Collingwood area rigging

[John Kendell]

Hi all,  It's been a while since I posted.  I have been fishing off Collingwood a few times the past 2 weeks, more so than normal due to the covid closures.  Fishing and marking fish has been spotty.  I have found quite a few lakers closer to Wasaga in 100-130 fow fishing near bottom, but thus far have only hit one salmon.

I've tried a few times off the lighthouse but have not had much luck there, working 60-130 fow.  It's great structure, but few marks on the graph and no hits in that area for me.

Is anyone finding salmon out here?  I'd love some suggestions if someone has success finding them in June/early July in the area.  I normally don't rig much up here until late August for the past 30 years.  Normally I fish Lake O mid June to mid-August, but doubt I'll take the boat down this summer.

Of interest I ran my small waterwolf camera and had up to 5 lakers on camera at a time.  Mostly just looking/following.  I was running a short lead for the camera.  Likely saw 30-40 lakers on the camera for only 2 hits one morning last week.  No salmon.

Surface temps 48-54F, 39.5-42F at 100-120 fow.  Water clarity has been unreal - I could see bottom in 45-50 feet last week one day. 

John

[GeorgianBay MessageBoard]

[Krawler]

Salmon are closer to the surface now especially during low light hours, top 50ft of water column.
Lengthen your leads and use standard size spoons, no mags.  Also if you are noticing cooler water near the surface don't hesitate to flatline with small body baits or very long leads and keep your baits 5-15 down on rigger.  good luck

[MarkD]

I was out of 12 Mile bay yesterday. Trolled 6 hours in the morning and 3 hours before sunset.
In the morning saw quite few marks at 50-100 ft. Got one rainbow right after I wet my lure with a 'davis fish seeker' in  front of it. The plane was set at 50 ft depth and supposed to run at 100 ft behind the rod. However I just released may be half of the line when my reel squeaked and the line started unwind. So I guess the speed of the lure was about zero and the depth was probably about 25ft. That was very promising but nothing after that. And no marks at evening at all...
I also saw a lot of marks near the bottom and decided one time to run the ball just almost scratching the bottom. Nothing. I concluded it's not fish but nay be old logs or other debris. But if you, John Kendell, saw  dozens of lakers at the bottom which were not willing to bite.... Then I need to rethink...
Thanks for the report!

[John Kendell]

Thanks for the note Krawler.  Lack of confidence for me to fish that depth zone with no marks in it (plus only running one rod).  Need to drag my wife or kids out so I can run an extra rod or two. 

I'm curious is anyone has had much luck off lead core, dipsy's or using attractors like an sd/fly or agitator.  I know some guys use the tiny paddles with cut bait.  Again in Lake O these things are staples (the second rod rule helps) but only once have I had luck off the dipsy in Gbay, 5 or so years ago.  Fishing between Christian and Backwith (which I rarely do since its a 25-30k run) I had three rods in the 55f temp zone down deep (say 90-110) and nada, but the last rod I ran with a dipsy running in 65-68F water took 4 salmon (running dipsy, sd/fly, one of my fav Lake O combos) in 90 minutes of fishing.  I tried it many times since not a touch. 

I just looked through yesterdays cannonball video - 2 follows only.