Capt. John's Trolling Cheat Sheet
Capt. John King's key trolling numbers in one printable table, taken from his articles and fishing logs. For the full month-by-month playbook, see the Lake Michigan Trolling Guide.
| Topic | Situation | Capt. John's number or rule |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Deep meat and attractors, mid-day | 1.5–2.0 mph |
| Speed | Calm water, deep summer Kings | 1.2–1.4 mph |
| Speed | Typical summer trolling | ~2.0 mph; down to 1.2 while fighting a fish |
| Speed | Salmon Buster spoons | 2.0–2.6 mph sweet spot (works 1.2–3.0+) |
| Speed | Surface spoons off boards | 2.5 mph GPS speed over ground (works 1.5–3+) |
| Speed | Whole bait | Pull a slight bend at 2.2 mph and slower; bait rolls, never twirls |
| Temperature | King "preferred" range | 50–54°F (caught from the high 50s down to 38°F) |
| Temperature | Meat "magic" zone | 38–44°F |
| Temperature | Eaters vs. biters (late summer) | Eaters deep in 52–38°F swallow meat; biters higher in 55–70°F get chin-hooked on flies |
| Depth | Morning to mid-day shift | 7am at ~60' (50–54°F) moves to 100'+ (38–44°F) by 10am |
| Depth | 300' of 45# copper | Fishes ~60' at 2 mph |
| Riggers | 100' rule | Depth + lead = 100 (60' down/40' back, 70' down/30' back) |
| Riggers | 80–120' down | Deepest 10–15' lead, middle 20–25', highest 30–40'; 15' between rigger depths |
| Riggers | 150–200' down | Tighten all leads to 10–12' |
| Releases | Rubber bands | Break at 4.3–4.4 lb with 18–30" stretch; double bands past 100'; set release arm to at least 4 lb |
| Releases | When a rigger fires | Leave the rod in the holder and reel up slack (deeper than 70') |
| Divers | Wire Dipsy | Setting 1.5–2.5, big ring, 100–250' out; 30# 7-strand stainless on 1,000' spools |
| Divers | Braid | 35# braid (.010"); mono backing; 15–30' of 30# mono leader on Slide Divers; never braid straight to a flasher |
| Divers | Super Snubber | 4–8 lb pull sweet spot; stretches 12" to ~36" at 50 lb |
| Fly leaders | Rule of thumb | 2.5× attractor length (John ran about 2×) |
| Fly leaders | 10" BTI flasher | 16" spring Coho; 20–25" July–August Kings |
| Fly leaders | 12" flasher | 36–42" |
| Fly leaders | Material | Stiff 40–50#; inspect the last 6" after every fish |
| 2-fly meat rig | Spacing | 12" bead chain to 1st fly, 12" to 2nd fly, swivel, 14–15" to the Magnum meat head |
| Fly building | Body | 3–3.5" Mylar, reverse lay; five 8mm beads for bead drop; VMC 9650 1/0 |
| Hooks | Flies and meat rigs | Double snelled VMC trebles for short strikers; sharpen every hook, new ones included |
| Hooks | Salmon Buster spoons | #1 treble on the 4.0, 1/0 on the 4.65; VMC 9649 light wire for jumping fish |
| Bait | Herring sizes | Orange 4–5" (Magnum heads); Red 5–6" and Green 6–7" (Super Mag heads) |
| Bait | Big-fish bait | Every 30 lb+ King in John's charter career hit a 4–5" bait |
| Bait | Brine | A handful of Borax + a handful of kosher salt per large jar of water; keep cold; reuse bait |
| Bait | Frozen shelf life | Prime ~3 years, usable ~4; break the vacuum seal when thawing |
| Surface | Keel weight depth | 3/8 oz = 3–4'; 1/2 oz = 4–6'; 5/8 oz = 5–7'; 1 oz = 5–10' |
| Surface | Board leads | Big boards 150' flat / 125' ripple / 100' chop; inlines 70–100'; 3–4 lines per side, equal lengths |
| Surface | Line | 20# main, 15# leader; keel weight 5'+ ahead of a plain snap |
| Season | King peak | About the 3rd week of August |
| Season | Attractor colors | Whites and chrome early; glow from the 2nd–3rd week of July |
| Season | Spring timing | Lilacs in full bloom at a port = spring Kings are on |
| Season | Best fall window | First week of October for big-lake Steelhead, seas permitting |
| Expectations | A good trip | 2–4 fish on a 3–4 hour evening; 1 fish an hour beats the Michigan charter average |
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