gordymohr

Oct 21 Last trip for 2017

Went out today with a friend one last time before storing the boat till next spring.

Started trolling in 300ft +  and  got a small 4 pound rainbow on a  Mich Stinger Mag (Mongoose) about 40 ft down. 

Then my buddy lands a nice silver king on a flasher/spoon combo trolled at 80ft down. and that was it for us.

Already cant wait for spring!

Slow start

Hey guys,  hope your season is better than mine, its been a slow start with very crappy weather. Only been out one time with a friend in his boat, my old boat has engine troubles, again

anyway, heres one of my friend Richard with a nice king from a few weeks ago:

awesome!         the first cut is the deepest 

Thanks Nailer! , cant wait for spring!

Hey Pete,   I order those spoons right from Gapen Fishing.  

I fish the west end for lakers, mostly right out of Jordan. I have had the same experiences as you, some times you have to wait for them to turn on.

I actually never had no luck using plastics so mostly just use jigs and spoons for them. I find it interesting to watch them on the fish finder as they come up to investigate the jigs as they drop.  For me its way more fun than trolling for them even though trolling is more effective way to catch big numbers of  them.

Check out some of my pics here:https://www.flickr.com/gp/142157822@N02/1n7j86

nice video   Pete, Ive been jigging Lake O for the last 3 years for lakers, best times for me are actually around noon on those flat calm days.

Gapen Flicker has been my best all around laker jigging spoon, I have modified it with assist hooks and stick on eyes

Ive experimented with all sorts of metal jigs and plastics but the Gapen spoon is my best  so far, cant wait for spring!

Summer Salmon

Happy New Year, hope 2017 is  a great year for fishing!

......they have been watching too much pro-bass

open wide!

Hi guys, havent checked in here for a long time.

I hate winter, cant wait for spring. Thought Id share a few photos from the last season on Lake O. Didnt do much salmon fishing as I was trying to learn how to jig fish for lake trout. Have a lot to learn about vertical jigging for lakers on the big open lake.

Anyway, heres a few pics I like, hope you like them too.

1. My very first jig caught laker. About 10 pounds on a Luhr Jensen crippled herring, 4 oz.

2. another jig caught laker

3. release pic of a jig caught laker,

4. another release pic,

5. my largest jig caught laker-- 19.6 pounds,

6. 1st jig caught rainbow on the big lake,

and , also did some trolling with friends cause they dont have the patience to jig fish............

7. a dandy 15 pound coho caught by my friend, trolling trolling in my boat,

8. and last, a nice brown caught by another friend in my boat, 15+ pounds,

and those were the highlites of my season.

Hope spring comes soon cause Im going crazy here:grin:

Awesome pictures Gord!

thanks flyman, Im trying to "up my game":grin:

What is the lure in the first picture?

its a Luhr Jensen Crippled Herring 4oz. Im also having luck jigging with Shimano FF jigs and Blue Fox Gomame jigs and Irish Jigs. Some days I can get them jigging, other days they just seem to want trolled lures. So far Im experimenting with metal jigs, havent even started on plastics yet.

been mostly concentrating on lake trout this year, trying to learn how to jig for them effectively. Did a bit of trolling as well.

bought a newer, slightly bigger boat in the spring, working out very well.

having fun on the Big O:D

never used those colors Rodfather, over here on Lake O I use the glow/red or glow/red dots spin n glo . I mostly use size 000 to try to keep the small lakers off but they eat the big ones too. These used to be my best laker lures but now I use Plazma spoons and they kill them some days just as good or better. My best year on lakers was over 70 boated.

...that was an interesting read.

As for myself, Ive found that Ive actually decreased the number of lures I use for trolling in my tackle bag over the years.

Ive been using Michigan Stinger Magnum spoons almost exclusively for salmon for the past 4 seasons, and only have 4 different colors of those but have multiple copies of each. When 1 color gets hit, I change most over to that color.

Years ago Id have a huge selection of spoon sizes and colors and makes and have had days just like everyone else when nothing seems to work and we go through the lure changing routine. But, in my experience if they aint biting constant changing really never helped that much if at all.

The better thing to do for me (may be different for others) was to leave and find completely different waters- take at least a 5 mile or even more cruise and get into some new water and different fish. This has made a big big difference some days and has a couple of times kept the skunk out of the boat.

So for me, fewer lures has been actually better. Ive got a few MS magnums for salmon,

about 3 or 4 orange ProKings for rainbows up high and about 4 Plazma spoons

and some spin n glows for lakers . I have a few Big Weenie XXX UV flies (love these, been very productive for me in Lake O, I havent used any other brand for about 3 years) and I even still run my old Hot spot flashers that Ive had for years and years, got about 4 colors of those.

So, a much simpler lighter tackle bag, less headaches trying to find the right lure, and I believe , better use of the time out on the lake.

In case your wondering, my MS colors are #1 Glow Puke (Blue Puke with glow tape)

#2 Rosemarys Baby (with some purple tape on the cup)

#3 Mongoose (with some purple tape on the cup)

#4 Ludington Special

cant wait to get back on the lake, still a little too cool for me though:grin:

good luck guys

Three summers ago when the lake was 70* from the surface down to 90', I spent most of the summer with riggers down 150'+. Caught a lot of Kings 220 to 250' down on riggers using flashers and meat rigs.

That got me thinking about a better way to get down deep. Did some Internet research and in the Pacific NW vertical jigging is used frequently. So a that fallI gave it a try on deep Kings is using ZZinger and BuzzBomb jigging "spoons" down 200 to 300'. On days with a one to two foot chop the deep water off Little Sable and Big Sable points holds lots of fish in mid day. After locating schools of bait and hooks on the graph, I drift and jig for them on 7' Taloras with 20# Power Pro and a 15' fluoro leader. The ones I have found that respond best are when fishing 5' above or ~10' below the bait clouds. The hits are great since you actually get to feel them, plus no boat momentum during the fight -- just you and the fish. Caught a lot of 20# fish this way and one at 32#.

interesting info as I am planning to do some vertical jigging this year also, something new to try when other methods dont want to produce as normal

Good photo, great fish. A fish like that could win a tournament.

thanks Patio, this fish wont win anything here, we're not entered in any derby.

Big fish leading the salmon derby here is already over 36 pounds, and that just the 1st day of the derby!

Hey guys, just got back off the lake, beauty day mixed bag today 1 chinny, 1 coho, 2 jumpin rainbows all fish hit between 12 noon and 1 oclock--sometimes sleeping in pays off:D:D:D

Heres the big chinny, my friends fish - 25.5 pounds caught on a wire dipsy rig trolling a xxx uv fly behind a echip flasher, fish was bigger than it looks in the pic:)

A "Northern Dorado" and a good one at that!

Thanks for lookin guys, heres one for the sm bass lovers,

Gordy' date='

Have you thought about going commercial with your photos?[/quote']

Ya, then I wake up!

Sunrise Laker

Everybodys smiling, must have been a fun day

Wow, what a BEAST!

congrats!