LongLine

What you hear on the radio & what is official may be different things: Devil's advocate: 1. Would you believe him? Some boat scales don't agree with the official weigh-in scale. 2. Some contests require a 20 Lb Salmon in order to enter them anyway. If you release him, how much longer do you expect he's going to live? 3. There's always 2nd, 3rd, 4th....place. Sometimes there's quite a difference between 1st & 10th. 4. How'd you feel if that "20 lb'r" was DQ'd at weigh-in? 5. What if that was a Brown trout that he caught & not an Atlantic like he thought? Tom B. (LongLine)

Guessing prime or impeller problem. Tom B. (LongLine)

Yes 12 Lb fish should take you down to that depth nicely. Just make sure they're running true. Tom B. (LongLine)

Happy Birthday Nalod. Tom B. (LongLine) Nolad...Nalod...Nolad...Nalod...? Must be that Kay Roziatek guy again.

Glad you made it out of that situation safely. 99% of the boaters watch where their going however some bigger boats can't see (or won't look) over their bows. I've found that if you get your camera out & flash them a couple times when they're a couple 100 yds off, they sometimes will notice it out of the corner of their eyes. I hope someone finds him. Tom B. (LongLine)

Welcome to the site. Actually there's a lot of us 18 ft'rs on board. (Keep your eye on the weather) Tom B. (LongLine)

Good luck & make sure you check in. Wouldn't want you to have to go out & get Yankee III. Tom B. (LongLine)

Are you wired direct to the battery? Should be. Tom B. (LongLine)

1st looks like interference. (maybe from GPS or satellite signal) 2nd looks like a split screen and that frequency is picking up your dipsey. Most probable that a cross current has pushed that dipsey and some wire into the edge of the cone. Next time you see it, make a turn, speed up, put it in neutral or pop it loose & see if it moves. (watch out if you pop it loose - a fish may grab it) Bait generally looks like a cloud or an "Ink blot." Tom B. (LongLine)

I don't know much about the 310's as I only use the 320's. Here's an article by Alantani, who has to be the ultimate guru of reel-repair. http://www.stripersonline.com/forum/thr ... ti-rebuild H.I.H. Tom B. (LongLine)

I thought about putting the ladder over the side, doning the lifejacket & tying myself to the boat with a rope...luckily my second thought was that I shouldn't try to outdo my previous stunt. Tom B. (LongLine)

Probably "down-welling". i.e. got hot quick. That's a smelt. Tom B. (LongLine)

Welcome to the site. Tom B. (LongLine)

Happy BD - BF! Tom B. (LongLine)

Fishing Report LongLine Launched at dawn. Couple guys pulling out – they got some night fishing in. Clear with south waves on the river. Here’s a look back. Here’s a look forward. Winds out of SW. Little choppy. Maybe 1 ½ ft’rs with an occasional “wake-up†wave. Just enough to make handling a small boat solo a little tricky. Anyways, left the channel; took a left & went out to 160 FOW. Plan was to work 160-230 FOW off Russell. Found 54F with 75 ft of cable out. Almost immediately hit two shakers with NK Wnderbrd. GPS said 3.0, Moor said 2 ¼, Lowrance surface said 1.2 mph. Who knows? I was going North though & I’m sure the wind pushed me more off Summerville. About 220, ran into this guy same depth, lure, speed, direction. (75 down) Turned around & headed back shallower, aiming towards Russell. Just on a whim, last week, I retied a No-see-um with purple beads and a 12†lead. Having it behind a clown dodger, at 200 FOW , ran into this guy at 55 down on the shallow rigger All were nice clean fish. Not bad for only a couple hours of fishing. Now for the “Stupid Human Trickâ€: With that wind, I couldn’t hold the Rainbow over the side, for very long, to revive him, so I did the deep six thing....he went belly up. Seeing this I thought I better go back & get him. Unfortunately, a strong gust of wind suddenly swung the boat around and I hadn’t cleared the deep rigger with the probe on it. You guessed it, the rigger kicked. Luckily, by the time I finished my “expletive deleted†I had thrown it in neutral & killed it. Raising the engine up revealed the cable was wrapped 4 times around the prop. Luckily it wasn’t cut. I was able to reach the cable with a boat hook but it was painful to pull it in by hand. (14 Lb plus probe) so I discovered that two pair of needle nose pliers can be used to pull it up rather easily & not cut the heck out of your hands. Got the probe & weight in but had to cut the cable to get it off the prop. Thankfully the Cannon people put a decent clutch on those riggers & no other damage was done. (LongLine 1 – Rainbow 1) So with 90 ft of cable in the bottom of my boat, that tricky wind & feeling really stupid at never doing that before (in well over 40 yrs of fishing), I called it a day & headed in. (I did do a couple of circles though & that fish had gone under.) Back on the trailer at 8:30. Maybe 10 trailers in the lot. Water level at the launch is now just perfect! Luck to all Tom B. (LongLine)

I didn't mean to change the subject from clipped fish to preyfish assesment but here's their report on how they do the assessment: http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_ ... 0part1.pdf Tom B. (LongLine)

Vince The preyfish assessment is predicated on the assumption that the alewives are randomly distributed throughout the lake. I've proposed to the DEC that perhaps they are not & have been met with "quizzical" looks. My reasoning is to look at the fishing reports for most of the year of East end vs West end. While it is true that more guys fish west, hence more get caught there but the question is why do more guys fish there? (rhetoriclly - more fish caught???) I believe the Niagara is a big magnet not only for the predators but for the prey as well. Also check out how deep East enders go vs West enders. (and the temp differences) And finally, look at my sonar in the central area. (yes I find pods, but nothing of the size of a couple years ago) Additionally, DEC said there was a shift in alewife population a few years back, towards deeper water. But in the next few paragraphs of their report they say that the alewife population deeper than (I believe) 450 FOW hasn't changed significantly over the years. This tells me that the zone where alewives live has been compressed, but only on the shore-ward side. This also weighs against the random distribution theory. An interesting point on Lakers: If there is Nat repro, does anyone realize what kind of "mongrels" they'd be. I mean look at the latest report, as to where they've come from in the last 10 yrs. I mean big ones, short ones, fat ones, skinny ones, deep guys, & everything in between. Regardless: Tom B. (LongLine)

Lakers actually doing a lousey job on the Nat Repro front. Those (Nat & stocked) that survive get huge. DEC determines stocking policy with input from other agencies. It's based upon predator-prey-ecosystem balance. No one wants to repeat the Huron disaster, however just about everyone recognizes Ontario is a different ecosystem. (NY politicians only determine funding for overall DEC.) Salmanoid fishing brings in a lot of money to the local economies. Laker restoration is a Fed program - State only helps out with putting them in. DEC has it in their charter about listening to stakeholders. There'd be a riot if King stocking was cut without tremendously solid scientific proof it was required. IMO, that includes long term survival rates. As to repro sites, only SR, Credit are widely known. I'm willing to bet that there are a couple other smaller ones that are being kept under wraps. Tom B. (LongLine)

Anytime you see this on the lake, it is an area with a temperature difference. It may only show up on the surface as a couple tenths of a degree, however down a ways there will be some interesting temperature changes. If you check out the article section, I posted a few interesting pictures years ago where the temp change (density) actually caused some waves to break as the areas collided. Tom B. (LongLine)

Natural repro of Kings in Lake Ontario was first observed by NYSDEC back in 1998. There have been many studies by respectable academia concerning it. Most suggest that Nat repro is highly variable from year to year and can range anywhere from 7-85% (seven to ninety). This is why the current 5 yr undertaking with the marking trailer is so important. It should give a pretty good glimpse of what is going on out there. Also the Canadians (MNR) have documented it on some of their rivers a few years ago. However we do have to remember that it will only be a 5 yr "snapshot". If you look at the Annual reports that DEC publishes, they really do not publisize yearly results when they talk about restoration or about preyfish, rather they talk about long term averages. i.e. 10 yr. If you dig into the data, you can see some pretty good swings. You also have to look at other specie. Couple/3 yrs ago, some wild Atlantics were netted by DEC in the SR & last year was probably the best Atlantic year in our lifetimes. This year isn't nearly as good for them. Back to Kings, this year, I've only caught 16 Kings so far and nothing over 15 Lbs, but 12 have had their adipose fins fully intact. I interpret this as either the Marking trailer had some horrible QC issues or Nat Repro really jumped this year. But again that is only this year. Another thing to remember is that research always sprouts more questions. The 1st question that has to be answered is to what degree is Nat Repro happening & where; and then secondly what is the survival rate? Tom B. (LongLine)

WTG Chad Tom B. (LongLine)

I would'a helped you out with some thoughts but what the heck is a pota-boat? Got a pic? Tom B. (LongLine)

Fishing Report LongLine Launched early again. Very slight Easterly wind and very clear. Headed out & just slightly west, putting in at 120FOW & worked out to 210, back & around. Currents & Temp down 70 very stable in the 120-140 FOW range, totally wacky in the 150 range then stable again after 170. Anyways, first thing was a double of this Laker & a clipped shaker at 125 FOW. Down 70 (LT) and down 50. NK28 Wonderbread & Bloody Blk/Silvr R&R. Into the stable water and around 190FOW, again down 70 & found this 15# wild one. (Wndrbrd) Back into 150FOW & 80 down ran into this guy on the R&R. (Bow) Strange to catch a Bow below a Laker....(Everything released, wild count now stands at 12 out 16) Thermocline very narrow. 1/4 mph would raise down temp 5 deg. Some boats working off the ponds, looked like most working 90 to 150 FOW. Fleas are now in season. Off at 10:30. Got warm out there & slight wind shift to NE. Luck to all, Tom B. (LongLine)