Newbie Salmon ?'s (for next year)

[nitecrawler128]

Long story short... I bought a new-to-me-boat that is set up to Salmon fish, but have no experience Salmon fishing. I'd like to maybe give it a shot next year out of Esky/Ford River area if I can peel myself away from walleye fishing. I'm bored today and was looking on e-bay for cheap leadcore (found some!). Looking to spool lead-core on Magda Pro 30 reels. My questions are...
1) Do 18# and 27# run the same? (If I remember right, 5 feet per color at 2mph, so all 10 colors gets down 50FT?), or does the 27# run deeper?
2) Is 20# mono what you guys use for backing?
3) Does anyone know how much backing I can fit on an Okuma Magda size 30 reel with 10 colors?

I'm thinking if the 18# runs as deep as 27#, to go with that to save on reel space, and I could maybe fit 450 feet of 20# backing???? But like I said these numbers are shots in the dark; I don't know what I'm doing:) If anyone reads this thread that could provide me with some insight before July next year, it would be much appreciated. Thanx!

Forgot to add... A Magda 30 Reel holds 340 yds of 20# dia line. An Accudepth 47 holds 300 yds of 20# dia line (if this helps to answer line capacity ?'s)

[The Bait Shop Guy]

According to the Big Water edition of Precision Trolling, 18 and 27 pound leadcore both run about the same depth - approximately 60 feet @ 2mph, 30 feet @ 3mph. Most salmon fishermen opt for the 27 pound, but you can get by with the 18. You'll need to bump up to the larger Okuma 45's if you want to run a full 10 colors, the 30's aren't large enough, (the 30's are good for dipsey and rigger rods.) An Okuma 45 (or Daiwa 47,) will hold 150 yards of 30lb Power Pro backer, 10 yards of 20 pound mono, (for planer board attachment,) 10 colors of 27lb leadcore, and 10 yards of 20lb mono leader.

One good thing about salmon fishing is that the prime bite in June and July happens when the walleye fishing is typically slow in the bay. Once you get hooked on kings, you may well forget about walleyes in August!

[nitecrawler128]

Thanx for info Chris!!! That sure puts my guess-work to rest. I have some extra Daiwa 47's, so I'll use those. However, I'm not so sure about forgetting about walleyes if August:)? One more question... you said "if" I want to use all 10 colors... is that the norm? or do you guys usually use less than 10 colors off boards?

[The Bait Shop Guy]

I'm not so sure about forgetting about walleyes if August?

You might be surprised. A walleye doesn't do the things at the end of a line that a salmon does!

Anyway, a full "core," (10 colors,) seems to be the most popular all-round set-up. Early in the season when the water is cooler, and the fish are higher in the water column, then you can get away with 3 to 7 colors. You can fit those shorter sections of lead onto the 30's without much problem, (I run 3 colors on my 20's.)

[otee]

You may want to rethink spending lots of money on Salmon gear! The DNR is reducing Chinook plants for Delta County by 70% and over 50% for the combined plants for the north shore of Lake Michigan for 2013. The reduction in Delta County is due to low angler effort out of Fairport! Maybe they just want to get even with the people that live on the Garden Peninsula!
I fish out of Fairport and angler effort is down a little, mostly because of high fuel prices. We had good success this season for Chinook.

[finaddict]

The DNR is reducing Chinook plants for Delta County by 70% and over 50% for the combined plants for the north shore of Lake Michigan for 2013.

Otee, can you share a link for the source of the info you've posted here. I need info like this for Tuesday night meeting with the WDNR who are considering moving the menominee river chinook plants to somewhere else in WI.

Thanks

[s_h_bogeyman]

Fin:

Maybe this link will help you out. This is reduction in plants for southern Lake Michigan. I know here in South Haven we used to get over 100k chinook for our net pens. We get maybe 40k now.

http://www.outdoornews.com/August-2012/Its-official-Salmon-stocks-cut-50-percent/

Not sure what the plants look like for the UP streams into Lake Michigan.