Sullivan is open year-round, so the fishing continues...
I went up Thursday morning about 9:30. It was cold and breezy, with surface water temp 59-60 degrees. Only other boat on the water was a canoe, guy said he was trolling for trout. Brave man, he was still paddling around when I finished in the afternoon.
Got the kicker going and my rig in the water by about 10:30... was marking fish from 40' up to 27'. I had my first fish on within about 5 minutes. He was junior sized so I let him back to grow up for next year. I worked circles and 8's around the same area for the whole day.
Had to fight the wind some and was cold as hell, but I had my limit of 10 in the ice chest by 3:30. About half of those were bright chromies, but some had started to change. No visible red/pink yet, but definitely headed in that direction. The two females were packed with eggs which made for a nice caviar treat for our free-loader cat, Putz. Most of the males lower jaw were definitely starting to develope that hook. Average size was about 11 inches.
I use a medium sized cowbell troll with a home-made "Ringmaster" wedding ring setup on a red gamakatsu (??) glow hook, complemented with maggots and white shoepeg corn behind a 3oz sinker. My reel is a Daiwa Accudepth line counter reel with about 67 feet of line out. The lake troll and wedding ring setup is my go-to rig and has produced limits for about the last 4 weeks of fishing 2-3 days a week. I've had some luck with a chartreuse wedding ring setup, but nothing near as consistent as the Ringmaster red. I spice up the maggot/corn with Mike's Lunker Lotion Kokanee blend.
After reading a lot on this site it appears I'm doing it the old fashioned way. I would love to have a couple downriggers and use lighter rigging to be able to enjoy the fight more, but it's just not in my budget after refurbing the boat and going thru the Force 50 motor this summer. However, my setup works well, produces lots of fish, and I still enjoy the fight, particularly at the last when the fish see the boat. thumbsup
I'm probably going to head up tomorrow and maybe a couple times more before I put the boat to bed for the season. I'll try to remember to take the camera and post some pics with my next report.
My apologies to those of you whose season is over, but maybe my posts will serve to keep the hunger going thru the winter.
In the meantime, it's a beautiful day for golf so I'm outa here.
stevek
I went up Thursday morning about 9:30. It was cold and breezy, with surface water temp 59-60 degrees. Only other boat on the water was a canoe, guy said he was trolling for trout. Brave man, he was still paddling around when I finished in the afternoon.
Got the kicker going and my rig in the water by about 10:30... was marking fish from 40' up to 27'. I had my first fish on within about 5 minutes. He was junior sized so I let him back to grow up for next year. I worked circles and 8's around the same area for the whole day.
Had to fight the wind some and was cold as hell, but I had my limit of 10 in the ice chest by 3:30. About half of those were bright chromies, but some had started to change. No visible red/pink yet, but definitely headed in that direction. The two females were packed with eggs which made for a nice caviar treat for our free-loader cat, Putz. Most of the males lower jaw were definitely starting to develope that hook. Average size was about 11 inches.
I use a medium sized cowbell troll with a home-made "Ringmaster" wedding ring setup on a red gamakatsu (??) glow hook, complemented with maggots and white shoepeg corn behind a 3oz sinker. My reel is a Daiwa Accudepth line counter reel with about 67 feet of line out. The lake troll and wedding ring setup is my go-to rig and has produced limits for about the last 4 weeks of fishing 2-3 days a week. I've had some luck with a chartreuse wedding ring setup, but nothing near as consistent as the Ringmaster red. I spice up the maggot/corn with Mike's Lunker Lotion Kokanee blend.
After reading a lot on this site it appears I'm doing it the old fashioned way. I would love to have a couple downriggers and use lighter rigging to be able to enjoy the fight more, but it's just not in my budget after refurbing the boat and going thru the Force 50 motor this summer. However, my setup works well, produces lots of fish, and I still enjoy the fight, particularly at the last when the fish see the boat. thumbsup
I'm probably going to head up tomorrow and maybe a couple times more before I put the boat to bed for the season. I'll try to remember to take the camera and post some pics with my next report.
My apologies to those of you whose season is over, but maybe my posts will serve to keep the hunger going thru the winter.
In the meantime, it's a beautiful day for golf so I'm outa here.
stevek
