jj7leaf

Navagation channel for large boats is market with red and green bouys rougly down the center of the lake, these are numbered and will show on your hotspots map. Some of these are large shoals and will be on dry humps so know which side you need to be on. Without a GPS alot of guys use these numbered bouys for orientation around the lake. Around the outside of the lake other shoal/shallow hazards are marked pretty well with white bouys. Alot of these reflect at night but not all so be aware. I have done alot better this year on bucktail with a half worm over sonars but both work while drifting, trolling with stickbaits is good if you have the gear and can get to the fish. Leadcore and snap weights are better than downriggers for me if you want to troll. For jigging pick up a pack some trailer hooks, at times it means the difference between 6 fish or 1 fish. If there is wind look for the shackelton shoal area (can't miss it, there will be 50 other boats there on a weekend) And to get a slow drift going, it never hurts to put down some worm harnesses to bounce bottom behind your drift while you work the jig in front of your drift. Look over the map and find some structure before you go. Set up upwind and drift it and see what you find. Pet peeve of mine, don't run over to the first boat you see land a fish or 2, it gets really annoying to have someone new watch you get fish and then run upwind and get in the way of your next drift over your GPS marks. These fish are everywhere, shallow weeds, deep flats, structure,,,, EVERYWHERE, they are not just under the other guys boat and it is a big lake out there. Have fun. j

While I have a personnal opinion that on alot of days if you put something/anything with good color and good action, at the right speed, in front of the fish they are going to hammer it. I know we have all seen the days when a color is hot, like when green is on and anything with some krinkle green will take fish. If they are down there they will hit. However I also know that on cetain days the fly color does make a big difference. From personnal experience I know that on some days a Glow B-fly will produce strike after strike behind multiple flashers but after a mangled up leader you change to a non glow B-fly and it will not take a release behind the same set-ups. And oddly not on overcast or lowlight days that the glow fly outproduces... I've also seen that on some bright days a Cpt Valium down with 3 different flies at the same time will only take fish on one certain fly. All of the other flies were proven producers behind a valium on other days, even tried adjusting the leader thinking that the action was different cause a leader might have been longer and shorter. Added the UV fly that was hot on another rig and bang away. I need to keep a better log too, to many details just get lost. in the mix. j

Where are you located? [ Post made via Android ] Are you asking where his gay phone is? j/k j

Same as Glen, 500's on an 800 from Tom, I think he told me the yards of backing but I don't remember at this point. I have never come close to spooling on any fish, usually the fish is just as tired as I am after reeling... j

Yeah, I'm with ya. Just wanted to make sure what you meant "higher" setting. j

Just wanna make sure I have the info correct Rick, you mean don't go with 2.5-3 setting on your dipsy if you are already running a 400-500' copper on a board or you could get a mess when it drifts out? Thanks j

I can't believe no one posted NUCLEAR GREEN.... I ran black for years. I still throw one out on days that the NUK doesn't see any action but the Nuclear Green has outfished the black for me the last 2 years. I am not talking a little, I am talking about alot! j

Most of the guys here that use cut bait are Trolling, if they are actually talking about drifting they could be confusing "mooching" with drifting. Mooching is a west coast tactic, not very popular on the great lakes but does work. Do a search for Mooching and you will see that it is simply lowering a trolling weight and leader with a double hook rig to the target depth where the fish are and slowly moving your boat around. Cut bait trolling usually involves a rotator head on the great lakes, you use a tooth pick to anchor the cut bait strip into the head then a 3-4' leader to an attractor or flasher. They can be trolled deep on any rig that you normally would run for salmon trolling. If you are interested in drift fishing for salmon you might be better off speed jigging. again do a search, try "speed jigging brown trout" or jigging great lakes salmon. I know there is a video out there of those. j

I appreciate the help guys however... I know how to anchor and I have enough rope onboard, I have chain on @ anchor, when I say 2:1 I am only talking minimum holding length of line out. With my anchor and my boat (19.5 fishmaster) I can "get away" with 2x depth as long as things don't get too hairy. I would not try that with others around, I can only imagine how bad things could get. Jim, I guess I see where you are going with the two anchors off the bow, that would eliminate the need to have double the rope on the bow to get back to where you would need to set a stern anchor (an additional 200' behind you....) before motoring back to your intended anchoring position. So as far as a second anchor holding your swing for perch fishing, is there a type of anchor that will hold fairly well without the same 3:1 rope treatment? Possibly a mushroom style that is heavier than the rating for your boat? thanks again j

I need to pick up a second anchor for perch fishing at cetain times, my question is what type? My current anchor holds great as long as I let out 2x the depth, if I go under that I drag if wind/waves kick up. so what are good short rope anchors for holding the rear from swinging? Do I just need to go HEAVY? jason

Nice job, I was out solo and saw the crowd out there and decided to run and gun some small spots instead. Same story 16-28' near structure did 7 for 9 split between bucktails and harnesses then swithed over to panfish for a few hours quit at 2 with eyes, perch, couple huge sunnies a sunburn for the history books. Copper blades definately were better than paint or chrome. Same program sunday, little more breeze out there so covered some short drifts midlake very quickly for 4 eyes plus about 6 smallies all on bucktails quit before 10am. Great time on the water. Can't wait till next weekend. j

Go get em...

Nice job, keep up the posts.... Gambell, I don't have a smart phone but if you subscribe yo should be able to set up an alert for this thread and any other live update threads. Nice slob for sure. j

If you get your gear from Tom he usually marks them every 100' with a heat shrink mark. Didn't the other 100' of copper from the board back to the boat drag in the water? I tried to run a 500 as a 400 once and that was enough for me. Just had to buy another reel. j

No. The diameter of copper is too large for any kind of accuracy. Only use for a counter on a copper is if you are adding bombs and lowering extra backing to achieve greater depth or you are running it shorter than full length down the chute. Just fyi a typical line counter will not cout feet of line out. It approximates feet in spool revolutions and allows close duplication among reel types. You can calibrate them at a certain distance. Problem with this is that it is only calibrated perfectly at that distance. Under or over that measurement you are off, your margin of error grows the farther you are from the calibration point. Best option is just to verify that the same amount of line is added at capacity then all reels of that model will be very close. j

What I see is a float tube in the last couple of pics. I've done a LOT of float tubing in the past but..... Who the hell would get in a float tube with their toes dangling in the water with wolves like that hanging around! Thanks for the pictures. j

Be careful, most often with planer boards you want to run the deepest diving/running set up closest to the boat. I think the #1 dipsy will run alot deeper than a walker 82 (don't have my dive charts at work.... anyone have access?) Anyway with that said you could end up with a mess from a fish crossing inside lines that are higher, you would need to wait for the outside line to rise up a little after releasing before you drag it across higher lines. Nice info though I am always looking for more ways to run extra lines. The downrigger releases you are using are the simple pinch pad style? Are you running wire divers or braid? Thanks j

I'm learning....

I wanted to post this experience from the opener. I went out for the night bite a two times over the opening weekend. With the full moon the eyes were not spooked by a head lamp at all, for the most part if I spotted them and didn't get too close they could be caught, they were very skiddish of the boat at times. following weekend, the moon is not nearly as dominant in the sky and the eyes are alot more skiddish of the headlamps. Only fish I caught last week were in the dark, if I spotted the eyes, they would not hit, no matter how far away the boat was, and would slowly leave the area or sink to bottom and hold there. so yeah, at times head lamps are a bad thing for fishing eyes. j

I have done some rebuilds and new handles on a few rods in the past. The guides are not very bad, if they are going back in the same location the area needs to be cleaned of residual epoxy and the new wrap needs to extend slightly past the original edges. Handles are alot more work. Stipping the handle can be real pain, then the clean up and epoxy removal can take alot of work. Most guys that want a handle rebuild want to go from a solid handle and rear grip to a split grip, without a lotta luck and some hard work you almost always have to run a thread wrap up the uncovered split rear grip as the glue/epoxy from the original handle can create a mess that even when sanded looks like A$$. I don't do this for money, I still consider myself a beginner, but I think I have accomplished some great rods including some nice rebuilds, if you are patient anyone can do all of this stuff with some basic tools and time. Good luck & post up some pictures of before and after. j

I went on a quest to find a honey smoked salmon recipe after having some of my silvers and sockeye done in Soldotna Alaska and while the owner will not give out his recipe no matter how much I begged I have found this to be a pretty tasty substitute. Copied and Pasted off another site. Honey Smoked Salmon Brine: ¾ cup honey 10 allspice berries 2 bay leafs ½ cup sea salt 4 oz rum 15 peppercorns 10 cloves ¼ cup lime juice 1 quart water 6oz ALDER chips (do not use Cedar) 1 large salmon fillet (about 2lbs) Marinate fillet in brine for atleast 3 hours. Pat dry and air dry for ½ hour. Smoke as the directions of your smoker, but use the highest grill and temperature should be about 160. It will take about 1 ½ hours. Serve warm for greatest flavor, but chilled also works well. Denny Buhlman Sisters, OR Gotta thank the west coasters for this one.... Jason

I don't fish your area but the name of the game is slow in spring, they are called jerk baits because of the technique used by bass guys. I use a slow steady retrieve or slowly drag it with rod tip, then reel slack then drag slow another foot or so then reel. j

pier jumping is when you stand on the pier and try to jump the incoming wave... j

What Gambler said, I actually go 2' shorter so my baits hook on the keeper or reel without the swivel in the eyes but u need to remember that I run 10' board rods for brown trout so an 8' leader, 2lb's lighter than the main line, ball bearing swivel between the main and lead and just a cross lock snap at the bait is my setup. Temps will change every time you go out. The discharge from creeks, the warming of certian shorline types and the wind pushing everything around will make even the best laid plans mid week change by saturday morning. If you get all serious and start tracking the weather all week thinking you can perdict where the warm water will be by weekend you will be close some times and totally wrong others. As odd as it sounds I use the "opposites attract" method to start my day, if every one went one direction out of port, I am attracted to the opposite direction! Right wrong or indifferent we are out there to have a good time and usually do. j