Rigging Tips: Spring Hitchhiking Aboard The Fish Doctor

Ever find yourself out on Lake Ontario struggling to catch a trout or salmon while a nearby charter boat was landing fish after fish?

Well you're not alone. We've all been there, including many charter captains. Ever wish you were a little mouse on board so that you could see what was going on? Well, now you can be. Hop aboard the Fish Doctor out of the Little Salmon River in Mexico Bay, and check out some of the gear used to take good catches of spring browns.

First, there's no doubt about it, captains who fish charter boats on Lake Ontario almost every day of the season should have the experience necessary to produce better than average catches of trout and salmon, and they do. According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, their lake wide creel census showed that in 1999,charter trips accounted for 11% of the total fishing boat trips, 21% of the boat angler trips, and 30% of the boat angler hours. Charter boats harvested 4.7 salmonids(trout and salmon) per boat trip versus 0.85 salmonids per boat trip for noncharters. That's 5.5 times as many fish per trip for charters, quite a difference. A few seasons ago, when the brown trout creel limit was 5 fish/person, my parties boated 1200 browns from iceout to Sept. 4, releasing many. More than half of those fish were taken in the spring.

Why such good success for charter boats? Well, a huge part of it is lots of experience on the water, and being able to pinpoint fish locations day after day. But, the other part of a charter boats fish catching equation is their highly effective gear and techniques. Here's a system that works for me.

Electronics...Where It's At!

Electronics catch brown trout, even when these fish are in very shallow water. At this time of year, my Furuno LP-1000 Loran-C/plotter doesn't provide key fishing information, except for ground speed, a key to trolling speed in shore currents. My Sitex CVS 110 fish finder, with it's 10" color screen is basically useless in shallow water, except for checking depths, so a Lowrance digital depth finder, is used most of the time, instead. A Fish Hawk 840 TempTroll provides surface temperature and speed, the two most critical items of information for catching spring browns. For the safety of crew and passengers, two VHF marine radios sit on Channel 16, and 24 mile Furuno radar is on standby. A cell phone maintains communication with the Alaskan, another 28' Fish Doctor charter boat operated by Capt. Randy Lantiegne.

Fishing Gear... Rugged, Dependable!

Five Penn downriggers remain rigged and ready, even in early spring, because some days, riggers outproduce surface lines for browns, even when trolling as shallow as 5-10 feet, and also, because they provide options for lure presentation in any fishing situation. On each downrigger, you'll find a 6 lb. rigger weight and an Offshore Release. Custom built triple planer boards on 1000 lb. test nylon tether line (for commercial tuna fishing) attached to 3' planer board masts, are in the water most of the time, with no fear of a planer board breaking off in rough water.

Since 1978, I've experimented with just about every planer board release on the market, and the only one you'll find used regularly aboard my charter boat is the Jolly release, locally manufactured by Bill Joliff. For specialized purposes in certain conditions, a pair of aluminum outriggers fitted with Aftco ball bearing roller releases, plus three pairs of Church Tackle's TX-12 inline planers are also used. Securely in place at the transom of the boat, you'll find a billy club, a pair of pliers, and a container of Smelly Jelly. Two Beckman landing nets lie alongside the cabin.

Rods, Reels, and Line... Ultralight All The Way!

If you're serious about catching spring brown trout, especially when they're in shallow, crystal clear water, you have to fish light line on ultralight noodle rods. On board my boat in early spring, you'll find a set of 11custom built, 9' Fish Doctor noodle rods. Six of them are rigged for planer board fishing with 8 lb. test Maxima Fibre Glo monofilament main line spooled on Penn 855 digital line counter reels, each with 8' Maxima Ultragreen leaders varying from 4-8 lb. test. Five other noodle rods are rigged for downriggers with ultrathin diameter 10 lb. test Maxima Perfexion mono spooled on Penn 965 Internationals.

Four Penn PD3886 PowerSticks spooled with 15 lb. test Maxima Marine Green mono on Penn 975 Internationals remain in the cabin, unless we head for deep water to fish lake trout. Two custom built, 9' diving planer rods spooled with 27 lb. Sevenstrand on Penn 875 Line Counter reels for occasional deep water use, are also stored below deck along with several spare rods, reels, bulk spools of mono, and other equipment.

Terminal Gear: Make it Happen!

Without the proper terminal gear on the end of your line, you won't catch many spring browns no matter how you fish them. The first, critical piece of gear I'm going to mention really isn't terminal tackle, but it makes your lures work properly. It's a hook file in good condition. Unless you use it regularly and keep your hook points needle sharp, you'll have trouble hooking up consistently on light line. I carry at least half a dozen of these on board my boat. You'll also find a selection of diving planers, including Big Jon discs, Dipsy Divers, and Jet Divers on board.

Lures are one of the fun parts of fishing, and your selection of the proper item for specific water conditions and light levels will spell the difference between catching and not catching spring browns. Lure selection is a story in itself, but suffice it to say, although you'll find many hundreds of stickbaits and flutterspoons on board the Fish Doctor in the spring, only a half dozen or so of each are used most of the time for browns, while a few others are selected for domestic rainbows and cohos if they happen to be in the area.

Several plastic leader spools, each storing connected 8' sections of Maxima Ultragreen leaders from 4-8 lb. test with a #1 crosslock snap on one end and a barrel swivel on the other, hang ready for battle. Several neatly stored boxes of assorted snap swivels, crosslock snaps, barrel swivels, single and treble hooks, and various weights of splitshot and bead chain keel sinkers make up the rest of the spring brown trout arsenal.

Putting it all Together: A Simple Formula!

Put it all together in this simple brown trout catching formula; Proper Gear + Location + Presentation = Spring Browns. Oh, and you might want to add a little luck plus a break from Mother Nature!

Penn's Chief Engineer, Bill Purcell, with a spring brown he boated on ultralight gear aboard the Fish Doctor.