Gregoire

Thanks for the advice. We are heading out tomorrow night. Knowing the way things go the re-spooled reels and new knowledge will result in nothing but shakers, if anything at all.

We run 20 and 30 pound mono on the riggers. We had a break off yesterday on the riggers on the teaser head right at the hook.

I have tried thumbing the spool, I actually prefer this method, and was using it last night when I landed the 22 pounder. On the big hit last night I think the braid would have burnt off the skin on my finger if I was thumbing the spool. I find it much easier to do on the rigger set-up as we run mono on those.

That is really surprising to me. What rigs you run. Do you run dypsy's? Are you running riggers? Do you use spin doctors? Flasher? How big is the largest fish you've landed. What type of knots and line do you use. I just want to see if we are doing something wrong.

Just out of interest for you guys saying 80# braid is too strong do you run dipsy's, and if you do, what line do you use on your dypsy's?

Taking the rod out of the holder was what caused to rigger clip to snap...I just couldn't believe that the tension I put on the fish did not even slow it down a bit. It was like the line was attached to an freight train speeding up in the opposite direction. It was definitely one of the most exciting fish that I never caught. I still love the violence of a musky strike, mostly because I usually have the rod in my hand, but that was a rush that won't soon be topped. Actually I had a huge musky strike on a lure a few weeks ago, where the fish took a chunk out of my lure, but somehow did not attach itself to one of 3 trebbles. Maybe I should start a topic on exciting strikes where you loose the fish LOL

Thanks for the input Mike. I target musky as well, and I can tell you that musky and salmon are quite different. In my experience musky will stand and fight you were they are, or will jump in an attempt to shake the hook. Salmon will peel off line, sometimes hundreds of feet in seconds. The big ones will stay deep, much like a walleye, only 20 or 30 pounds heavier. Salmon also have a very different shape than musky, they can use their mass to sit, and it can be very hard to move, much harder than musky in my experience. They definitely require a lot more finesse than Musky, and there is not the urge to horse them in as there is with Musky in order to release them, in fact you will probably loose even a small salmon if you try to horse it in. Musky are much easier to move in the water than salmon in my opinion. We already are running pretty beefy gear, 9'6" talora heavy action rods and 80# braid. We are running a 27 foot boat so circling is much harder, not to mention that you have to pull all your rods (we run 4 or 5) before you can circle, a process that will take a few minutes at least. We were almost spooled last night in under 20 seconds. It's a very different game from musky fishing.

We run 80# braid on the dipsy rigs. Today my buddy got the reels respooled and he now has 900 feet of line on the reels. As far as keeping the drag tight we have been told by experienced fisherman that big fish will break the line, straighten the hook, or have the hook pulled out of their mouth if the line is too tight, and I have seen a lot of straightened hooks already this year, so we have different opinions about drag setting. I think that with the 900 feet of line we will have a much lesser chance of getting spooled now.

I posted this topic on another board today, but am looking for a few more opinions. Last night while salmon fishing we had a huge hit on the dipsy set back 200 feet. We set the drag really light and stop the line from coming off the spool while trolling by attaching the line to a rigger clip. This allows the fish to pull drag, and decreases the amount of pressure put on the components, as we have had several hooks straightened this year, and a few break offs. Anyway the reel was screaming just after the hit. As I grabbed the rod the rigger clip broke off and fell into the water. I tightened the drag a bit and handed it to my buddy. At this point the fight was only 20 seconds or so in, and we were nearly down to the backing, something I only noticed after I had given the rod to my buddy. I pointed out that we were about to be spooled, so he tightened the drag and was immediately broken off. On other boards advice has been to try to turn the boat...but I do not think we had the time, as the fish went on one extremely fast and long run, and did not stop until he broke us off. The reels had 500 feet of line on them, so they are off to get re-spooled with 1000 feet, so that will help. The only other thing I think I could have done was try to stop the run before I handed off the rod, but I thought I had time. In the future I will try to at least slow down the fish before handing the rod off, but seeing as it was not my turn, I did not want to be the one fighting the fish. This was my first true experience seeing the power that great lakes salmon have, and I am totally in awe. We have had the opportunity to fish with a former charter captain with over 30 years experience, and I always try to pick his mind about the size of some of the fish. I remember him telling me that unless you are extremely lucky or you start fishing with chains, landing a really big salmon (40+ pounds) is a crapshoot. I totally understand what he means now. I honestly do not know what we could have done to stop that fish from running. Anyway any advice you guys have about what we should have done differently is greatly appreciated. We ended up going 2 for 5. Landed a 16 pounder. I took me 40 minuted to land a 22 pounder that took me from 200 feet to 350 at one point. I had a huge head and tail, we thought we were on the board when we first saw it, but it did not have the length. Also had a breakoff on another decent fish that took the meat on the rigger and ran out pretty far before breaking the knot at the hook.

It is so sad that he will not live to see the success that he worked so hard to achieve for his party. I think what he did in quebec last election was great for canada, and may bring us together as a country. I hope that momentum can continue without his leadership.

That his a horrible attitude to have, but one that I guess is far too prevalent on some bodies of water. I hope you know that there is a public launch on the lake, according to the interweb

Nice day on the water. We got caught out in the lake in that storm...luckily we were in a pretty big boat, and we avoided the worst of it. I get drenched pulling the lines, but after the storm cleared the weather improved. I would not imaging what a smaller boat without protection from the elements would have experienced. Apparently the storm was really bad in the city, and we were pretty lucky. The funniest part was the wives phoning or texting every minute for an update. Kinda hard to take a call in that crap.

What about the roped off area? Would that require a special permit as well, or rights to the lake bed?

It's a big problem in East York. They pray on the elderly. We have received notices in the mail about them. We only moved in a few moths ago, and have not had anyone come to our door. If they did I would call the cops and follow them to get the most info possible, hopefully watch them get picked up and arrested. Just deplorable, and in many cases illegal. The big scam here had to do with switching out a furnace.

Nice, thanks for sharing

I read the article...the headline is a little misleading. No mention of in land lakes, and the big concern seems to be in preventing overharvesting of in shore ocean resources. Having said that it seems like targeting anglers and preventing them from fishing is not addressing what is causing the depletion of the oceans resources. My only issue with this article is that it is not news...it is a news release intended to be propaganda and as so is quite biased. It definitely will make me look into these organizations, but will not really effect my tackle buying as I cannot remember the last time I made a purchase from walmart. I just looked at the website and am not sure what side I stand on. How much water is off limits to anglers? We have similar programs in ontario concerning aurora trout waters. Obviously this is a politicized issue and the article you linked to has a very confrontational agenda. I just wish that every now and then organizations with opposing views would try to work with each other instead of spreading propaganda. What's wrong with saying you have a valid point, let's work together to find a solution.

Thanks for sharing. Looks like a great trip.

Wow, great report, but get some sleep man.

From my experience that lake would be teaming with brookies in the spring, but it would be hard to locate them right now. If you wanted to give it a go you could try trolling a worm harness, or a spoon tipped with a bit of crawler. If there are cold springs in the lake the brookies will be concentrated near them. Once you locate the springs stop trolling and cast into the area. However if there are no cold springs all you will be doing is giving your lures a good wash.

Sorry for the loss. Some people are inconsiderate and do not think about how their actions will affect others. I think some good advice has been given.

Good story. I would have to fly to Calgary to even see my brother, so I'm a little jealous.

Great report, hopefully you and your dad will get out again, and won't have to heave up a hail marry.

Thanks for sharing. that was awesome.

The Compre is similarly priced and has a lifetime warranty Nice setup. I love my compre. I just got a stradic as well and think it's great.

I thought this post would be about releasing a big salmon. I'm slightly disappointed. By the way I was in my mom's womb.