Belly up to the Sandbar

[Del Gue]

I have been wanting to get out since the ice left but since I was out of town the ENTIRE stretch of warm weather we had, I feared I had missed my window. Friday I built a set of Planer Boards and if real life would leave me alone I might get a chance to go and try them out. Got the boat ready this morning and assembled a mast using a 4x4 pole. With a little "engineering" I was ready to go. The wind didn't die off like I had hoped so a trip to outer Malletts Bay was out. Being 2 pm I had little choice but to troll the beaches of Sandbar.
Put in the water around three, send the boards out and attached two poles to them. One with a Speedy and the other was Ivan's "Munchkin" Started at the cow banks and worked passed Sandbar beach staying 100-200 yards from shore. I was only in 2.5 feet of water and the temp was 37. I started playing with colors (copper, silver, rainbow) everything I had. I had heard the black and white "cop car" was hot on the outer bay so I threw it on. As I reach the old mouth of the Lamoille the water temp warmed to 42. A couple hundred yards pass the old mouth as I was dozing I heard the drag buzzing on my starboard rod. I looked back to to see that it had released but there was nothing on it. I picked the rod up and played it for a few seconds and BAMB! Fish on! About a minute later I had the skunk off the boat as my first Salmon of 2012 was successfully landed. It was a small one so after a quick photo, back it went.
The Cop Car came through. I had just purchased a black and silver "Midnight" Ivan a few days earlier so out of the package it came and tied it to the other rod. Put the rod in the holder, sat down and the drag starts running! I looked and saw a aerial show 150' back. Grabbed the rod and the fight was on with a continuous air show. Did a great job and got him to within 10 feet of the boat before he decided he'd had enough with me. The lure landed in the boat and he was off to fight another day. Guessing 6+ pounds and 25+ inches. Hated to lose it but I know where he lives. Go up the Georgia Shore 100-200 feet off shore just about to the end of the marsh headed north. Water temp there was the warmest I saw, ~45 degrees. Good luck!

[Surprise]

Nice....and you got to" Feel the Pull"

I stripped siding and trim

[Wallyandre (Andre)]

Nice fish and report

[Thorny]

Nice report Del! Always nice to be woken up by a "buzzing Drag".

[raz]

Very nice first trip out.
Gotta love those black and whites.

[Dockside]

Black and white......(pounding head on desk)

[Kamel]

Nice report Dave!

Glad you got out and booted the skunk!

[WildFisherWoman]

Awesome!

Hey Ben if I dont recall... I dragged black and white on my side of the boat for an eternity last week!

[Del Gue]

Awesome!

Hey Ben if I dont recall... I dragged black and white on my side of the boat for an eternity last week!

You can only drag black and white on the port side. Otherwise it looks funny

[Gecha (Gerry)]

Thanks for the nice report Del.
Looks like your home made planers did the job.
Congrats on getting the skunk off the boat.

[odysse68]

Hi
I was there on Sunday afternoon. We found like you 45 degres on the east side of the sand bar. Every time we went trough this pocket of water we had a hit. In the morning we fished the main lake and landed 9 lakers. But with the strong south wind, we decided to go to the Sand Bar. We landed 3 salmon 18-20 inches. and missed 3 other. A vey good day. My partners were at there first visit on the Lake Champlain. They loved it. Be sure they will come back, as soon the new boat will be delivred. Will post picture later tonight. Best lure for salmon : blue and chrome pin minnow yosuri in 4 feet of water.

[Del Gue]

Hi
I was there on Sunday afternoon. We found like you 45 degrees on the east side of the sand bar. Every time we went trough this pocket of water we had a hit. In the morning we fished the main lake and landed 9 lakers. But with the strong south wind, we decided to go to the Sand Bar. We landed 3 salmon 18-20 inches. and missed 3 other. A vey good day. My partners were at there first visit on the Lake Champlain. They loved it. Be sure they will come back, as soon the new boat will be delivred. Will post picture later tonight. Best lure for salmon : blue and chrome pin minnow yosuri in 4 feet of water.

I remember seeing you there. I was in the Cat-tail printed Lund. Right after you passed me is when I hooked the hog. I continued up the Georgia shore after that because the water temp stayed above 40. Went north for a mile or so until it fell back into the 30s with no hits. Never hooked a fish in more then 10 feet of water, seems they are really after that warm water. Guess they got teased with the warm weather liked the rest of us. Dark colors worked for me as well. Only fished for about two hours but had a blast.

[Lavman]

Nice report Del! Do you have any pictures of your mast and planer boards? I need some "home-brew" ideas for trolling set up

[Del Gue]

Nice report Del! Do you have any pictures of your mast and planer boards? I need some "home-brew" ideas for trolling set up

I found the plans for the planer boards online and total materials will run about $50. I used Poplar but knot free Yellow Pine or Redwood will work. Make sure the wood has a density of less than 60.
Here are the plans and I will post pictures of the mast later.

http://www.striperfishingtackle.com/how ... boards.htm

[Del Gue]

Nice report Del! Do you have any pictures of your mast and planer boards? I need some "home-brew" ideas for trolling set up

Hi Lavman. Here are some photos of the mast I built. It's a "prototype" I had the 4x4 post and the rest of the materials cost about $25. I used weed wacker line. Ace sells it in 75' packages. One for each side. A handle and a crank will be the next upgrade but the cleats work for now.