Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

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digitroll (ron)
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Re: Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

Post by digitroll (ron) »

What I took away from this article was something many of us realize. Small spoons typically, on and off again nature of fishing landlocks unlike Kings and Cohos. Time of year "June" seems to be the best fishing time. These fish are on the move. While the Dead Sea can be active at times like other places they can be quite dead too. Fishing Landlocks can test our patience absolutely with no guarantees like Lake Trout. We live and die by the sword fishing them. I know on days they have lock jaw and the next day someone fishing the same spot will catch many or a large fish. Other times the opposite we will catch them and another fishermen we pass our good luck on fishes the spot the next day and calls us out because he got skunked. :) As Mark says some days are absolutely brutal fishing this species.
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Reelax
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Re: Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

Post by Reelax »

All I know is time on the water pulling lines is the biggest factor in getting big fish. I fish over 250 trolling hrs during the key months each season between April and Nov. I don’t stop, the fish are always in the water and always have to eat. A day with 1 ghost release and 2 friends in the boat is still better than ANY day on shore... We are all so lucky to have this life passion and the friends to share it with...

Thanks for the read Ron...

Fish on!
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Reelax
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Re: Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

Post by Reelax »

Now where are the open launches????
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digitroll (ron)
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Re: Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

Post by digitroll (ron) »

Hoping for some open launches in a few weeks. If we have a very cold start the first few weeks of March with a few big noreasters kicked in we might have to wait until late March or early April. Weather dependent.
TUnamas
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Re: Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

Post by TUnamas »

Interesting, Ron, that you picked up on "small spoons." The mini-streak referenced as the hot lure is still more than 3 inches long, quite a bit bigger than the typical Champlain salmon spoon. As I've spent the past 2 years experimenting with swim baits, I've become less focused too on the traditional Champlain spoon size. Time will tell, and I still utilize my favorites with confidence, but .....
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Re: Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

Post by tamiron »

A few of the BEEs definitely fit into the larger categories and I do recommend them ... but in the case of Atlantics as well as brown trout, in my opinion, matching the forage size that is plentiful where you are fishing is more important than with Kings and Cohos, because pacific salmon are wide ranging voracious feeders that will travel great distances to move between bait schools and comfort zones. I have heard that the cruising speed of a King is 16 miles per hour!! That is certainly not maintained for any length of time, but is significant in that they will travel to forage, even from bottom to surface, that might be hundreds of feet, multiple times daily.

Consider where you locate predators in the water column, and it will often dictate what they are feeding on and what the prevalent size of the forage is in that area./OPINION
Lures designed by fishermen for fishermen
digitroll (ron)
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Re: Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

Post by digitroll (ron) »

We have had great success with larger spoons ie. #3 Bees 4" long on those bigger fish in past years. Overall smaller spoons seem to seem to match the forage of what's mentioned in their stomachs these past few seasons. We release our fish mostly. We try to run a large spoon or two though with our small lure spread. It's important to run different sizes I feel.

Those fish they were catching were big fish in Mark's article! We landed a 8 lb Landlock at the bar with our 4 3/4" Mag lure at first light running for Kings. :) Go Figure!
JDK
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Re: Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

Post by JDK »

Several years ago I went whole hog and bought into the "Great Lakes" methodology for where I fish. I bought a pile of Silver Streak mini streaks, Michigan Stingers, and Northern King lures in colors that closely matched what I was using on my home waters (and some that were not so close). I even went so far as to take the tried and true lures out of the boat in order to give it a fair shake. I fished prime time and prime locations only to end up failing. Buddies that I fish with were doing well at the time so I don't believe I hit a bad time. I still troll with a Mini Streak in my spread a lot of the time. They look so good to me but they rarely produce.

I can't agree more with tamiron about size and profile. The lakes that I fish have a great smelt population and some have smelt as large as 10 inches long. When I sat down and thought about what was happening, I really believe that the length of the spoon wasn't the issue but the width. Those fish were not feeding on a alewife profiled baitfish and were accustomed to seeing a thinner baitfish. Maybe Champlain is different were there is a variety of baitfish sizes but that isn't the case where I fish.

Then again I have never had a conversation with a salmon and may be all wet.
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Re: Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

Post by TUnamas »

JDK - Hard to argue with your logic. I think that's why DB Smelt have been so successful as cheaters!
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Re: Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

Post by voyager »

The show mentioned in the article that Ron posted the link to ran in early January. I highly recommend watching it if it runs again. The methods they use are very similar to typical Lake Champlain methods. The Fishing 411 crew put together some great programs.

I’ve used the mini-Streak lures in green alewife pattern with good success on Champlain, especially with Brown Trout. The size is about the same as a #2 Honey Bee, another lure that produces well.
digitroll (ron)
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Re: Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

Post by digitroll (ron) »

Carbon TV will air those repeat 2019 episodes shot by the 411 group after July 1st. for free on demand.

https://www.carbontv.com/shows/fishing-411/
JDK
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Re: Huge Landlock tactics.. Fish411 Mark Romack

Post by JDK »

That is good to know and I was wondering when the new shows would be on Carbon TV. I like his show and they have an interesting perspective on trolling.
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