steve-hamilton

i have multiple special mate boxes full of just "Brown Trout" lures....hundreds of them (I fish for browns more than any other lake O species).

However, if I could only use ONE lure for browns, just one, for the rest of my life, it would be the riplin redfin.

the challenger deep divers are great baits.

however, like 95% of lures, they are not designed for salmon.

as such, like the poster above said, you MUST change the hooks, and the SPLIT RINGS as well.

truthfully, outside a very select few of lures (yozuri crystal minnows, rebel spoon bill minnows, and j13's) ALL hooks and split rings should be changed....

the manufacturer's of lures have major cost reductions in place....and these reductions always start at the hardware.....most specifically hooks and split rings...

rapala has gone DOWNHILL over the last 5 years with respect to quality of hooks and split rings....

but truthfully, I'd guess 80% or more of anglers who buy these lures will never put them near a salmon.

I'm a crankbait nut, filling six special mate boxes full of different stick baits....each and every lure have upgraded hooks and split rings...

I use 2x gammy's or st-41's for hooks and excalubir tear drop split rings.

browns do shoal spawn, but most head to the rivers...

spawning is tough for browns, as they are heavily targetted for their eggs (bow fisherman call their eggs "gold").

i'm glad many shoal spawn, and wish more followed suit.

over the next five years, the average sized laker will start to become much bigger than the average sized king...

heck, on my boat, it was like that this year.....

i see adding lake trout back to the loc because soon the lakers will become much bigger on average than the kings.....

if you target lake trout with the right tackle (medium light rods and clean spoons), lakers can be a ton of fun.

if your using over sized king tackle, or cheap tdr's, then yes, lakers can be boring.

we run 7' spinning rods and reels off our riggers for lakers...that is fun!!!

i'd take 20 lakers fishing with the right tackle than one King, lol.

walter contributes some money back to the fishery.

with the direction the lake is going.....in 5 years all that will be left is a lake trout division.

Gambler, I have a feeling your skills are going to be in high demand in 5-7 years.

a slaughter of 8lbs to 14lbs kings....

no big kings were around this spring.

that was evident by the tournament and derby results.

use the 3 way swivel option.

it is much cleaner....

diving bait on the bottom (tail dancer, RR, etc) and a spoon or a shallow diving bait (riplin redfin, ripstick, etc) on the top.

I don't use this setup on Lake O, but certainly do at Quinte for walleye.

16lbs to 20lbs caught regularly?

hmm.....

hopefully be out on the lake this Tuesday (or Wednesday, winds depending).

well, you can only report your experience.

all I can say is, good thing okuma takes back reels, no questions asked.

i started using Tekota's in 2004, only four years after you started using Okuma's.

I also fish in the rain and the sun --- my reels will certainly sit in tough conditons. So my reels are often taking abuse. I also fish Quinte in December....when the Okuma's were freezing due to their poor sealing.

there is a reason the vast majority of sponsered okuma anglers sell their reels every couple seasons....and a quick check on any of the used message boards supports this. very few daiwa's or tekota's for sale...tons of okuma's.

btw, I'm not sponsered by anyone...and I pay 100% full price for my tackle....

like you, I can only report my experience.

soon we'll be out putting our reels to the test again....

Matt I'm going to dig around on this. The ONLY reel I've heard having drag issues when new was the first run Coldwaters.

Seriously?

The first run of Convectors all had faulty drags. First run of Coldwaters all had faulty drags.

Just do a simple google searched titled "okuma drag" and nothing more.....you'll come across page after page of message board reports from people who have had okuma drag issues.

now, yes, the tekota 700's and 800's also had major drag issues as well.....so its not just okuma.

i own 20 something 500's and 600's (tekota) without an issue with a single one.

but the single smoothest drag I have is my saltist. Diawa just has it right with their drags...too bad their line counters are junk.

Vince, now THAT was a post!!!

you caught a lake trout jigging in 170' of water?

cool !!!

many kings being caught.....just got to put your time in......

we have had a good spring thus far....

diving jointed body baits have done the best for us.

okuma's are ok.

won't last like the daiwa's or tekota's.....but they are ok.

great warranty service on them!

can't argue a bunch of lakers.

we only found one nice king this past sunday - the rest lakers.

make'r a laker.

wish i could have been out there this morning.....but drove down, had a look at the lake, and went for breakfast instead.

this weekend's winds aren't very kind.

thanks for the kind words.

things are starting to heat up....just gotta keep the faith.

they are there - they truly are - just have to work for them.....

Up until this weekend, all my king fishing had been down on the south shore. Fishing had been spotty this spring, having outings with six or seven kings and others scraping by with one king. I do love it down there as I can always tangle with the browns when the kings aren't active or around, but really, nothing beats fighting fish in your own back yard, which is where I was this weekend.

I fished Sunday from 10am until 5pm and Monday from 6am until 2pm.

Like most boats I found lake trout more than willing to take my offerings....which generally included a spin doctor and spoon combo set 5' off bottom. However, I was able to "sorta" put a King pattern together, taking five kings in the two days, only using a 2 rod spread consisting of a rigger / dipsy, rigger / rigger, or dipsy / dipsy pattern.

Three of the five kings came off the braid dipsy, one off a 300' copper, and the fifth on a rigger set 75' over 110'.

Habinero spin doctors seemed to do best, however, the biggest fish came off the ole faithful glow frog spinny.

As tough as it has been up here, the weeks weather should throw off the fishing even more.

Have fun ou there everyone!

Good mix with the area otherwise populated with lake trout (and some beauties at that!!!)