Nothing but fun, Lena and I spent 4 1/2 days fishing lake Ontario. We landed 42 kings in the boat and missed about half that many. We had 10 over 20 lbs and 2 over 23 lbs. Sunday evening we landed our first triple with kings, they were 16, 19, and 23 lbs. This made for quite a performance with only the two of us in the boat. This was our 1st time on Ontario in the spring and looks like it won't be the last. The weather was great, only one day with 4-5 foot waves, whic was still fishable. The fish are running bigger this year so that means the fall LOC will have some monster fish (35+lbs). Spent 4 hours cleaning the boat today and hoping to get out on Winni Saturday. Good luck to all. Roland.

I knew you would hammer them, it is pretty sweet out there isn't it!!! Did you get them out of Olcott or were they further west?
I have never gone after fall kings, although they weigh more on average how do they compare in fight?

Hi Yo Adrien, we went out of Wilson and fished both east and west of the river. The spring kings seem to be much more aquabatic but do not have the long runs they have in the fall. Very few ran over 350 feet, in the fall(late August) many run over 600 feet. This may be because of the size differenct. Either way what a fight and a lot of fun. Also in the spring they hit mostly on lures and fall we caught them mostly on flies(atomic rigs). Roland

Hi Roland/YOAdrien-

Was wondering if you guys could clue me in on your setups for the recent trips you just did, or better put, can you get away using Winni Rod&Reel combos or would beefier equipment be needed. What rods/reels/pound test are you running off the riggers? Are running Dipsy rods also? Can you get away with light downrigger rods like the IM7's and Penn 209's or do you need to move up to Penn GTI's etc? Thanks much.

Hey Proline, I use my line counter/downrigger rods. Spring kings I go with 12lb since I just drag hardware, but in the fall I go up to 17 for my hardware rod, and 25 for my flasher set-up. In 1985 I did up a 22# king on a 6 foot ultra light with K-mart 6# mono. I wanted to see if it could be done. it did work, but I didn't like the thought of standing in the front of the boat yelling at Harry to throttle up and chase the dirty B down since he spooled me 4 different times right to the knot. couldn't turn her at all, had to really play her out, and with no lift on the rod it took over an hour!I have not been up for the "spring fling" for 3 years, but never miss the fall clasic. That would be the best derby going, as far as my 2cents gos.

Good luck

Popeye

I have never been in the fall, and typically the fish are bigger and run more than in the spring.

Don't bother with light action winni stuff it is not practical.

My rods and 7' 6" Medium Light Daiwa Heartland Walleye planer board rods. They are a fast action rod with good backbone

My reels are Daiwa Sealine SG27LCA

I have 220 Yards of 20Lb. line on them.

I wouldn't go any lighter than this (yes you can do it as popeye says) but it is not really practical. a 22lber. last week spooled us right off the rigger it took about 20 seconds.

Spoons in the 5" range are the spoon of choice like a Fishlander size 2 or an NK28

with the 20 Lb. line i will run spoons and big dodgers. For flashers i like to tie 30lb. between the release and the flasher.

I run dipsy divers off 10'6" Cabelas heavy duty Dipsy rods with a TWILI TIP with Daiwa SG47LCA reels loaded with ?? yards of 30Lb. Backing and 1000 feet of 30lb test strand wire and albright on about 30 feet of 40lb mono to the diver size 0 with monster ring and a snubber and 8 feet of line to your bait.

Hope this helps.

On the down riggers we use Okuma classic 8.6 medium 12-25 lbs rods with Okuma Convector CV45 line counter reel. I tried the new Tectan line 44 lbs and a 25 lbs leader. It worked very good. I can fit over 1000 feet in the reels. In 2002 we caught a king (39+lbs) that took almost 1000 feet before turning and running back at the boat. Last year a friend was spooled with 785 feet on his reel. When you get a big fish on you want to be ready. We do run Wire and dipseys. We are using 9'.6" rods, some guys use 10' and we are using 1000 feet of braided wire. This is a very small diamerter line and will fit on your reel, but may cut your hands. It must be crimped to your dipsey diver. If you go ask the locals. The Salmon shop(fall) will help you and in Olcott(spring), the Slippery Sinker will help out alot.