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I posted this over in the modifications forum but I thought maybe it would help someone here. I normally troll LSC for eyes through the summer. In the spring I troll up in Huron for lakers and salmon. In LSC, my iPilot/Minn kota 55 trolling motor is good for eyes at speeds less than 2mph, but for bigger fish up in Huron I have to use my rear motor and take it down to 3-3.5mph. Trouble is, using the rear motor I had to steer manually again and that's a huge pain when you fish alone. Until.. I saw a trolling fin/skeg someone had made and fastened to their trolling motor / iPilot combo last year, and I made a crude one to try it out. It worked great - with the rear motor moving me forward at 3-3.5mph, I straightened my steering wheel out, put my trolling motor in the water in the front with the iPilot active (with the prop off) - set a course - and let it steer for me. Super cool. Worked like a charm and I hauled in Lakers all day each time I went out. In the fall, my father in law took my crude fin/skeg back home to Germany with him and he crafted a new aluminum one with more surface area and much more robust (pics below). I can't wait to get out there and try it. Just wanted to share in case anyone is thinking about doing this. If you have to use your rear motor and want to focus on fishing its the way to go. It works great.

I normally troll LSC for eyes through the summer. In the spring I troll up in Huron for lakers and salmon. In LSC, my iPilot/Minn kota 55 trolling motor is good for eyes at speeds less than 2mph, but for bigger fish up in Huron I have to use my rear motor and take it down to 3-3.5mph. Trouble is, using the rear motor I had to steer manually again and that's a huge pain when you fish alone. Until.. I saw a trolling fin/skeg someone had made and fastened to their trolling motor / iPilot combo last year, and I made a crude one to try it out. It worked great - with the rear motor moving me forward at 3-3.5mph, I straightened my steering wheel out, put my trolling motor in the water in the front with the iPilot active (with the prop off) - set a course - and let it steer for me. Super cool. Worked like a charm and I hauled in Lakers all day each time I went out. In the fall, my father in law took my crude fin/skeg back home to Germany with him and he crafted a new aluminum one with more surface area and much more robust (pics below). I can't wait to get out there and try it. Just wanted to share in case anyone is thinking about doing this. If you have to use your rear motor and want to focus on fishing its the way to go. It works great.

I have a hard time telling whether these are Pinks or Cohos. When they are this size- how can you tell the difference?

Time to make this into a proper report. On my fourth visit to Huron (Lexington) over the course of 2 years, I finally produced 3 fish. All three hit on dipsys @ 15' down, no rings, in 23' @ 2.5-3mph. One between 7-9am, the other two all at once around 2:20pm. All on the same lure - dreamweaver skunkstripe, black with orange. They were a little sluggish and not much of a fight. I still would like to know what hit so hard the week before (That I later lost boatside when I saw a flash of silver blue and he was gone) Wife is happy anyways - she cleaned them up and is planning how to cook them.

Wow - so the autopilot works off of the main motor? I have the same problem - in that I mostly fish alone and - when I'm not gunning for walleye in LSC (which the ipilot does a great job of) its hell to keep the boat on track in waves and wind while fishing by myself using the main motor. Last week in Lexington was work - I'm hoping the waves and wind are nicer tomorrow.

What speed were you going with your autopilot? I have an iPilot with my Minkota that I use on LSC - but it's 55# and can push me tops 2mph. (So I always end up using my main motor in Huron when fishing for Salmon, Trout to get up between 2.5 and 3mph) Great report; seems that the fish are still there in the shallows. I'm going to head out tomorrow morning - a little earlier than I usually do - I should hit the water around 7 latest. When you say they didnt hit bright spoons - does that mean they hit dark ones?

Something we have not pointed out here is timing. Is there a sweet spot in the morning hours for Salmon & Trout? It could be that I got out there too late last week.

So what's the concensus guys? It's Friday and I'm trying to decide between fishing for eyes down in LSC or trying my luck one more time in Huron. Where, and how deep are they now? Anyone having any luck around Lex this week?

I sure am glad I found this board - very helpful for a guy who is just learning the art of southern Huron, Salmon, Trout. I grew up all over Lake Saint Clair - but it's a whole different ballgame. Not working and fishing during the week. Sounds pretty good! If you could just get paid for it! Now I just have to decide whether to go up on Sunday, or start poking around LSC for stray walleye. Looking forward to see what you find up there.

I tried to keep it at about 2.5-3mph. Dipseys and spoons 15'-20' down - 35-40' back, Fished from 8am-2pm - cycled through different dipseys w/ spoons, and body baits - had only one strike. Hooked him, and fought him up to the boat - but lost him before I could get the net in the water. He had a blueish silver shine in the sun whatever it was. I'd say it was somewhere around 20-24". I only saw a handful of boats and the Lexington parking lot was not full. I wonder if the fish have moved on already?

Wow thanks! Slide divers look interesting - I didn't know they existed - what a great idea. I hope the bait shop in Port Huron has them in the morning. If they don't, how far back is "far enough" from the boat with my regular dipsys? I'll be out alone so the leader has to be a reasonable length for me to be able to net a fish. I'm seeing the 15-30' FOW in the DNR reports - but can anyone chime in - are they still that close in? Spoons or body baits? (I have a some deep diving bombers I can use if spoons aren't working out.)