Advice for new angler / Iron Bay area...

[Oncebitten]

So after 20 years of chasing bass and the occasional walleye in Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes and Thousand Islands, I've gotten the urge to start chasing the trout and salmon in Lake Ontario as well. I recently sold my bass boat and bought a 19' Crestliner 192. It's a walleye rig basically so that will be my fishing platform. It's set up for trolling with both a 200 hp four stroke as well as an 8 hp four stroke kicker, color graphs, GPS, VHF, wave whackers, etc.

My question is this. As I will be adding gear and tackle here and there over time, what are the things you guys feel I should invest in first? I'll be putting a pair of electric downriggers on a set of tracks in the next week or so and it's already loaded with rod holders. I may install a planer board mast near the end of the season. Should I bite the bullet and get a Fish Hawk right away? Invest in spoons, flies, cow bells, spin doctors, color core? I was never a big dipsy fan but I'm not opposed to them. Rods and reels I already have.

Thoughts? Things I need right away? Things that you wouldn't do without? Not looking for secrets, just some advise on how to spend money wisely on things I'll actually need and use.

Thanks in advance,

Fred

[Sweet Caroline]

Fish Hawk is a must, especially in the Summer.  Don't need to go crazy on spoons or spin docs initially (easy to do). Get muliple spoons (2-4) in a few differnet color patterns. Downriggers first, then dipseys, then copper/lead core IMO.

[ontherise]

Down speed and temp for sure.

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[Oncebitten]

Thanks guys.  Is the down speed, temp and depth worth the extra $150 over the down speed and temp model?

[Sea-IV]

I personally bought the X4-D but I don't think that part of it is necessary only because if it is at your weight then your counter on the rigger will let you know. If your riggers don't have counters well then its a different story.

[ryonybony]

I may be against the grain here...but i would invest money in dipsy rods and copper or lead core rods. Get plenty of spoons, echips , spindoctors....flys...etc. just my opinion. ..but look for the fish on the depthfinder until you get rigged up. This is my first year with a temp probe and it is nice, but i think the other stuff is more helpful. When the lake sets up you can see the temp break on the fishfinder.

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[Just Fishin']

Ditto what A-Lure-A said.

I actually fished most of last year without a fishfinder because I didn't want to incur the expense of pulling my boat to do install midseason. I learned to find and fish the temp break like never before. I now really appreciate how important temp is and watch that closer than the fishfinder screen. I had a great year despite fishing blind.

I have a Depth Raider now and it works well, had the Fishhawk on my previous boat. I would buy the Fishhawk first if I was in the market again.

Also, we go crazy with lures and wind up fishing with a very small portion of them. Over time they will all hook you. If just getting started, keep it simple and get a few of the patterns you see over and over on here, in different sizes. Natural Born Killer, Black Widow, Carbon 14s are a few that seem to be working well for me this year.

Just my 2 cents.

Be sure you are running sliders on your downrigger lines. Increases your haul significantly over time. Some fix them and do great, I have always free slid them and it gives an amateur like me a much larger coverage of the water column.

Lastly, if you really want to learn quick what is important take a charter. We have a great group of guys out of Rochester and you will learn more in a day than you could ever dream of. PM me if you wish for a few names.

[Pike Hunter]

Once bitten...twice shy! 

 

Welcome to LOU!  Best bet is to spend money on quality charter experience. This is the fastest way to reduce your learning curve. PM me for names of charter captain in your area.

 

Become a PRO member at this site. Best $20 bucks invested!

 

Continue to read everything everyday.

 

Safety first - check weather often and watch for the wind direction and the speed. Rough water - be safe and stay home so you can fish again the next time. Lady Lake can be unforgiving.

 

Best of luck on the water.

[Oncebitten]

I've actually been out with some of the local charters over the years and always learned a good deal.  Of course the fishing in May, July and September varies a HUGE amount so the temptation is to race out and buy everything!  (As a bass and walleye fisherman, I have a basement full of gear to prove it.)   Thus my qustion here.

 

Thanks again all, you've been very helpful.

[whaler1]

Down temp and speed.  Spin Drs . 

[thumbburn]

down speed and temp first imo!!!!!!!!buy a cpl spoons every time you go and the supply will grow

[cdq]

Cdq's dad , I'm with the above comments temp and speed important started trolling trout/salmon early 80's put speed temp on 1986 Ray Jeff 285 still using today also have fish hawk old one currently not on the boat. I to went at times without depthfinder old paper graphs use to break down stylis/paper run out pain to change out on the water took two hands while u we're trying to drive. Then I would watch my temp. Speed very critical at the ball. Lots of spoon deals on this sight. Wire slide divers work well for me. Remember fishin. Lures catch fishermen too. I got to many spoons! Good luc sounds like u got good start. Get good marine radio. Always keep eye on the weather.

[Has Been]

As soon as things straighten out on the lake , which should be soon , fishing should be fairly easy. 2 rods on the riggers & 2 dipsy would be the way I would go at first. Was never a fan of dipseys but  braid w/ flasher/fly account for a lot of my Kings & steelheads. If you have surface speed & GPS SOG you can dial in pretty good if  you did any wallleye trolling. I don't have down speed but if you think you need it ,get it.

 

 We all have our favorite lures & there are posts on here about that.

 

 Mine are NK 28 & Mags  Spook, lazer spook, Glo Frog ,Blk purple, silver purple , Gator, Blk slv green glo. I have about 400 spoons And use maybe 20 of them .

 

 Flashers Are  White Dbl crushglo  or white glo, Mtn dew,

 

 flys 19-21" behind. Dbl glo , hipnotist, mirage, no See um.

 

 Keep it simple at first , find bait & fish through it & well below it.Adjust speed often.  Good Luck.

 

 Lastly, you have to have patience out there. untill I learned this , I would constantly change lures to everthing I had in my box , till I had a mess no self respecting fish would hit.  I don't change a whole lot now. I stick w/ my proven stuff  & move it around to riggers or dipsey etc. As I said , I use about 20 diff apoons & 6 diff flashers and feel I  do pretty well out there. When the fish are bitting is when I might mix in somthing new or different.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Has Been

[gl1]

Welcome to the dark side Fred!  When I came back to Rochester, dad and I decided to get back into the salmon game. So I juggle between bass fishing and trolling for salmonoids.  

 

We haven't added down temp yet, but it is on the list.  We run a pretty simple 4 rod program, with two divers, two riggers, cheaters on both riggers.  Last year the divers took more than half of our fish.  Later in the year the divers with flasher/flies were the ticket. 

 

We will probably head out of IBay this weekend.  Shoot me a PM if you are gonna be out, we can share horror stories!

 

Bill

[Oncebitten]

Hey Bill, good to hear from you!   Yeah, I got a little tired of chasing only bass so I sold my bass boat and bought a 19' Crestliner that's all set up for walleye tournements.  I've got my down riggers, risers and rod holders finally so now I'm just waiting on the Cisco track system to show up so I can install everything!   I'll be sneaking out of the Bay this weekend as well, just running a couple of leadcore lines or dipseys so maybe I'll have a little luck. 

 

If you see a Crestliner floating around with a couple of Yamaha's on the back, give me a yell. 

[Ryno23]

Yes, Down Speed and Temp I double if not tripled my hook ups when I finally got one, what I did was by a used Fish Hawk 840 for cheap and then bought a X4 probe (the 840 probes suck dont even bother) which works with the 840 display and it works great for me.

 

Another thing buy good line and leaders saves alot of fustration and fish. I would get Dipsy's and LC i'm not a fan of Copper myself (just my taste).

 

Tell you what not to buy, Cowbells.....

[pvelyk]

I have been out of the game for awhile and I am now just starting to get back in but I do have some advice from my first time around.  

 

You are getting a lot of great answers and everyone of them is accurate and great information and is provided by successful fisherman,  but there is a trap you can fall into here.  That trap is that everyone has there own system of what they do to catch fish, some are similar and some are counter to what others do.  My suggestion and advice is to pick one system of fishing the lake and stick to it, worse thing you could do is everyday drastically change what you are doing because you heard someone else did great that day with that particular setup or system.  Once you get a system that consistently works for you, even if its modest numbers, then start changing one variable until you find it consistently gives you better results, then throw the next variable in.  There is nothing like success and confidence to improve your fishing, every time you have success out there you are much more confident with the next change and it just keeps building.  Good luck.

[GANGGREEN]

Maybe we can both get out there with our rigs one of these days Fred and exchange info.  I've done a lot more casting on inland lakes and even a lot more trolling for 'eyes in Erie but I have foul-hooked the odd salmon on Ontario, Georgian Bay or even on Erie back in the day.  Like you, I'm anxious to spread my wings and leave my comfort zone a bit.