SUPERTRAMP

your choice of how many riggers to run at any given time of year should depend on what predominant depths the fish are being caught at, and what species of fish you are targeting. Obviously, if you were targeting steelies, out deep, 35' and shallower, you don't need as many deep rigger presentations to offer. Conversely, if you are targeting big kings 80'-135' down, then you want the 4 riggers. Otherwise, like mike said, you can run those 500' braids/coppers and see how many crewman want to reel it in, lol. I know several boats that keep the extra riggers stored below, ready to put into action if the need arises, esp. If they have the mounts in the boat gunnels already.

thats me i can run up to 6 riggers.

For over 40 years we have always run 4 to 5 riggers on our boats. They are still the best presentation for fishing. The focus on long lines, 450' and more is fine if all you want is a fish in the box. But the work bring in fish on 300 to 450 feet of copper line is really not much fun. If your boat has an 8' transom you can run 4 riggers easily and not crowd the rest of your presentation. On our 24' John almond we were able to run 4 riggers, 8 long lines and 4 dipsy divers. The key is keeping track of where you are and running the deep to shallow V presentation. I still catch as many fish on riggers as I did in the 1970's and 1980's. Its a lot more fun bring in a 10# steelhead of a 6# coho on a rigger presentation than on a long line. We still fun short lead cores for Steelhead but I no longer rely on 450 copper or longer at all. No one wants to retrieve them even with a fish on.

great job on the Silver Jimmy.

OK a little common sense here. First run your set ups in a V configuration deepest close in and shallowest farthest from the boat. I have a wide boat so the dipsey problem is kinda mute, I normally run 2 wire dipseys and 2 power pro dipseys, 4 riggers which are my deepest presentation, then my long coppers at least 75' out from the boat, the short coppers 50' outside that and my high long lines usually 10 color lead and a 5 or 6 color lead. Set your dipseys on 1.5 to 2 and follow the guidelines on the package for depth. My dipseys catch a lot of fish for me. Use all the tools at your disposal and don't fall in love with any of them it changes every day. If I could only have 2 presentations, it would be Downriggers and Dipsey's.

Thanks to the City of St Joseph and the St Joe Steelheaders there is now a fully operating fish cleaning station at the Anchors Way launch. It has a grinder and I am told it has a commercial scaler for perch. Use is included in the daily fees and u can get a season Pass from the St Joseph Parks dept. This launch is deeper and has better docks than the Benton Harbor launch. Check it out.

Fished with Alex last night after work - had lines set by 6:10 out in 150 FOW.

NOAA kinda missed it again tonight - was a little rough and the wind was relentless. tried a SW troll - made a turn to switch it up to a NW. Cooper sweater time with a 150 & 250.

found that trolling straight back toward the pier head was best for the ride.

ended 1-1 a nice small king 2-3 pounds in 125 FOW, 80 Down on a rigger, Silver Streak Spoon - Chrome with Green/Black ladder back - Not sure on the name.

Pulled lines as the sunset - made for a long run back in @ 8-10 MPH

Weather has missed a lot with the wind out of the east it has never been less than 2 to 3 ft. We gave it a shot on Tuesday out of St Joe and ran out to 120 set lines headed NW and trolled out to 180, didn't mark any bait and very few fish right tite to the bottom. After 3 hours we called it and headed in toward the piers. The 316 Chris is a nice ride in the less than perfect conditions. First skunk of the year.

Good info. Any one else notice the runs are earlier and earlier? A couple years ago we caught a nice cooler of matures in the channel on August 26. When I was a wee lad we fished kings in the harbor in late September and it was snowing when the coho ran.

Couldn't agree more, In the 1960's 70's and 80's the majority of the fish ran in late September and into October. I remember seeing spawning fish on the PM tributaries when we were grouse hunting. Not sure why the runs are earlier, but spoke to my brother in Oregon, he fishes the Columbia Bar regularly and their fish have been staging since August. They have consistently been taking fish over 35# all season. Reasons are simple, they have abundant forage. However the limit on Salmon there is 1 Chinook and 2 Silver's(coho) they have a tag system and are only allowed single barbless hooks. They troll out in the open ocean and this summer has been pretty good. 1 other thing they have is a huge commercial fishery. Gill nets that are run from shore out into the river. Btw in Oregon and Washington it is 1 rod per angler and no extra lures on the line.

Kevin:

Come on down to St Joe tomorrow, we are going to fish and I am not stopping until I get to 120' There should be a lot of 2 year old Kings and some Steel available if we can find the trash line. U know u r welcome anytime.

Saturday morning, lots of Kings being caught in channel. It's to bad some boats are running planner boards and long lines, other boats having to maneuver around when there fighting a fish 200 foot behind boat with all the traffic out there. Downriggers set at 14 foot is all that's needed.

I agree pull in your boards u don't need them and be courteous of other guys in the area. I had the same issue in ST JOE last Sunday Charter boat with 6 boards tried to push me into the Pier and got mad at me after he cut me off. Just insane.

Will be over Tuesday to try the combat fishing in the channel and around the piers. Good job Larry see you out there.

Well fellas its the nature of the beast, combat fishing at its best. But its where you get your biggest fish of the year. Beats going up to the dams and fighting all the snaggers. As a courtesy keep your planer boards in the boat keep the leads short 6' is plenty off the riggers, and be judicious with the dipseys , you don't need to dredge to catch fish and I personally don't like losing dipseys to the bottom.

Nice Job on the Ho's.

Rich

Great Pics and like always the Lake O fishing is making me jealous.

Nice!

20# flouro on copper/lead higher rods and 20-30# big game on deeper (300+) copper and later in season

That's where I am at. The 300 copper needs a little stretch and the 30# Big Game gets it done. I normally run about 40' of leader. Remember to keep your drag loose too.

Little bumpie this morning only fished for an hour 6:33 to 7:33 caught 3 70fow 27fd 38fd and 47fd all on spoons 2 on bloodie nose 1 on blue dolphin my first post hope I get better

I guess a little bumpy, nice job for 1 hour. The post was really good for a first time. Keep up the good work.

I have been running spoons about the same as my dodgers, 4 to 6 feet back, just think about how many hits you get on sliders that are only 4 to 6 feet back. Also how long is your leader on your dipseys? We tend to over think things a bit. You have to have the bait in the zone that the active fish are in and speed should be any where from 2 to 3.5 mph depending on how many and what type of other baits you are running. Plugs don't like much over 2.5 mph, Dodgers like slower yet, Spin docs can run up to 3.5. Spoons I run as high as 4 mph when fishing for Steel in the summer on top.

The deeper Presentation is always the Flasher( paddle, spinnie or dodger) It has been my experience that that is the best way to go, I guess it depends on how many deep riggers you run. In the early days we ran 5 to 8 down riggers, maybe a Pink Lady diver. All of our high lines were off of outriggers. When we ran that many riggers our ball to bait was only about 5 to 8 feet, Paddles were real close to the ball to prevent tangles.

It worked before the days of Zebra mussels and clean water. I still have my flasher and fly or meat combos as my deepest presentation. However when I run meat I usually have meat on all of my rigger and dipsey presentations. I have recently started running flasher and fly combos on my coppers too.

They all catch fish.

Sounds like once again the NWS was a little off on the forecast, the 2 to 4's were supposed to come in later in the day. Good job on the Ho''s .

Now that's a PIG

Nicely done Kevin> Tell your Dad I said hi and maybe come down and take a trip out on the SilverKing. We have had a great summer but haven't fished as much as I would like.

Welcome to the Silver FEVER. It will get you every time.

Thanks for the quality report! I hope to get out this weekend for both the yellow bellies and a morning troll.

BTW, where is this Rocky Gap you speak of?

Rocky Gap is north of Jean Klok park, if you go past the beaches you will see a concrete wall that was put in there for Whirlpool (I think). Hard to miss it. I will be fishing Sunday and Monday, not sure if going for big fish or yellow bellies but maybe both.

Good job on the salmon. I made it out perch fishing twice over the weekend, but ended up going south down by Chalets. Saturday we got a very nice two man limit in 34 feet. Sunday we only managed 20, but they were nice quality perch in the same area.

Sure don't see many St. Joe reports for the number of boats out there fishing!

Yeah not many reports, I have been a member of this site for a long time and hope to get a St.Joe group going and maybe get the Steelheaders who are very active in St.Joe to start a summer tournament series like they have in Holland WMFL St. Joe.

We left the slip at 6:05 and ran out to 75 FOW set lines an headed SW into a stiff breeze. Rigger at 78 ripped and we landed the nice 21# King on a PK KEVORKIAN MAG GLOW SPOON, NEXT FISH WAS ON A MT DEW PK 8"PADDLE WITH A PICKLED SUNSHINE HOME TIED FLY, NICE 12#2oz.(official scale) Coho, next was a nice Lake Trout 83 down on a Green paddle with a green frog meat rig. Finished with a small 2 year old king on the same mtn dew paddle and home tied fly. Fished 75 to 115 FOW. Only 4 hits, boated all 4 and they were eating the baits all the way down. My its great fishing if you get into them, a couple of my friends had catches of 9 and 11 fish respectively. Give St Joe a try if you want some good mixed bag catches. Oh BTW perch are on fire in 35 to 45 FOW north of Rocky Gap in front of the concrete wall. Limit catches of 10 to 12 inch perch.