2014 Episode Synopsis


Episode 246 : Double the Trouble for Salmon

Today, the Mercury Marine destination takes us out on Lake Ontario for Salmon, then up to the French River for some bottom hugging Walleye. It is always a treat when your vehicle can tow a boat and not even feel the resistance, and that is exactly the great experience with the RAM 2500 Longhorn Diesel. Effortless, comfort, and power to spare. The Crestliner 2150 Sportfish with the SST transom is the largest in the Crestliner fleet, and trailers like a much smaller boat. This boat is not a lightweight, but it is compared to heavier fibreglass and trailers much easier. This welded tough aluminum boat is built to take whatever you can throw at it, and while the fit and finish is absolutely beautiful, the best part of a Crestliner is what you can’t see. The tongue and grove welds, the stringer system for support, and the detail done to make this boat one that you will treasure for years to come.

After a quick run in the RAM, the boat is launched and the Mercury Verado 300 hp quietly gets out to the fishing grounds and trolls to a fuel efficient speed. This is just one of the great features of the Verado. Designed for long runs, and also hour after hour of trolling, this motor is designed to be a workhorse. On large water ways, you must trust your fishfinder, Lake Ontario is a huge body of water to find scattered Salmon, and the Humminbird 1198 offers a precise clear and detailed picture of everything around you, even the innovation side Imaging can show you important details that most would miss. Once bait is found, the Salmon won’t be far away. Many will make the mistake of only looking for large fish, and while it is exciting and great to mark your targets below, don’t ignore the bait once found, and stay in the area. It is very common to catch large Salmon that were not marked on the finder; they come in from the sides. But today is a little different, and the Humminbird lights up with many large Salmon coming into view, interested in what is directly below the boat.

Charlie has used the Hot Spot Agitators before, but this time, he is running two of them in tandem, directly from the ball, with the release clip on the downrigger wire 3 feet above, and the Moonshine spoon only 10 and 15 feet back. The reason for this, the Agitators are a tremendous attractor, spinning and flashing, and drawing in the Salmon for a closer look, and they get excited. When they see the tantalizing action of the Moonshine spoon trailing behind, they absolutely hammer the spoon. If you run your spoons too far back, you lose the advantage of exciting the Salmon, they want something close at hand before they dart off, in another direction for food, so keep you lures fairly close to the Hot Spot Agitators. These are drawing the Salmon in.

Downriggers are extremely effective, and the deeper you need to fish, the more you need downriggers. Cannon has many models to choose from, from manuals to the loaded Digi Troll 10. You can adjust drop speeds, retrieval speeds and many more functions. One that Charlie absolutely loves is the stop at waterline feature. The downrigger will automatically stop the downrigger weight at the surface on the retrieve. No more worrying and being distracted, looking to stop the weight close to the surface. With the Cannon track system, not only can you mount your downriggers in the tracks for easy removal when not needed, but the tracks are ideal for moving and positioning the Cannon adjustable rod holders wherever you may need them. Downrigger releases can be tough on the main line, but the Seaguar Abrazx is a downrigger anglers dream come true. This thin, highly abrasion resistant line is wonderful, and since it is Seaguar fluorocarbon, it is virtually invisible to the fish and doesn’t breakdown over time. Charlie has used the same spool of line for several years without any sign of weakening.

Hits can be soft with only a light bump, or complete explosions of slamming rods and screaming reels. Salmon are power packed at all times, and a silky smooth drag is a first priority. Okuma has been a leader in this department for years, and both the Okuma Catalina with TSC knob to adjust free spool tensions, or the Okuma Coldwater reels are built for years of enjoyment. Okuma Blue Diamond, or the new extremely thin and light Cold Water rods, are a perfect companion. Staying with a treble hook, or changing to a single, either way, Charlie makes the switch to a Mustad Ultra Point hook. These hooks are sticky sharp directly from the package and stay sharp longer than others. When they need to be touched up, a quick stroke with a file has them back to original sharpness. Some premium hooks are hard or impossible to get a sharp point back once the original is damaged. Not Mustad, great hooks!

Then it is time to fuel up the Ram for a longer trip, this time to the French River with the sporty Crestliner 2050 Raptor in tow. The fuel efficiency is noticeably better each year, and where a stop for fuel was once needed, Charlie hasn’t even started looking for a fuel stop. Not sure what has been done over the years, but keep it up RAM, you are doing it right. More power and torque, with improved fuel efficiency, got to love it!! The French River is a large system that joins into Lake Nippissing, and with islands and cuts everywhere, it is easy to get lost, or find a few rocks with the outboard. The Humminbird not only takes the Navionics cards for safe navigation, but once a safe passage is found, the Humminbird 1198 with built in GPS makes it so much safer, and builds confidence to venture further when you can follow tracks back to the launch, resort, or repeat a successful fishing route.

This is big water and even though it is a river system, it is wide in areas and very deep in stretches. Big waters equal big fish and this area is well noted for monster Muskies and the lunker Walleye targeted today. Many productive spots are also infamous for snags and breaking off your jigs as soon as they hit bottom, forcing many to anchor and still fish some areas. Wanting to cover water a little more thoroughly, Charlie opts for the seldom used, but extremely productive slip float. A slip float allows you to fish any depth you want, and still be able to cast and suspend your bait a safe distance off the bottom, one to keep out of snags, yet close enough to provoke a strike. Very simply, a slip float set up is, a bobber stop (or simple Uni knot on your line), a small bead, then your float. It is the small Uni knot and bead that you can adjust anywhere up and down your line to adjust depth. When the weight of your jig takes your line down, the float slides up the line to the bead; and the bead stops at the Uni knot. You can easily adjust this for your changing conditions. Just make sure you balance the weight of the jig with a proper sized float for better detection of hits. The weight of the jig should have the float sink about halfway under the surface, so a light hit easily sinks the float. Too large of a buoyant float, and light hits will not be detected. With this slip float set up, you can quickly adjust to fish from 10 feet to 30 by sliding the Uni knot up and down the line. The tighter you tie the knot, the harder or easier it is to slide. You will quickly figure out what is best for you. If your float lies on its side, your presentation is on the bottom and you need to adjust to keep it up a little.

For a jig, Charlie is using the Freedom Zodiac, this is the Freedom version of a ball head jig, except, this is a Freedom jig and the great feature of Freedom, is that they have interchangeable hooks and you can use whatever hook style best suits your presentation. Since the hook is not imbedded into the head, the hook has independent freedom and this gives your live bait or plastics tremendous movement, even from the slight lift and drop of the float riding the waves. Keeping a perfect drift, the Minn Kota I-Pilot is set on a course and when a fish hits, the simple touch of the anchor feature on the I-Pilot remote, holds the boat exactly on the spot. This incredible feature can also be used to thoroughly fish, fish holding structure, even in brisk wind. When the Humminbird 958 front fishfinder clearly marks some bottom hugging Walleye, the anchor feature once again comes into play to keep the baits hovering in productive areas longer, an instant recipe for success.

For tackle, the lightweight and incredibly sensitive Okuma Dead Eye Walleye rods are perfectly matched with the Okuma VS spinning reels. There are 30 technique specific Walleye rods in the series, with responsive IM-8 blanks at a cost that will not break your bank account. If you want the absolute best fluorocarbon line available, look to the Seaguar Tatsu. This amazing line is incredibly limp, with very little line memory, yet has all the abrasion resistant qualities of Seaguar 100% fluorocarbon, making it also virtually invisible to the fish.

The Crestliner 2050 Raptor is truly the all round fishing boat. Big brother to the popular 1850 Crestliner Raptor, only a little larger and rated for a 300 hp that turns this all species boat, into one with top speeds that would make most Bass Boats envious. Large front casting deck with loads of storage, built in rod storage, and a cockpit with plenty of room for fishing buddies and trolling the big water, this boat is one that can do it all. Fully rigged with a 9.9 Mercury Pro kicker, Minn Kota I-Pilot, Minn Kota Talon anchoring system, Cannon track system with Cannon adjustable rod holders, Humminbird 1198 Side Imaging console fish finder/GPS and a 958 Humminbird for the front, this boat is truly ready to fish. Don’t forget, all Crestliner boats are welded strong, and Charlie puts his on a roller trailer for easy launching at poor and shallow boat launches. I am sure you know the type, the launches where there isn’t enough water to float a boat from a bulk trailer. With a roller, the boat can be rolled in and winched out of very shallow water. With the help of the RAM four wheel drive, even a sandy beach can turn into a launch when needed.

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