Salmon Assassin

I am looking at some land in the U.P. and I was hoping there was someone who was familar with the area and could provide some insight so I know which properties are good and which aren't. I am looking rightnow for waterfrontage only, and have a few questions about some lakes.

I like to speed! 2.3 on the depth is where I like it. I want the bow and younger kings. They may not win a tournament but on the grill they are a helluva lot better than a greaser. On the west side guys like it 1.9 - 2.1 at the ball, that's where I differ.

To calculate this correctly the faster at the ball the longer leader length? I run mostly 8" hot spot flashers with a few spin doctors mixed in.

I know this probably has been discussed, debated, and pondered numerous times before.... All flies in the spread versus anything else.

I dont know if I just dont stick to flies long enough but I caught a ton of fish off of spoons this year and my flies didnt really take off for me. I recently sat through a presentation put on by someone who I think is a very good fishermen, this guy defintely knows his stuff and he talked about running nothing but flies and maybe a spoon. I just dont get it...

This winter aside form some minor work on the boat, I plan on down sizing my lures, I have a 100+ spoons on the boat but yet the same 10 get used regularily.

I switched to big weenie flies toward the end of the year and they caught fish, but my moonshine rv wonderbread caught a helluva lot more.

Aside from the "school" effect what is the advantage to running all flies? I

Welcome, I fish out of Milwaukee. We need more westerners here. Great site and any question you have will be answer quickly

There is a gun world in Wisconsin here. A lot of guns but the prices are significantly higher. They will price match any local store with an in stock item however. There are a lot of guns but a lot of the store is filled with fluff wanna be tactical gear and over priced ammo. Gander however was one of the only stores around here to have .22 ammo. Imagine that .22 ammo shortage....

Plug: Wonderbread (luhr jensen)

Spoon: Pro King Boardway Joe (2nd year in a row)

Fly: Big Weenie Proctologist

Flasher: DW Double Cracked Ice

Meat: Dont run it

Welcome, sorry to hear about the circumstances that brought you here but one day I hope one day you look back and realize that the change lead to much greater things. This is a great site just lacks a few more Wisconsinites....

They promoted a flatlander to run the site now, you got out just in time. I've seen the damage they do first hand ( miller park, Wisconsin Dells, Minocqua)

Just to clarify are you fishing 3.0 at the ball or on the locater?

P.S. Holy cow do you guys troll fast in Michigan

Today broke my streak of limits, and after talking with a few guys my seven fish were pretty good today. I don't have a problem finding fish, I am trying to focus more on larger fish. I have had an obsession with limits, if it wasn't a limit it was a failure, however now I am looking for weight. I am mainly looking for a new challenge, also looking to put weight on tournament boards versus just numbers.

Friday I am going to run nothing but flashers and flies with 24" leaders....

I know speed plays an important part in getting bites , but I wonder if speed dictates what size of fish will bite... If you troll at a slower speed say 1.7 at the ball are you more likely to get a larger fish versus going 2.1?

I heard someone who I would say is an exceptional fishermen, far better than me say that he was so desperate for bites that he speed up his boat in order to attract the fiestier smaller fish.

Also whatever happened to jet divers and pink ladies? I still have mine don't run them anymore though.

It's way to early in the season to get the old lady on you about fishing too much. I understand doing what you need to do.

How is everyone's season thus far? So far this has been a pretty strange year for me. Coho have been really spotty but big kings by the cooler full. I haven't even hit 300FOW yet this year. 15lbs+ consistent through late April and May.

Hottest set up has been a 12oz torpedo diver and my riggers (not combined) Boards have produced some fish, dipsys have been cold. Tried the new moonshine spoons with that UV film and they have been awesome! On my third marine radio of the season and hopefully the third is the charm.

I don't have a fish total but I have had more limit catch trips than anything else.

Keep Calm and Fish On

-Adam (salmon assassin)

Unless your fishing in the Bering Sea or in 6' seas your X5 will be great. I have one and love it. I had my in 4 foot waves (not gentle rollers either) and she held her ground just fine, why anyone would fish in rougher water is beyond me.

409 worked for the most part if sprayed and then left on a surface. I also really thought the Bugs Spray worked. They still fly around the boat but as long as they leave me alone I am good.

I found it at Menards and I think it works pretty well if case anyone else is looking.

http://www.buggspray.com/

I am prepared now. I have a bottle of original 409, bugs spray, water bottle with half viniger, yard fogger, and a can of hair spray/lighter....Either flies are going to have a massive die off or the combination of all those things is going to cause an explosion on my boat. As long as the flies die who cares....

I hate black flies!!! Anyone have any secrets to eradicate these annoying ba*%ards from the face of earth or to keep them out of the boat while fishing off shore.

During the dog days of summer I will get on the water some mornings by 3:30am which is pretty early. Right now the fish dont seem to be really picky about the sun being up or not. Fishing in the dark is reserved for moonshine lures and a chrome lighted J Plug, please trust me if your gonna fish in the dark you NEED that J Plug. Dont waste your money on the wonderbread one though

Milwaukee 04/29/2012

Tried to drink from the same well as Tuesday but that well was dry. Set up shallow (40 FOW) and did my best to fish in the waves. Worked from the main gap heading SE, did a loop around the green can and went back north to 60 FOW. Picked up two kings. 14 pounder game down 27 on a magnum moonshine hot lips and a 16.5 pounder came down 20 on a 2 color SWR standard size moonshine breadwinner. Fished four riggers and two boards. Haven’t put down a dipsy yet this year. Ran some 00 and regular FF combo, nothing going on those.

Water cooled a few degrees on the surface, couldn’t tell you about down temps because the depth raider was being uncooperative again.

All I needed was a software update. Of course I had to track down a memory card less than 1 GB to install the update on so the lowrance would read it. But it's over and I have maps. Thanks for the assistance gents

2 coho, 3 kings.... I am thinking I might head out Monday morning hopefully this cold front doesn't scatter the fish too much. Good luck gents

Milwaukee April 25, 2012

Fished between the south and main gaps in between 40-50 FOW. Had very fast action this morning, first fish boxed and line reset at 7:42am, last fish boxed at 8:14am (I only know the times because of text messages).

All fish came off riggers. 2 color SWR down 14 with a standard size moonshine dancing anchovy was ON FIRE!!!! The dancing anchovy is by far the best spring lure in my arsenal. That went 3-4. Mono rigger down 20 went 1-1 pulling the super spoon of last season a magnum Pro King 2030, lastly the 1 color rigger down 25 fired off and a nice 15# chin went nuts. Had a Moonshine standard size bread winner on there.

First trip of the year couldn’t have ended better, wish I had another person on board.

The LCX is from 2003 I believe it's what the HDS morphed from

I normally dont buy the pre rigged packs of the cut plugs but when I have no other choice the first thing I do is cut down the 300' of leader they give you. I run a 18-24" leader. I run them clean like a spoon normally no fancy flasher for me. The long leader may be causing your issues, and just like everything, delpoy them slowly.

Also I get rid of the cheap hooks and throw on a VMC hok.