I live in northern Maine and I am relatively new to lake fishing. I bought 2 new Cannon manual downriggers, humminbird fishfinder, and 2 new trolling rods and have fished the last 3 weekends with no luck at all! I have been trying to fish for salmon and togue, using these huge Dave Davis spoons with a few rapala lures and live bait (smelts) and haven't even even gotten a nibble. I have about a 15-20" leader attached to the spoons. I have fished morning,noon,night been on bottom,middle, and top, trolled at various speeds .5mph-2.5 and see fish everywhere on the fishfinder.....but can't get a bite!!!! I'm wondering if the big spoons are a deterent or an attractor. I was told that using big spoons actually attract the fish but I can't get them to nibble.......Also I have my downriggers on each side of the boat and have seen most right in the back....The directions said either or???? I do notice that when I troll more than 1.5 MPH the down rigger cables make an annoying humming sound. Not sure if the fish sense this but I'm not sure if that is normal or not???????? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!
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your speed dosnt sound to bad, 1.5-2 mph is about right. to validate your speed, there are a cople ways, lower your cannon down in to the water about a foot with your 20 foot line behind the cannon ball, your line or dodger/cowbell should be visible near the serface and not sinking, the other way to validate your speed is to use your GPS, even a hand heald garmin will give you the serface speed you are moving.
if you are not going fast enough your leader will fall below the level of your cannon ball. A small drop is not bad, but a 5 foot drop will mean your spoons or dodgers are not working right.
might I ask, what type of ball are you using? I have several, and I find that torpedo or fish shaped balls work best. for walleye the humming may be a deturent, but salmon are not spooked by sound, they are agressive and will come to the comotion being raised by the doger wistiling and fluttering behind the cannon ball.
another thing that will help is to get your line around 20 feet or more behind your cannon ball. this means you need to get your speed up first before lowering your cannon ball.
Use a doger, 6-8 inches you can try using these behind the dodger, trout fly patterns. the Muddler Minnow, Mickey Finn or Grey Ghost have produced fish.
The main forage fish are alewives for salmon. They kind of like water temperatures at 52 to 54 degrees, if you find the forage fish you're going to find the salmon.
Salmon do not like 70 degree waters, they are a cold water fish.
In the spring look around in 20 to 30 feet of water and by mid summer you can look down towards 50+. Come fall you can start targeting the mouth of rivers and start looking as shallower depts as the cold rains set in.
Plugs, flat fish, spoons, dear devils have all produced salmon.
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