To those having trouble catching salmon off piers

[JaysonMarion]

Hey guys.

I see a lot of posts on here and talk to a lot of people on the piers whom are having trouble hooking up on spoons / J13's off the piers, meanwhile the guy next to them is slamming them.

The number one thing I see people doing wrong (not wrong persay, but wrong in this case) is the speed in which they reel.

Salmon follow lures for a long time. Just watch some of the downrigging videos from the lake. If you are reeling in too fast, they are going to get tired and ignore your lure.

The key to my success has always been to slow roll the spoon. Reel extremely slow, keeping it just off bottom but in a constant retrieve so it looks natural.

I've only been skunked once or twice this year off the piers, and I've been out AT LEAST every other night since the last week of July.

Also, don't buy cheap spoons. The hooks on those suck, they usually don't have split rings on both the top AND bottom of the spoon, and they glow for 1 cast.

Go to a store like Peter's or Bronte Outdoors and buy an assortment of the custom spoons, and put split rings on both the top and bottom of the spoons, and upgrade the trebles.

Sure, you'll catch fish on Cleo's, but I rarely use cleos anymore. Only when I'm changing up the pattern to try and find what the hot color is, then I will put on a similar custom spoon, because I know it won't crap out.


I'm always happy to help and answer any questions from anyone. I feel that the sharing of information in angling is one of the best things you can contribute to angling.

So ask away if you have any questions.

I've landed triple digits off the pier's this year ranging from Port Dalhousie to Port Hope.

 

[jlisk]

Thanks for the information about the speed you should retrieve at.

This has been one of the things I have been trying to vary a lot while out on the piers because I really don't know what speed to retrieve at. I thought I had been through every conceivable retrieve (fast/slow/medium/pause/ etc.).

Will definitely give this method a good go next time I am out on the pier.

Many many thanks!

 

[grubman]

Thanks for this post, this is my first time on the pier. My question is timing do you go just before it rains, during or after. I assume after is the worst time b/c the salmon have already come up the rivers.

Thanks.

 

[JaysonMarion]

Thanks for this post, this is my first time on the pier. My question is timing do you go just before it rains, during or after. I assume after is the worst time b/c the salmon have already come up the rivers.

Thanks.

I watch the wind, and the water temperatures. Rain will bring in fish closer to shore. Wind plays a bigger role than rain though, IMO.

This year is especially weird, as we didn't have very much rain at all, and alot of tribs were already stacked with salmon.



Lake Ontario Temperatures

I use this link religiously. I can see where the wind has pushed the cold water, and if the lake is starting to flip.

If you look at it right now, you can see the Southern Shore of Lake Ontario is warmer at the bottom of the lake, and colder near the surface. This drives the fish to stage and run the tribs.

Generally, any water in the 50's is golden and you should be on the piers. There are always exceptions to the rule though, and that just takes practice to figure it out

 

[JaysonMarion]

Thanks for the information about the speed you should retrieve at.

This has been one of the things I have been trying to vary a lot while out on the piers because I really don't know what speed to retrieve at. I thought I had been through every conceivable retrieve (fast/slow/medium/pause/ etc.).

Will definitely give this method a good go next time I am out on the pier.

Many many thanks!

There will always be times where reeling in lightning quick will catch fish, and reeling ultra ultra slow will catch fish.

I find my most consistency is with slow enough to keep it off the bottom but not fast enough to drag it up the water column.,

 

[Rain-Bow]

Lots of good info there

 

[JaysonMarion]

Also, this is really dependent as to which pier you are at, putting on a flutter spoon, casting it out as far as you can and just letting it sink can be killer.

Probably about 1/3 of my pier salmon this year have been on the drop. Several seconds after it hits the water.

That being said, you can also lose alot of tackle this way lol, especially if you don't know how deep the water is, or if there are alot of rocks/logs etc.

For instance the Credit. I wouldn't recommend letting your spoon sink for more then 2-3 seconds. Those rocks and trees out there tend to eat up alot of spoons.

Bronte, maybe 5 seconds.

The real fun is at a pier like Oshawa, where the channel is 30+ feet deep. It's awesome letting it sink for 20 seconds and feel a smash on your rod without you even doing anything.

 

[rayray519]

Thanks for the helpful tips and info. Much appreciated.

 

[naturefan]

That's great info, thank you jpct very much.
Could you give a name of any custom spoon brand, I've seen lots of them but have no expereince with any one except cleo.
Thank you.

 

[Blair]

Thankfully ...



I have not been having any difficulties with catching Salmon off the Pier!

Always have used a SLOW RETRIEVE - letting the spoon almost hit bottom.



I love the DEEPER WATER as well, Many Hooks Ups while the spoon is still just fluttering on its own down to the Bottom.





GREAT INFO and THREAD!

Thanks

 

[chris f]

sound like you've been hitting lots of fish,thanks for posting and sharing some great info and tips

 

[jlisk]

Well went out again last tried some moonshine spoons, great glow compared to the cleos (the thing was glowing in the packaging on the car ride there!). Slow retrieve along the bottom, I probably was pushing the bottom to hard as I lost four spoons (including the moonshine ones XD) to snags over the course of 3-4 hours.

Fish were about leaping in the channel and out in the open water. Person beside me lost their rod as a salmon took off with their bottom rig while they weren't paying attention... everyone had a good laugh and after his initial flip out the guy seemed to laugh about it as well.

I got skunked again though, was right on the mouth of the pier casting both out into the lake and across the narrowest point of the channel into the creek... no hits, not bites, no taps... :angry:

One day... one day... :mrgreen:

 

[kmaax80]

How about using a snap swivel instead of the split ring at the top of the spoon? I like using them for ease of changing up spoons/lures. If you buy cheap ones, they will most certainly come undone when pulling in a fish (then again i've seen cheap split rings come apart too), but I've found some pretty tough ones that I've had success with.

Also, as far as quality of spoon/brand, I've always had good luck with eppinger dardevles, which seem to be a notch above cleos. Interestingly they don't glow as strong as some of the cheaper spoons ive bought (i.e. bass pro shops has ones that glow really strong), but they seem to outproduce for me.

Absolutely agree on the retrieve speed advice, excellent tips there.

Hey guys.

I see a lot of posts on here and talk to a lot of people on the piers whom are having trouble hooking up on spoons / J13's off the piers, meanwhile the guy next to them is slamming them.

The number one thing I see people doing wrong (not wrong persay, but wrong in this case) is the speed in which they reel.

Salmon follow lures for a long time. Just watch some of the downrigging videos from the lake. If you are reeling in too fast, they are going to get tired and ignore your lure.

The key to my success has always been to slow roll the spoon. Reel extremely slow, keeping it just off bottom but in a constant retrieve so it looks natural.

I've only been skunked once or twice this year off the piers, and I've been out AT LEAST every other night since the last week of July.

Also, don't buy cheap spoons. The hooks on those suck, they usually don't have split rings on both the top AND bottom of the spoon, and they glow for 1 cast.

Go to a store like Peter's or Bronte Outdoors and buy an assortment of the custom spoons, and put split rings on both the top and bottom of the spoons, and upgrade the trebles.

Sure, you'll catch fish on Cleo's, but I rarely use cleos anymore. Only when I'm changing up the pattern to try and find what the hot color is, then I will put on a similar custom spoon, because I know it won't crap out.


I'm always happy to help and answer any questions from anyone. I feel that the sharing of information in angling is one of the best things you can contribute to angling.

So ask away if you have any questions.

I've landed triple digits off the pier's this year ranging from Port Dalhousie to Port Hope.

 

[mauro]

What are your thoughts on time of day for piers?

i hear a lot about needing to go out at night. is this true right now or only when temps are warmer?

 

[JaysonMarion]

What are your thoughts on time of day for piers?

i hear a lot about needing to go out at night. is this true right now or only when temps are warmer?

Night time, salmon are on the move. And they are looking for bait fish around shore (because thats where baitfish hang out).

Generally the baitfish move to shore during the evening, and such, so do the salmon.

However like I said before, Wind plays a very integral role.

There are days where you will destroy fish during the day on J13's, but soon as night hits, the action dies. And vice versa

I generally have my most success between 12am-3am.

But again, I've caught salmon at all times of the day.

 

[dookstaa]

I gotta admit, i love my dad unconditionally. and i thank him for getting me out and in to fishing.

But over my last year or so on the forum, ive had to relearn almost everything i was taught ahahahah!

This is particularly amusing to me because just last week he was telling me if you want to catch them staging you gotta reel, really really fast! ahhaha

Come to think of it, he didnt catch all that often.

Thanks for the info, ill give it a shot

 

[grubman]

Friday night me and 2 other members hit a east pier at 10:30pm for salmon. I figured it would be a good night b/c the rain was expected at around 12am and the BP was dropping and the wind was 5kph from the west and would shift to the south. All three of us were casting glowing cleos and letting them sink. For a while I was the only one picking up alge from the bottom so I knew mine was deep enough. Also I was reeling in really slow. Eventually I did lose 1 lure to the depths and got out another lure. We had a good 3 hours of clear weather before the rain began. We kept trying with the spoons and then the other member changed to roe that he bought. One other angler came by and he did'nt have any hits. We stayed till 2:30am and the rain was coming down steadily for an hour but still no hits. The wind was now coming from the SW at maybe 20kph. The other angler left long before we did, I don't think he had anything either.

Neither of us are super salmon anglers. The conditions would seem to have been ideal, dropping BP, impending rain, moderate winds from the SW to S. So what did we do that we shouldn't have? Ok so the moon phase was not in our favour. We did not use the best lures the Eppinger. The salmon should have been staging waiting for the rains that did come. Not sure why we were not connecting.

Any help would be great, thanks.

 

[JaysonMarion]

Friday night me and 2 other members hit a east pier at 10:30pm for salmon. I figured it would be a good night b/c the rain was expected at around 12am and the BP was dropping and the wind was 5kph from the west and would shift to the south. All three of us were casting glowing cleos and letting them sink. For a while I was the only one picking up alge from the bottom so I knew mine was deep enough. Also I was reeling in really slow. Eventually I did lose 1 lure to the depths and got out another lure. We had a good 3 hours of clear weather before the rain began. We kept trying with the spoons and then the other member changed to roe that he bought. One other angler came by and he did'nt have any hits. We stayed till 2:30am and the rain was coming down steadily for an hour but still no hits. The wind was now coming from the SW at maybe 20kph. The other angler left long before we did, I don't think he had anything either.

Neither of us are super salmon anglers. The conditions would seem to have been ideal, dropping BP, impending rain, moderate winds from the SW to S. So what did we do that we shouldn't have? Ok so the moon phase was not in our favour. We did not use the best lures the Eppinger. The salmon should have been staging waiting for the rains that did come. Not sure why we were not connecting.

Any help would be great, thanks.

East piers don't have that much action anymore.

Most of the salmon are in the river now.

If you want to hit salmon off piers still consistently, youll have to head west and south,.

For instance, Bronte.. lol..

 

[JaysonMarion]

How about using a snap swivel instead of the split ring at the top of the spoon? I like using them for ease of changing up spoons/lures. If you buy cheap ones, they will most certainly come undone when pulling in a fish (then again i've seen cheap split rings come apart too), but I've found some pretty tough ones that I've had success with.

I always use snap swivels.

But put split rings on the spoons, they get WAY more action. And its simple to change them.