Trolling live shiners for salmon???

[dickbaker]

   In Maine and NH I spend a great deal of time slow trolling live shiners for salmon.   They seemed to work well on the Inland Sea but I swapped to spoons because they are so easy to change out and they seem to be a little more resistant to white and yellow perch.   But I always seemed to catch bigger salmon with the live shiners?    Anybody else use live bait?   I'm going to try it out again in 2017!  Dockside seems to have the perfect small to medium goldens that I need?   Shiners always seem to provide the perfect size/color/taste?

Dick

[dickbaker]

Growing up in southern Maine my grampa taught me to "sew on" smelt.   Now fishing Winnipesaukee I've been taught how to troll shiners. My grampa would have considered that a sin?   I've learned a new and super simple way to sew on shiners while keeping them alive for a long time.
Smelt are not only expensive , they don't survive long on a hook and almost never once they are sewn on?  Also, smelt tend to spin and twist the line while shiners tend to swim naturally with little spin as long as speed is less than 2 mph.   I plan to troll Champlain this season with a spread of one half spoons and one half shiners?
Dick

[fish wayniac]

Hi Dick, This is the way I sew- on. Do you use a similar method. You are right shiners are way tougher then smelt and stay alive longer.

[dickbaker]

   Pretty close?  I prefer to skip the second hook location and go directly to the belly and out the anus.  This keeps the shiner swimming upright with less spin.     Hooked this way shiners seem to stay alive for more than an hour.   In any event my grampa told me that smelt (shiners?)  are always the right color and flavor??
 In any event I will try to compare live shiner to spoons for the coming season?

Dick

[dickbaker]

   I think I can post a picture of my shiner hooking design if anyone is interested, BUT Champlain fishermen seem to have a have a predilection
for carrying hundreds of dollars of spoons and body baits??    Still  expensive to purchase medium shiners at $3/doz.  but it is what I was taught to do in Maine and NH?   Also , smelt aren't available in Vt.  so its easy to stay with my tried and true Arkansas shiners!   
Let's see what happens this year when I troll both spoons and shiners?  I have more than enough tamiron honeybees and DB Smelt to give it a fair try?
Dick

[SKUNK-MASTER]

would love to see it....want to try live bait for browns and lakers in the finger lakes

[boondox]

If we run minnow type baits I use yozuri's or a silver spoon.. but on the silver spoon I use lure tape with one or the other of two types of tape one a micro sparkle from jannsnet craft .Com the other a snake belly "s"pattren from eBay..  bolth in silver on a silver spoon..   the fish mistake the lures for shiners.. if you can a full moon night fishing may get you more hook ups to?? For yozuris  I prefer black back silver side yozuri's like a crystal minnow.. in a 3.5 inch but watch the regs cause I am not from that state.. some places don't allow double multi pointed hooks for salmon.. we run minnows but were allowed a stinger hook here.. not sure about there??

[dickbaker]

   Hope this shows my shiner trolling method?
Dick

[taxid]

A friend in Mass turned me on to trolling shiners behind a chrome size 0 Dodger and it's dynamite vs. just a spoon. I was trolling on South Pond (Quacumquasit) in Mass one day and couldn't get a hit with spoons and a downrigger. Put the dodger and shiner on and hook ups improved tremendously with one really nice brown which I released.

I now use it in Indiana for rainbows and it seems I get bigger rainbows using it vs. a spoon. I think trout wise up to spoons after a while.

[dickbaker]

   Go to you tube video of Champlain underwater video trolling for salmon??   Watch many salmon come to spoon, smell and feel it and than fly away!    I don't think they would have passed up the tasty and shiny real thing??
Dick

[zwiggles]

Wouldn't a salmon see way more smelt in the course of its life than it would see shiners? Aren't shiners a warm water baitfish were as smelts are cold water?

[taxid]

Wouldn't a salmon see way more smelt in the course of its life than it would see shiners? Aren't shiners a warm water baitfish were as smelts are cold water?

But they both smell fishy vs. a piece of metal.

A friend sprays all his spoons with a fish attractant. Swears by it but I have to wonder how long it stays on a piece of metal.

[dickbaker]

Wouldn't a salmon see way more smelt in the course of its life than it would see shiners? Aren't shiners a warm water baitfish were as smelts are cold water?

champlain salmon now see more alewife than smelt.  They also eat tiny white perch.   The broad , silver  side of a  shiner would seem to be a great attractor ?
Dick

[FishFinga207]

I'm used to sewing smelt behind fly rods back home in maine, and since I canot get smelt around here I decided to give the shiners and a dodger a shot this past week, trolled for about 5 minutes until line was ripping  out. Landed a a 19" salmon. Went five for five in 4 hours.

[dickbaker]

   Congratulations!   You make me feel guilty.   The 38 degree water has kept me away from trolling for salmon?    78 degrees today should change that soon.   Off to Champlain next week.  If I'm by myself I'll probably troll shiners on one and two colors of lead?  Hope I do as well as you did?
Dick