Killin' It Posted January 28, 2014 Posted January 28, 2014 I was sitting here thinking about some of the stuff I have done to catch fish while trolling off shore. Which led me to this questions:Why did we every stop running:Jointed rap alas J 13 sizeHot N totsMag wartsI have run all over the past few years and they still catch plenty of fish. A mag hot n tot on the low rigger back 75 is the same as a SWR.A J-13 on a deep copper can be lights out mid day.Just wondering what everyone else things is the reason for trends like this to not happen as much as before.
Long Lines Posted January 28, 2014 Posted January 28, 2014 That's interesting Dave. To your point though, I have been offshore trolling for a grand total of like 4-5 years. 3 pretty avidly. Learning a ton from everyone; but I have not seen any of those techniques used or talked about that much.
niagaramusky Posted January 28, 2014 Posted January 28, 2014 I reverted back to Hot N Tots last year for walleye off 8 colors of leadcore and they caught more walleyes then Renoskys,Challengers,spoons or harnesses! Best color was simple blue back crome finish.
IRon Posted January 28, 2014 Posted January 28, 2014 I've got a box full of Tots. Great old lure. I've also got a bunch of Fishcatcher flashers that came out before the Spin Doctors that I used to catch a lot of fish on I'll have to dust off this summer. Also I should break out the old Flatfish in the spring for browns/salmon and even summer for lakers more.
niagaramusky Posted January 28, 2014 Posted January 28, 2014 I do a lot of Muskie Charters and muskies get use to the water movement of lure body designs over time and then do not bite that movement.I have reverted back to crankbaits that were good 25 years ago and started catching many more fish by doing so,water movement the fish have not picked up by lateral line over time and some younger fish have never encountered,muskies can live to be 35 years old here on the Niagara River.With this working for muskies I decided to dig through the garage and find old walleye crankbaits with different movement from what we use most of the time today and it did work!
Gnarf Posted January 28, 2014 Posted January 28, 2014 I've got a box full of Tots. Great old lure. I've also got a bunch of Fishcatcher flashers that came out before the Spin Doctors that I used to catch a lot of fish on I'll have to dust off this summer. Also I should break out the old Flatfish in the spring for browns/salmon and even summer for lakers more.Ive got a whole box of Fishcatcher flashers, and even some crazy corkscrew looking ones.Im gunna try some experimenting this year...
niagaramusky Posted January 28, 2014 Posted January 28, 2014 I also use a lot of old Jr.Thunder Sticks that out produce the newer version for salmon, trout & walleye!
SeaCatMich Posted January 28, 2014 Posted January 28, 2014 I also use a lot of old Jr.Thunder Sticks that out produce the newer version for salmon, trout & walleye!Normark/Rapala's buyout of Storm and subsequent redesign of the Thundersticks, ThinFin, Hot-n-tot and Wiggle Wart was bad news for these classic lures. I can imagine that the new designs are that much easier/cheaper to manufacture so why in the world did they "fixed" them?
niagaramusky Posted January 28, 2014 Posted January 28, 2014 I could get the new version of Thunder Stick Jr's to work after Gary Parsons showed me a trick to add one split shot 10 inches up the main line from the crankbait pull eye.This redirects the lip angle to make the new version have action like the old version.Wiggle Warts use to be durable and you were able to reel in Muskies on them,now they come apart on bass.
Sly Selea Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 Half the fun is buying new stuff. The power of marketing is strong.
hear fishy fishy Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 I tried trolling body baits for trout and salmon before with very little luck except last year. I had one body bait on lead core which worked good in the middle of the day. Not sure if I am doing something wrong. I experiment sometimes but when it comes to trying to catch fish I stick with what works for me.
niagaramusky Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 I do the best with crankbaits for salmon & trout when the fish are close to shore in the spring when water near shore is the warmest and holding more bait fish.Then in late September trolling at creek mouths or up into creeks after salmon runs.When out in deep waters of Lake Ontario I do best on spoons and still use some old green back glow belly J Plugs that work well for me for Kings!
SUPERTRAMP Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 Sad Commentary on the quality of Normark Lures and other products. I still run The Wiggle Wart and Hot n Tot in the spring and all winter for Steel. This year its been kind of tough to find fishable water for steel. The oldies I still use are the Tadpolly and Tiny Tad that were Heddon staples. I normally don't run Body baits in deep water trolling situations, but have gone crazy with Tot's in 200 FOW down 100 and 75 to 100 back. Keep your old Tots, they are fish killers.
gmfishon Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 i dig out the olds tuff from time to time. was just wondering about the old tadpollys dont have any now but wish i did that lure cought everything that swims.
IRon Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 i dig out the olds tuff from time to time. was just wondering about the old tadpollys dont have any now but wish i did that lure cought everything that swims. The Lindy River Rockers look like a knock off of the Tadpolly's. Might have to pick up a couple myself to try. I been wanting to try the Yakima Mag lip deep divers, too.
Killin' It Posted January 30, 2014 Author Posted January 30, 2014 Do you think the reason for people running less of them, is really that the quality is less.Or is it just a marketing thing and these items do not get marketed to big water trollers.
SUPERTRAMP Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 Do you think the reason for people running less of them' date=' is really that the quality is less.Or is it just a marketing thing and these items do not get marketed to big water trollers.[/quote']A little of both, I run some lipless crank baits in the spring. I have caught coho and browns with them. Don't be afraid to try something different.
Priority1 Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 To some extent we are all like little boys. We tend to put away or neglect our old toys in favor of new ones. Do the new colors, shapes, and other things catch more fish? Of course they catch more fish because we run them more. Like little boys, every once in awhile, we pull out an old toy and have more fun with it. Leadcore was a tried and true method that was shelved for awhile in favor of riggers and divers. What goes around comes around. It's kinda like the width of a man's tie, double breasted suits, and wing tipped shoes. Don't throw any of those away because they will be back.
Chummer Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 Great analogy Frank. I know I have sold "stuff" at garage sales for a penny on a dollar that were still useful and wish I still had them. I'll be looking for the Tadpollys & Flatfish from late 60's we ran in Platte Bay. I think I still have them.
Duraflame Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 The first king I ever caught on my own boat was March 17, 2012 out of Portage IN. It was 80deg that day, and I had no clue what I was doing. I was trolling a bunch of thunderstick Jr's and some Net Craft knock offs, using 6ft bass spinning rods and cheap Mitchel reels. I had one downrigger, and the rest were flatlined with inline weights. The Coho were in thick, and several were hooked in the prop wash, we could actually see them hit the lures. It was really neat, and I wish I had it on video.It took me 30 minutes to reel in the 16lb king that hit the thunderstick that was 30ft down on the rigger in 45ft of water. I can't believe it didn't burn that reel up that day. We ended up catching another 14lb king and a bunch of coho, all on those cranks. I quickly decided to invest in some heavier tackle. But for some reason, I haven't trolled crankbaits since. I'm definitely going to run some this year, especially early.That reel later gave out, fishing for pike. It lost it's anti reverse, and the gears occasionally skip. It was a lot of fun reeling those kings in on such light tackle though.
SUPERTRAMP Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 The first king I ever caught on my own boat was March 17, 2012 out of Portage IN. It was 80deg that day, and I had no clue what I was doing. I was trolling a bunch of thunderstick Jr's and some Net Craft knock offs, using 6ft bass spinning rods and cheap Mitchel reels. I had one downrigger, and the rest were flatlined with inline weights. The Coho were in thick, and several were hooked in the prop wash, we could actually see them hit the lures. It was really neat, and I wish I had it on video.It took me 30 minutes to reel in the 16lb king that hit the thunderstick that was 30ft down on the rigger in 45ft of water. I can't believe it didn't burn that reel up that day. We ended up catching another 14lb king and a bunch of coho, all on those cranks. I quickly decided to invest in some heavier tackle. But for some reason, I haven't trolled crankbaits since. I'm definitely going to run some this year, especially early.That reel later gave out, fishing for pike. It lost it's anti reverse, and the gears occasionally skip. It was a lot of fun reeling those kings in on such light tackle though.April Crank baits are the norm, Brads thin Fin, #11 And #13 jointed rapalas, u pick em colors, but the Red Coachdog Thin Fin is the coho killa. We usually fish tight to the beach and around the dirty water plume in St. Joe, March 31 2012 killed em 4 on board 21 fish in 45 min. Most were mid teen kings, all came on body baits and 0000 dodger with Christmas tree coho candy flies. Spring is the time clean out the old bass baits and experiment.
SUPERTRAMP Posted February 1, 2014 Posted February 1, 2014 How about the frog rattle spoonStill have a bunch of Rattle Snakes, Green Frog and Yellow red dot were killer.
Rascal Trophy Fishing Posted February 2, 2014 Posted February 2, 2014 How about the old Michigan squids vs flies nowadays. I found a couple dozen new ones stored away 3 seasons ago, and started using them, worked well too. Remember the glow froggies, glow clowns, yellows, blacks, and silvers, not to mention the white glows. Lots of oldies like new yet shouldn't be sold at garage sales for 25 cents, just used again. Personally, I think there is just toooooo much on the market nowadays to choose from, and we all spend accordingly to update.
Turfwrench Posted February 2, 2014 Posted February 2, 2014 Let me date myself a little......remember the Rebel Fastrac minnows. I always had great success running them off the boards fishing the scum lines out of Frankfort and had pretty good success running them on downriggers too. The old color selector colors of red, orange, or purple were my favorites. The C.C Shads were also killer for coho up high. I still run them in Saginaw bay for walleye and on Lk Huron for silver.
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