Continued from page 6

a spoon like a fly or squid. Colours can vary with your imagination.

-  Ever wondered what to do with those stick baits that have their front lip broken off and are useless for casting or trolling?  I reuse them 16 inches behind a dodger instead of a fly with some amazing results. Not as effective as a squid or fly but on some days they can be a very good alternative!

-  Lead lengths generally 6 feet on a side rigger and 8 feet on a rear rigger. Longer leads can cause massive tangles so short leads will work well when fish are concentrated in a narrow depth band

-  Longer lead lengths can be obtained if you increase the separation of your downrigger depths
Run the dodger and fly either 10 feet above your highest spoon or 10 feet lower then your lowest bait.

-  Dodgers attract fish! Underwater camera studies and detailed record keeping by this angler have proven time after time that a properly run dodger will attract fish into your lure spread. Remove the dodger from your program set-up and fishing production will drop drastically.


COLOURS....

Kings - Steelhead
Dodgers and squids/flies come in as many colours as creative lure companies can come up with.
-  As a rule of thumb  Chartreuse with a patch of pink fish scale or purple prism tape is the premier colour for Lake Ontario.
-   White (pearl) with either a patch of glow or patch of pink fish scale is the number one choice for those calm flat water conditions when fishing is very slow.
-  Other colours can work on occasion but fishing records prove that Chartreuse out produces white by a margin of 8 to 1.

Number one choice of squids is Kelly  green glow squid. However, other squid and dodger colors work well including laser's, black, green etc.

COHO like the brighter painted dodgers, clown, orange, or silver and seem to eat flies made of Mylar or tinsel a little better than squids.

Lakers prefer a chrome dodger with blue laser or prism tape finished with  a peanut or Spin-N-Glo instead of a fly. Green, clown, white with pink dots are some of the best colors combinations.

But... don't lock yourself into one rig.... Be creative. Experiment! Often the weird and wonderful colour combinations are the ticket to a full creel!