Salmon fishing has been great.  Surface water temps., are around 57 which is what the salmon like.  We’re catching nice salmon from 5 to 20 feet down on the riggers.  Yesterday we did 10 for 18.  Missed a beauty right at the end of the trip.  Friend of mine reeled in a nice 5 1/2 lb steelhead right beside us.

If your thinking about a charter do it now as this is the best fishing of the year.

April is the time to start scouting for Toms. When March rolls around the Tom Turkey is already starting to strut and following the hens. When there is still a little snow on the ground I start looking for pockets of turkeys. Wherever they were the year before they always seem to reappear in the spring. Riding the back roads and looking for turkey tracks will help give you a clue where the birds are located. Once you find some birds get permission from the landowner and head into the woods. Backtrack the turkeys to their roosting areas. Avoid putting any pressure on the turkeys, as it will make it that much more difficult to hunt them in May. Absolutely, do not call to the toms! You only get a few chances to fool that wise old tom so don’t screw it up by giving him advance notice that those sweet notes are yours and not a hens. When there is snow on the ground the turkeys will be concentrated in areas where there is food and cover. This may be at someone’s bird feeder or in a farmer’s field where he is spreading mature. When the snow melts and spring plants start popping up turkeys will start to disperse. The big winter flocks of hens start breaking up into smaller groups. Soon most of the hens are traveling alone, looking for nesting sites and getting ready to raise their spring family.

Now is the time that the Toms start dispersing and looking to establish an area where he has access to lots of hens. Toms will travel for many miles looking to establish their own area. I’ve seen Toms mating with hens in late March so Mr. Tom Turkey is really picking up the pace now. He is gobbling actively and this gives you an opportunity to locate his travel routes. I try to find 5 or 6 different locations with active Toms. This way, when you get to your favorite location on opening morning and there is another hunter already hunting, don’t barge in on him and spoil both your hunts. He was there first, back off and go to your second choice. Sportsmanship in turkey hunting is more important than any of our hunting sports. Respect your fellow turkey hunter and everyone will be safer and enjoy the great sport of turkey hunting.

I’m looking forward to those cool mornings, warm mid-morning sun, gobbling turkeys and a nice nap under the trees when things are quiet.

The Lost Art of Downrigger Fishing –
By “WormDunker”

Now days everybody thinks you have to use leadcore, wire line, drop weights and countless other modern ways to catch salmon and trout. Believe me these are not new ways to catch our great lakes fish. The downrigger was invented (by a fisherman I’ sure) to do away with these methods and make it much easier to catch these fish in a easier and more sporting way. Before I go any further with this story let me assure you I’m am not an English major so I apologize to you for the spelling and grammar now. I can catch fish pretty good but I can’t spell worth a hoot and type with one finger so you may have to guess at some of the words.

If you have read some of my past posts I still have a problem with computer fishermen being experts and I by no means think I am an expert. I used to be on the Cannon Pro staff back when I chartered and went around to different Steelheader’s club and other fishing clubs and taught fishing with downriggers. The method I use is just basic stuff that I have used for over the last 33 years but it works for me and hopefully it well help pick up an extra fish or to.

To start off I try to fish for aggressive feeding fish so this means I’m on the water and set up well before daylight. The key to my style of downrigger fishing starts with the weight itself. I have over the years used all kinds and colors of weights and what works best for me is a weight I make my self and I paint it white. I started experimenting with weight shapes and colors years ago. As far as how I settled on color before we all started using silver spoons no matter what your favorite color spoon was rather it was green, chartreuse, blue or any other shade the back side was white. I have yet to find a color that works better. As for as shape its kind of fish silhouette and the weight has all rounded edges makes them crank up easier, track better, and they have a bendable tail that I tune (will cover more on this later).

The second part of my system, lead length, comes from watching my graph. If you have ever seen a school of bait fish with salmon feeding on them they ball the bait up and the kings come from all sides and feed on them. So I NEVER FISH MORE THAN 15ft. BEHIND THE WEIGHT. Usually I fish seven feet but sometimes in spring when I fish 10 ft. of water I will drop back to 15 if my props are throwing sand. The weight is easier to see, feel, and hear through their lateral line than the lure. The fish will hear, see your weight and if the lure is way back they are gone before the lure gets there. As long as we’re talking leader length the further away from the weight the less action the lure has and if the currents are running real hard they may have to much or no action at all. Ever wonder why your lures get all balled up and you didn’t make any sharp turns? That’s good sign strong currents are running. Another reason to run short leads is that you can turn short to chase fish, get back on a way point quicker and dodge boat wrecks with out a tangled mess.

The third part of the system, I always use the V pattern with the weights deepest in rear and alternate them 5ft. from side to side. Again I’m trying to create my own school of bait (lures) with six downrigger weights, six lures close behind and six more lures 5ft. above the lures. I have quite a school of bait to attract fish. Usually you fish your weights above where your marking the fish. They swim up to see the lowest weight and lure and it may not be what they want but they have quite a selection to choose from.

The only exception to the V pattern is there is a sharp drop off (bank). I will get on the bank and put downriggers in a angle to match depth and angle of bank that the fish are suspending off of it shallow to deep.

I have tried all different kinds and types of releases, Walker, Cannon, Big Jon, Off shore, rubber bands and even pinch pads and what works the best for me is Blacks outrigger releases on the down riggers. I can adjust them loose enough to use Flutter spoons for walleye and tighten them up to use a big flasher with a J-Plug as an add a line. I have used with as light as 8lb. test line and as heavy as 30lb. test and never had a line break our chaffing problem.

Above is a picture of the weight I use and the Black outrigger release. It also shows the way I think is best to rig and add lines. Half hitch the rubber band on line then put swivel over the knot and through the loop in the band (again 5ft. above the weight). I use Inter core rods and can’t use this method because a piece of rubber band can jam in rod.

You can see the tail on the weight was bent so it makes the weight track to the outside and pull lure with it. Then I troll, S-ing the boat and it makes the weight swing out and it reaches as far as it can. The weight will dart back as I turn speeding up the outside lures and slowing the inside lures (triggers flowing fish).

Now that the water has cleared up from Zebra muscles, the trend in charter boats is to run fewer downriggers and more lead core, wire line, and dipsies, but the last time I looked at Cannon Digitrolls they were over a Grand a piece and you can buy a lot of lead core line for that. With downriggers repeatability is easier (catching another fish with the same lure at the same depth and speed) than with the other methods and much easier for the beginner in heavy boat traffic. Since the advent of Zebra muscles, I don’t bounce bottom any more but have a weight rigged up with a heavy wire (I think its a #9 stainless wire) two foot long to rub bottom to stir up laker when things get real bad.

I’ll just cover a little on lures (everybody has their own favorites). In spring I use a lot of gold and copper colored blanks until the water settles or clears and I use mostly magnums until June. All bait fish this time of year are adults and the young of year haven’t hatched yet. From June on I always start out before light with black/raspberry, double black/glo, and N.K.28 double green/glo (the double glos have been my best bait last three years, I make them myself they don’t sell them) and double glo/chartruse charged up with my flash camera. Then I let the fish tell me what color to use. I have never ever caught a fish on a fish catcher but I do run a lot of dogger and fly/gloquid off Dypsy and lead core when I have enough people to on the boat to use extra rods. This year I’m gonna add wire dypsy for the same reason I fish downriggers,…. the noise and the bubbles the wire makes.

This basically is my system. I call it divine madness when it’s working the fish can drive you mad keeping up with them. I often hear people say they have never caught a double or even had one on. Well when your spread is all helter skelter you won’t. The best I’ve done was 10 fish on at once and landed 49 fish in 90 minutes (posted picture and story earlier) with this system. Now that I don’t charter and fish with mainly three people, my average fish per trip is the lowest it has been in years. When I chartered, I averaged 25 fish per trip,….last year I only averaged 7 fish fish per trip. So far this year my average has gone up. First trip this year I got skunked (everybody takes a turn in the barrel if you fish long enough), second trip three kings, and last Saturday we got 15 kings and 11 lake trout. Three trips, 29 fish, that’s 9 fish per trip. I hope to get better as the water warms.

If you are a beginner and just starting out, the very best advice I can give you is to go out with a charter and see how it’s done, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. I fished a year and never took a fish (my parents caught a few lakers) so we went out on a charter and saw we were fishing too slow and other things we were doing wrong. Try some of our sponsors like Coldwater Charter’s on Lake Michigan or DreamCatcher on Lakes Erie and Michigan.

Summer Fishing Lake Trout
Should you have access to a lake that contains Lake trout and a mud or gravel bottom try dragging bottom. You must have down riggers, preferably electric, as you need to fish in 80 to 120 feet of water. I use a 10-pound ball, as that will keep your cable straighter under the boat. I also add vertical blades between the cable and the ball. A set of blades attached directly to your lure finishes off this setup. Run your lure just a couple of feet behind the blades to get the full benefit of all your blades. The lures that I find work best fishing in this deep water are Glow Belly Hotshots. These lures light up in the sun or with a flashlight. I try to go no faster then 1.5 miles an hour with this setup and even slower when possible. I run a 3-foot drift sock on each side of the boat to help slow it down. Remember to keep your clutches loose on your down riggers as your ball may get hung up on something. Some of the biggest lake trout of the year are caught using this system.

I have an update for all of you boat anglers who frequent Lake Champlain and are looking forward to another trolling season. In a recent conversation with Eric Palmer, Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department Director of Fisheries, many issues of interest to all of you were covered. Eric, like most of us, is very pleased with the recent success of the Lamprey Control program as evidenced in greatly reduced “wounding rates” on all species in the lake. There have been many rumors circulating about the transfer of the Lamprey Program from Vermont to the Federal Government. It is always good to squash nasty rumors with facts and Eric was happy to provide us with the facts in this issue. First of all, the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Cooperative has for years now been implementing the Lamprey Program as a joint venture between NY, VT, and the US F&W service. Canada has also joined, but on a much limited basis since they only have the Pike River to deal with, and have started to use removable barriers on Morpion Stream to quell the spring spawning of adult Lamprey. The potential transfer of administrative responsibility from VT to the US F&W is being pursued primarily to model itself after the successful similar program used by the Fisheries Commission in the Great Lakes. It also has the advantage of avoiding potential conflicts in the permitting process for TFM introduction to the streams, since the VT F&W is now applying for the permit, and the Agency of Natural Resources is responsible for screening it and approving it—-which is essentially the same department. Since the US F&W would have jurisdiction under the proposed change, and has very definable parameters and a track record of results in the Great Lakes, it would seem both reasonable and practical to transfer the permitting process to the Feds. The change, if approved, would not, in any way, affect the actual cooperative agreement between NY, VT, and the US F&W. Another of the practical benefits is that NY has experienced drastic cuts in all their budgets due to defecits and this new arrangement should help to alleviate potential manpower shortages to get the actual treatments done on the NY side.

Senator Leahy has been actively involved for years now in securing separate Lamprey Control monies and, at least for the next two years, we have the funds for the treatments. About a half million of these funds is used each year for the chemicals, and the state provides the personnel and equipment in cooperation with NY and the Feds to complete the treatment. The state figures that it provides about $150,000 in personnel costs to these efforts.

The dramatic improvement in both the quality and quantity of Lakers and Salmon, as well as Steelhead in lake Champlain is attributed to the consistent and systematic application of TFM to the Lamprey spawning headwaters. Though many of us have felt that the introduction of the Alewife as a forage fish had a lot to do with the increasing size of the game fish in the lake, Eric pointed out that the same spike in quality occurred back in the early days of Lamprey Control, when they first started applying it to the streams. At that time, there were NO Alewives in the lake, which gives some baseline information that would seem to rule out the Alewife as a major factor in improvement.

There is a big problem with the Alewife as a newly introduced species to Lake Champlain. The Alewife has an enzyme which causes Thiamine (B-1) to break down and thus causes a deficiency in the predator fish that eat the Alewives. This deficiency causes the fish to become sterile and thus non –reproductive. When the species are gathered in the hatchery (Ed Weed) they must be placed in a Thiamine bath to restore their productivity prior to fertilization.

As far as size of the fish is concerned, the Steelhead and Salmon are a relatively short lived species and are affected greatly by the size of the body of water that they live in. Bigger the lake—-more forage fish to feast upon—bigger size and growth rates. So do not, under most circumstances, expect to see either of these species grow to the size they do in Lake Ontario. But, with lamprey under more control, they will get larger than they are now. The Steelhead presently being stocked into Lake Champlain come from the Altmar Hatchery in NY, the same hatchery that provides Lake Ontario Steelhead. They are gathered right there at Beaver Brook and are of the original “Chambers Creek” Steelies, first used in NY on all the tribs there. This strain has been stocked in Lake Champlain for some 10 years now.

Lastly, I will be brief in saying that there are agreements presently under discussion to both improve the Boating Access at Crown Point (THE BRIDGE), and also possibly use the present access to the Ferry as well. I do not want to jinx either myself or the plans, but all we can do is hope that level and reasonable heads prevail, but there definitely is the intention there to IMPROVE BOTH THE ACCESS—THE LAUNCH POINT—AND THE DOCKING FACILITIES as part of the total bridge project.

And finally——-The ROCK SNOT banning of FELT SOLED BOOTS was NOT the Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s idea. It was a LEGISLATIVE issue, brought up by well intentioned legislators who obviously reacted in a “knee jerk” manner to the problem. Like most legislation introduced in this manner, it was NOT well thought out and obviously needs “tweeking” to make it more palatable, as well as more responsive to the actual problem—and I will just leave it at that.

To all of you who VOTED, I thank you. In our democracy the only way you have to express your views responsibly is to use the power you have to vote—-a power given to us through the blood of our ancestors, and preserved today by our valiant forces——all heroes. Until next week, good sports.