tips for lake fishing salmon (sockeye)

[whido isle]

am am mostly acustomed to fishing inshore saltwater for kings, silvers pinks looking to gain some knowledge lake style

[SUPERTRAMP]

Jay:

Welcome to the site. I grew up in the PNW and have fished out of Johnsons Point when I was a kid. We fish a lot different here than in the PNW! First we are allowed to keep 5 Salmon or trout per day, 2nd we Troll with 3 rods per angler, and most of use only spoons and dodger fly combinations to attract and catch the fish. The lakes are very temperature varied, our surface temps can reach over 75 degrees and we are very dependent on the thermo cline developing and giving us a depth that we can zero in on. I am very dependent on my Fishawk X4 to let me know where the temp break is. If we have a constant weather pattern for a few days, we can get a set temp break and it makes the fishing a lot easier. My Brother lives in the Portland area in Oregon and he fishes the Columbia River and the Ocean off of NW Oregon, like you they have a different style of fishing. I showed him how to use downriggers and how to use directional planers to cover the water column. I think that the NW fishermen could learn a lot from us here on the Great Lakes. I am going to try to fish out there in the next couple of years and hope my ideas will prove useful.

[whido isle]

I'm in the search for new tactics & not many ppl have info on my slickcraft so I'm turning to where it came from. do you use break away flashers?

[SUPERTRAMP]

I'm in the search for new tactics & not many ppl have info on my slickcraft so I'm turning to where it came from. do you use break away flashers?

No we dont, our presentations are very depth controlled and we use different types of line releases on our downriggers. I prefer a #33 rubber band and a Big Jon Band buster release. 1 wrap of the main line around 2 fingers pass the rubber band thru the loop and pull it thru itself attach to the release. I usually run flashers anywhere from 6 to 15 feet from the release. The most important thing is make sure u r trolling fast enough to get the desired action with ospinning it out of control and causing line twist.

This is what the back of my boat looks like 4 down riggers and lots of rod holders. I am not sure what a break away flasher is. But I will post some pics of some of our stuff that works for us.

[whido isle]

check out http://qcove.com/ you can call him & do custom colors as well even if its only one flasher

[SUPERTRAMP]

check out http://qcove.com/ you can call him & do custom colors as well even if its only one flasher

We use 8 and 11" flashers that are very similar but don't break away, I may have to order a couple and try them out.

[whido isle]

gives you a direct line to the fish so that you don't have the added pressure from the flasher I love them I would suggest a black dragon & a purple crush

[whido isle]

Jay:

Welcome to the site. I grew up in the PNW and have fished out of Johnsons Point when I was a kid. We fish a lot different here than in the PNW! First we are allowed to keep 5 Salmon or trout per day, 2nd we Troll with 3 rods per angler, and most of use only spoons and dodger fly combinations to attract and catch the fish. The lakes are very temperature varied, our surface temps can reach over 75 degrees and we are very dependent on the thermo cline developing and giving us a depth that we can zero in on. I am very dependent on my Fishawk X4 to let me know where the temp break is. If we have a constant weather pattern for a few days, we can get a set temp break and it makes the fishing a lot easier. My Brother lives in the Portland area in Oregon and he fishes the Columbia River and the Ocean off of NW Oregon, like you they have a different style of fishing. I showed him how to use downriggers and how to use directional planers to cover the water column. I think that the NW fishermen could learn a lot from us here on the Great Lakes. I am going to try to fish out there in the next couple of years and hope my ideas will prove useful.

the only factor I would worry about with the planers is the current, we try stacking @ times & get crossed every now & then. I have Q about your downriggers are the big john riggers a sealed motor & belt or gear driven? mostly scotty's are run out here & cannon