Richard Collin Chat, ’06!
Category: chat
Feb 1st, 2006 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Feb 1st, 2006 at 12:00 AM
Slamr: MuskieFIRST Welcomes Richard Collin to our chat room, long time MuskieFIRST Pro-Staffer and guide on the mighty Ottawa River Trophymuskie: Good evening everyone Slamr: thanks for coming in Richard, since we have a smaller crowd, you can give longer, more complete answers tonight Slamr: first of all, will you tell us about the waters that you fish tuffy1: can I start????? Trophymuskie: Fire away tuffy1: Richard, when you are dragging baits, are you getting them deeper than 20′? muskyboy: Hey Richard muskyboy: discuss fishing 30 feet and higher Trophymuskie: the only time I will be using bait bellow 20′ will be in late fall or when the water temps reach the 30’s tuffy1: So most of the fish are suspended during the summer Slamr: I guess the question is, how deep are your waters? Trophymuskie: yes I may fish 30-50 FOW but my baits will be 5-15 feet down Snowcrest_6: for a guy who doesn’t troll much, what can you recommend for baits? Perch & carp forage… Trophymuskie: match the hatch is always a good start, bright colors work in both clear and dirty waters too Slamr: beyond past experiences, how are you determining the depth to fish? Trophymuskie: I guess this depend on the weather, color of water and light penetration Trophymuskie: I will fish deeper of brighter days, shallower on dark days pgaschulz: Do you mostly troll or cast or is it about even? When you troll what do you look for on your graphs first and then what do you look for second and why? Trophymuskie: I like to stack my baits and let the fish tell me what depth is best Trophymuskie: I cast more then I troll the first half of the season and the reverse for the second half tuffy1: So how would you adjust to a real hot summer like last year, vs. a cooler summer like the year before? Or doesn’t the temp affect the river fish as much as lake fish? Trophymuskie: I look for bait but we don’t see a whole lot during the summer but I still like to see fish where I am fishing. If the sonar shows no live at that depth I will move to try something else BruceKY: Richard, I have read that you like spinner baits. What are your favorites and why? I am mostly interested in casting. Trophymuskie: tuffy1: I will start shallow for sure and in the afternoon when it gets real hot I will troll deeper looking for the queen Trophymuskie: river temps are mostly the same; we don’t have a thermo cline. But I do like to fish close to deep water at all times, way back in some bays may get a lot warmer Trophymuskie: BruceKY: I cast 1.5 oz double single hooked buck tail with double Colorado blades Trophymuskie: I like to fish them in and around weeds always keeping the bait near the top and in sight Slamr: any specific reason (casting) that you are throwing spinner baits, versus in-line buck tails>? Trophymuskie: I guess when I first started I had access to spinner baits and the only inclines back then where the big Eagletails and not that easy to get Trophymuskie: I guess I always caught a lot of fish on spinner baits so why change if it is not broken Slamr: any spinner bait brands that you are using more than others? Snowcrest_6: what colors work up there? Trophymuskie: as well spinner baits can be trolled lambeau: what size blades do you prefer on your spinner baits when trolling? is there a blade difference for you at different speeds? Trophymuskie: I cast with rob dey’s a local bait maker as well as trolling the new River rats also made here locally Trophymuskie: Snowcrest_6: I like the same as everyone else, black/silver, brown/orange and fire tiger Snowcrest_6: what speeds can you get out of Dey’s spinner baits while trolling? Trophymuskie: lambeau: I use the same blades casting or trolling, they are #8 and #6. I like the lift as I mentioned I like my baits near the surface and up over the weeds Sir: what type of weeds?? tuffy1: Do you long-line them when trolling, or run them closer to the boat? Trophymuskie: Snowcrest_6: the regular dey’s I can get to 7 MPH and he make a custom triple with added weight near the line tie and I have caught fish at over 10 MPH testing them. Snowcrest_6: wow tuffy1: Man, they have to be skinnier than me after swimming that fast to grab a bait. LOL Trophymuskie: Sir: Our main weeds here is coontail with a little cabbage (very important to remember these) as well as some different type of thrash weeds Slamr: when do you cast, when do you troll? Trophymuskie: tuffy1: I prefer to have the bait within 20 feet of the boat but there are days when I have one way back there some 75 feet or so Trophymuskie: tuffy1: the funny thing is that bait was 14 inches long and the fish that grabbed it was on 31 inches long as well as having the back 2 hook inhaled. tuffy1: hungry fish Snowcrest_6: you folks have a “maximum number of baits in the water at any given time” law up there? had a guy want me to build him an umbrella rig for spinner baits a while back…interesting concept. Trophymuskie: My clients prefer to cast the first 4 months of the season so we start the day casting. If we get tired or I don’t see anything in 3 hours we will start trolling MuskieMike: 1 line per person right? Trophymuskie: We normally like to mix it up, cast fro a couple then troll a bit then cast for a couple more and so on. Except if we are getting hammered with one presentation then we will stick with it. Trophymuskie: Snowcrest_6: I actually have my own secret weapon that I call the Collin’s special. pgaschulz: Do you see allot of fishing coming out of your prop wash?? esoxlady: sure did 🙂 pgaschulz: While trolling Snowcrest_6: thank god, we can’t have those kinds of things running around loose Trophymuskie: Snowcrest_6: the laws state we are allowed 4 hooks per bait, so use your imagination and stay within 4 hooks and you’re legal. Snowcrest_6: gotcha Snowcrest_6: he’s the purple guy Slamr: per hour, which do you find more success with, casting vs. trolling? esoxlady: thank you Trophymuskie: pgaschulz: I love to catch fish in the wash; I will always have a bait in the wash. And that is if I am fishing shallow with spinner baits or deep with believers. Trophymuskie: Hello Lady Richard Collin here 😉 Jason Smith: That would be me. esoxlady: Hello- sorry I’m late Magnummusky entered the room. Jason_Smith: slamr Trophymuskie: Slamr: trolling will out produce casting 90% of the time, you just cover so much more water and your bait is in the strike zone 100% of the time. On rare occasion that the trolling bite is off and w. tuffy1: Do you throw jerkbaits much? Like suicks etc? muskyboy: Good question Joel muskyboy: Suicks work in WI trolled Snowcrest_6: how often do you troll big baits like the wishmaster, etc.? lambeau: when the trolling bite is “slow”, what do you do to keep yourself focused or enjoying yourself? Trophymuskie: tuffy1: I love jerkbaits but I use more reefhawgs, sledges or easier to work baits. I’m lazy and will use the easier working bait possible, and working with clients that may not have that much Trophymuskie: experience having them casting spinner bait is lot easier then complicated jerk bait Trophymuskie: I will use the suick types later in the year though as well as HR’s Trophymuskie: We also troll suicks and sledges along with the spinner baits. 🙂 muskyboy: Tell them about the 58 you had up on the Shaker Trophymuskie: Snowcrest_6: I only use the wishmasters late in the fall when the bigger baitfish is up. in the summer I will still run 12 inch baits but my main baits will be 10 inch Believers and such Trophymuskie: lambeau: this may be hard to believe but there is so much work to keep the boat on the weed line you won’t ever get bored. Trophymuskie: Then you have to leave the wheel and clean lines at the same time making sure you don’t crash ect ect lambeau: lol. you can see my caster’s bias come through. I DO want to learn to troll more this year…maybe somebody nearby like tuffy1 will help??? tuffy1: Anytime bud! Trophymuskie: Then in the fall when it gets windy, I have to be at the wheel 100% of the time or the boat will be off course. I then get the client to grab the wheel while I clean line and 99% of the time we are Trophymuskie: in in man’s land by then. Sir: So in the summer are you always trolling the weed lines or do you also troll the breaks? Trophymuskie: muskyboy: That big girl Steve is talking about came in real deep after a 10 inch shaker. Was a classic slow follow from way back and never did anything but take a look at my ugly mug. muskyboy: What was your biggest musky casting and what were you throwing Trophymuskie: Sir: I do both, I like the weedlines at all time but during hot summer afternoons I prefer the brakes Magnummusky has left the room. Sir: do you ever troll up on top of the weeds? Trophymuskie: muskyboy: My personal best casting was a 54 x 24 inch fish caught in late August. I was casting a white rob dey with a white 7 inch porko as a trailer Trophymuskie: I also caught her twin sister 5 minutes later on the exact same spot lambeau: how frequently do you circle back over certain productive spots? muskyboy: Wow, nice double header Trophymuskie: Sir: in the spring as the weeds are just coming up we will troll the entire flat where as we are restricted to the weed lines in the summer. Trophymuskie: We do have a couple of bays were the weed will come up to a foot or so under the surface so we can troll the entire bay. Trophymuskie: lambeau: I am a firm believer in the moon phase so on a full or new moon day I will hit my prime spots morning, noon and night Trophymuskie: Other then that I rarely ever goes back over the same spot unless I saw something real big previously. muskyboy: This October new moon, morning prime raised a 50 and afternoon prime a 58, both on the same Shaker Trophymuskie: I have not only a milk run but I have certain spots that are morning spots and others that are afternoon spots muskyboy: Do you ever night fish in the Summer by chance near the nude beach??? tuffy1: What types of baits, and what speeds are you running in the spring when trolling the flats? Trophymuskie: I like to fish different areas from day to day. What I see here today will kind of dictate what I should be doing over there tomorrow. It has been working for me so far. Trophymuskie: muskyboy: No Steve I only go down there during the day 🙂 Sir: Are rocks of any importance on the O, especially in the spring Trophymuskie: tuffy1: All spinner baits as I am fishing in 2 to 5 FOW and weeds are already started to grow. I will start at 4 MPH and work my way up as I am catching fish. tuffy1: What types of H2O temps do you have in the spring? Trophymuskie: Sir: we don’t have a lot or rock here, but the ones we have hold fish at all times Trophymuskie: tuffy1: we start off in the mid to high 60’s Trophymuskie: But I can fish a muddy tributary with temps in the mid 70’s Trophymuskie: We do have a lot of stumps in the shallows. You see when they knew the damn was going to be built they cut every tree down to nothing so we have a lot of fat short stumps. muskyboy: When do you pick up your new ocean liner??? tuffy1: What type of set ups do you use (rods and reels) Trophymuskie: Nothing to worry about as you can only hit them in less then 3 FOW but we do have logs that come out of no where though. muskyboy: More deadheads than California Trophymuskie: muskyboy: I just ordered a new Crestliner Mirage 2000 with a 225 Optimax and a 15HP bigfoot kicker. I’ll be getting it in a couple of months. Sir: Do you cast the stumps? Trophymuskie: tuffy1: I run all G-Loomis rods and Shimano reels. mostly 6’6″ jerkbaits with Calcutas 400’s for casting and trolling and 7’10 trolling rods with Tekota 600’s for fall trolling. Slamr: other than the Ottawa, what waters do you fish/guide on? Trophymuskie: Sir: Yes we cast weed beds and weed lines with stumps all over them. I can tell you my G-Loomis are solid as this 260 guy as set quite a few hook into 200Lb stumps Trophymuskie: I have a weed line next to grass that drops to 10′ and when I troll it I have to be careful not to hit the stumps with my inside rod. 🙂 Trophymuskie: Slamr: I also fish the St-Lawrance and will starts guiding there soon enough. I just want to make sure I know it as well as the Ottawa before I do. Slamr: Larry vs. Ottawa, tell us the differences, at least the basics Trophymuskie: I would rather do my searching on my own time vs. my client’s time. 🙂 Trophymuskie: Well they both are huge, the Ottawa is dirty to muddy. The larry has more clear waters that you can even see down 30′ in some places. As well you have a lot more deep weeds because of it. Jason_Smith: TM…..So when are you going to stop catching all those big fish? Slamr: how do you approach the different conditions? Trophymuskie: The larry also has more current then the Ottawa as well as bigger boats going by. I was kind of moved the first time an ocean liner pulled up a couple hundred feet next to my boat as I was trolling. Dan: What is your favorite shallow water trolling lure? Trophymuskie: Jason_Smith: I guess I’ll stop when they bury me. 🙂 Slamr: any more questions? Trophymuskie: Slamr: The larry been clearer makes it harder to fish, you have to use more long lines as well as fish it a lot deeper. Trophymuskie: Casting is much better on the Ottawa as well Slamr: does anyone actually troll the Larry? Slamr: I mean Cast Trophymuskie: Dan: Spinner baits for sure, nothing beat single hooked spinner bait in waters 10 feet or less. Dan: Big ones? Trophymuskie: Slamr: I know a few guys who cast the Larry but very few do and very few fish get caught, well at least not the monsters that get pulled out of there trolling that is. Trophymuskie: You have to cast the back bays and behind Island to stay away from the heavy currents and naturally those a re the nurseries Snowcrest_6: how hard is it to get a hold of a rob dey spinner bait? heard about ’em but never seen one. muskyboy: What trolling speed is best spring, summer and late fall in your experience MuskieMike has left the room. Trophymuskie: Snowcrest_6: You basically need an in and be patient and wait for your order Snowcrest_6: thanks Slamr: Richard, how does one get in touch with you about setting up a guide date? Trophymuskie: muskyboy: I like to start at 4 MPH in the spring and speed up to 6 MPH by late summer and gradually slow down to around 3 in late fall. Trophymuskie: Now I just don’t troll a certain speed, every lure as a preferred speed so that is why we may use different lure from spring to fall Trophymuskie: Slamr: I can easily be contacted through my website at www.trophymuskiecharters.com Slamr: MuskieFIRST thanks Richard Collin for the Chat tonight, always a pleasure, and always informative!