TyeeTanic

LOL! That's one way to get a buck!

Green glow frog Spin Doctor and Diver, with a green atomik fly.

Pescado, I'll try and answer your questions: 1.What size reel should i be looking at? How much line should it hold? Should i buy four of the same? Should they have line counters? You will want 2 rods for the riggers and 2 wire dipsey rods. Yes, I would take 2 wire dipsey over stacking rods on the down riggers ANY day. Most salmon are caught on the wire dipseys. It would be insane not to include them in a 4 rod spread. You will want to get 20 to 30 lb mono (flea flicker or big game) on the riggers, you will want about 600 feet or more on each reel. For the dispey wire rods you will want 7 strand, 30# wire, 1000 ft on the reel, and these reels must have line counters. Which one's you get depends on how much you want to spend. I have Oukuma Convector's (30D for the wire setup). They are very good value for the money and a good reel. There's definitely better like the Tekota's, but they are about 3 times more expensive! 2.What type of rods? again should they be all the same? For the riggers an 7 ft rod is good, medium to heavy action. For the wire dipseys you want 10 ft rods. This will allow the dipsey rod to reach over your rigger if a fish hits and the line centers without tangling into your rigger line. Make again is up to how much you want to spend. I have Rapala RSC's which are great value for money. I use a standard rod for my mono line and roller guide rods for my wire setup (cannot use normal line guides with wire). If you have big money to spend, go for the Telora's - a beautiful rod, very well built. 3.What type of line? Should i have a mix of mono,lead core,braided? Don't use braid - the fleas will kill your day. As mentioned above start with 20 lb flea flicker or 30 lb big game mono on the rigger rods. 30# 7 strand wire for the wire dipsey rods. 4.What would be a good selection of lures to begin with? Get 4" lures. Start with Northern King. Monkey Puke, Hawg Wilde, Watermelon, Gator, Purple Thunder, NGK patterns with green, Something blue/silver. Also get some flies - you will want greens, purples, reds, blues. You will need dipsey divers - get black if you can No 1 size. You will also need fluoro leaders, around 6 to 10 feet of it on each rod - use 30 # to start. 5.What speed should i be trolling at? I know this changes due to conditions but just a starting point will help. Good speed is 2.5 - 3.0 mph. Sometimes they want slightly faster, no more than 3.5 mph, and sometimes slower 2.0 mph, but I always try and aim at the range I mentioned first. 6.What size of cannon balls? I think the heaveier your rigger can handle the better, to limit blow back. 7.Any info pertaining to fishing Bluffer's is welcome I fish West side of the lake. 8.Where's the fish? (just kidding) All over! No joke, the trick is getting them to bite!

PD how did you hook up the trolling motor? Where's it mounted? How do you steer? I have a 29 ft Rinker Cruiser, and am using the main engine, but the hours are racking up, so I want to add a kicker, but can't figure out how to make it work without spending a fortune.

Dipsy divers are the staple food of trolling. This is #1 and then you chose your secondary choices. I fish my dipseys from 30ft - 100ft. I fish with up to 4 WIRE dipseys at any one time. Mark

I think I just wet my pants ...

What about Sturgeon! Haha - we all want to catch one of those someday!

These are all the issues I've read about on fishing forums, in order of priority: - sail boaters abusing right of way - power boaters crossing stern over rigs - invasive species - gas prices - boat ramp prices and congestion - stocking plans

Only if the first mate is a 24C cup, blonde, blue eyes, wears only swim suits - and I'm not talking about a fat version of Hulk Hogan.

Man, I feel sorry brother. This sucks. If there's any silver lining here, at least it's at the end of the season and not during the middle of it. But still sucks big time. I hope you catch who did this.

Two methods that have worked for me: 1) boil the eggs until they are essentially like thick/firm jelly. You can then hook through them with a tiny hook (12 or 14). The eggs will ooze a bit, which attracts fish, but you will need to replace them every four or five casts. 2) put a single egg in a row bag and use a tiny hook (no 14).

Agreed, the only difference is I do take river water with me in a 2L coke bottle. Mix a TBL spoon each of iodized salt and white sugar into about a quart cold and stir till disolved. Then eggs go in for about 2 hours or so. Strain and dry with paper towel and back in the fridge for 24 hrs. For the other posts trying to get super balls here, I don't know if I'd want them super hard. You would want the eggs naturally soft as I think this improves your success for fish bites.

OK. Let me know if you got the latest PM about my decision.

For that budget $100 for a combo will be tight to get anything decent. Your best bet for a dipsey wire rod: Eagle Claw Roller Guide, 8.5 ft - around $30 or $40 Oukuma Convector 30D Reel - around $70 or $80 Torpedo 7 strand, 30# test wire, 1000 ft - around $30 - this will fit perfectly on the above reel, no backing needed. You will then need a good Fluoro leader - suggest Seagar AbrazX 30#. You will need good quality snap, ball bearing swivels - torpedo snap swivels.

Thanks for the PM. For some reason my reply is stuck in my outbox, so not sure if it got to you. Do they have a focal adjustment for both eyes (basically one directly on one of the eye viewers and the overall focus in the center)? Or does it only have the overall center focus? I'm looking for a pair that has these to sharpen the focus.

Where are you based? Anything wrong with them? I am interested.

No. If you are using a clean setup (no flasher) then use 10 feet leaders. Say between the dipsy diver and spoon, or I use a 6 oz drop weight attached to my main line, then 10 feet fluoro to the spoon. If you use a flasher (SD or paddle), then cut this to about 5-6 feet fluoro to the spoons. You should then also use fluoro from the dipsey to the flasher and about 5-6 feet again.

Kuba, If you want fish - go to 300 - 350 feet of water, that is the Blue Zone. Check weather first please, safety first!!! The fish in close are in spawn mode. They stop eating, their stomaches shrink. It is difiicult to get them to bite. The blue zone has the younger fish (1 and 2 years olds, and lots for steelhead). They are all busy feeding. Out there blue, green, red, purple all work - some colors do better than others on some days. Also make sure your setup is okay. Are you using fluorocarbon leaders? You should and they should be around 10 feet long.

That's definitely not a lot. It's a very good start. You will end up with lots, but no which half dozen to a dozen are your key patterns. You need to start using those flies. Most of the salmon I took this year came on flies.

It depends ... The mature salmon will all be in very close to shore now in 20 feet of water. You need to troll with large agressive setups - 12" flashers, purple/red colors. Speed should vary up and down. Zig zag through same fish once you've spotten it on the screen (mark and do figure eights). Your catch ratio won't be good. They stop eating when they spawn as their stomaches shrink. So only good way is to get them angry to bite. Going to the blue zone is a different story (+300 fow). You are now targetting 2 year old salmon. The setup out there is kind of the same as what was working in 150 fow a few months ago. Try a variety of colors and baits and see what works for the day. I like to start with a spread of spoons, flies and meat rigs (I use artificial strips). I also try blue, green, red and purple colors. When they start biting you will know what they want, and then change up the rest of the lines to be within that range of selection (not exactly all the same, but zero in on color for sure).

The convector 30D's fit 1000 ft of wire perfectly, no backing required. Have two of them spooled with 30 lb wire.

The talora roller rod is amazing, if you can afford it. A more wallet friendly option is the rapala RSC 10 ft roller guide rods - about $120 per rod cheaper. Not as good as the talora's but they are still really, really good. Go for the Oukuma Convector 30D reel - best value for money, and holds up fine.

Get 10 ft dipsey diver rods. A good one for money will be the Rapala RSC with roller guides. Get the Okuma Convector 30D reel and spool it with 1000 ft of 7 strand torpedo wore 30# test. Get some good torpedo swivel quick connects. Connect a #1 dipsey diver to this. Get black or white. Get 30 lb seagar fluorocarbon leader line. Connect 10 ft behind the dipsey and add a lure to the end. Get a few lures 4" long orange, green, blue, purple. Northern King make good colors. Start here and then add spin doctors and flies to the arsenal next once you have got lures under control.

I was one of the original posters in that link. Some more advice - I've also used a market egg cure which you need to disolve in water. Both methods (salt and sugar in water) or cure mix are good, but it is hugely important to drain clean eggs of blood and remove excess water after curing. The other trick is dethawing of the eggs. I find that if I dethaw at room temperature a lot of the eggs shrivel. If I dethaw overnight in the fridge I get at least 99% recovery rate - and the eggs look good. Now, something more to the point of the question above. Are you looking to fish with single eggs? This can be done two ways - still put a single cured egg in a roe bag and use a tiny hook to disguise this in the bag. OR Boil the eggs - yes boil. This thickens the inside - turns it into a gel. It will need to boil around 5 to 10 mins. These eggs can be directly hooked through and won't burst. It is about the stealthiest setup there is provided your hook is small enough.

Oh, that just sucks. Can you email me that picture so I can assess if it breaks the rules?