The Howie Fly System On Lake Ontario
Twenty-five years ago, Howard Halsne developed the now famous Howie Fly. It is still the best selling trout and salmon trolling fly in the Upper Great Lakes, and becoming more and more popular now on Lake Ontario. Constructed of mylar in a variety of colors and finishes, this fly, trolled behind a #0 dodger has been the mainstay of the Wisconsin charter fleet for chinooks, cohos, lake trout and steelhead in Lake Michigan for 15 years.
In June 2000, after lots of homework and plenty of advice from Lake Michigan charter captains, Fish Doctor Charters started using Howie Flies on Lake Ontario. Since that time, my son and partner, Randy, and I have fished them, in combo with spoons and plugs, exclusively for coho and chinook salmon. Along with many chinooks and cohos, howie flies have also taken lots of lakers, and some brown trout, steelhead, rainbows, and land-locks, plus a 45 inch musky! Neither of the Fish Doctor charter boats has fished flashers and cut bait for two seasons.
In 2001, we took kings on Howie Flies from May 15, during a Northeast Great Outdoors TV show, until Sept. 25. This season, our first king came on a green krinkle Howie Fly and silver glow dodger on April 7.
This years hottest rig. A dodger and Howie Fly trolled behind a meatball or thumper rig.
Fishing The System
It's not the Howie Fly that catches trout and salmon, it's the Howie Fly System. This moderately high speed trolling system includes the use of #0 dodgers and Howie Flies on downriggers, diving planers, and straight wire with a 10, 12, or 16 oz. lead weight. On our charter boats, we fish up to 5 dodger/flies at a time on the riggers, up to 4 diving planers, and up to 4 wire line rods we call "thumper" rods. These thumper rods are the key to success of the whole system, since dodger action telegraphed to the rod tip through the sensitive wire line allows precise monitoring of subsurface trolling speed. Depending on conditions, spoons or J-plugs are mixed in with the dodger/flies. At least two thumper rods are in the water at a time.
Dodgers are generally trolled 10 to 50 feet back on downriggers. Keeping it simple, #0 dodgers in silver glow, chrome/ silver prism, white/pearl scale, and red are still the basic fish-catching colors, although brighter colored dodgers catch fish in late summer. Proven Howie Fly colors in Lake Ontario include glitter green, aqua, glitter black/silver, powder blue, glitter purple/silver, and white. For leaders on Howie Flies, I prefer 50 lb. test Maxima Tournament Silver, 16 to 22 inches from the nose of the fly. When fishing wire with "meatballs" or Dipseys, in certain cases, I like Silver Streak's new clear snubber over brighter colored snubbers.
The Howie Fly System isn't for slow pokes. Forget about the creepy crawl dodger/squid trolling speeds of yesteryear, and keep the "pedal to the metal" at up to about 2.7 mph. Keep your eye on the tip of your thumper rod. It will tell you exactly what your dodgers are doing in the crystal depths. When kings and cohos want it hot, keep your dodgers right on the verge of spinning or spinning slightly. When smokin speeds don't turn their crank, slow down. Only the fish know what speed they want on a particular day, and you'll never know unless you're lucky if you troll constant speeds all the time.
Howie Flies on Lake Ontario
It didn't take long for Howie Flies to catch on in eastern Lake Ontario. Experiences of some of eastern Lake Ontario's best anglers and charter captains with Howie Flies during the 2001 sea-son provide solid testimony to this deadly trolling system.
Capt. Billy VanWormer,
Lucky Dutchman Charters (315-298- 8787) started trolling Howie Flies in June, 2001. Bill did his home-work, got as much info as he could and worked hard to master the Howie Fly System. By the time of the 2-day Eastern Lake Ontario Pro Am Tournament, Bill had enough confidence in Howie Flies to fish them exclusively aboard his charter boat during the tourney. Even though Bill fished the tourney with a crew of charter customers, his crew went 3 for 3 on kings the first day of the tourney, and then took 8 kings, one brown, and 1 steelhead the second day, placing 5th overall. Bill religiously runs a thumper rod off the stern of his boat. Capt. Bill's advice to beginners, "Monitor your trolling speed and try to duplicate the exact speed and direction you were trolling when you catch fish"
Capt. Dick Roberts,
Ole' Salty Charters (315-732-7078) started fishing mylar trolling flies during the 2000 season, but got serious with Howie Flies in late June, 2001. Knowing how effective Howie Flies were on Lake Michigan and Ontario, he made a major commitment. Even though Dick is a master with flashers and whole bait, he fished dodgers and Howie Flies exclusively from June through Sept. 2001, never putting another lure in the water. Dick and his fishing parties hammered the kings the entire sea-son. Asked for his favorite dodger/fly combo, Dick said, "Hands down, if I could have only one combination, it would be a white pearl dodger with a powder blue fly. The key is the thumper rod." You have to fish the system at the right speed.
Capt. Bob Pultorak,
TK Charters (315-736-1879), is another Howie Fly believer. Fishing out of Oswego Harbor, Bob and his partner and son, Tom are two of the best on Lake Ontario with flashers and bait. In late June, 2001, they started fishing dodgers and Howie Flies and had immediate results running dodgers 10 feet back on the outside riggers with spoons cheated above them, 40 and 50 feet down, and a third dodger 30 feet back on their center rigger. Two more dodger/flies were fished on wire Dipseys. They boated 6 kings and a steelhead on spoons and flies on their first try with the Howie Fly System, and as Capt. Bob said, "We're turned on to the flies the rest of the summer."
Tips from Lake Michigan
Pros Capt. Chip Porter
"Don't get hung up on not having the dodger spinning. I catch loads of fish spinning the things like tops." "...to interpret proper dodger speed. Always run one(dodger) on a suspended wire line with a 1 pound ball. Watch the rod tip and make sure you are getting thump out of the dodger. This will be huge in getting your speed right, and that is every-thing." "The Howie Fly has to be rigged on a stiff monofilament leader of 18 to 22 inches."
Capt. Dan Keating "In deep water, more than 100' I run the white/pearl scale dodger a lot." "Last summer I averaged 15-30 fish per trip." "One of my favorite combos, (low light conditions) is a silver glow dodger with an aqua Howie Fly." "I generally run dodgers 10-50 feet back."
Capt. Tim Dawidiuk
"When you run dodgers, commit to them. Run em all, not just one or two." "I like 16 - 22 inch leaders on Howie Flies, but I generally start with 22 inches." "I strive for a dodger action that goes..., wobble, wobble, roll." The worst thing you can do is run them slow."
