scubastew

Randy, Very interesting report here. I also fished out over Frankfort over the weekend. We had one King that was probably a little over 10 pounds Saturday and lost a few more. Sunday we landed the bites and ended up with 5 salmon. We did best fishing deep (around 150' down) in 200 FOW is where we hooked more fish on both days. We marked more fish up high and had high lines dragging spoons up there but only caught 1 fish above 50' and it wasn't big. Interesting to here you found a big one up that high.

Yes, they are designed so that they will not come off the line until you take them off. They will pull a 10 Color nicely.

They work very well, especially if you are pulling shorter to medium length segments of copper or leadcore line. If you are pulling just mono behind the board they may be a bit much, but they will certainly take you line way out to the side of the boat.

Start on the bank in the morning but don’t be afraid to try out deeper in 200-400+ feet of water after the morning bite. The fish have been hanging out deeper often this fall.

Just get a Talora, they are unbelievably tough. 7 or 8 foot depending on what will work best with your boat set up.

Not sure what this storm on Friday is going to do to the fishing/water temp. The wind is supposed to be shifting directions throughout the day tomorrow. I'm fishing in the Big Red and Its looking like there will be about 80 boats heading out Saturady all wondering the same thing.

Fake Bait, Sometimes you go on streaks where you loose a lot of fish, it happens. I would tighten the down rigger clip up and try not to overthink it.

Boomer, We have braided line on a couple rigger rods and we use a blood knot to tie on 25lb flourocarbon leaders. Works pretty well. We re-tie after every 5 fishing trips or so... same knot should work for you

We have a Calcutta 700B and it is by far the best reel on the boat. That Dartanium drag (or whatever) is AMAZING. The drag will only get so tight but its plenty strong for just about anything freshwater. I wouldn't be afraid of getting a large size than the 201b, I would even suggest it, even the 700 isn't that big. Calcuttas are about the best reel for its purpose. Might be a little pricey but you get what you pay for in this case. Wish I could tell you more about a rod. I would suggest something 7' or less, has a solid backbone to it and a handle that feels proper for your application.

Fishon, I have been fishing for years with a fish hawk and still sometimes get confused about "which direction the current is coming from." With surface currents, sub-surface currents and bottom currents, there can be a lot of things going on. The two most significant tools we use to help us find the "current", is the speed at the cannonball and the Speed Over Ground or GPS Speed. While trying to keep the down speed or speed at the cannonball consistent, we look at the SOG or GPS speed while trolling different directions. If you want to troll into the current you want your down speed to be higher than your SOG or GPS speed. **As a general rule you want to be trolling in the direction where your SOG or GPS Speed is at its slowest while still keeping your down speed consistent** We are not big fans of trolling in a direction where our SOG or GPS speed is fast relative to our down speed. This takes time and practice to understand and use, but there is no question that a decent understanding of this has put more fish in our box. Notes: By "Current" I mean the current at your target depth or cannonball depth not necessarily surface current or anything like that Some days trolling into the current really matters and other days it does not Your SOG or GPS speed and your down speed are likely not calibrated exact, but they are likely relative enough to get a good idea of fast and slow

Braid works well when fishing deep due to the fact there is way less drag on the line. Also, using braid, it is way easier to detect when you pick up a shaker as the line has way less strech in it then mono. The blacks release would most likely be the best clip to use. I would suggest using a long flour leader though, this will provide a little strech to the line which truly helps keep fish on!

Fished out of manistee this weekend, lots of boats caught some nice fish using meat rigs while our meat rigs stuggled to catch fish. We ran big weenie brand meat rigs staight of the package with regular salted and unsalted herring strips on 8" and 11" blades... Why were these not catching many fish? Do they need to be rigged differently? What are our a couple of other good meat rigs brand that might work better? Any suggestions?

The fishing in Little Traverse Bay in July/August can be hit or miss. The salmon usually do not start arriving in the bay till about mid July or even a few weeks later. Usually warm water collects in the bay and the fish are usually deeper. The majority of the salmon that do make it up to the bay are often 4 year olds. When the fish are located using the proper techniques be prepared to catch some big ones.

Go with the FishHawk. We currently have a Depth Raider and it often can have trouble reading speed and temp down deeper than 100 feet. Plus the coated downrigger cable that must be used is just an added pain in the ass. FishHawk is wireless so no need for that!!

Scott, Little Traverse Bay has filled up with warm water due to the recent southwest winds. However; I beleive this also brought fish into the Bay. Best Fishing this time of year will be 4+ miles West of Harbor Point on the North side of the Bay. There will be a fairly step drop from about 100 to 200 feet, which always holds a few fish. My best advise would be to fish during the morning or evening bite due to the fact the fish will not be very active in the warm water.