Sounds like an expensive new hobby. A few things: Generally you want to troll 2.2 mph or faster with spoons for best action. Smaller can be better with spoons. The 2 1/4 inch scorpions can be terrific, but have a variety of sizes. You can work them from very shallow to near the bottom, depending on water conditions and where the bite is happening. Spoons with 2 oz. or 3 oz. weights off planer boards will catch fish, snap-on or in-line. Vary depths and speeds until you find what works. Spoons seem to work better when the water clears. Rattling deep divers better in muddy/stained water. But you never know what will work on any given day if you're not out a lot to get some consistent programs going. Lots of good advice on this site.

 

I would suggest running your spoons off of dipsys and running your bandits on a flatline straight out thr back (or on an inline plane board if you have them). Mid June you shouldn't need weight on them.

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If you are going to run the deep(big lipped), bandits & you have no Planer boards, run them out the back & put your spoons on your dips. You can run 3 dips per side if you have the proper rods and rod holders. In general, The warmer the water, The faster you can go. Dont b afraid to run 3.5 if cant get them going slower. It sounds to me like you R very new to trolling like this. Maybe should invest in at least a half day trip with a charter captain that trolls in order to “learn the ropes”

 

last weekend half our fish came on unassisted Erie deerie long lines Supper slow troll. Nodda on stick baits. I have worse luck with stick baits. I don’t have a clue why.

 

Backwater,

Couple questions first comes to mind. How many people do you plan on having on board? Maximum number of rods that you want to run? These can play a major role on setup but as simple as they would get would be the following for a 2-person, 6-rod setup.

- 6 line counter reel/rods, want all rods the same and reels spooled this same. I would suggest 30# braid for this.
- 4 inline boards
- 2 Tru-Trip 50's and 2 #1 dipsy divers OR 4 - #1 dipsy divers

I would start with the following setup for June:
- Run 2 dipsy's per side on a 1 setting and 3 setting with spoons
- 2 inline boards on each side with cranks.

Having the 4 dipsy divers and 4 boards would allow you to change the setup based on the bite. Can run 1 dipsy diver and 2 boards per side or as I mentioned above 2 dipsy divers and 1 board. I know this may sound over-whelming but some explanation and practice you'll quickly get it. I would suggest getting on board with someone that has experience or book a small boat charter that is willing to teach you as well. Most charters are more than willing to teach as well...I do as much teaching as they do catching. I'd be willing to help in any way I can.

 

To answer your questions, I will be running 2 line counter reels with 30 lb braid, and two standard bait casting reels with Berkley Fireline 20 lb Braid. Both of these setups would use 10-15 foot of fluorocarbon leader. Was planning on setting the dipsys up on the outside at a 3 setting with the line counter reels because the rods are longer and heavier, and was planning to run the bait casters out the back with inline weights if needed to get to planned depth. Just two of us on board and so I don't want to run more than 4 lines. I've never used Jets or Boards so I want to stick with what I know I've used standard 1oz/2oz weights before using rubber bands to attach them to the line above the leader. (any thoughts on using a particular brand of snap on weight or other inline weight instead?)

Backwater,

Couple questions first comes to mind. How many people do you plan on having on board? Maximum number of rods that you want to run? These can play a major role on setup but as simple as they would get would be the following for a 2-person, 6-rod setup.

- 6 line counter reel/rods, want all rods the same and reels spooled this same. I would suggest 30# braid for this.
- 4 inline boards
- 2 Tru-Trip 50's and 2 #1 dipsy divers OR 4 - #1 dipsy divers

I would start with the following setup for June:
- Run 2 dipsy's per side on a 1 setting and 3 setting with spoons
- 2 inline boards on each side with cranks.

Having the 4 dipsy divers and 4 boards would allow you to change the setup based on the bite. Can run 1 dipsy diver and 2 boards per side or as I mentioned above 2 dipsy divers and 1 board. I know this may sound over-whelming but some explanation and practice you'll quickly get it. I would suggest getting on board with someone that has experience or book a small boat charter that is willing to teach you as well. Most charters are more than willing to teach as well...I do as much teaching as they do catching. I'd be willing to help in any way I can.

 

Dont run the lures on dipsys you don't need to and the pull of the lures can pop the dipsy and if you have it to tight and get a fish and it doesn't pop your arm will fall off after you fight to reel it in. If anything put the weight with the lures if needed but you shouldn't need it. We ran spoons from june to October last year and they cleaned up every time and the program was the same the whole time.

 

Just reading the OGF posts is like mini camp instruction. Thanks for all the great how to do (or not to do ) ishing information. Now to make it happen!
Thanks

 

In June, if it's anything like the last few years you can catch them on a shoe horn. If you are new to this fishing I no would suggest small stingers on dipseys, 2 per side. I have been using 30# Power Pro main line with 6 foot 15# floro leaders. If you are using spoons don't skimp on the snap swivels, towing small fish and not knowing it can twist a cheap swivel and spoon off in a hurry, buy good ball bearing swivels. I put one Dipsey at 0 setting and one at 3 setting on each side of boat varying depth and spoon color. As many on this site can tell you, in June if you get all 4 lines out before a hit your lucky, don't get fancy with lots of lines you can have a cluster in a hurry. Good luck, see you out there.

 

30 jet w/spoon or harness off a board ,.... no board ..just sraight back about 85-150 back... stick bait 85-120 back... dipsey- spoon, short lip crank, worm burner, 2.0 gps is good start....now days you can drag a shoe lace and get fish hahahahah

 

I have great luck with both the small and mid size Mich Stinger spoons in colors like Lamicakes ..Clown. ..Wonderbread...Blueberry / chartreuse bk....Confusion copper....Orange crush .. .. ran 7 ft behind a 1.5 oz beaded tr sinker ...45 to 75 ft behind inline boards at 2.2 to 2.7 sog...
I also run trip & dipsy divers on 30 lb braid with a 7 ft stretch of 12 pd mono to above listed spoons .. run the d divers on a no 1.5 to 2 setting to swing out and cover your corners...

 

I was just out last week and did a mix of bandits and spoons. I would strongly suggest you get a pair of boards (or 4) to open up your spread a bit. With the program you are stating, I see a big-o-mix of tangles. If you want to keep it to 4 lines, that is fine. But run your dispseys on a #1 setting right next to the boat. They will dive quick and eliminate tangles with the plugs. Then set your bandits on boards what every length you need, with or without snap weights. Last week, with 2 kids, and 1 adult that can run a side "ok", I ran 8 boards and 2 dispseys with spoons. We did have a few minor tangles, but I attribute that more to the heavy seas than the crew or spread. Heck when fishing salmon, I will run up to 16 lines at a time. Last week, I had 2 days the spoons out-produced the plugs, 1 day it was about the same and 3 days they were dead. Your timing for spoons is just heating up. I can run my small spoons as slow as 1.5 mph, but dipseys can be problematic at that speed as they can twist and then won't trip. Not a huge deal, but they do pull better at 2.0 mph or better.

 

i would run braid to a ball brng swivel , no flro leader not really needed....oh man get ya a 30 jet at least ,put a 8 ft leader off the jet with a worm burner or spoon , drop that baby back about 50 to 150 back

 

Chicken wing spoon has caught most of Our fish last year & starting off this year!!

 

i have nothing but small spoons. stinger scorpions and the small gale force tackle spoons. the last time we fished was in july. we had 5 people on board and ran 6 divers with spoons at 2.8 to 3.0 and it took 4 hrs and 45 minutes to box 30 fish with a few small throw backs. i would start with all spoons on divers like dipsies. you can run 6 like i run or you could start with 4. if you use dipsies use the rings to get you deeper. you want 30# power pro braid for your line use a 6' to 7' fluro leader. ste the front dipsy on 3 and let it out slow with the clicker on. set the back diver on 1 then let it out 15' shorter than your front line. i would start at 2.8 for speed then try a little faster or slower just to see what works. buy if i'm catching fish i wont change a thing unless its catching them slow.

if your catching fish then they stop biting don't be afraid to either turn around and go back through or pick up and run back to the front of the school.

the small spoons 2 1/4 to 2 3/8 is all you need for eyes. anything purple or pink catches most of our fish. gale force has some great choices. jawbreaker and doctor death are great but jawbreaker tops my list. but the scorpion spoons has a greater selection. so i get some of them. but kevorkian and purple and pinks have been my best. but they both have other colors that you might want to add. buy a few from each brand. then remember which color worked good then go back and get a few of that color. but jawbreaker caught as many fish as the other 5 rods put together. i got the one i had as a sample from vicki at gale force. now i have 6 of them.

another great option is the deeper diver from fishusa.com its better than the dipsy in my opinion. its the same size as a dipsy without a ring to worry about. i'm using lite bite slide divers and just run them like a dipsy. if they run as a slide diver its a little more complicated. thats why i just use them like a dipsy but using the lite bite arm.

 

This reminds me of our first trip to Canada. We bought $1000 worth of assorted tackle, rods and reels. Turns out, all we needed was jigs.
Looks like you have spent a lot of time planning this trip and have really put a lot of thought into it. Erie is really loaded with fish currently. You can catch ‘em as simple or complex as you like.
This time of year there will be plenty of fish in the 10’ to 20’ range. Those fish will be active and will hit pretty much anything run above them. No need to over complicate or overthink it. As you can see from the posts that are coming everyone has their goto methods.
Casters are having a heyday so don’t overlook that option as well.
Good luck and stay safe out there!

 

Did I miss it, where are you fishing? What part of the lake?

 

We will be staying in a cabin on East Harbor, and plan to try several areas: From Perry Monument East to Kelly's Island Shoal; from Cranberry Creek to S Shore of Kelly's Island thru Dump Zones; we may do some drop shotting, jigging, or casting for small mouth/large mouth or walleye in more protected areas on windy days. Open to any suggestions