Active Lakers and Expensive Mistakes

[keithm87]

Me and my buddy vinny launched from shelburne at 6:45 and headed out of the bay in search of some active fish. Having checked the valcour buoy I was expecting temps to be at 70ish fow, but was pleasently surprised to find 56 down only 48feet. We set 3 riggers and a slide diver, and trolled accross the shoal. there was one boat jigging on one of my hotspots but otherwise the area was clear of boats. We joked early on about how I enjoy fishing trips with him as things usually go smooth and we always catch fish together. Yesterday disproved the first but confirmed the second.

First release of the day came on the first pass, a 23 inch laker. made another pass with nothing, and said to vinny that we would need to go hunting. We crossed the shoal heading toward juniper as I was going to circle juniper, and we had a release on the shoal. and then another. I had a really nice fish on, but my 4 year old magda that has seen hundreds of lakers caught decided it didn't want to allow drag, and the fish broke me off, luckily I had more of that same lure and quick retie it was back in the water. We decided since they were waking up to stay on the shoal and pick away at them.

Vin's step dad had also made a voyage to the big lake with his new to him boat, he was solo and hadn't really dialed in his electronics. at around 11 with us having landed 9 fish to his 0 we decided to help him. My initial effort to keep trolling and have him motor next to us and tie off ended with my rigger cable caught around the back of his motor. after a few moments of chaos we freed eachother and decided that a stationary docking was in order. I borded his boat and after 20ish minutes had his 2 fish finders set up so that he could see fish and see his maps.

We got back to trolling and trolled east across the shoal. There is a yellow buoy on the shoal that I have never known what it was marking as it is in almost 70fow, but is in an area that I have done well, so we decided to troll across that sections. This was the expensive mistake. All summer I have trolled that section of water with my gear where I had it, but yesterday was the one that got me. I had my spin n glo rigger down 68 (always set it there) and the bottom started to come up as I expected. usually it comes up and the rigger is just clear, or barely makes a single tick, but this time with the lake almost 2ft lower than the last time I was out in this area, it was just low enough. It hit and the rigger made a good bounce, I told vinny to raise the rigger but it was too late, we were caught. I had my new minn kota running for steering at 1.5 speed setting, and the big motor pushing. We took the big motor out of gear, but I forgot about the minn kota, which was in the middle of a turn. by the time I noticed that it was still running it had turned us in a small circle over where we were stuck. I got that shut off but by then it was too late. We had tried to pull up the other 2 riggers and one came up no issue, but my probe one that was set at 50 ft was caught on the rigger that was stuck on bottom. My probe rigger is set with braided line, and before we could react the braid cut, and the probe went to the bottom. Slide diver met the same fate. In all the losses were:
2 10lb rigger balls
2 chamberlain releases
1 x4d probe
1 slide diver with ultimate dive kit
3 spoons
totaling around $470
At this point we were now basically on the buoy and could read it… it marks a ship wreck that is part of champlain historical dive something or another, perfect place to hang up gear! Turns out what makes them good structure for fish also makes them good ball grabbers. If anyone knows anyone who dives these wrecks I would love to offer up a reward for the recovery of the probe and ball attached haha.

Frustrated and deflated I told vinny the trip was over, but after a couple minutes of sulking and calming down and a quick trip to FishUSA’s website to rebuy the lost gear I decided to not quit in defeat. We spent a few minutes finding all my backup gear that is stowed randomly around the boat, and worked to reset the riggers. The payoff was pretty immediate, as we started catching fish again. We stayed trolling until around 1:30pm having landed close between 15-18 fish (lost count) and then decided to play with the trolling motor settings and try some anchor lock. The feature was pretty slick, but my jigging skills and motivation are minimal in 90 degree direct sun. Spent 20 minutes on that endeavor with no success. Reset riggers and trolled across the shoal and headed in. Off the water at 2:45.

All in all the day was a good day of fishing. Learned a lesson the hard way, but got on the fish. Lure of the day was the trusty large clown with green mylar wing spin n glow with 3 small silver beads and a size 2 treble tied 14 inches behind a 00 jensen dodger silver with the shiny reflective tape on it, which caught most of our fish.

[ThreeBuoys]

Keith,
Do you know any scuba divers? If they frequent that dive site, they may find your equipment for you.
Worth a shot.

[Bulldogbish]

Entertaining read, sorry about the bill that came with it. Hate them ball grabbers!

Do you have any posts explaining your spin-n-glo setup? We used to run a peanut (think it was called) for lakers but never for salmon. Any success for salmon/steel/browns? Appreciate it!

[keithm87]

It only catches lakers. Not sure why... but it is Chartreuse Wings - Clown in 1 3/8 with 3 small silver beads 12-15 inches behind a 00 Chrome/Silver Prism luhr jensen dodger. I tie it was 20lb flouro and a size 2 or 1/0 owner st 56 3x treble. I run this as one line every trip out, and the other gear is always set with salmon friendly lures. I run it at 1.8-2.2 and catch fish, but it runs true up to 2.5 and catches fish. I run it tight to the ball with about a 5-6 ft setback.

[keithm87]

Keith,
Do you know any scuba divers? If they frequent that dive site, they may find your equipment for you.
Worth a shot.

I don't I looked around online for a dive forum that was active with no luck. It looks like the wreck is part of Vermont Underwater Historic Preserve. I am going to try to find out if there is a group of people who dive the area. My hopes are not high though haha.

[tmcaul]

How about calling Waterfront Diving Center, the dive shop that is on Battery St. just east of Perkins Pier. 865-2771.

Maybe they know somebody who could help. You could offer fishing time in exchange.

Good luck.

Tom

[fishy1]

from time to time i have gambler rigs spin n glows and have used them a few times when we fished for lakers only or set up a 2 rod set up and i caught a steelhead on it and a few salmon also. the gambler spin n glow rigs are exclusive to lake ontario .
sorry about your loss keith.

[Captain Paul]

KEITH JUST A HEADS UP EVERYONE OF THOSE YELLOW BALLS HAS A SHIP WRECK UNDER IT OR CLOSE BY SOME OF THEM STICK UP 30 FEET OR MORE IN THE AIR

[keithm87]

KEITH JUST A HEADS UP EVERYONE OF THOSE YELLOW BALLS HAS A SHIP WRECK UNDER IT OR CLOSE BY SOME OF THEM STICK UP 30 FEET OR MORE IN THE AIR

Yeah I know that now. Lesson learned. Its funny cause navionics says "coal barge" and I had noticed the odd way the bottom comes up like 6 ft there for some time, and the buoy. But never really put 2 and 2 together on it. I have literally spent hundreds of hours on that shoal without ever getting hung up. I have intentionally bottom bounced a large portion even. I guess if you play with fire its only a matter of time you will get burned. But I learned a lesson on that.

[keithm87]

from time to time i have gambler rigs spin n glows and have used them a few times when we fished for lakers only or set up a 2 rod set up and i caught a steelhead on it and a few salmon also. the gambler spin n glow rigs are exclusive to lake ontario .
sorry about your loss keith.

I have a bunch of gambler rigs as well. For some reason I cant dial them in, likely lack of patients as they need to be trolled so slow.

[fishy1]

we trolled them at 2.2 mph surface speed not at the ball. 2 years ago we lost 2 huge lakers in the fathers day derby just couldnt get them up and when we did they did there thing head shaking and got loose. the gambler rigs have lots of pull to them so the bigger fish are that much harder to get them up in the water column. the fish especially lakers though like them.

[TUnamas]

You are trolling with fire fishing the margins near the buoys, especially at low water conditions. Many years ago I trolled through something in the middle of Whallens (300+ ft) that tore my downrigger off (45 ft down) even before the clutch could start. I've always presumed it was a deep submerged tree. In this lake, the difference between 68 and 70 can bite you!

[Captain Paul]

TUnamas that was CHAMP

[Gecha (Gerry)]

Nice read Keith... Sorry about your expensive adventure. Keep us posted if you find a diver.

[drachma]

Keith,

I was a dive instructor for the shop for 10 years. It is an old wooden transport that was carrying coal when it went down before 1900. It is very flat around the wreck with sand, mud, and silt. If you call Waterfront diving and ask for Jonathan (the owner) and explain your situtation I'm sure he will get the word out. Sometimes the shop runs charters to that site and there are also individual divers that go there. Good luck.

Michael