Hi Guys,

Hit the big pond out of Meredith in the light rain around 4:45 AM with my 2 good fishing buddies and we planned on blowing down to Welch and Rattlesnake however, we decided to give Meredith 1 shot before we did. Good decision. By 5:30 caught 2 nice 17" salmon off a leadcore 6 colors deep with a rainbow colored dodger and a AJ Winni Firesmelt fly 18" back. Also hooked a good sized smallie on it (DOH!) That rig was hot the first 1 1/2 hrs! We also were running 2 downriggers with top gun spoons and had nothing the first 2 hours but when the leadcore cooled off, 1 rigger picked up. Caught another nice 18" fat salmon 49' down and a 20" laker at 50'. Around 8:30 am the bite had slowed so we finally blew down to Rattlesnake. Trolled the south tip for awhile and nothing really happening so I told my buddy to change one of the rigger's lures and as he was reeling it in, right on top and about 50' back in the prop wash, a freaking 16" salmon hit it! Water temp at the surface was 73 degrees and the sun now was starting to get high in the sky. I was amazed needless to say! The next couple of hours were slow but we managed a couple more lakers in the 16-19" range on a yellow and pink AJ topgun in about 40-50' of water.

Just FYI....if you are not running vertical and horizontal flash gear on your downriggers...you need to. I had 2 riggers going yesterday running about the same depth constantly...one had flash, the other just the ball. Of all the fish we caught yesterday, rigger with just the ball did not have 1 HIT! I am a firm believer now of flash on the rigger ball. I had both on one setup and it caught fish!

I couldn't raise too many fishlakewinni members on the radio yesterday but I did have the opportunity to talk to Russ which was great. I also would like to say because of all the great posts from everyone on this board, I have become a better fisherman. I thank you and my 2 buddies who had a ball yesterday thank you. They are now officially hooked! I may not post much and I definitely don't get out as much as I like but I must be on this site at least 1/2 dozen times a day and that is no joke. I've learned so much by being a "lurker".

Thanks again boys for all the great advice here!

Matt
AKA The Smokin Turtle

Great post. I am bringing someone out tomorrow who has never been to Winni but he has heard all about it from me over the years. Hopefully I can show him a good time and have him catch a few.
Good luck out there...

Good report! Glad you got into some fish.

Salty

hello smokin turtle.
intrested in more info on the downrigger flash.

are you talking about after the ball but before the release.
could you please explain this a little more for me please??

Thank you
Dave

Hi Dave,

Here's my setup.....off the downrigger cable hook up your line release (I use the chamberlin release which is an awesome line release!)Off the release, attach your 3' verical flash to it. Off the vertical flash, attach the lead weight. Off the back of the weight attach the 3-4' horizontal flash. If you do this right, your setup will look like an L going through the water. When you're ready to fish, let your lure out far enough so it's just a few feet behind the last horizontal flash. I know a few other fishermen on here run a little differently but I've found that this setup works pretty good for me. Hope I've explained it well enough for you to understand . If not, let me know and maybe I can post a pic.

Matt

thanks for the reply.
is the "flash" a daisy chain?
I have been fishing with dodgers and have had great luck with it over the years. I truely believe in the flash effect.
I am still a little uncertain about what your flash is?
any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Dave

I also run that setup on one rigger. Works very well!

Fairchase Jerry and I did an experiment for an entire season because I'm a dumb frenchmen.lol.He ran horizontal blades and I ran only clean lines,the b#@t@#d outfished me the entire season.I gave in and now run chappy's school of smelt.They really do work well.polebreaker

thank you everyone for posting on a rainy friday night. looks like I will hit the KTP tomorrow afternoon. planning on being on the water a 4:30 sunday morning..

Thanks again..
Dave

Here you go gentlemen,

This is how I roll and hopefully with the pic you can see how my setup is. Notice that the release is about 3 feet above the ball so your lure or fly will not hook up with all the flash attached. Hope this helps.

Matt
AKA Smokin Turtle

PS I'm gonna buy Chappy's School O Smelt! Someone needs to post a pic of that cause I want to see that rig!

Can't miss em' with Chappy's!

With his School o' smelt you will see a noticable difference in quantity!

There is something about the action on 2 inch lure that really gets those fish excited!

Call Chappy and get some for yourself!

www.chappysguide.com

Do you guys that use these have any favorite colors?

I believe that you can fish these lures any color any day and catch fish because the action on them is so good!

Personally I like the red/gold color.

-Cody

I have the red gold and the coolwater cruiser colors and like koolaid says it doesn't matter much.I run any color lure ,any type lure behind either one with the same success.polebreaker

went to the KTP.
they had luhr jensen school of smelts and moosalok (sp)cable flashers in 3 different sizes. color was rainbow prism and blue stripe.
I will let you all know the out come on sunday night / monday morning..

Thanks again
Dave

CODY witch do you find to be more effective vertical or horizontal???BARRY

I run the vertical then the ball then the horizontal... like in the photo above. I made my own umbrella troll rig and personally I think that catches the most fish. But The vertical run with the horizontal is second most effective.

-Cody

Hey Cody,

Any way you can post a pic of that umbrella rig? I'd love to see it. Also, does AJ's or Paugus Sports sell those rigs. I gots to have it!!!!!!

Thanks
Smokin Turtle

Ya will do, not a lot of free time but will put a fishing report up soon. whats your email?