Think Big
Think Big
Hi, hadn't been fishing in a while, trying to set up another boat for my friend and that's been keeping me busy. We hit the water today and it was crisp with a steady south breeze and a half foot chop. We could see a lot of debris in the water so we headed further north but the junk was still there. We could see lots of bait and some fish in the 50-60ft range over 125. We set up and I broke out a brand new # 3 PPE and put it at 55' off the starboard side. It wasn't long when I saw a nice mark on the screen make it's way just behind our line. The next thing to happen was, to quote what fishy1 would say...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!...We thought the reel was going to catch on fire. My buddy took the rod out of the holder and the tip bounced wildly., then....it went limp, as well as my friend's knees. He reeled in the line and no lure (bye bye PPE ) and about a foot of leader material. We had no idea if it was a salmon, steelie or a big Laker....He had just put on new Spider Wire ultra cast 10 lb flo. carb. as a leader the night before on all the rods. We checked the line it broke with about 2-3 lbs worth of pressure. I told him to pull all the other rods, and sure enough they broke with ease. A quick change to P-Line flo. and back to races. I marked a few really nice fish at 70' and dropped a Purple/black split Mag Honey bee to the desired depth. It wasn't long when I had a solid release on the same side. Again, the reel had line peeling off at a good clip but not as fast as before. By this time the 6" chop turned to 1 plus foot rollers. I had a nice fight on my hand and it was nice to feel the fight of a good once again after a long dry spell. As it neared the boat I could see a foot ball shaped Laker, it had completely inhaled a MAG honey bee and the hook was embedded deep in it's gills. It was going to be a keeper so we netted it and on a set of bogo style scale it pushed a little over 10 lbs. it was hard to read since the waves were rocking the boat and my eyes ain't what they used to be. This fish was stuffed with bait, you could feel them in the stomach. I put some # 2 and another MAG on some of the lines. There was so much bait around it was hard to compete with the real thing, we had another really good hit on #2 red/pearl/dot Honey bee but it made a mad dash towards the boat and my buddy had a hard time keeping up and lost it. The rest of the day we marked fish but I think they were stuffed.....the one I caught must of been a piggy. When I got to clean the Laker I caught I found it to loaded with 4"-5" long alewives. I think a shift to larger bait is in order.....hope this helps everyone.
- tamiron
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Re: Think Big
THINK BIG! Very appropriate! I think everyone of us needs to be reminded of and concentrate on three fundamental aspects every time we go out.
a.) Match the hatch – know by depth of water the likely size of the bait inhabiting that part of the water column … the higher the smaller and conversely the deeper the larger. Not absolute rules but great guidelines. Different year classes prefer different temperatures and depths
b.) Know the temp at the ball.
c.) Know the speed at the ball … or at least keep trying different compass vectors until the action picks up. Different vectors will enhance or dampen the effect of the current!!Remember a GPS speed of 2.5 mph going against a 2 mph current is exerting a 4.5 mph force on the action of your spoon!!!
That laker, by its shape, has probably been chowing down pretty well all season. Vary the size of your presentations ... not just some fewer fish this year, but also three incredible years for forage production.
a.) Match the hatch – know by depth of water the likely size of the bait inhabiting that part of the water column … the higher the smaller and conversely the deeper the larger. Not absolute rules but great guidelines. Different year classes prefer different temperatures and depths
b.) Know the temp at the ball.
c.) Know the speed at the ball … or at least keep trying different compass vectors until the action picks up. Different vectors will enhance or dampen the effect of the current!!Remember a GPS speed of 2.5 mph going against a 2 mph current is exerting a 4.5 mph force on the action of your spoon!!!
That laker, by its shape, has probably been chowing down pretty well all season. Vary the size of your presentations ... not just some fewer fish this year, but also three incredible years for forage production.
Lures designed by fishermen for fishermen
Re: Think Big
Nice fish Jim, never did like flouro.
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Re: Think Big
That is a fat laker!
Re: Think Big
nice job jimbow. that drag zzzzzzzzzzzzing and getting broke off is a bummer. not going to preach on floro not my type of leader for trolling. glad you could make it out. keep at it.
Re: Think Big
Better to have fished and lost than to or not fished at all.... this honey do list before deer season is killing me, like the story
Re: Think Big
Thanks for the comments guys....I put the post up as a tool for anyone still fishing, the bigger bait means bigger lures. I think they pushed all that bait up on the shelf I was fishing and gorged themselves in anticipation of spawning....I was right on the edge of a big drop off...shallow water was not far away and you had to pay attention or you could get hung up quick. Anyone else had a problem with Spider Wire Floro? I know the early Floro's had problems but the P-Line has been good so far. I have used other types of line and found them to as good but most of my friends get the floro's all the time. I myself have used the Cajun Red for deep water stuff since red is the first color to dis-appear in the water and had good luck with it.
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Re: Think Big
Get yourself some gamma fluorocarbon u will never be sorry trust me