Jpp 6/26/16
 

I hit Priest for a couple hours this afternoon. My last couple trips have been a little hit or miss with a couple small fish mixed in but I finally got into some good hybrids today. I caught three over 10lbs with the best going 14lbs. All fish came on jigs with planers/snap-weights and jigs on downriggers. For some reason they want nothing to do with my umbrella rigs this year.

Sweet man!


Mike

Nice.... that is a Beautiful Healthy and Fat fish!

Nice. I have been looking for them too and have found them to be tough to catch.

You might think about switching from Snap Weights to Tadpoles instead. I made the changeover last summer. You can use the Precision Trolling app on the iPhone to determine the amount of line to let out. The advantage over Snap Weights is that they do not have to be removed from the line as you are fighting the fish. Also, those Snap Weights cost about $11 when you lose one (and you do lose them). I took the downriggers off of the boat and only use Tadpoles.

Have you tried Michigan Dive bombs?

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Thanks for the heads up! I have seen those tadpoles and thought about picking up a couple. They're actually sitting in my FishUSA cart right now along with replacement pads for all my offshore tackle clips. I have been pretty lucky with the snap weights and have only lost one or two in the couple years I have been using them. Found a good deal on the OR-16 clips last year and stocked up. I don't use the official fish guppy weights just buy 3oz triangle weights for a fraction of the cost. I think I end up paying about $6/snap weight.

I have mixed emotions about the downriggers. They're big and can get in the way but they still account for about half my fish from now until September. I keep telling myself I'm going to get out and fish for some walleye with them too.

I have never seen those before. One more thing to spend some money on! Haha.

I have used down riggers for 35 years. Unless you are fishing deep, they aren't worth the trouble. In Tims and JPP, there are trees so trolling deep is questionable. Also, this time of year the thermoclines keep the fish shallow. I have been using a Size 1 Tadpole at 2.5 MPH. With 63 feet of line out, the Tadpole is running 16 feet deep. Figure your lure is about one foot deeper. The Precision Trolling app data is based on 10 pound mono. I use 40 pound Power Pro because the diameter is the same as 10 pound mono. I switched to 30 pound fluoro leaders from 20 pound because I had too many breaks last year.

Buy a couple of Tadpoles and give them a try. Originally, my spead setup included two Penn downriggers on the inside with six rods on releases using Snap Weights. By the way, you don't really need the OR-16 clips. Just attach the weights to your line with rubber bands. As you reel the fish in just grab the weights and pull them free. Works fine and us cheap!