rswanson330

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.

Thanks!!! It actually looks pretty good. I'm hoping to be up there the week of 4/15-20th. It should be open and muddy (hopefully) then!

Hi Folks, I haven't been up for a few years now, but its time to get back. I'm thinking of making an early trip to fish Mexico Bay and down towards Oswego. I'm hoping to find muddy water at Little Salmon, Catfish, the west side of the plant... the usual haunts. Does anybody have any feedback on the Mexico Launch? If I recall correctly, last year everything was flooded and you couldn't launch until fairly late in the season.

Charter. Yeah, that's a great idea. We just back in to our cottage on Lake George using the recipe the charter captain gave is 15 years ago for lake trout. We put my son's girlfriend on two fish; one about 3 lbs and the other was a bigger fish but bit off. Sky blue flatfish, ~1 mph. The Cap'n used davis spinners, but I don't like them. Long story short, you will get a plethora of knowledge from a charter captain. Sorry about the banana in Pulaski, I've never taken a bad charter.

And get multiples of what you think is going to work. If you're running 4 rods, the fish want Mountain Dew Spin Doctors and you only have one... Well you're pretty well screwed. I've got a half dozen of everything that has worked for me (they used to love seeded watermelon spoons).

I'm down in CT so I don't have access to a lot of salmon stuff for when I make the trip up once every year or so. What I've done that has worked well is to buy my stuff on eBay. Folks are selling lots of stuff (not "a lot", but a lot as in "a 20 spoon lot") Mix it up with colors. Get what the folks above recommend, they know better than me, but I'd also recommend a bunch of 4-5" spoons, stick baits and j-plugs. Then when you get there you can see what's working and get started with something in your arsenal that is close. Now you're in the ballpark anyway. When you launch look at the boats in slips and see what colors they are running, some guys leave their rods rigged ready for the next trip out. Then after the day is done go to the store and stock up. I found that on eBay (check the classifieds here first; this is an "and also) you can get a bunch of used stuff for short money.