, chartreuse. It was windy and choppy, my 19 Lund had all it could take by noon. Went back out last night around 5, fished east from little salmon to salmon. Picked up 10 or so, missed a few. Mostly on black and silver sticks. Fished 8-15 fow. on the lake now, bluebird day with no takers. LOoking for that stained water below little salmon, they were all in stained water yesterday.

Thanks, It looks good all things considered. I'm hoping to come up April 15-20, It should be usable by then. I'm happy to see that its not real high.