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PPLEPEU

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Posts posted by PPLEPEU

  1. Help Wanted!  Team OFFLINE is in need of an Observer for the upcoming Grand Haven tournament on 6/2 and 6/3.  There is also a mandatory Observer’s meeting on Thursday night where you’ll meet the captain of the Pro boat you’ll be Observing to ensure they follow all of the tournament rules.

    If you’ve always wanted to pick up tips from a Charter Captain’s team, this is your chance.  Fishing will likely be challenging, so you’ll learn some of the Pro tricks of the trade.  I observed several tournaments when starting out and I learned a ton!

    Call or leave a text for me, Brad Stephenson, at (330) 495-9555.

  2. Coralee, we’re running a pair of Magnum Metalz rigger on OFFLINE after upgrading halfway through last season.  We are running two boom extensions - according to their website that results in a 31” boom.

    We’ve run both 12 pound and 25 pound balls with no problems.  When we run 25pound balls, the boom doesn’t flex any more than our Big Jon riggers did when we used 12-pound balls. 

    Good stuff.  We’re VERY pleased thus far.  For bottom fishing, the stiffer boom takes a little getting used to, but they aren’t nearly as stiff as the Canon booms.  

    I’ll see if I can attach a pic...

     

    75946839-94B9-4799-AC61-82C3FD66399B.jpeg

    • Like 1
  3. One other problem we've seen is the cable fraying if it strikes the edge of our swim platform.  Our platform is fiberglass, not teak and has a somewhat sharp bottom edge.  If we leave the ball *just* in the water, it swings and eventually cuts one or two strands about 18" above the ball. 

    When it's rough, we leave the ball about 2-3 feet below the surface to reduce the swings.  That keeps the cable away from the platform.  I also toyed with the idea of some edge trim on the sides of the swim platform to permanently fix the problem, but haven't done that yet.

    • Like 1
  4. We replace downrigger cables only if they've been kinked - never trust a wire line or downrigger cable once it has a hard kink.

    The real fix for us, though, was switching to Canon downrigger terminators.  No more faulty crimps that fail.  It takes a bit to get used to the correct way to route the wire in the terminator, but after you've done it a couple of times, it is pretty easy.

    https://www.amazon.com/Cannon-2250141-Terminator-Single/dp/B000MMX792/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1472728981&sr=1-1&keywords=downrigger+cable+termination

    Brad

    • Like 1
  5. Nice post & tutorial, Martin.

    Question for you:  I haven't had much luck freezing alewives that have been brined -- they turn to mush after about 15 minutes trolling time.  Do you re-brine them after thawing or have you not seen the 'mush' problem?

    One more thing:  The YouTube link doesn't work for me.  Could you try the link and if you find the same problem, re-post the correct link?

    Thanks!

  6. That's a valid point. I agree the fish probably aren't stationary like we see in rivers when they stack up for spawning.

    I do wonder how true it is that salmon typically swim with their head into the current. That may also be something that's true in a stream, but not the lake.

  7. While waiting for the next hookup, we've talked/argued a lot about the right technique for fishing a current on the Great Lakes. We typically try to fish against a current and argue about it all the time... :lol:

    Assuming Kings will almost always orient themselves facing a current, the arguments focus around bait presentation.

    1). Against the current:

    Trolling against the current will drag a bait from behind the fish -- he gets a quick look as it flies by and will have to speed up to catch it.

    2). With the current:

    The lure comes at the fish while he's parked in the current, facing 'upstream'. He gets a longer look and has to do a quick turn to chase the bait.

    The proponents of 'Against the current' say that *both* the bait fish and salmon will almost always face into a current. The salmon is parked, waiting for bait to swim by and become a tasty meal. Wanting to mimic nature, the best presentation results from trolling Against the current.

    The 'With the current' crowd say all you need to do is look at what works when stream-fishing for salmon. You float a lure down the current to give the fish a long look -- he'll do a quick turn and grab as the bait floats by. While baitfish aren't mayflies, the principal is the same.

    So what do you think -- With or Against? Why?

  8. Celebrated the end of a great summer with a looong trip yesterday - the boat goes into storage today. :(

    The sunrise bite at the pierheads didn't result in any fish, so I thought I'd head out deep to see if I could find where the 2-3 year-olds are hiding. They have to be somewhere...

    I ran out to 220 and didn't mark any fish until 250+. Picked up a nice steelhead in 270 FOW, down 110 on a rigger on a dark green NBK spinny. Then a mid-size Laker hit on a 300 copper with a white/green frog spinny with a hypnotist fly. After that it was very slow, with occasional 1 year-old kings on spoons over the next few hours.

    I worked 260-280, reaching 19 miles off shore. Wound up 6 for 7, with a nice grouping of eaters. High setups didn't produce anything - there was bait suspended at 100 feet down, so I focused there. Hits were evenly split on flasher/fly and spoons; meat didn't produce and surprisingly neither did small orange spoons. I did get one small steely on a slider, but otherwise everything was deep.

    It was rough early (2-3 with occasional 4's), then it laid down and became one of the more beautiful days I've had on the water. Great way to end the season! :thumb:

  9. if you follow the south side of the lake past the tiara docks the fish will hole up in that area till they run up the river , I have talked to a lot of guys that have caught kings all the way to the end of the no wake zone.

    Good tip, Jim. I've taken some sheepshead and walleyes in that area, but no kings yet. Will have to give that a pass in the AM.

    Are you speeding up for these fall kings or still fishing 2.0-2.5?

  10. When I saw the nice Intrepid I didn't see anything out of the ordinary as far as trolling goes. I think we all pissed each other off at some point last night. .

    Well, that was me in the Intrepid, along with a couple of others that frequent this board.

    Like just about everyone here, I get tired of losing tackle and crap, I hooked the bottom on a brand new 2-color setup. We saw a pretty good-sized gap behind us, so we spun around to grab the lure and get back in the train.

    It took us just a bit longer than we thought, so I hugged the channel wall and waited for 3 boats to pass -- instead of cutting any of them off. Each moved over 20 feet, waved, and moved on. Didn't seem like a big deal then, nor a big deal now. We worked around 2 other boats with either snags or fish on. No big deal, part of channel fishing.

    You can just call me Wrong-Way Brad from now on. :D

  11. Did he tell you how deep in the water column he was fishing?

    That was me that went 3 for 7. Yesterday morning I was on a solo run, so missing the 4 fish MUST be excused. :)

    I heard a lot of people talking about catching lakers and some big kings in 80-100 FOW, but I couldn't get anything to go, so I headed out to 120-140 FOW, fishing down 80-90 feet.

    Despite a real nice comfortable SW troll going with the 1-3 footers, I couldn't get action even though there were lots of good marks. As soon as I turned NNE *into* the waves, I started getting hits. Early hits came on whites & greens, after 8:30 AM, blues were best.

    Since I was solo, I only had my two downriggers and a meat rig on a dipsy. Big White/Chrome 11" paddles with Poofster flies took the early hits, while Blue/White NBK Pro-Troll w/ Mirage fly and a Blue/White meat rig hit later.

    Interesting trying to solo reel in and net a feisty 18-pound King coming in on a dipsy rig. I finally gave up on the juggling act and just yanked him in through the transom door. :lol:

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