# Lake O trips in July?



## Lundy

Anyone going?

We will be at Point Breeze again for a couple of weekend trips


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## cloverhill1

Lundy said:


> Anyone going?
> 
> We will be at Point Breeze again for a couple of weekend trips


I am going a couple times hopefully later in the summer. I did really well last year out of the oak.


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## Lundy

We used to go to the Oak in August but switched to July a few years ago and really have like the results of that change, except for last year. Last year was very late and the fishing in July was difficult with the colder water and storms that kept flipping the lake. They are doing very well right now on salmon at the Oak.


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## D J

I've been wondering when this thread would start up. I'll be in Olcott the last weekend of July. Fishing is sounding good on Lake O this year! This is always a trip to look forward to.


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## mo-trout

Fishing out of Olcott this Friday July 8 . I'm pretty excited I hear fishing has been incredible this year . I went up this past April and we caught 50 lake trout one was thirty plus pounds . That was a blast but I'm hoping for salmon this time around . I'll post my results .


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## K gonefishin

Early August for me, can't get up in July, hoping to get 2 trips in this year, last two years only got up once I think.


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## Lundy

K gonefishin said:


> Early August for me, can't get up in July, hoping to get 2 trips in this year, last two years only got up once I think.


I'll send you some pictures while we are there


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## ReelPower

My crew will be docked Wilson Harbor July 31st to August 6th. Let's all stay in touch to share Intel.


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## tomb

Hope you guys hammer 'em and the great bite holds. We won't be up in Olcott until second weekend in August.


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## Lundy

I have two 3 day trips in late July at Point Breeze. I would be happy if everything just stayed about the way it is there right now. I doubt it will, but I can always wish.


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## Bustin'bass

I'll be heading to Olcott in a little over a week. It'll be my first time. Looking forward to it.


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## ReelPower

Bustin' Bass if you need any help setting up your tackle and game plan ask away - lots of experience on this thread for a bunch of Ohio guys.


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## mo-trout

Did pretty good last Friday got around 20 fish a mix of salmon and steelhead .


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## Lundy

Nice fish!!


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## miked913

mo-trout said:


> Did pretty good last Friday got around 20 fish a mix of salmon and steelhead .
> View attachment 214479


Hey that looks like Mark from kingfisher charters in the back there. He's a good dude, really takes finding fish for you seriously!


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## mo-trout

Yep that's Mark . Your right he is a good dude . I've been up there a few times with him now and have always had a great time .


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## Bustin'bass

ReelPower said:


> Bustin' Bass if you need any help setting up your tackle and game plan ask away - lots of experience on this thread for a bunch of Ohio guys.


Thanks for offering, but we got a charter. None of us has been there so we thought it best.
My friend set everything up. We're using Legal Limit Charters.

http://legallimitcharters.net/home/


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## D J

Be careful, salmon fishing can become addictive! Enjoy the kings.


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## Birdhntr

For you guys that run dipsy setups, do you find it a must to use wire as opposed to braid on Lake O? Thanks in advance!


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## Just Ducky

I use wire, but I know a lot of guys that use braid and do just fine. Wire is a better choice if the fleas are bad.


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## Lundy

I strongly suggest wire only if you are fishing the summer months, you will be very sorry if you try to run braid, been there done that.


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## miked913

Hoping to head up 8/3. We made it up 2x last year this will be my 1st of this year. I keep in touch with a buddy that lives in olcott & he said they are having the best king #s they've seen in years. Hope that holds true a couple more weeks!


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## tomb

Going up super early tomorrow (Saturday) for one day trip.


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## Junebug2320

We're going to Olcott Aug 10-15. Fingers crossed


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## Rainbow Record

Bustin'bass said:


> Thanks for offering, but we got a charter. None of us has been there so we thought it best.
> My friend set everything up. We're using Legal Limit Charters.
> 
> http://legallimitcharters.net/home/


I have fished with legal limit twice in the past he works very hard to get on fish and we always brought in a lot of fish he also always willing to give info on were to go if your using your own boat heck one year we couldn't get any of the hot spoons he brought 2 of them to our camper and gave them to us and would NOT take money for them and the next day it was game on thanks again Capt.Rich  good luck on your charter


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## Bustin'bass

Thanks. We'll be fishing on Monday. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures to post.


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## tomb

Had a 1.5 hour firedrill Saturday morning with otherwise slow day out of Olcott. Various green F/F combos. 90/1 mag dipsy, 130/2 size 1 dipsy. 280 to 300 fow. Kept 4 two year olds. Lost 4 large ones. Released 6 steelhead.


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## pelagic

Fished fri-sun off olcott. Seemed like they would turn on in one little spot, then turn off right away. Most of our action came in 1 hour flurries, then a grind. From the other people we talked to it sounded like much of the same. Some guys found big kings in close, some way offshore, some east, some west. Most of our action came with good temps and bait balls. Once the bait balls disappeared so did our bites. 
180' on a wire dipsy 2 setting with a green dot SD and fly. Riggers with sliders at 95 and 60. 300 copper with mag green dolphin spoon and 400 copper with a flasher fly. 

Hope to make it back up in august for a weekend or two!


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## tomb

Nice one's! Your experience mirrors ours. Wish at least a couple would have stayed buttoned.

Forgot to mention. No fleas at all until 400+ fow.


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## nijajordan

I'm heading up to fish July 27th and July 28, most likely will be heading out of Wilson. Hopefully the fishing will stay as good as it has been, I'm pumped about going up.


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## D J

nijajordan said:


> I'm heading up to fish July 27th and July 28, most likely will be heading out of Wilson. Hopefully the fishing will stay as good as it has been, I'm pumped about going up.


Let us know how you do. I'll be at Olcott starting the 28th, fishing that evening thru the 30th.


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## Bustin'bass

Our trip started with thunderstorms. We were delayed an hour then we headed out with 15-20 mph winds. I've been on worse but we had one guy who hadn't. LOL.
We, only landed 2 before 1:00pm. Had a dozen or more come off. We had 3 experienced fishermen and 2 novices, but we all lost fish. The captain said it wasn't us it was just how they were biting. Anyways, from 1 to 2 it was very fast action. We all caught fish, but it didn't last long. 

We had a good time laughing at everyone while they tried to walk around. It was quite entertaining.

Captain Rich and First Mate Jordan worked very hard for us. I was really impressed with how hard they worked. We could tell they were frustrated with the bite, but they kept working and we kept joking with them. We all know that sometimes the fish don't cooperate. Captain Rich showed us pictures from the previous day and there were a lot of 18 to 20 pounders. We, almost booked that day, but changed. Go figure.


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## Lundy

Brandon and John Joined me at Point Breeze on Friday. The wind was a little brisk from the west and we got started a little late around 7:30 am. We ran west and trolled east. We had 43 degs down 90 ft. Not a lot of marks until we got East of the harbor a few miles. We fished in close in 100-140 FOW. We only ran two downriggers and two dipsy's. We went 4 for 5 with two kings, both teenagers and two steelhead around 10 lbs each. Only one came on a rigger with a spoon down 75, the rest came on a flasher fly, spin doctor, 42 second, green fly and a white with green dot with a green glow. The wind increased around 11 and we decided to head in. I had a trim issue and had to run in the last couple of miles on my kicker. The boat was out of commission for the rest of the weekend.

Friday morning









I tried to find a charter for Saturday morning but all of the boats were booked as I expected. Maverick Charters was nice enough to agree to run a second trip Saturday afternoon for us so that we could get a chance to fish. I fished with Capt Chris twice last year and he works very hard to get you on fish.

He had a very good day with his morning charter









He took us out in the afternoon with a brisk west wind. We set up and trolled east. Down temp was 43 down 105', He set up 3 riggers and two dipsys. He started with flasher, large ones, with familiar bite meat on every rod. Riggers were down 105, 95, 85, dipsys were at 300 and 275. The dipsys were consistent most of the day, the riggers were much slower. It was not the fast and furious bite that he had during the morning but in the end we had a nice group of fish with most coming on the meat and a couple on spoons. All of the fish but one came on an east troll in 125-150 FOW. He worked his butt off for us and it was appreciated.


















Also saw this on Saturday morning in the Oak Orchard river








I think Brandon and John have some more pictures


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## tomb

Sucks about boat trouble, but still looks like a great weekend.


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## EE

Thanks for the report Kim, sorry about the boat. I'll be there Thursday night through Sunday, we'll see how things go.... hope to contribute a report and some pics.


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## Decoy hound

Heading up to the Wilson/Olcott area tonight, anyone else fishing Lake Ontario this weekend?


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## Buckeyeguyty93

I will be, we were there Tuesday Wednesday for the first time for all of us and hooked 40 plus fish had a blast


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## ReelPower

I'll be docked Wilson Sat. pm through Sat. (Aug. 6th) am.


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## Decoy hound

Great! Hope to meet up sometime. Draggin Balls on 68 or text me 216-970-4292 Good luck, Bob


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## Decoy hound

View attachment 215766














Very rough out, no other boats out! Slowly picking at them, two steelies and one king. King came on a dipsy 260 out with a spoon.


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## ReelPower

Decoy hound said:


> Great! Hope to meet up sometime. Draggin Balls on 68 or text me 216-970-4292 Good luck, Bob


I've got a sweet cottage rented with a porch overlooking the harbor lets have a few brews and talk fishing.


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## Decoy hound

ReelPower said:


> I've got a sweet cottage rented with a porch overlooking the harbor lets have a few brews and talk fishing.


Hey that sounds good, text me your location 216-970-4292


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## GalionLex

Just got back from Olcott. Fished Tues. (7/26) evening through Thursday(7/28) morning. 2 man limit all three days. Overall weather was great and so was the fishing. Most fish came in depths of 118 to 135 and 180 to 210. We fished primarily N/NE of Olcott. Everything took hits from a slider (spoon) on an 80 down rigger to a flasher fly 95 down off a rigger. 300 copper with a flasher meat rig was good at times but the most consistent set up was wire line magnum dipsies. Both were on 3 settings, 120 lead took fish, 200 lead took fish and a variety of settings in between. Both dipsies had spin doctors with flies. Other boats fished deeper and seemed to do well too. Good luck to all.


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## Decoy hound

The fish out of Wilson seemed to be on the smaller size, did get our limit by 3:00. The fish on the bar had more size to them. Wire and dipsys with flasher/fly and cut bait rigs produced several doubles in the evening.


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## ReelPower

The tenacious Easterlies flipped the lake and surface temps out of Wilson were 48-55 degrees. Fishing the late afternoon/evening was slow, caught a few small kings dropped two decent fish. Flasher fly dipseys 250 back.


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## Lundy

We just returned home from Point Breeze yesterday evening. We cut our trip short by two days due to the wind and not being able to get out on the lake. It hurts to have such good fishing sitting there waiting on you and to not be able to take advantage of it. We planned on fishing Thursday through Sunday but only got to fish Thursday, beautiful day, and late afternoon on Friday, that's it. The wind Friday morning had 4-5's from the NE and a small craft advisory and Saturday morning was even worse, the charters even staying in port, and it was forecast to maintain all day and into this morning. It was still rippin when we pulled out at noon yesterday.

We hit the lake at 6am on Thursday morning and ran 4 miles west and set up in 125 fow. We had 43 deg down 90 and just a light breeze. It was not fast and furious but we had bites pretty much non stop until we went in for lunch and to check into our cabin around 2 pm. Nothing exciting in the fish box, just some good quality eaters but we had lost a few really good fish for some reason. They just kept coming off part way through the fights, it was frustrating.. We went back out and fished till dark, putting two over 20 in the box but once again dropping a few screamers. We started calling it a "crapper jack" when we would lose yet another fish. We kept 8 for the day and had thrown back 6-8 smaller fish and lost way, way too many good fish. The best was dipsy, white green dot spin doctor, green glow fly, #2 setting 160-180 back. Riggers were not taking the quality fish that the dipsys were. Troys biggest came on a 300 copper, magnum seasick waddler. Most of our action was from 115-160 fow. We had high hopes going for Friday morning. The fish were there, we had zero boats where we were fishing and we had the program dialed in. Unfortunately the weather forecast was wrong and it was unfishable Friday morning.

Friday afternoon it died down to no wind at all and the lake just had left over 3 ft rollers but was very calm. We were able to get out around 5:30 pm. We ran back west and found the lake was, as expected, quite a bit different. The temps had come way up and our fish had moved. We now had 44 deg down 45 ft and were making nothing. After about 30 minutes of nothing I turned north and trolled out to 300 ft with just a couple of marks and one knock off on the rigger. We pulled everything and ran into 90 feet and set up on a east troll. We still didn't have any action but we at least marked a couple of fish and we were back into water that has some duckweed and grass, like we had been in earlier in the day. EE, from OGF was East of us a mile of so and was getting some hits and marking some fish. We continued the east troll and Josh raised the riggers up to 45 ft and put long leads and it didn't take long to get out first fish on. It was the best fish of the trip at 26.8 pounds. We were running out of daylight quickly and all three riggers took a fish. The spoons that worked were moonshines, our consistent producer, happy meal, and one I think they call bad toad, it was hot both days we got to fish. We ran the dipsys up high with flasher fly but had no hits unlike Thursday when all of the good fish were on the dipsys or copper.

The forecast for Saturday looked dicey for my boat so I booked a charter so we would be able to fish, but the wind was so bad that the charters stayed in port. Josh and Troy fished the breakwall and caught a bunch of bass while we waited to see if the wind would die off but it wasn't so we loaded up and headed home. It was a fun trip and really good fishing when we were able to get on the lake. I am very confident that the strong NE wind yesterday finished the job of Friday mornings wind of messing up all of the inside waters. I think the way north may be the only option for a few days at least.

Thursday fish and sunset









































Fridays best 26.8









The hot spoon of the trip


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## ReelPower

Fished all over between Wilson and Olcott. Bedt temps out 450 fow. Slow day everywhere. Released 4 or 5 small kings and a steelie. Almost all flasher fly bites.


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## Lundy

Thursday evening, Fishslim fighting a good salmon. (short video)


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## tomb

Sounds like you made the best of it again. Nice fish!


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## D J

We fished Thursday evening, then Friday and Saturday out of Olcott. I was glad we went out and stayed out late Thursday when we got there, since that was the gem of the day as others mentioned. Friday and Saturday were just plain rough on the lake.

We got to meet Decoy Hound and his crew Friday morning at Olcott while everyone was pondering the inevitable. We did finally make it out around mid-day Friday and all day Saturday. We also bumped into him and his crew Saturday evening in Olcott as well. 

For what it is worth now that the lake is mixed up, we did well in the 300-400 fow range between Olcott and Wilson. On Thursday it was a spoon bite for us. We had most everything going except for 10 color lead cores. The best spoons were DW DWB in the SS size and a Tropical Lightning Stinger Stingray - both have white backs.

On Friday and Saturday it was mostly a flasher / fly bite, even for steel. A blue/green Howie fly off an blue chrome NBK eChip was our best on Friday. Saturday there really wasn't a strong pattern, other than mostly flasher fly, with chrome working better in the cloudy morning. With the cold water Saturday the fish were scattered in depth and location. We caught fish on a rigger parked 70' down and also took two on the surface, one on the 500 copper that we cleared and left the leader and about 20' of copper running behind the boat, the other on a dipsy after it was tripped and 3/4 of the way in.

We could never get anything going in shallow in the 80-200' range. It sounded like others did, just not us. The temperature change was crazy, 74 at the surface Thursday with cold water about 50' down. Friday the cold water was only about 20' down in close and Saturday it mixed completely in shore with 50 degree temps at the surface near shore.


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## Lundy

DJ,

If you fished Friday and Saturday morning you had some rough seas for sure. Friday late it laid down to nothing but Saturday was rocking where we were. When the charters stay in you know it's rough.

Sure would have been nice if we could have had weather like Thursday for a few more days, it was game on before the blows.


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## D J

Lundy,

We made it out around mid-day Friday. It was still rolling pretty good then but did lay down nicely. I think the waves mid-day on Saturday were bigger than those that kept us in Friday morning....The difference was they didn't start out as bad, so we were already fishing by the time it really picked up Saturday.


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## nijajordan

Anyone heading up August 6. I'm pondering on heading up then.


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## ReelPower

Lake is settling down, inshore water is warm all of a sudden but way offshore is set up with a few kings to be had. Still not prime in the Wilson area.


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## Kwall

We're thinking about making a trip the weekend of August 20 is that a good time, never been there , is there any hot baits that I should buy , haven't fish for salmon since the late 90 in Lake Huron, all we used was down riggers and spoons . Any help would be appreciated


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## Lundy

You can keep it as simple as you like.

If I had to limit my equipment

2 downriggers with 10 lb weights
2 dipsy rods 9-1/2 ft with line counter reels and wire line
2 black walker deeper divers or dipsy's
6 moonshine spoons, Happe Meal, Bad Toad, Carbon 14
6 other spoons with more flash with green and or purples
4 - 8" spin doctors, 2 white, 1 black, one bright
2 - A-Tom-Mik - purple flies
2 - A-Tom-Mik - green flies
2 - A-Tom-Mik - green glow flies

On diver rods, Wire line attaches to dipsy, small snubber(clear) attached to diver, 50 lb leader 6-8' to Spin Doctor, 22-26" lead from Spin Doctor to fly. # 2 setting somewhere between 140 and 220' back is typical depending on the fish

125-150 ft of 30 lb mono leader on downrigger rods, with a 6-8 leader of 25 lb fluorocarbon leader to the spoons on the down riggers. If you run a flasher fly on downrigger do not use flouro leader just attach 30lb to Spin Doctor. 90% of the fish we have taken over all of the years on downriggers have come between 50' and 90' down

Use high quality ball bearing swivels with WELDED rings

The wire line and the 30 lb mono leader are a must to be able to diminish the water flea issues. There were very bad last week. Braid will NOT work.

You should be able to catch plenty of fish with just these basics


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## nijajordan

You won't get much better advise then Lundy. There are better more advanced techniques for certain situations but those come with a price too. His suggestions caught a lot of fish over the years.


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## Kwall

Never used wire , is there a special rod for them , thanks for the advice, are the fish closer to shore this time of year


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## slo-ed

ReelPower said:


> Lake is settling down, inshore water is warm all of a sudden but way offshore is set up with a few kings to be had. Still not prime in the Wilson area.


Was at oak sat sun no fishing northeast wind lake flipped


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## Lundy

You will find a lot of strongly help opinions on diver rods but a common setup and the one I use is a 9' - 9-1/2' ft Diawa Heartland MH with a Twilli-tip


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## D J

Use the twilli-tips with wire, they are pretty straight forward to install. I agree with the wire on your divers, fleas can drive you crazy. If they have it in stock still, Blood Run makes Sea Flee, a mono line that resists them. Even with 30 lb mono they can clog up your line when they are bad. It is really hard to believe until you experience it.

To be clear, for the wire rods, you want braided stainless wire (Torpedo and Blood Run are two brands that carry it). A 1000' spool will fit on a daiwa 47 or Okuma 30 series reel. If you spool it on your own, make sure you wind it on as tight as possible. 

The only other spoon I would add is a Dreamweaver Dirty White Boy (DWB) pattern in the super slim size. That has been my best spoon the last two years out of Olcott.


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## Kwall

Lundy, and everybody else thanks for the reply, now comes the fun part ( shopping) fishusa going to love me


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## Birdhntr

When it comes to a wire rod, do you so much as worry about the type of guides that are on the road (carbide, ceramic, etc), or does the twilli tip allow for any kind of guide insert to be used? TIA!!


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## K gonefishin

I order a ton of gear from these guys http://www.gloutdoors.com/ 

Also Dreamweavers site has spin docs and flies on closeout often, if you don't have any gear I would check there too.

My favorite spin docs are white/white crush glow, green dot, showtime, 42nd chrome/NBK, livewire, hammertime, mountain dew crush glow, crazy B. 

I could go on about spoons all day but general, NBK, Gator's, Frogs, black/whites, 42nd, sea sick waddlers, die hards , carmel dolphins, are all generally good, purples have their days as do blues and pink combos. Moonishine carbon 14 is a stud early and late always pulls fish. Stinger Stingray size and DW Regular and Mag are my most prouctive, done good on NK's as well. I have them all and all have there days, some work better at faster speeds with heavier blanks vs thin lighter blanks, let the fish tell you how fast and what size they want. 

Any diver rods with a twili tip will work, pick the 30 dollar rod ad the tip and your good to go. 

I run 30lb Maxima on my rigger reels fleas aren't a problem at times I may have to clean them of a little but only if they are ridiculously bad, on my spoon rod I put on a 15 leader of 20 lb flouro you get better spoon action.


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## ReelPower

Lake O was kinder this am 370 fow off the bar on the fence caught a few nice kings and a fat coho 45-55 down rigger bite NBK.


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## Kwall

ReelPower said:


> Lake O was kinder this am 370 fow off the bar on the fence caught a few nice kings and a fat coho 45-55 down rigger bite NBK.


How far out is 370 fow


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## slashbait

Two things that work really good is always run one dipsys with a white dodger and blu tinsel fly and stinger glow froggy spoons on down riggers. That dodger combo consistently pulls majors and attracts every thing to your spread. Another thing that really gets em going is putting red tape on upper part of glow froggy spoon . We call it the bloody frog!


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## slashbait

Close rule of thumb is a hundred foot depth for every mile out. Very close for olocott and point breeze


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## ep0981

Downriggers caught my biggest fish this summer but I don't feel they are necessary and add a complication and expense. They typically take the fewest fish for me. I like wire dipsey's and 300' copper. K's lures are dead on in my experience. Wes at Slippery sinker in olcott can turn you on to good flasher flies/spoons as well. A good year to go up because the salmon are readily available.


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## Kwall

ep0981 said:


> Downriggers caught my biggest fish this summer but I don't feel they are necessary and add a complication and expense. They typically take the fewest fish for me. I like wire dipsey's and 300' copper. K's lures are dead on in my experience. Wes at Slippery sinker in olcott can turn you on to good flasher flies/spoons as well. A good year to go up because the salmon are readily available.


I have Downriggers , just getting in to dispy with wire, fish Lake Huron till it crash in early 2000, thanks for the information , I'm looking forward to putting a few people on some big kings so the addiction can begin


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## K gonefishin

You know I think you need to have divers, riggers and junk lines to maximize catch and time on the water. I have had many of days were you couldn't beat off off the wires, the next day they were dead and riggers were firing. A couple trips come to mind where coppers and leadcore took almost of our good bites with both riggers and divers dead, copper has saved the day on a couple trips. 

I even had a day (probably due to currents) that 1 setting divers were on fire for the first 3-4 hours of the morning, then the 3's starting firing like crazy and the 1's didn't get touched the rest of the day, even after adjust leads. Like walleye salmon are weird about what they want to hit on any given day. 

If you go up there thinking you will have a productive day running only one presentation you are doing yourself a disservice.

Same goes for flasher fly programs vs spoons, vs meat, some days they don't want flasher flies and only spoons but often the biggest of the day gets caught on on a paddle parked in ice water all day.


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## pelagic

Anyone have any tips on running meat rigs? I picked up some of the dreamweaver meat rigs with teasers to try last time out and not even a sniff on them. Talked to guys who killed em on meat too.


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## Less Stress

I am curious on feedback from the group on meat rigs as well. In the past I have run them off of dipsey's using a 3' lead and then the teasers and then the meathead with spotty success.
How does everyone else run them?


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## ReelPower

Fishing was a bear this morning for us, one steelie and some shakers fished 220-395 fow off bar and 370-320 fow off Wilson. Back at it in a bit.


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## K gonefishin

10-13 inch paddles with 48-60 inch leaders, the roll for kings has to be 1 revolution per second, steelies 2 revolutions per second.


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## K gonefishin

I'm leaving after work fishing out of the oak tomorow, saturday and sunday, PM me if you are nearby and want to work some fish over.


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## nijajordan

Anyone been out on the water lately, heading up to olcott in the am tomorrow.


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## K gonefishin

Just called a small craft for tomorow we just got off water wind is screaming right now out of sw glut it's turning west then nw. I wouldn't make the trip


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## Lundy

Sorry Kevin, I had that same crap last weekend


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## nijajordan

Thanks for the update, you saved me a trip.


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