2012 Episode Synopsis
by Charlie Wray

Episode 209: Glow Spoon Lakers

Today, the Mercury Destination takes me out to Lake Ontario near the city of St. Catharines.  Anyone that has watched to show over the last few years will know that I not only enjoy fishing for Lake Trout, but this is a wonderful fishery for these bottom dwellers, and you can expect fish between 5 and 20 pounds on a daily basis. As many years as I have been fishing for the Lakers, and with so many different tactics, what I discovered this year absolutely amazed me.

This past year Hot Spot introduced a new product called the Agitator.  This triangular shaped flasher, does not make the usual circular, corkscrew spinning action, but slowly spins on the line, 2 to 4 feet ahead of your bait. It doesn’t give your bait or lure any additional action. What it did was attract fish like crazy! Every time I used it, it caught fish! Trolling slow, or even at Salmon speeds, it works! Incredibly, it pulls very easy without much resistance at all on the line, unlike a flasher. Today, I was using the Moonshine spoons behind it. Not only is the finish on these spoons resilient, almost like it was diamond coated, but Moonshine offers an amazing selection of colours to choice from, but the colour choice and action of these spoons is not the best part.  The best part of the Moonshine spoons is the incredible glow paint used on these lures! Once hit with a light, or just natural sunlight, these spoons hold the glow longer and brighter than anything I have ever used, and the combination of the Moonshine spoon and Hot Spot Agitator was my hot combo, not only during the filming of this episode, but even fun days on the water all summer long, it never stopped producing.

I don’t think I will ever use a normal monofilament for downrigging ever again. For several years now, ever since the introduction of Seaguar Abrazx, I have been using this as my only downrigger line. This main line fluorocarbon is incredibly abrasion resistant, thin, less stretch than mono and offers tremendous knot strength. Since this is Seaguar main line fluorocarbon, made with Seaguar resins, it also means it is virtually invisible under the water. With these great abrasion resistant qualities, I have absolutely no wear from the release clip, how can it be any better! My standard downrigger set up is either the Okuma Catalina or Clarion line counter reels in the 30 size. Both of these reels are incredibly smooth. It is also extremely important to repeat the lead length to the exact foot once you have a productive bite going, don’t let anyone tell you different.
Trolling speed was in the 2.4 mph range, and with the Mercury Verado being as quiet and fuel efficient as it is, and designed for long hours of trolling, the main 250 hp Verado was used without any thought of using the 9.9 Mercury Pro Kicker sitting beside it.  For most folks, using the smaller kicker motor is the first and only thought, but truly, these incredible Verado motors are designed for long days of trolling or long distance runs.  The only time I use the smaller Mercury Pro kicker is when I need the slower speeds.

The 2150 Crestliner Sportfish SST is a dream to fish out of on the great lakes. Big, wide and stable and has the room for the whole gang. Common sense is a must anytime on the water, especially the big water of the great lakes. Calm waters can churn into a raging inland sea in no time.  The SST transom on the Crestliner has three great purposes.  One, it gives you more room in the boat. Two, it gives a huge wash well and ledge across the back of the boat, and three, the stand up top stores conveniently out of sight and out of the way underneath, Perfect.  Just to give you an idea the size of waves this SST transom can handle, I saw freighter waves coming at me last year, and took it directly off the back of the boat. The waves completely covered the Mercury on contact, but nothing entered the boat.  The higher sides would also be perfect for those with young kids moving around the boat. I ordered this Sportfish with the conversion stern bench seating, when folded down, you have a huge casting deck at the back of the boat, and quicker than you can read this sentence, it folds up into a comfy bench offering more seating for the times you want to use this boat for skiing, tubing or just a boat ride with friends. That is the great concept about the Crestliner Sportfish models, they are ideal as both a professional type fishing boat, and also a pleasure boat.  The double capped gunnels are perfect for adding accessories as well, I run the Cannon track system along most of the side, so I can position the beautifully designed Cannon adjustable rod holders anywhere I need them. 

Fishing for Lake Trout is most often a deep water, bottom fishing technique, so downriggers are a must.  I have been using the Cannon downriggers for several years, and never experience a problem yet, they are truly a quality product.  The Cannon Digi troll 5 riggers I used offer full keypad control, extremely fast, come with a positive ion control to create a fish attracting energy field around your baits ( many boat leak fish repulsing negative electricity, this Cannon feature allows you to neutralize them or create a more positive field ). These incredible downriggers even stop by themselves at the waterline, so you can concentrate on what your fish is doing, and not when your downrigger weight is going to come crashing up from the depths below.
The Hot Spot Agitator comes with quality swivels to avoid line twist, but I always use a quality Mustad Ball Bearing swivel to my spoons to avoid the twists from the fish attracting action of the Moonshine spoon. I found that about a 4 foot lead behind the Agitator to the spoon was perfect this day, and I used the 30 lb test Seaguar fluorocarbon leader material between the Agitator and spoon. Unlike the more flexible Seaguar Abrazx main line, the leader material is a little stiffer and even more abrasion resistant, but still has that all important invisible qualities that will catch you more fish.

To give the spoons even more action, I take off the existing treble hooks and replace them with the Mustad Ultra Point Siwash hooks. These lightweight hooks are light but extremely strong and come with a sticky sharp point directly out of the package.  The special design of these Ultra Point hooks are perfected to stay sharp and have a point that will not bend over like the end of a candy cane when hitting bone and teeth, staying sharper and effective much longer than other hooks.

Many folks find trolling boring at times, but I can honestly say I never do. Trolling is not a mindless head one direction, then the other concept, or at least it shouldn’t be. I concentrate on changing speeds and direction, when and how hits occurred, etc., so I can repeat it. With the Humminbird 1198C fishfinder/GPS, not only does this crystal clear picture with zoom pull the bottom hugging Lakers off the bottom so I can tell I am in the right zone, but with the GPS following my trolling path, I can either repeat a productive trail, or systematically cover other areas without venturing back in unproductive areas. While the 2150 Crestliner Sportfish is the largest in the Crestliner Family, it is still an easy to trailer boat. It pulls easy as pie behind my Ram truck and the Ram makes it easy to tow the boat wherever I need to go without a second thought. I almost feel spoiled with the Ram trucks I have had, each year the comfort level keeps increasing to that of almost any luxury vehicle.  On cold mornings I have a heated steering wheel ( let me tell you, that is awesome after handling wet gear and cold trailer chains), vented seats on those days the Ram has been soaking in the summer sun and I am just coming in from a hot day on the water, to the incredibly soft comfortable seats and smooth ride.  Certainly not what pickup trucks once were. I can honestly say, I can’t see myself ever owning a car again, or using any another truck but a RAM.  My RAM has been dependable and trouble free, exactly what I need when it is time to go fishing and pulling the boat into often remote areas. RAM has also taken an interest and adopted to the needs of us outdoors oriented folks, thank you RAM!

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