LongLine

Larry - you mean you don't want to know if a fish swims at 30 mph through the dense water then jumps into the less dense air then back into the water, how high does his splash go???? Chris - Might be algae, might be mold, might be something leaching out of the plastic but I'd bet mold from humidity & temp changes. I would not spray it with WD-40. WD-40 has a solvent component that will attack plastics & rubber over time. A silicone lubricant or even graphite might protect it over the winter though. (I take mine off and store it in the house over the winter) Tom B. (LongLine)

LG - I was one of the 350 boats off the genny in those years. I remember the Rev. Modish winning the 1st one with a 5 Lb salmon that captured a 14ft aluminum boat. It went from being a Monroe county sponsored thing to a private thing then was sold again when the originator passed away. (Dick Schlyer...sp) And I'm still miffed at Monroe County & the City of Rochester for not stepping up to it. Tom B. (LongLine)

Yes, it is true that you don't know exacty what the lure is doing all the time. Sometimes you really need to borrow Ray's mask. The advantage to the probe is that it is down there where your lure is. It's the closest thing we have to measuring & monitoring the speed of the lure and that's what we're trying to catch a fish with. The answer to your last question is "all of the above." I run my probe off the port side rigger. I have my surface paddlewheel mounted on the starboard side. When I'm trolling the bays and turn to port, my probe speed decreases slightly and my surface speed increases slightly. When I turn to starboard the exact opposite happens. I can also see the rigger cable angles change slightly. Out on the lake, where you have currents and sometimes multiple depth currents, IMO, the best way to troll is the old zig-zag type pattern (especially with rigg'rs). Simply becasue one side speeds up & the other slows down. Changes in you boats direction in relation to the current direction out on the lake will add to the effect. I.E. really speed up or really slow down. Through out all of this you have to remember what Einstein said about being relative. Lure action or the way a lure wobbles is always in relation to it's speed relative to the water it is in. It can be standing still but the water flow past it can give it action. If you're standing on the Hamlin State Parkway bridge over Sandy creek after a heavy rain and dangling a flatfish in the creek, chances are that it will wobble like crazy. In relation to you it is not moving at all. In relation to the water it's going a million mph because the water flow over it is traveling at a million mph. (driftboaters do this all the time) Out on the lake, if you change your trolling direction into the current, you lure's action will increase as the speed relationship between the water and the lure increases. If you turn and go with the current, the lures action will decrease as the lure's speed relationship with the water decreases. The easiest way to think of it is that the probe speed is actually a resultant of both the boat speed and the current speed. Larry - But if you're looking at if from the Andromeda galaxy, we're standing still. Good night, Tom B. (LongLine)

Yes, the lure is acting like the speed the probe says it is. Now if both units are calibrated exactly the same, in your example you are trolling with a 0.5 mph current. The way to verify this is simply to turn in another direction, maintain the gps speed and see what the probe now says. i.e turn back to the south & your probe should show 3.5 mph. (note: this won't be as exact with a surface paddlewheel speed indicator as there are surface currents, boat drag, etc, also that there are arguments over the accuracy of GPS, boat bouncing up & down & all that good stuff) No system is going to be perfectly accurate so as has been said, the important thing is to realize what your lure is doing at the speeds that your probe is showing (regardless of the scale or calibration) & be able to repeat that reading when the last fish hit. Tom B. (LongLine)

45 miles up a dirt road to get to a 100 yd long paved launch? Probably time to replace the bearings on that side anyway...and the axle...and the fender...and the lights... Tom B. (LongLine)

What happened???? Did this thread die? Tom B. (LongLine)

FF - Yes. Trolling 2.5 (GPS) into a 2.5 mph down current will give you a down reading of 5 mph. If you're trolling with the current, your down speed will go to zero. That is why you'll generally find guys trolling faster (GPS) going down stream than up stream. Also, that's how you tell if you're traveling with, against or across a current. IE different downspeed readings with a constant GPS speed. Ray -That's what started the flasher craze. Someone tied their shivies to the cable using stacked offshore releases. or...maybe...that was "buffy" fishing? Chris - Thanx. Vaseline might work. Any idea how long before it washes off? Tom B. (LongLine)

Einstein said it best: "It's all relative." (But what his brother-in-law had to do with it is still being debated.) From the perspective of someone standing on the shore, both boat & probe are going the same speed and direction. The probe neither gets in closer nor further away from the boat. The paddle wheel on the down probe spins faster or slower (into or with the current) than a paddle wheel on the surface. Picture this: you're driving your car down the road at 20 mph holding a flag inside the car with your windows rolled up. The flag doesn't flap around. (just like holding a lure in the boat...no action) Now hold the flag out of the window. It flaps like a "sun of a gun" behind the car. (dragging the lure behind the boat...it has lots of action) Now imagine this: you're riding the brakes to only go 20 mph with a 50 mph tailwind & you hold the flag out the window. The flag flaps ahead of the car. If there's only a 20 mph tailwind, then the flag won't flap at all. If there happens to be a crosswind then the flag will flap across the car. In all these cases your car and the flag are traveling down the highway in the same direction and speed, especially to the cop watching you and trying to figure out if you're drunk or just enjoying the summer festival, however the flag is flapping at different speeds & directions relative to your wrist which is probably real sore from holding the flag out the window. The trick is to find which "flap speed" attracts the fish best. HIH Tom B. (LongLine) ps maybe a better example would be to watch the pennant flying from your boat in different wind conditions (tail wind, headwind etc)...however it's getting a little late to retype this whole thing.....

Nice pics. That 4th one a cat? Tom B. (LongLine)

In the middle of the night or during a solar eclipse? Tom B. (LongLine)

rooky - Welcome to the board. Check out the article section for what I did. (Use a good straight dry 2 x 8" then paint the heck out of it) Tom B. (LongLine)

Try the open lake buoys. They give the hourly readings. (scroll down the page) http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=45012 Tom B. (LongLine)

. For anyone who doesn’t recognize it, the statue in front of the LOU Hq bldg is ReelJerks Happy B’Day Mark Tom B. (LongLine)

Welcome aboard. Would like to see the video. So how do you catch them out there? Tom B. (LongLine)

Hello Jordan, welcome aboard. Tom B. (LongLine)

Happy B'day Hank. Tom B. (LongLine)

Welcome aboard Ken. (That's a walleye, not a pickerel...nice fish) Tom B. (LongLine)

Welcome Paul. Plenty of things with gills & fins on Big-O. Don't worry about the wifey-money thing....just hide the receipts, buy her some flowers, trade her in for a bigger boat . (hope mine doesn't see what I just wrote... ) Tom B. (LongLine) p.s. just playing with the wifey thing

Welcome Jason. Looks like you're all ready to "haul" some kings onboard. Please let us know how it's going in the NW. Tom B. (LongLine)

Welcome aboard Dennis. You'll definitely have experiences on Big-O. Gheck out the threads and Good Luck. Tom B. (LongLine)

Penn has a GT-321 that is the left handed version of the GT-320. (like $220 at Cambell's) I use 320's & think they're great. Tom B. (LongLine)

FB7 – Go to a site like this for your area and find the nearshore temp: (bottom of page) http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn ... loz043.txt Then go to this site and click on the different times shown (backward) to get an idea what is happening. Also go to forecasts & check out what they think is going to be happening. http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/glc ... pe=N&hr=00 It’s usually not a matter of the lake flipping but rather local upwellings Tom B. (LongLine)

Watch what/who you're grabing there matey, arggh Tom B. (LongLine) That was great Ray

WTG Jack. Love the solo stuff. Tom B. (LongLine)

OT - Now that is a dream job. Do you actually get paid for doing that? (I'm jealous.) Taking the canal or the Seaway? Tom B. (LongLine)