First trip out. Need advice

[badfisherman]

I'm headed out of duluth harbor tomorrow morning if weather allows. I've never fished superior before but I finally got all the equipment I need and I'm ready to go. Any tips or advice. There will be three of us so we can fish 6 lines. Should I fish near the surface with all of our baits or should I try to fish the entire water column? What depths should I try? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance

[Jim Almquist]

If it was me I would run stick baits close to the surface. I like bright color's like orange on part of the bait. Try to find a change of water temp and clarity until you find a pattern and run in between the two types of water.

[tacklejunkie]

Also, don't be afraid to go deep. I've caught a few lakers in spring fishing 50 plus feet down

[End of the Line]

With all the smelt around there's plenty of competition out there for your stickbaits so don't be too discouraged this weekend if you get out and don't find the fish bite too hot. The main presentation to try would be stickbaits near the surface as mentioned already. Trying to find warmer water and shallow depths might be the key. Don't be afraid to run your board lines in real shallow in search of fish. I've caught fish on the boards in less that 10' of water. Good luck on your first trip!

[badfisherman]

Thanks guys! Wish me luck. I'll post a report when I get home

[tacklejunkie]

How'd you do?

[badfisherman]

We almost called the trip off due to weather. Ended up going. We almost turned around before we got out of the harbor cause the waves and fog were so bad. We manned up and made our way out and Trolled the north shore for a couple hours with no luck. Caught a few rocks and lost a few lures. Ended up over by park point. Found warmer water there and hooked up with a lake trout right off the bat. We ended up with 4 lakers and 1 small coho. The trout were 24" 25" 29" and 31.5"Overall it was an awesome expirience and will be back many times! Thanks a lot guys! Oh we tried from 10-60' of water. All our catches came from 12-22' Fow. All near the surface. 3 of them on a orange and purple storm. Wished I had a couple more of them today!

[tacklejunkie]

We almost called the trip off due to weather. Ended up going. We almost turned around before we got out of the harbor cause the waves and fog were so bad. We manned up and made our way out and Trolled the north shore for a couple hours with no luck. Caught a few rocks and lost a few lures. Ended up over by park point. Found warmer water there and hooked up with a lake trout right off the bat. We ended up with 4 lakers and 1 small coho. The trout were 24" 25" 29" and 31.5"Overall it was an awesome expirience and will be back many times! Thanks a lot guys! Oh we tried from 10-60' of water. All our catches came from 12-22' Fow. All near the surface. 3 of them on a orange and purple storm. Wished I had a couple more of them today!

Now you will be hooked. You will now go from being a badfisherman to become a tacklejunkie. In my experience,it seems oranges are the go to color for me early but green later on

Boards or longlines?

[badfisherman]

Had two long lines two boards and two downriggers. Ended up setting the downriggers at 5 feet for a while. Fished the riggers with doggers and flies. Figured that was the best way to get the doggers in the water. Dragged the coho for who knows how long. Think I had my release set a little to tight but I got sick of them popping when I was trying to Put a bend in my rod.

Right after we put the first fish in the box we got really close to a charter that we couldn't see thru the fog until we were super close. The spot we found on our own in the fog was the exact same small stretch two charters were trolling. It was so foggy we couldn't see shore until we were in 15 fow or less but every time we saw the charter they were reeling in a fish. Wish I knew what they were using! Wouldn't it be interesting to try fishing whither them for a day. I'm pretty sure they knew what they were doing. We only had a clue and I thought we did great.

[maxpower117]

What did you end up doing to control your speed?

[badfisherman]

Tried the electric first that didn't work out so good. Ended up using buckets out each side tied to the front cleats. My engine kept loading up so someone would have to constantly be working the throttle. We would slow down and the engine would stutter and smoke a little then we would give it some gas and the engine would clean out and we'd be going over 3 mph. Then back off again. It was a pain in the silly-me. I'm either gonna have to get a couple small drift socks or a kicker. I'll probably try the drift socks before I cough up the cash for a kicker. Just spent a bunch on my downriggers and poles and lures. Momma won't be so happy with me if I toss another $1000 into a kicker.

[MarkAlm]

Just a tip, I have for years ran a full drift sock on a short rope so I can forward troll. As I hitch it to the bow eye and it runs straight under the boat. this also keeps the boat from popping up and down in bigger waves. It will help keep down your trolling speed.

[maxpower117]

Man, I'd really love to sow you how I use my trolling motor out there. It works so great for me that it is almost effortless. Although I've been eyeing up a new glass boat in the future, I am still planning to us the trolling motor for better control.

One other thing I thought of. I actually til the motor all the way down to go the slowest. Doing so actually points the motor at such an angle that actually drives the now downward. So much better control than tilting it up.

[badfisherman]

Man, I'd really love to sow you how I use my trolling motor out there. It works so great for me that it is almost effortless. Although I've been eyeing up a new glass boat in the future, I am still planning to us the trolling motor for better control.

One other thing I thought of. I actually til the motor all the way down to go the slowest. Doing so actually points the motor at such an angle that actually drives the now downward. So much better control than tilting it up.

I tried for a little while but gave up on it pretty quick. Next time out I'll give it a try again and spend a little more time with it to try and make it work

Thanks