The rod is the most overlooked piece of a Great Lakes salmon trolling setup. Anglers obsess over reels, downriggers, and spoons, then put it all on a rod that’s wrong for the application — too stiff, too short, or built for the wrong line type. The result is missed strikes, broken-off fish, and a trolling…

Line counter reels are the precision instruments of Great Lakes trolling. Unlike a standard conventional reel, line counters track the exact amount of line you’ve let out, displayed on a digital or mechanical counter on top of the reel. That means when you find the bite at “82 feet behind the rigger,” you can repeat…

Planer boards do something downriggers can’t: they take your lure away from the boat. While downriggers put your line directly below the boat at a specific depth, planer boards push the line 50 to 150 feet out to the side. This matters for two reasons. First, it dramatically widens your search lane — instead of…

Trolling spoons are the foundation of Great Lakes king salmon fishing. Spend any time on a charter boat out of Manistee, Ludington, or Sheboygan and you’ll see the same three or four brands cycling through the rotation: Moonshine, Michigan Stinger, Dreamweaver, with a few regional favorites in the mix. The reason is simple — these…

Downriggers are the single most important piece of equipment in Great Lakes salmon fishing. By July, kings are 80–120 feet down. Coho are 40–70 feet down. Lake trout are deeper still. Without downriggers, you simply cannot put a lure where the fish are. Lead core line and copper get you there with limitations; dipsy divers…

Coho salmon are the most willing biters in the Great Lakes salmon family. They hit aggressively, chase faster than kings, and tolerate a wider range of lure presentations. That doesn’t mean any lure works — there’s a specific arsenal that produces consistently, and the brands that own coho fishing are different from the brands that…