I've never tried lead. It seems like a good, old-school method!Dilly Worm wrote:nice salmon and thanks for the info !
FishUSA is still taking orders and shipping, and I just ordered a Helsinki Shad Rap from them after reading your reports...
Yesterday was my first on open water this year, started at Button Bay and rowed around the bay then up the VT shore into North Harbor then doubled back. no wind and completely calm. Water was very clear for this area and temp was steady 36.6 except around 38.6+ in Button Bay. Tried jr thundersticks on planer w/ 1 color lead, plus speedy shiner at various depths on the other line. Saw a few of what looked like bait clouds down around 40-60' plus occasional bigger marks which i tried chasing with the speedy shiner. Only saw 1 other boat and zero fish.
It was great to get out and back on water after a week stuck in the house... can't wait to try again and hope for better results !
How fast do you troll in that boat?
I'm still not decided on whether the Shad Rap is actually a good salmon lure, or if the ones I've caught on it were just in an aggressive mood. But I'm 100% sure the browns like it! And it works at slow or fast speeds, which is nice in our situation.
Do you ever stop trolling, and cast instead? Sometimes I catch salmon that way, if I have an idea of where they are. Like if I see them jumping, or if I find a warm pocket of water that seems likely. Or if I just need a rest from paddling I usually try to have one of my rods rigged with a castable lure. The shad rap casts a little. But my top casting lures are the 3/8oz rainbow Kroc and the Fishy1 Casting Honeybee (both those were introduced to me by the master caster Fishy1).