Willsboro bay

[Fishinpole]

Fished the mouth of the bay on 10/1 and ended with 8 lakers and 1 short salmon. 75 FT down using small Warrior lures. Green and chrome the best. Every laker was empty. Fun day.

[C-Hawk]

Glad to see someone fishing and posting. Sounds like a good day!

[pieman9155]

fished 9/28 to 10/1 1 laker 3 salmon 1 brown 75 down all in bay

[ThreeBuoys]

I'm still not giving up on the Broad Lake up north by Stave and Providence. A little on the chilly side yesterday morning around 8am. Picked up a few medium sized Lakers in the 7-8 pound range.
80ft. down over 150 fow. Water temps were 53-55 degrees. They seemed to like a Mooselook, white with red dots smeared with pro cure smelt. I know, I know.......no Salmon! I will keep pounding away until November......I haven't posted in awhile, didn't think anyone was interested in my Northern pike stories. (very large northerns in outer Malletts Bay). Also with the slow fishing, it has given me some time to experiment with different tools/toys. Offshore tackle tadpole diving weights can be an incredibly effective way to get spoons down to the fish in relatively shallow water. Also playing with Amish outfitters trolling bags.
I guess a point I'm trying to make, is there are other ways to keep yourself busy when the fish aren't active. I know this is primarily a Salmon board and that is what I target most often as well.....
But given what has gone on this year, rather than get frustrated I choose to try other things.
Hopefully the Salmon return!

[Reelax]

Thanks for the updates Pie and Pole.... Keep trying they will turn back on some time!

[pieman9155]

done for the season here

[tiny]

I want to see some very large pike from the outer bay!

I'm still not giving up on the Broad Lake up north by Stave and Providence. A little on the chilly side yesterday morning around 8am. Picked up a few medium sized Lakers in the 7-8 pound range.
80ft. down over 150 fow. Water temps were 53-55 degrees. They seemed to like a Mooselook, white with red dots smeared with pro cure smelt. I know, I know.......no Salmon! I will keep pounding away until November......I haven't posted in awhile, didn't think anyone was interested in my Northern pike stories. (very large northerns in outer Malletts Bay). Also with the slow fishing, it has given me some time to experiment with different tools/toys. Offshore tackle tadpole diving weights can be an incredibly effective way to get spoons down to the fish in relatively shallow water. Also playing with Amish outfitters trolling bags.
I guess a point I'm trying to make, is there are other ways to keep yourself busy when the fish aren't active. I know this is primarily a Salmon board and that is what I target most often as well.....
But given what has gone on this year, rather than get frustrated I choose to try other things.
Hopefully the Salmon return!

[Reelax]

I want to see some very large pike from the outer bay!

I'm still not giving up on the Broad Lake up north by Stave and Providence. A little on the chilly side yesterday morning around 8am. Picked up a few medium sized Lakers in the 7-8 pound range.
80ft. down over 150 fow. Water temps were 53-55 degrees. They seemed to like a Mooselook, white with red dots smeared with pro cure smelt. I know, I know.......no Salmon! I will keep pounding away until November......I haven't posted in awhile, didn't think anyone was interested in my Northern pike stories. (very large northerns in outer Malletts Bay). Also with the slow fishing, it has given me some time to experiment with different tools/toys. Offshore tackle tadpole diving weights can be an incredibly effective way to get spoons down to the fish in relatively shallow water. Also playing with Amish outfitters trolling bags.
I guess a point I'm trying to make, is there are other ways to keep yourself busy when the fish aren't active. I know this is primarily a Salmon board and that is what I target most often as well.....
But given what has gone on this year, rather than get frustrated I choose to try other things.
Hopefully the Salmon return!

Me too, I wanna hear the stories too! I was thinking of trolling high speed for them along the fill. Big sticks running like 4-5 mph and you can have some hot action.

[ThreeBuoys]

Don't know about 4-5 MPH, but maybe. Deep diving Rapala's. Husky Jerks 12's or 14's
Forgot how much I hate dealing with treble hooks though. Trying to remove them from a 38 inch thrashing northern is not much fun. I'll see if I can take some pictures. I have one on my phone somewhere...I'll see if I can post it.
Like I said, I prefer to catch Salmon but in the meantime......
Northern's are actually pretty good eating. Not much different than Walleye.

[Ahhspray]

I find lots of success trolling AT LEAST 5mph. You can cover lots of water. I also hate treble hooks and the gator rolls big northerns do once on board and in a net. My lure of choice is a large spoon with a fixed single hook, not the dangling type we use for salmon. I use one model of spoon, a Tony Acetta "Pet". They come in sizes from about 1" to VERY large. My experience shows I cant go too big or too fast. I've caught some of the largest by trolling an 8-10" white spoon with a yellow feather at 5.5mph in the 2-3' above weedbeds that have access to deep water and the occasional hole in the weeds. As the surface temp drops below 70, I start to troll slower ...but not by much. As I'm sure you all have seen, when a big Northern abushes prey they travel FAST and often leave a wake on the surface. Seeing that wake before a big strike is pretty exciting. I've recently started trolling a Heddon diving stickbait without any hooks directly behind and below the transom. It sends a big vibration, gets their attention, then here come our spoons...

[C-Hawk]

Keep an old wet towel handy when you get a pike in the boat, throw it over him. They think they are back in the weeds and will calm down for a second til you get a hand on them.

[ThreeBuoys]

All good info and thoughts!

[Reelax]

I find lots of success trolling AT LEAST 5mph. You can cover lots of water. I also hate treble hooks and the gator rolls big northerns do once on board and in a net. My lure of choice is a large spoon with a fixed single hook, not the dangling type we use for salmon. I use one model of spoon, a Tony Acetta "Pet". They come in sizes from about 1" to VERY large. My experience shows I cant go too big or too fast. I've caught some of the largest by trolling an 8-10" white spoon with a yellow feather at 5.5mph in the 2-3' above weedbeds that have access to deep water and the occasional hole in the weeds. As the surface temp drops below 70, I start to troll slower ...but not by much. As I'm sure you all have seen, when a big Northern abushes prey they travel FAST and often leave a wake on the surface. Seeing that wake before a big strike is pretty exciting. I've recently started trolling a Heddon diving stickbait without any hooks directly behind and below the transom. It sends a big vibration, gets their attention, then here come our spoons...

Wow this is cool stuff. Love to hear details on trolling pike like this... They are a blast that way...

[ThreeBuoys]

I have seen the wake a northern can make. I have had them attack planer boards as well. They leave nice teeth marks on the board.