NationalProStaff.com - Downrigging " Bass Boat " style

Well it's confirmed, in my wifes eyes at least I have lost my mind to an addiction with fish , all species . I'm going through withdrawal as Im sure many of you NPS folks are ,waiting for bass season to open ,and for me to hit the tournament trail with good friend Greg Klatt.
So what's a so called " fishaholic " going to do ? . Sunday morning I was having my coffee and this " voice " in my head said, Steve mount some downriggers on your bass boat and head for lake simcoe for some lake trout. Great idea, so I did and after a few hours of set up I was ready to give it a go.Word of advice went mounting down-riggers to fiberglass boats,make sure you use a larger reinforcement plate on the underside of fiberglass for strength . So off to lake simcoe I went alone, my wife
said I was crazy and she opted to stay at home floating I'n the pool with a glass of
wine.
I launched at Beaverton,cruised out of the harbour,trimmed the triton down and headed out to my so called holy grail trout grounds. I 've only ice
fished this area so I wasn't sure what to expect . This area tends to hold giants in the winter and within minutes of arriving and graphing that was evident even this time of year. The area which is 60-70 feet deep has wild depth transitions and tends to draw a lot of baitfish and herring which means big fat trout . With the Humminbird 998 going I was marking some impressive arches , these humminbirds are simply remarkable for detail. I set the boat on course, set up the Rigger and started feeding out line and down the rigger went to 55 feet. The bait I opted for first was a Blue Fox Big Wake spoon I'n chrome red and white , a great northern lakes bait.
The first ten minutes I had some technical difficulties ,for example, # 1 the 150 hp outboard trolled to fast so to get the speed down I used a drift sock . That did the trick so I jumped I'n the drivers seat and watched the Humminbird TV .What happened next was the mental fix i needed. I never went 100 yrds and off the
rod pops ,drag starts screaming , and 10lbs of bull dogging trout came aboard. I was on cloud nine and in my zone. After 2 hours of intense laker action I had boated ten lakers in total and missed a 20
lb plus laker, what a trip .
So if your like me and your I'n withdrawal waiting for bass season give this a try ,it's
a great release from the ," what do I fish for today withdrawl syndrome " , and the bonus is there's thousands of trout out there untouched waiting to bite.
I'll let you I'n on a couple of tips also . The fish are stacked I'n 60-70 feet 1 mile north west of white shoal. Watch for this bait in " 2013" to all you big lake trout and salmon guys. Rapala has a new bait for 2013 called a Balsa extreme swimmer and it's jointed and very lifelike and in various colours.The one I was using this day was called a blue back shiner, Other baits used
were Rapala jointed J13 black and silver , Williams half/ half , bluefox white with red
dots Panga spoon.
Save yourself from " insanity " ,leave the wife at home to float in the pool with a glass of wine if " she ' chooses to , and don't let them tell you need a physciatrist just plain old ,
" FISHING THERAPY ". Good luck .