klode

Not sure what the conditions are in Erie but i do very well for Eyes in the north channel of lake huron. This time of year they are moving out of the river and heading for deeper water near islands or shoals. I use bottom bouncers with spinners/worm harnesses. And i do very well with worms. Thats all i use for Eyes. Right now, we are getting into some big schools in about 16ft of water. Depending on the wind, ill sometimes drift. Usually see 1mph on GPS.

Later in the evening, i usually switch to small raps...when the sun hits the tree line; out comes the rapala's. When i have raps on, i usually go a bit faster; around 1.7mph. I usually get the bigger ones on raps, but sometimes ill just stick with worms when they are producing. My favorite colours are gold, bright yellow and white.

Good luck!

Meat rigs are basically like little "smelt helmets" (what i call them anyway). You put the smelt head into this plastic helmet and push a tooth pic through it to hold it in place. There is a treble hook on it that you can hook to the smelt....they are not only used with smelts tho. Some people will use trout belly or hering.

I've just started to experiment with them this year....so dont know too much about them. I run them behind a flasher. Hopefully someone else will chime in and help shed some light.

Im pretty sure there are different types of meat rigs..i've only tried the helmet and whats called a "peanut" (peanut is just a treble hook with a peanut shaped spinner head in front)

I listen to all the old rock like acdc, lynard skynard, zztop, zeplin, steve miller, trooper,...nothing better then classic rock. But dont mind country either alan jackson, zac brown, brad paisley and eric church....when im on the pontoon boat, i like to listen to "pontoon by little big town"haha good song!

Good question... Well i use 8lbs balls; but will be buying 10# balls in the near future. Last night i was trying to go down to 100ft and my cables looked like they were on a 45deg angle...haha need more weight...I was even thinking about buying a mold to make my own then plasti-dip them.

Yeah I usually have one flasher on. Maybe that's my problem. I'll try without next time.

My leads off my riggers are usually 30 to 40ft back.

If the weather is nice and wind is low, you might see me in the westbay/claperton area saturday morning as well...If you see a black legend 18 extreme; thats me!

1.5mph is your preffered speed for trout only? or both salmon and trout?

I dont think my 115 merc will troll that slow...maybe facing the wind...2mph is what i see when in geer.

One more question...what size ball do you use? i have 8 pounders and was thinking on getting some 10's.

Thanks Dave. I fish in 80 to about 130ft of water at around 2.4mph. I usually set one rigger at 67ft with cheater and the other at around 55 with cheater. Is this too deep this time of year?

Speaking of Lake trout, I haven't caught or seen one of those around here in years...dying breed?? Seems like it's just salmon or rainbow...I remember when I was younger, seemed like Lakers was the only fish that we caught...not anymore

I've been trying to locate salmon for over a month now and still have no luck...I fish the northern part of lake huron between Manitoulan Island and the north shore. I've tried everywhere arround here with not one release. Obviously im doing something wrong, but not sure what it is. I mostly use Northern King lures but i've also tried a flasher with smelt draggin behind it with no luck...tried different sized flashers as well. Even tried a Flasher/ Lure combo...no luck. Tried a rapala with "cow bells" with no luck....tried at all different depths as well. And still NOTHING. I'm marking alot of fish in some areas but cant get them to bite. There's one spot in particular called "little detroit" (where Spanish Rivers dumps into lake huron) where im marking CRAZY amounts of fish (or bait fish..not sure) and still nothing.

I dont know what to do...lol I only have downriggers, never tried dipsy divers or anything like that yet. I use cheater lines to get more lures in the water. I use sent sometimes on my lures.....

Are they just not up north yet or what???

Any help is apreciated:thumb:

Thanks

Claude

hmmm...maybe ill have to check out the south side sometime.

I was downrigging on the north side of Claperton last weekend on my way back home from West Bay. I know the drop off you are reffering too....pretty well the whole north side. That will be a spot that i will returning too for sure.

How do you find the thermocline? look for bait fish on the finder? And how deep would you normally try this time of year?

Have you ever ventured further north of Claperton? I did pretty good on the north side of Darch last year...My avatar pic is actually on Darch Island (East side)...But havnt caught anything there so far this year...shouldnt be long before they start though

Hi. Im from Spanish which is just north of you Ron. I just started getting into downriging a few years ago so im a newbie when it comes to salmon/rainbow fishing and wouldnt mind learning a thing or two....

So far, i've been fishing in about 90ft of water with my riggers at arround 60ft with no luck in the West Bay/Claperton Island area... I mostly use Northern King lures and sometimes ill use smelts with a flasher...

I just dont know what the salmon are doing this time of year or where to find them....Last year i didnt start getting them until July..