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Sunday will be my opener.  I have fished the spring bite for just the past two years and I love it.  Its a great way  to get an early start on the year.  This will be two weeks earlier than previously for me.  Any tips for the March action that is different than April and May?

 

See you on the water.

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I would say bring your lake trout gear. Until that shoreline collar of water gets warmer than the rest of the lake, browns can be more spread out into deeper water. Lakers are pretty active this time of year. Troll slow. I try to hit 1.75-1.8 mph downspeed. That means you need to pick baits that work at that speed. 

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Thanks Gill-T.  Makes sense.  I looked at the lake temp. map and saw the warmer was toward the center.  Snow chilled runoff and cooler nights keeping shallower nearshore water colder early on I guess.  I presume a little rain and runoff/ creek outflow would help pull fish in?  Or perhaps it is really just about the shallows being warmer earlier (eventually).  Looking to learn.  Have lived here all my life but only had a decent sized boat for past 6 years.  All this Ontario trolling is new to me.  Have always been a fall pier guy (which I enjoyed alot), but have started to get much more into trolling and this spring nearshore bite has me stoked.  Something new and it extends the season.

 

Tight Lines

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Overnight with falling temps, the shoreline can be colder than water in 20’. If the sun comes out, the shallows can warm late morning. Olcott flow will be warmer.  Rain will make the shoreline warm. I probably will start with lakers first thing then slide in for browns later in the day. We have not had appreciable rain this year at all. Gobies live in that 12’-30’ band most of the time. Absence of a bait run up the creeks post rain, browns will be keying on gobies 

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Really sorry to see that happen to anyone.  I was lucky enough to have an alarm go off year before last on Chautauqua to tell me something was up.  Impeller in that case too on my 115 Merc 4s.  Hope nothing was ruined but a day of fishing.

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I am sure nothing ruined. I watched the temp gauge going up and we would anchor and let it cool before starting up again. Synthetic oil and cold spring temps helped. I would say I burnt off 1/2 qt of oil. We limped in anchoring twice while enjoying a beer, good food and sunshine. Nice day to be out and happy to see rich green water off port instead of the usual March grey water. Everything will speed up this week. Get your boats ready boys AND CHANGE those impellers!! Lol 

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