Fishing Thompson's, new video

[digitroll (ron)]

I will have some Pro Cure samples of many flavors for people to try at the Fish Hawk table at the Seminars. Great product!

One of two bags:

[Bearcat]

That's great stuff! I guess it's not just the lakers that follow and watch, I saw a video made by a scent company of a Lake Ontario King directly following a spoon for 4 1/2 minutes before it hit, and several others that stayed within 3 feet of the spoon for minutes before biting - a good sales promo for scent in my opinion.

Does anyone have the coordinates (or a good visual description) for the location of the ball grabber? Never encountered it, though I've lost (and recovered) some gear on the hump near Barn rock. Another video I watched that was taken by some divers of a wreck off Rochester showed enough flashers and dipseys hanging off it to open a tackle shop - would love to see a shot of all those lures and weights hooked into the ball grabber.

[BottomDollar]

Does anyone have the coordinates (or a good visual description) for the location of the ball grabber?

I think it's 44° 15.997' N/17° 19.212 W

[Bearcat]

Wow, been there many times, guess I got lucky! Thanks Andy

[jimbow]

My friend lost a ball and a fish hawk probe to that menace last year and the worst part is he knew he was coming up on it but he thought he had time to spare...NOT! You could open a tackle store with the stuff that's down there I'm thinking.

[Registered Kayak]

If the lake ever freezes I will use my aqua view on it. Just afraid to put my expensive little wolf down there...... I can see it now. Drifting over and the rod begins to take tension haha

[BottomDollar]

If the lake ever freezes I will use my aqua view on it. Just afraid to put my expensive little wolf down there...... I can see it now. Drifting over and the rod begins to take tension haha

It's only 40 feet at the peak so there should be plenty of light to show off all the merchandise. I'd love to see that!

[tamiron]

Very interesting video.

Some observations:

It also is interesting at times your bait seems to climb 1-2 feet? Could that be your are going with the strong current down there and it slows down trolling north with less resistance causing the lure to rise maybe? It also is noteworthy that we all mostly troll in straight lines and when the fish are neutral and just curious maybe some strong turns left and right could trigger more strikes. After viewing this video maybe cranking up the speed with some faster tuned lures to see what the reaction would be? It would be very beneficial to view this in real time while trolling. Maybe they will have an app to view on your tablet or phone in the future?

Great data. Thanks!

RON:
Good eye! The last spoon Mark is running appears that it might be a #2 Bee and, regardless of the size, the speed is too slow ... causing the spoon to lose some action and rise. I believe that in many cases, you can pick up the "follows" on your depth finder and a little more speed will often trigger a strike.

The last time I fished Outer Malletts Bay, my neighbor was driving and called me to watch the sitex paper graph I had to see this fish that had been following the bait forever. I sat down at the wheel and waited and hit the throttle a little when it came tight. Instant hit ... about a 25" pike that seemed like he was in the wrong place ?? But that was one of many times when a change in throttle speed resulted in hits from "followers". Steelhead in Ontario are famous for that.

Also, Pro-cure is always on my boat and on my lures.

[EagleCrag]

I'm surprised at the number of follows that occur without a strike. I have two thoughts, one has already been mentioned regarding the use of scent. The other has to do with the fact that as the fish approach, there is no reaction from the lure which I'm sure doesn't look natural to the fish. Ice fishermen that target lakers will often start reeling as fast as they can when they see a fish approach their jig. This often provokes the laker into biting--sometimes quickly, sometimes near the hole, and of course, sometimes not at all. The key (IMO) is that there is a reaction to their presence and the bait is trying to get away--a more natural reaction from the bait. I haven't fished with downriggers so I don't know if there is a way to generate a response when one comes up and starts following. Not sure if you can see the fish on your electronics in these cases or if the lure is too far behind the boat.

[digitroll (ron)]

Speeding up makes a lot of sense seeing follows on the sonar when fish are not reacting to a slow spoon. I was thinking the same thing Jim that the lure was running slow mostly in the video. Or a hard turn right or left to change the direction when seeing a follow on the sonar.

Great observation that the fish are looking for a reaction to the spoon when they follow and expect a natural bait fish reaction of escaping.

The Cannon digitroll riggers have a feature of jigging the spoon up and down with the ability to program distance up and down and time as well. There has been times that this feature has helped us put salmon in the boat during flat water slow bite conditions over fish on the sonar.

I am also a huge believer in applying scent on spoons and paying attention to the probe speed and boat direction in relation to current.

[tamiron]

Not sure if you can see the fish on your electronics in these cases or if the lure is too far behind the boat.

Great Point. The advent of the multiple delivery systems post date most of my fishing with the exception of the large planner boards. I used 4 down riggers that all had co-ax temperature. This resulted in a number of lures that were visible on the graph. The problem with speeding up trolling spoons too much is that they will often times spin and that will often scare the fish off. When jigging for lakers, many of the lures used are not speed sensitive. Some speed increase may work.

[tamiron]

Speeding up makes a lot of sense seeing follows on the sonar when fish are not reacting to a slow spoon. I was thinking the same thing Jim that the lure was running slow mostly in the video. Or a hard turn right or left to change the direction when seeing a follow on the sonar.

Great observation that the fish are looking for a reaction to the spoon when they follow and expect a natural bait fish reaction of escaping.

I am also a huge believer in applying scent on spoons and paying attention to the probe speed and boat direction in relation to current.

Ron:

My opinion on bait fish reaction ... Uninjured bait that is in a school or ball does react to predators.
But a wounded bait fish seems to react only when physically touched. I have always felt that trolling spoons like Bees imitate a wounded, not healthy, bait fish. That leads me to suspect that the presence of a predator will not alter the movement of a dying bait fish, unless touched.

Taking your third sentence is probably more to my thoughts.

But I have a suggestion that someone might try. Take a 3/4 " piece of bright red yarn and whip it to a siwash hook leaving about 1/2 ", trailing, and apply the scent to that. Keep it small so as to not add much weight to the hook that might alter the action of the spoon. I like the idea of giving them something to see that they saw below, before they began their strike approach.
Red = Blood.
Scent = natural. Good combination?

[Registered Kayak]

You guys are really going to like this clip I have of an estimated upper 20s salmon biting my spoon 2wice, but didn't get the hook.
I had the speed dialed in a little better for that trip but before I got my hands on some scent. Next trip out on the mighty 14'er I will be using some scent.
I am noticing a fixation the salmon have on RED colored lures. I usually never have them follow for long, but last few trips they really like to nip at red. Lure depth is 30ft when I do troll them, and the color still appears red on camera. Just a little thing I thought I'd share with everyone.

[fishy1]

somehow they seem to not get hooked and sometimes i even get a double hit and just wonder whats happening and why. cant wait to see the video and cat wait to start using my water wolf. trolling you dont know if you get double hits but casting you have the rod in your hand and you get a good hit and within a second another good hit. its like 2 hits at once by the same fish. sometimes the hits are like a freight train hitting and then the next hit will be light and fish on. even the salmon when casting all seem to hit differently as far as feel in your hand from the rod. it just amazes me whats happening underneath the surface with my lures and mark your water wolf is going to explain lots to me. your videos have been an inspiration to me and will soon be using my water wolf and hopefully through safe ice in deep waters for whitefish. on a last note when i get the double hit i rarely ever hook the fish.

[EagleCrag]

Matt, do you think the double hits could be fish slapping the bait with their tail and then turning and biting? I've had those double hits at times laker fishing and that's what I've thought it was. That's common behavior with ocean fish, don't know why it would be different in fresh water.