SUPERTRAMP

Really nice to see some of our Canadian friends on the site. Keep the reports coming.

Welcome Back Rich.

MPH, Knots is too hard to break down on the fly. I had a gps that gave speed in knots and had to have a conversion table to figure it out. SOG is GPS speed over ground, and down speed is from the Fishawk or other type of troll speed indicator.

August 1984, off Gurnee Creek, We landed 25 Kings in 4 hours, Largest 31#5oz. certified scale, smallest 24# 2 oz same scale. Best single day of fishing in my nearly 40 years on the lake. All of the fish came on Loco spoons trolled in the top 20'. We spotted the fish schooled on top fins out of the water and put the baits out long and off of the outriggers and it was on.

I too run them just aft of midship, out boat is big, and wide with auto pilot so steering is never a problem. The aft lines are a must, makes retrieving the bags a snap. Biggest issue we have is the amount of turbulence they create, makes the Graph give false readings if the bags are too far back.

Nicely done Kevin! Always good to get the kids involved. As for the butthead at check in, he evidently has never had to deal with any kind of health of developmental issue with a child. God bless and keep fishin.

Frank: I have the same problem in St Joe I guess us old guys aren't allowed to take friends fishing. I have been accused of chartering for several years. Not gonna go there.

Jon I think I am taking Sunday and Tuesday off, got a problem with trim tabs and want to work on those.. Looks like its going to be pretty crappy weather too. I will let you know when I plan o fishing again. Hope to be out the weekend of July 4.

Kevin: The best way to catch them consistently is to find them on the bottom, use a fairly short lead with a Trash Can and Spin-n-glow, put your ball on the sand and keep in light contact with the bottom, they will hit. Slow down to 1 mph or less and try running cowbells with the same or a peanut. Those greasers on the bottom what her slow. Kenny Neidlinger tells me that he used to run a Mtn Dew 8" paddle and a Pickled Sunshine fly all of the time on bottom to get his Lake trout. ( Ken is in really bad shape, his dementia is progressing very fast.

Welcome to the site.

You will figure it out Kevin. We have been finding a lot of them on the bottom in 140 to 150 in St Joe. But u know me only go there if I am about to get the Kitty.

Welcome to the site Laura. There is a lot of experience on this site and guys and gals willing to share information. Good luck in your fishing adventures on the Great Lakes.

I am quite sure that the sink rates blood run shows are close. I really don't worry too much, I only am sure that 300' of 45# copper is one of my top presentations and is always out. Its a really versatile tool. You just have to learn to hand the copper rod to the newbie. Makes for a tired but happy fisherman when he gets the fish in.

Definitely a long trip, but there are fish to be had. Still looking for the Steelhead bite to kick off.

my thought exactly. By the time you get your equipment deployed you should slow down to 2.5 or less. Depends on what you are targeting for Salmon that is rite in there.

Left the slip in a gentle rain and ran out to 180 on a NW heading and set lines. Trolled out to 305 with 2 hits, landed a small Lake Trout about 16" on a free slider rigger set at 55, and had 1 other get off. Turned around and started back in, the tne action started. Ended the day with 12 coho 2 Lakers (1 released), 5 misses. The Coho were gorged on alewives, and all came in the top 50. Bloody nose, glow Christmas and orange killer, speed 2.8 to 3.0 and lots of flies. Fog was prevalent all morning. We dodged the big ship coming in to St Joe out in the fog. The set up was 2 colors off riggers set at 45 and 40, riggers at 38 and 36. 4 color, and 6 color both took hits with stinger jawbreaker. Wire dipsys on 2 out 48 and 56 both took hits. Fun morning. We ended our morning North in the 18's about 24 miles from the piers.

Take it easy Paul Dave Niswonter on the Pleasuretyme smoked em in 300 to 350 Sunday. I just wish I had followed him out there. But No I stopped in 75 and started trolling. There will be fish later in the summer. I will be out Tuesday and post my results when I get back home.

Yes any standard dipsey rod with the hard ceramic guides and a Twill tip will work. If you want me to I will post a pic of the set up when I get back from my trip Tuesday. As for reels that is where u should spend you money. Good line counters are critical and put the whole 1000' of line on with suffiecien backer to fill the spool. I use Diawa Line counters. Magda pro 20's should work, but be sure you keep checking the line counters.

Jim, Just go with a standard trolling rod and add a twill tip and your wire problems are solved. I tried roller rods, and went back to the Okuma Dipsy rod with the twill tip. I no longer have wire skipping and hanging up.

The fishing is tough in St.Joe right now. Check out my report. I struggled too.

We left the slip at 6AM, and set lines straight out in 75 FOW, My buddy Dave on the Pleasuretyme was just in front of us and Kept going out. We trolled SW to 240 FOW with out a hit and then we finally got a Steelhead on a 4 color. Jawbreaker Stinger. Next fish was a Lake Trout (big fatty) on a slider, rigger was set at 90. Last fish was a Coho on the wire dipsy out 40. That was all we ,managed for the day, Really foggy but visibility was about 1 mile. Dave in the meantime kept going out and ended up out in 350FOW and was 11 for 25 he didn't know how many got off. I wish I had gone out to 250 to start the day. Slow day, but that's June fishing. When the cotton wood is flying the fishing is dying.

I have to agree with Ed, we seldom target Lake Trout, but if we do 1mph or less and bounce the rigger ball off the bottom, keep it no more than 1 ft off if you can. When you are seeing fish laying on the bottom you have to hit them in the head with the bait to get a strike. I haven't run my cowbell for a long time, because I hate trying to troll slow enough to keep them from spinning. But with trolling bags out we can get down to .7 to 1.0 if need be. Just a really boring way of catching the grease.