slip61

Went out of sandy yesterday at 5 went right the mouth of the salmon river. At 11 am I surfed my 22' Skeeter back through the sandy pond channel. The biggest waves were over 12. Not a fish from 20' to 100' even bait was scarce compared to Saturday. I am hanging it up for the year. The fishing might not of been as good as prior years but I can't think of anything I would rather do than spend a day looking for Salmon, catching fish or not!

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Lake Ontario United

Fished 80 to 150 stright from the river 1/2, 21 lbs female busting with eggs and very black. down 85 in 150, 51 degree water green flasher fly. pulled JPlugs for about 4 hours down the chute no takers. may go out this evening if the rain lets up. A few guys on the radio saying fish staging in 70" in front of the river. the lake is pretty nasty, took a few over the glass late morning.

I bought a helix in July to replace my 798 in the bow of my boat and sent it back. it is not networkable so i did not work for my setup.

I did add an 1199 KVD to the Transom this year and i love it. I use the dash mounted Onyx for Nav and the 1199 to find abit and fish.

it is great when you can see it at a glance watching the rods, i put it on a Ram mount so i can be adjusted out of the way.

i have been downrigging for over 25 years and have tried most of them at least once.

i settled on roemers when they came out many years ago but have switched to Chamberlain stackers

a few years ago and love them, i tried them on my planer board this year and they also work like a charm.

i agree with Cpt Rich Chamberlain all the way!

I have had similar problems in the pat running pinch pad releases below the probe.  few years ago i switched to Chamberlain stackers above the probe and never had a tangle since.

The great thing about Chamberlain releases is that the rad tension and the release trigger tension is adjusted separately, i run very tight rod tension and adjust the release tesion as light as the rig will allow. if a fis touches it it will go of. with the high rod tension you can crank down your 8-9' rigger rods with false releases. i think you hook more fish using this method.

this year i have started using the Chamberlain stackers on my side planers and the work way better than any other rigger release i have ever used, they slide down without issue and release instantly when a fish hits the planer rod.

I typically run 2 400 copper off Amish outfitter boards 2 down riggers and one 600 copper down the chute. i run usually mix it up with Flasher Fly and spoons, I usually run a bait rig down the chute on the 600 copper. if i had to say the riggers usually produce more fish but the 600 down the chute with the bait rig is the one that has caught the biggest fish. i do run inline TX44 boards when i am to lazy to set up the planer post in the boat but the fixed board work way beter especially when you load the up with heavy rigs like dipsies.

It do think there maybe some truth to spook the fish with to much action in the water. Looking back i think some of my most productive days out there were running 2 riggers and a 400/600 copper or 10 colors of lead core down the chute. I sometimes run a large Jplug down the chute.

All i can say is what works today may not tomorrow. keep changing it up every hour or so till you find the winner.

Came up to Sandy Pond Last Saturday and have been fishing all week, lake has been a little angry all week. Fishing has been very tough, i have been out every morning at dawn and usually fish till 2 or the lake chases me off. Not one fish in the boat yet. I have tried everything in my arsenal. Flies spoons of every color combo and many different bait rigs. even put out the planer boards a few times with no luck. I was getting a few hits or releases to come up empty,so switched to single hooks.

  i went to the inlet this morning and decided to turn back, there were 6 footers at the shallow break. being alone in the boat i decided to wait until the afternoon fish.

This is the toughest week of fishing i have ever had in Mexico bay, I was here the last week of July and we killed them, Kings, coho and Lakers.

  As my 12 year old daughter always says the fun is in the fishing catching fish is a bonus. That being said I have had alot of fun this week but i am still waiting for the bonus!

The weather report says it is going to calm a bit by noon so i will go out for the afternoon fish. i hope i can get out to some deeper water i have had no luck in front of the plant

or the river in that 90 to 150 fow range. Tomorrow looks like the best weather on the lake maybe the Kings will agree and join us for the party.

The King i did hook and got a look at was on a Brown and white stripe Pro king Spoon dipped in Smelly Jelly Salmon Feast with a 30" leader and a White and pink chipped flasher. Down rigger at 90 in 105 Fow.

the water was rough and i had to stop the boat to gain on him, i got it to the boat after about a half hour, he was over 20 and very light colored.

  I t is nice to see some of you guys catching fish, i hope to join the club by the end of the week i have to head back to the grind on Saturday morning. i am running out of time.

Wish me luck, all the technology in my boat is not working this time!

Cheers

Mike

Smelly jelly rules, tried and tested. I call it salmon crack! I have one side of the boat with and on side without. Same rigs both side one lead and one 400 copper out on side planer with one down on rigger same flasher and fly flasher and spoon both sides even same leader lengths. Probably similar mount of hits but 4 to one hook up in favor of the jelly! Fish are much more aggressive on the jelly, the I have tried a lot of them but the salmon feast is the crack,

there hooked!

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Lake Ontario United

I keep the protector on mine with no issues, been rained on many times.

Congrats! Very nice Boat.

Thanks Billy V I just ordered one. This should be very cool!

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Lake Ontario United

I have a Lund 2150 Baron and have a 60", 112 lb Terrova with iPilot Link on the boat along with a main and kicker motor.  It's a great tool and we can easily use it as the only propulsion when trolling.  My only issue, and they've already addressed it, is that on the Baron the 60" shaft is just barely long enough to keep the prop in the water so we really only get it's full benefit when the lake is flat.  Minn Kota has just recently announced a 72" Terrova so we will likely put one of those on the boat and sell the 60".  We've used it as primary propulsion and have also used it as steering control when we're running the kicker.  Without it I would have a terrible time trying to get my trolling spread set up, but with it the boat just holds it's line and I can get things in the water pretty quickly when I'm out by myself.  I agree with the above statement that it's not a replacement for a first mate or for a stand alone autopilot, but it is a huge help and so far I haven't felt the need to buy a stand alone autopilot for the boat.  My guess is that once I get the 72" model that it'll be even more useful for my application as the prop with be at it's specified depth all the time.

 

Something new that I'm really looking forward to is that Lakemaster has finally released a cartography chip with contour lines for Lake O.  Because Lakemaster is part of the Johnson Outdoors family, our Humminbird/iPilot Link system reads the chip and we will be able to ask iPilot to follow a specific contour line.  That'll be really great in the spring when targeting browns.

 

You'll love iPilot, and for sure get one with Link if you have a Humminbird unit on the boat.

Billy V I have been looking for the Lakemaster maps for Lake O and i am not having any luck. Can you point me in the right direction, i would greatly appreciate it.

Welcome Aboard JC,

Good Morning Steelie

I will take the lot, PM me so we can set up payment and shipping

as i mentioned FleeTracker, my boat has a very aggessive keel and tracks beter than most, i agree ping is slow and i have had to reset more often in rough water.

but i have tested it for direction only and although it does work quite well it is no replacement for a first mate....

Salmonite i never have to use the full power of the 112 i think you would do just fine with 80 and have power to spare.

I use a MinnKota Terrova 112 W US2 Ipilot networked with a 798 hd and a 898 hd si hummingbird,

i use ipilot alot for kings and it works great. ipilot does a great job controlling both speed and course.

you can also plot mutiple waypoints so you don't have to troll a straight line between start and end points,

you can add many waypoints and zigzag as much as you want. I usually fish an assortment of presentations from

riggers to dipsies to leadcore on planer boards and always the old faithfull copper straight out the back.

I also have my cannon downriggers networked in the sytem so i can use bottom track at whatever deepth i want.

this works very well for lakers.

I plan on adding a 9.9 kicker in addition, i will still use ipilot on the minkota for direction while propultion will come from the kicker.

I tested this last year with the primary 250HP 4stroke yamaha which will get down to about 2.2 MPH which is fine for Kings, in fact i like to get it up to about 2.4- 2.6

with the minnkota in the water and ipilot set to a much lower speed it will just control direction. You will have to mess with the speed on the minkota for

optimal directional control of your boat, my boat has a very aggresive keal for straight line tracking so it takes a little more.

Don't ya just love technology!

I hope this helps

Hi Don

Welcome to LOU, the Charter idea is great and you can also learn alot on you tube.

there are tons of charter videos on technique and equipment for all the Great lakes and Species.

I just got back into salmon and trout fishing last year and learned alot on this forum and watching videos on You Tube.

This forum is a great place to get real information, the members are very accomidating to us newbies.

I spent a total of 12 full days out on Lake Ontario last summer and thanks to the advice of the good people

on this forum very few of those days were unproductive. My 12 year old daughter thinks i am the Salmon Wisperer!

I have owned and used them all over the years.

I prefer the Cannon DigiTroll 10 the networking capabilities rule for bottom track.

Chamberlain releases are also my favorites. They are 100% correct on the no false release claims!

and you can crank the rods down to the water; success is in the little details, thats what i keep telling myself!

Last year i bought a couple of flat fish shaped weights, there are 16lbs and the tails are stainless steel

they work great limiting drag angle and you can tune the tails to keep them away from the boat. I have

no idea what they are called, i was hoping someone here could enlighten me. I will post a pic when the

snow melts a little more and i can get to my boat.....

I live in the Bangor area, and yes i would be looking for a place to stay with secure parking for my rig, with money not being as big an issue as my wife and daughter being happy. LMAO

Thanks guys,

I will do a little research to check them all out. I really appreciate the info.

 Hello my name is Mike (Slip), although i have been around many a lake in my day, I am new to the Great lakes Fishing scene.

My parent were Hunting and Fishing outfitters in the North Eastern Canada so I have spent alot of time on fresh water

chasing lakers. I moved to the USA 20 years ago because of work and fishing has been a few times a year event. Like

alot of other people after turning 50 and experiencing what some call a (Midlife Crisis) I bought a new boat and plan

to use it. i have always had a passion for downrigger fishing and what beter place to do than Lake Ontario.

 This forum does look very informative and I plan on taking advantage of all the knowledge available. Travelling

From Eastern PA i guess the abvious place to dock would be the Oswego and Watertown areas. Any info on public launches,

docking and accomidations in these areas would be greatly appreciated. I look forward to making new friends and sharing Information.

Cheers

  Slip