Yankee Troller

Saturday - Left the dock at 5:30am. We fished 125-225' about 1 mile West and the screen wasn't bad. However, we didn't take a bite for about an hour and a half. Slowly the bite picked up, and we got into some fish. Seemed like the magical hour was from 11am-1pm. Our Cannon riggers were firing at 50' with Moonshine Green Shorts Mupped, 80' with Silver Streak Green Nukes Mupped, and 100' with Familiar Bite meat. Our 400 and 500 A-TOM-MIK coppers were going with Familiar Bite meat as well. Finally, got our divers to go out 225-250' on 2 settings with a Live Wire Dreamweaver Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Pro Am fly, and a Green Nuke Dreamweaver Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Jerge fly. Sunday Morning - Clients were late by 40 minutes. We went back to the same water from Saturday, and it was on! Hit 3 on the set-up, and after that we picked at them the rest of the day. The morning we had our Cannon Downriggers going with Moonshine Green Shorts Mupped at 50', Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers at 80' Mupped, and Familiar Bite meat down 90'. Once the morning bite died, and the lake slicked off our 400 and 500 coppers pulling Familiar Bite meat became studs. Our wire divers also took their share of Salmon. They were out out 225-250' on 2 settings with a Live Wire Dreamweaver Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Pro Am fly, and a Green Nuke Dreamweaver Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Jerge fly. We fished from 6:30-12 and lost 12 Salmon, missed 4, and landed 3. We also took a rogue Brown Trout and a couple of Lake Trout. Needless to say these guys got spoiled! They weren't bad on the rods, but the fish were light biting something bad! Sunday Afternoon - Left the dock around 3pm and fished until 7pm. Had kids aboard. Knowing the long coppers were studs in the morning I couldn't not put them out. They weren't out long, and started firing, but we quickly realized this wasn't going to work. They never went back in. We had to lean on our Cannon downriggers and wire divers to do the job, and they didn't disappoint. Our big fish of the weekend (20lbs) came half way through this trip on a wire diver out 225' pulling a Green Nuke Dreamweaver Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Jerge fly. Our riggers were also firing with a Moonshine Green Shorts Mupped at 50', and Silver Streak Green Nukes Mupped at 70-80'.

We run 25lb McCoy Mean Green mainline all season. In the Spring when running spoons we leader down to 15lb McCoy Fluoro 100. Come late Spring, Summer, and Fall we run 20lb McCoy Fluoro 100 unless we are running bid paddles. If it's 8" Spin Doctors and E-Chips we don't bother stripping off the 20lb Fluoro because many times we are adjusting between spoons and flasher/flys. As crazy as it sounds my confidence level goes way down with a spoon tied to a 25lb Mono mainline.

Chad's working on it.

This ^^^ However as of this weekend it really wasn't set up good for BT with no real breaks on the inside for them. That can change in a day though.

Side scan, down scan, and 360 are more for looking at/for structure. 2D sonar is still the best for trolling while looking for fish and bait.

I know you do Brian, and yes fish come up under wires all the time. Especially on my boat the way I have it rigged (different than most). I'm just stating it would be a nice tool to have to figure out why your divers/coppers are dead going West vs going East. I also think the size of the probe (TINY) is nicer than the other manufacturers that are on the market. Still can't figure out why all of these probes are so big still.

Who cares!?!?!? You know where it's at! Even if it's a 1' or 2' higher because the probe is on there??? Copper runs different when you run a spoon, 8" paddle, 10" paddle, 11" paddle, and oh yea lets get the brand in there because some whip bigger circles than others. Now throw current in there, and let that affect your dive curve.

I think you're being a little ignant Scott. It's not cheap, but a pressure sensor is a pressure sensor. Knowing where lures are at can put more fish in the boat. You really need to be more open minded buddy.

I've watched the Smart Troll over the last 2 or 3 seasons. It had some issues in the beginning, but I think they are finally figured out. I fished on a boat this Spring and we used it. I was very impressed. This unit isn't for everyone, but watching how your divers fluctuate on turns, and knowing exactly where they are is impressive. Especially, if you are putting them near the floor. If you're worried about cracking these off then you should be more concerned with the equipment you're using, and the people handling it. Carl is also correct when saying you need to be able to use the data effectively. For tourney fishing I think this is a great tool to make you more efficient. The average weekend warrior maybe not.

The difference last year is we never had the Spring bite in the Niagara region, and it never showed all season consistently anywhere. Then we saw the poor returns in the rivers. This season we had over a month of slaughter in the Niagara region this Spring. They are out there! Well, they were......lots ended up in coolers. LOL

Cool video! Nice job getting into some fish too!

Congrats on the fish! Good luck with the rest. Gotta love these boats!

We were the first boat out of port because we knew it was going to be a bumpy afternoon. Only saw 3 other boats out and they were all charter boats. We fished a break that went from 63 to 57 on the 28-29 line. The bite was in the top 30'. Fist fish out there was a Salmon, next few were a great class of Steelbows. We picked up one over and one under Coho, and then we almost got spooled on a slide diver. Would have liked to see that fish! Most shots came on short wire divers 50-70'. Our stud was a Moonshine Carbon 14 on a 50' diver set on a 2.5. Not a great bite, and tough fishing conditions with the waves from the East. Stuck it out offshore until 11:30. Everyone else bailed, so we were out there solo. Had 6 in the box, lost 1, and tossed back a few shorts. On the way in we realized the inside water were fish-able, so we looked for some Brown Trout, and in an hour went 1 for 2 on them with a great specimen to show for. Spoons that took shots: Carbon 14 DW Sea Sick Waddler Stinger Wonderbread Stinger UV Caramel Dolphin Stigner UV NBK