Butch

I suggest that you turn up the 'gain' until you have too much clutter on the screen, then back it down just a little so the clutter is mostly near the surface. Depending on how well the thermocline is set up, on my Garmin 240 it will look like a bits of clutter in a somewhat wavy band that appears and disappears and often varies somewhat in thickness and depth, or a distinct band that looks almost like a large downrigger weight across the screen, or anything in between.

Plenty of good advice already but I thought I'd chime in since I also have a Garmin 240(used it tonight;)). Unless I'm in less than 45 FOW, I almost always increase the gain to "+3", and never use the fish symbols. Gain set at +4 is OK if it's calm and the fish are deep, +2 or +1 is adequate if I'm in less than 45 FOW. Fish will appear as discrete marks(not always as arches). Bait schools will look like a large black ball or a mountain rising off the bottom. Thermocline will usually look like a band of "clutter", which often wavers up and down or gets stronger and weaker. I also turn off the "auto range" if I'm in more than 100 FOW, and set it manually on 100, or on 150 if I'm interested in fish below 100 feet down. Good Luck Butch

How did Gen. Disarray end up in a discussion about GLF's boat status? Or in the same post as a comment on the best fisherman:D I've been gone for a couple weeks and decorum breaks down, or so it seems:cool:

I fish solo quite often, and I'll agree with Catfishhoge. I'll just add or reiterate a couple things. For setting lines, making program changes, and (when possible) landing fish, head downwind. I plan my program changes ahead, to make this easier. When I'm fishing around other boats and it's breezy or wavy, whenever I'm not fishing downwind it's almost second nature for me to have a plan for how to get away from the nearby boats and turn downwind, even before a fish bites. If it's rough or windy, I try to fight fish while standing close to the steering wheel so I can easily make minor course corrections. Don't oversteer. When I'm standing on the port or starboard side, the boat will track that way a little bit, so I plan on this when setting my steering while setting rods or netting fish. For netting fish, I usually loosen my drag a bit just before, in case the fish tries some last ditch manuever while my hands are full. For big fish, to avoid them bleeding out line from the loose drag I use my thumb for extra drag, then just let it go if the fish goes crazy. I net the fish by holding the net handle under my arm for leverage, and control the net with my free hand. I prefer to hold the rod in my right hand, and the net in my left, so I usually try to net over the stern or on the port side. If I net on the starboard side, I switch hands. I prefer to net big fish over the gunwhale, and I go against most advice about netting in that I often net them from the tail, scooping up at the same time I let the rod tip drop back so the fish drops back into the net. This way, if you mistime the net job and the fish surges, it will surge out of the net without catching the hooks in the net, and you can just line things up for another try. If you net from the head end and miss, it's easy to catch a hook in the mesh, and watch the fish twist free.

They were 5-8#, and the fish I lost felt to be in the same range.

GLF, I didn't mean anything personal, glad you are having fresh salmon tonight. I just knew that there are a lot of knowledgable fishermen on this site, and they know that mis-IDed fish can mean less in the box, or a ticket. When I look in their mouths, the black part(gray for cohos) is often most noticeable to me on the lower gums. In the pics you posted, even though the angle isn't intended to show the inner mouth, it looks to me like maybe I can see black gums in the 1st, 3rd and 4th pics. Or maybe not, you were there and I wasn't. Also, in my experience, cohos often roll or spin in the line when you bring them in. Obviously, some individual fish are harder to ID than others. For example, I caught a fish yesterday that looked very coho-ish, with no spots visible on the tail. However, at 5# it was bigger than the other cohos I've caught and seen lately(pretty uniformly 2-3#) so I checked the mouth and it was all black inside the lower jaw. I considered that definitive of a chinook, but some chinooks have less black in their mouths too. And I've heard rumors of CO's that weren't good at telling them apart either. In any case, enjoy your dinner. And to Sixshooter and Spawnwalker, if you guys really want to squabble, here's some ammo. Atlantic "salmon" are more closely related to brown trout, and aren't in the same genus with pacific salmon, while (since about 1981) rainbow "trout" are in the same genus with pacific salmon:p .

I fished solo yesterday mid to late morning. I ended up 4/8, all nice eating-sized chinooks. No action for me for the first hour or more, then 6 bites in the next hour or so. Unfortunately, I only hooked 3 of those, and 1 fell off halfway. After that, a little dry spell, then caught my 3rd chinook. The 4th one hit as I was picking up the other rods, and was released. No action for me in 35-45 FOW, moved out to 55-60 and had my action. Lots of bites on tight turns. Mag green dolphin down 38 was 2/3, 1/1 on yellowtail at 42, 1/1 on a bloody nose/freeslider above 42, 0/1 black/gr/glow northport at 42, 0/2 on dipsey back 110 with a kinda frosted pickled sunshine-looking spoon.

Nice fish, GLF and DD. Thanks for the specs on where/what/how, and the pics. I had to chuckle to myself when I saw this report and pics last night, because I knew this would be an active thread:D . It was late, and I decided I would hold my response for today...

I often fish alone, so I've got quite a bit of experience on this question. I have 2 riggers, and always start using 2 riggers (with sliders) and 1 mono dipsey. I have a certain mono dipsey that I like to use to judge speed/currents, so I run it even if I thought something else might be more productive head-to-head. And I don't like reeling in lead-core or worrying about my planer boards and other boats when I'm alone, so that makes my decision easy. I generally start with spoons in the Spring, start with a dodger/fly on the dipsey in the summer, and use more dodgers as the kings stage.

I very rarely fish a rigger(I only have 2) without a slider. I fish alone a lot and consider it an important part of my spread. This time of year I usually run 1 fixed and 1 free. After a thermocline sets up, and/or if I want to run a dodger/fly, I run fixed sliders only. Irish, I run fixed sliders above dodger rigs most of the time, without significant problems. I sometimes run them pretty close together(6-8') when the fish are in tight, also. A big king on the slider can make a tangled mess, and even occasionally break off the slider leader due to said tangle, but... I put up with it.

I fished solo today. Got out about 11am, put down in 75 FOW, trolled to 185, caught 2 cohos. Picked up, ran in to the nice marks in closer, reset in 85 and fished in to 40, caught 2 chinooks(4-5#). I quit about 3 pm and never figured out a pattern. Two fish on a hawg wild, 1 on a blue whale, and 1 on a mongoose on a slider. As best I recall, I caught 1 in 95, 1 in 165, 1 in 73 and 1 in 50 FOW I marked some nice fish from 60-75 feet down in 75-85 FOW, but couldn't catch 'em. My dipsey never got bit, and based on the marks and bites I got I probly could have caught another small fish or 2 on a 1/2 to full core, but I didn't try that.

I did the shakedown cruise today. Steinfishski helped. Two 10# chinooks, 6# steelhead and a shaker. Report on M-S site. Sorry, I don't have time to retype and don't know how to duplicate the post yet. I'll figure it out next time.

We currently have a yellow lab named Otto, and a black lab named Dutch. Otto is what my then-little kids did with Otter(part of his registered name), and Dutch is named in honor of my Dad, who is of Dutch ancestry and bought us the dog.

Thanks, HitMan

Don't be ridiculous, Ken, I don't have columns for that:rolleyes: . That data is in rows, not columns:D

This is similar to the 'fishing a new port thread' but more focused. When you haven't fished in a while(perhaps because of blow days), and there has been a steady wind direction for a couple days, where do you start? If there was a mass of water with good temp, whether river plume or otherwise, I often assume(hope;) ) the wind pushed it, and the fish went with it so I start farther downwind. But most of the time I'm just guessing. Any ideas are appreciated.

I don't have wire dipseys but I've fished them on several other boats. I completely agree that they work and they are fun to catch fish on. I don't have them because 1)so far I've been too cheap to buy them and 2)because I usually fish solo(usual program is 2 riggers and a particular mono dipsey rig that helps me read speed/current), or with my elem. age kids or my 82 year old Dad, that don't like to fight fish on that kind of heavier, more unforgiving(no stretch) tackle. I don't catch as many fish as most of you guys, but I can live with that.

For big lake trolling I've kept a log on a plain pad of notebook paper for about 5 years. The info is pretty basic. However, I've kept a detailed log of my river fishing for over 15 years. I made up a standardized form which I photocopy. Date, time, location, weather, air temp, water temp, level, and clarity; fish caught, other action, expectations and reasoning, how well expectations met, (un)successful lures/patterns, and other observations(this may be a couple lines or take up the bottom half of the page and the entire back side of the page). I keep the pages in 3-ring binders. I think I've got about 6 full 3" binders.

I reread some of the things I wrote on this thread and it could be appear that I was too harsh, or that I was specifically unhappy with an individual poster or two. That was not my intent. My comments about some opinions of others were intended as general references to things I've heard and read elsewhere, I've got no axe to grind with any of you. In fact I find good points in all of the posts I've read on this thread, and in many cases you expressed things better than I did. I think the salmon are there to be caught, and kept to the extent allowed by law(apparently especially in Lake Michigan these days). I don't care if people catch and kill their limit of salmon every day, if they have a use for them. I don't care if they keep fish because they don't want to release fish knowing that some of the released fish may die anyway. I'm only frustrated when I hear that "it's unethical to release them because they won't survive anyway". This is factually wrong, and it amounts to calling ME unethical, because I release some. I resent being called "unethical". As an aside, I've met a few people over the years that have said it's ethically wrong to release fish, except when they are in a tournament and money is at stake. This is like nails on a chalkboard to me-keep them or let them go, I don't care, but please don't call me "unethical". Again, this isn't directed at anyone here, just a general rant.

Treblemaker, you raise some good questions. The charter captains are out there every day, but they don't release the fish they catch on charter trips. Quite the opposite, they keep every legal fish and they "get to" go in as soon as they have a limit. So I'm not sure that their observations and theories are more valuable than all the studies that show that the majority of released fish survive. Of course, I appreciate that they are concerned about the resource and that they are trying to fix an apparent problem at some tournaments. You also asked a question at the heart of the matter: why release a legal fish, since there is always some chance that it will die anyway and be "wasted"? I'll give you my perspective as someone that routinely releases salmon on Lake Michigan. Basically, I like to fish a lot. And I have the opportunity to fish a lot. Because of these 2 factors, I catch far more salmon than I want to keep and feed to my family or give away to friends. But, it's legal to catch and release so I fish for the enjoyment even though I don't need any more fish to feed my family right then. For the most part, I fish without regard to the limit, in the sense that I may release all my healthy-looking fish starting with the first one, or more often I may keep 1 for a meal then start releasing them, and I will fish as long as I feel like it(or have time available), whether or not I've caught less than my limit or my limit or more than my limit. Catching my "limit" is not a priority to me, and I will rarely keep fishing longer just to catch that last fish to fill my limit. I fish when I feel like it, often midday "banker's hours" even though the fishing is usually slower. I often fish solo, or I take a kid or a friend fishing but I don't take a bigger crew when the fish are biting good just so we can catch and kill more. So, basically I am willing to fish when I don't want to keep the next fish just because I enjoy the sport(and it's legal). This, even though based on the body of science out there, I ackowledge that at least 5% and more likely at least 10% of the fish I release probably will die, or more under warm-water conditions. This is a trade-off I'm willing to accept. Some people don't agree with this trade-off, and some seem to even consider this unethical. However, if I kept all my legal fish, the fish population would be reduced, especially if it was my goal to keep my limit every day. And, is one more extra bag of fish in my freezer ethically superior to a released fish that probably will (but may not) survive? Not in my book. On a different issue, thanks to Crawdaddy for the links. Reading about the c&r tips reminded me that it's easy to release fish that WILL DIE if someone doesn't know how to give the fish it's best chance to survive, or if they just don't care. Some opinions that "released fish will die anyway" are probably based on observations of fish that were handled and tossed back carelessly.

I'm not a scientist, but I've read quite a bit on this subject and have made some extensive personal observations on the subject of mortality of released fish. Sixshooter asked whether the excellent article posted by Steve A was something I'd referenced before; the answer is "no". I recently posted a cite to a MDNR study on survival by released lake trout. That study found lake trout survival was well over 90% if the fish were not bleeding badly. I thought that was interesting because "everyone" had told me that lake trout that are pulled up quickly from deep water rarely survive and because I've observed them with swim bladders expanding into their throats and floating after release myself. When I get some time I'll try to dig up the cite, but I'm pretty sure the abstract to the article is available in the research section of the MDNR website. Most of the research I've seen on this subject is based on fish from rivers but there is lots of evidence about fish survival out there. As mentioned above, hooking injuries are the biggest problem. As I recall, the science on this is clear. The biggest cause of mortality is hooks in the gills or gullet, then hooks in the tongue(if it is badly injured or becomes infected they can't use their toothy tongues to hold prey) or eye. However, even gillhooked fish can survive, just at a much lower percentage. I've even caught a few trout with an entire gill torn loose and hanging out of their gill plate, but healed over. And lots of trout survive deep punctures from kingfishers, herons and otters, and in some of the studies the fish must suvive removal from the water while a transmitter device bigger than a AA battery is surgically implanted in their body cavity. Loss of slime is not a big issue, healthy fish not living under stress can quickly regenerate slime. I've talked about this with fish biologists and they laughed about the slime issue; in the hatcheries during egg taking they wear dry cotton gloves to more easily grip the fish and strip the eggs and milt. Obviously they don't want to harm their brood stock, and they would observe it if their brood stock were dying of fungus or infection from loss of slime. Lots of people have told me that even if they swim off, they are likely to die later. Some do, but most of the studies show that fish that swim off and aren't suffering from severe hook injuries do not die later. Lots of studies document that temperature is the biggest factor other than hooking injuries. Over about 68 deg. F, a much higher percentage of released fish will die. Again, most of these studies are on rivers, where cool, oxygenated water is not readily available. However, even on this issue, in the big lake a fish can quickly swim back down to cooler/more oxygenated water. I've never read a study on this, although I've routinely seen released salmon swim straight down immediately after release. Of course, if the fish at at the river mouths in warm water top to bottom, this isn't as beneficial. I've also released hundreds of large stream browns in water over 68, often after fighting them to near exhaustion on fly tackle. I've kept extensive records of each large trout I've released, and for over 5 years I carefully marked the large trout I released. In my personal observation, many will be back feeding the next day, and the next year. Many disappear, but some move(I've found them miles away and most of them move at least 50 yards from where they were caught), and virtually all are educated to the point of becoming more difficult for me to recatch. Some undoubtably do die, but as mentioned above, they all die if you stick a fillet knife into them. If you want to release them on the big lake after netting them, of course you could stop the boat and hold them while they revive. If you don't want to stop the boat or your gunwales are to high to reach the water, I suggest that you take a lesson from the muskie guys. Remove the hook as quickly as possible, cradle the fish in 2 hands, and launch it upright and head first back into the water. They get a quick rush of fresh water over their gills and get through the surface turbulence. Some will float, but even many of those will revive and swim off. If they are bleeding badly and it's legal, keep them.

Thanks for the report and nice fish. The fish must be scarce up there for three catchermen like Catfish, TT and Six to only catch 4.

Thanks for the reports guys. I'm starting to wonder whether Jim is just pretending to dislike the noble lake trout. Maybe he's proud of his hot spring laker program, but he doesn't want to share it with us so he hates on those fish to confuse us;) Or something like that...

Sounds great Rick, except for the 1.25 hour ride over the speed bumps on the way back to the piers.