chinook

J.D., it is called "2 foot itus" the boat is always 2 foot to short. The one thing you have going for you is that your better half is game. As you stated, many fish are taken from small boaters. My first boat was a 16 foot Starcraft. I took alot of fish from it as well. But on many days it was limited to mother nature however. You would have the peace of mind fishing from a little larger vessel as well. Irregardless, whether you buy new or used, which there are many very good used boats out there, best of luck if you decide to purchase.

Slider, first and foremost, thanks for your service to our country. May God bless you and your family. Second, welcome to a great site that has a wealth of info from many who are willing to share. So as the saying goes, no question is a dumb question. Only the one that goes unasked. I'm sure there are many who will help you out in this endeavor. Lastly, wise move getting the boat over the bike.

Mick, without seeing your swivel mount, I can only make a recommendation for what it is worth. If you are sure that all holes will miss the current holes, you could use a drill such as (.271) for drilling and tapping for a 5/16-24 This is a fine thread which is what you would want. As Tom mentioned, use stainless flatheads and Loctite for extra security. Depending on how much material is left between the current holes and the ones you would need, I'd still think about patching the obsolete, and flat file to solidify the wall thickness between holes. Only a suggestion.

Tom, you pretty well described what I had in mind if Mick decided not to JB weld his current swivel mount. Thanks for your followup. I refered to it as a spacer or subplate if you prefer. If you do use aluminum, go with 6061. Drilling this is rather easy, but use a punch to center on location if free handing.

Guys, being in manufacturing myself, I hate to see prices raise as much as the next guy. However, with the flucuating prices of raw materials and petro,- fuel surcharges and such, that is what unfortunately we must expect. The prices of some materials, is like playing the stock market. A confirmation of this can be try checking what some scrap metals are going for. Anyways, reeldiel, best of luck if you decide to make the plunge. In all honesty, I agree with you that those seem out of line, but with all things considered and mentioned, I don't see any deflation in sight.

Mick, owning as machine shop, I don't like to patch anything. However, in your situation you may want to use JB weld and plug the old holes and drill and retap to adapt using the Cannon as a template. Using wood is not to be even considered as you stated. I won't be up to Pt. Breeze until possibly the spring L.O.C. If you could wait, I would make you an aluminum spacer's' to adapt at no charge to you. That is depending I can get up there then. If not, I'm sure I'll be there in the month of May at some point in time. Maybe some one else has other ideas.

Don't get caught up in the fact that dodgers should only wobble side to side.We have taken many targets when the dodger has in fact been spinning at times. The old school of thought was that they(dodgers) should only go side to side, however there are now those who have found out otherwise. One way to test this is to use a thumper rig down the chute keeping an eye on the rod tip. Look for what one would consider a thumping action, this is where the dodger itself is going side to side.If this rod is not active, try increasing speed slightly, again the rod tip would then have a more pronounced pulsating action, which now it is spinning on occasion. If this then triggers strikes, try to replicate. But just to clarify, start out with dodgers on the slower side,-2.3-2.6 G.P.S. (obviously there are variables)but don't be surprised if rods are active at a higher clip. Having said that, flashers do take a ton of fish. My go to flasher rig is a pearl fishscale 11'' Coyote with a glow frog head with red eyes, pulling meat. If I were limited to only one rod come August this would have to get the nod. Nothing in this fishing is guaranteed, but most of the times this rig is as close as you are going to get. So, both dodgers and flashers have their moments. Alot of it has to do with what you are confident in running. Both will take their share of fish, just have to figure that out when that presents itself. That is what makes this sport interesting.

I use the Fish Hawk, which I'm satisfied with it. I know that some have said about the amount of batteries it uses. Apparently, I got a good one, for using a duracell, I only go thru a couple a year, and I put alot of time on the water. However, having said that, If I was going to replace my speed and temp, I'd look pretty hard at the Depth Raider. Have read some very good reports on this unit. -On a side note, If one could look into the archives, I said in a post in the middle of July last year that there would be salmon in Oak Orchard by Labor day weekend, which there was. As Mick stated, each year is different with mother nature dictating when these fish will run. We noticed kings last year with empty stomachs in July and starting to turn.

Bill. I use a 105 qt. Gott with a split lid. But then I don't keep that many, whenever I feel I can release. With you chartering however, I'd go with the 150 split lid. Also the dimpled will not affect putting on a vinyl graphic. That is what exactly I have on mine.

Also own a Chevy Silverado 2500 H.D. Pull my 24' Penn Yan as well as my 29' trailer that is pushing 10,000 lbs. This truck does an awesome job, only thing I regret that it is with the 4.10. I believe that is standard however with the H.D. My next truck will be a H.D. as well, for it has been very reliable with close to 75,000 miles on it.

First off, why is it that you don't fish any deeper than 35 feet? There are times, when if you want to consistantly take silvers, that you will have to concentrate deeper than that. Such as when we get usually a leading edge of a high pressure system with sustained winds out of the N.W. This will shove preferred temps ( 42-54) to depths of over 100 feet and deeper. Having said that, and picking up on what Glen mentioned, let the fish tell you want they want on a particular day. This is when the thermocline has developed. How? Usual starting set up for us, would be 3 riggers set at 42, around 48 and 56 degrees. All of these will have fixed cheaters with leads of app. 6 feet. The leads off the ball will range from 5 feet off the deep set to around 30 feet off the high rigger. Off the sides, will be 2 wire divers set to catch what depth I feel where the targets should be located due to temp and where bait is being seen. At least one core off the side with an in-line targeting those higher riding steelies, and giving me a longer stealth approach to my set up. We usually fish with 3 so this gives me my 6 rod legal spread. If fishing 1 more person, another core goes in, along with a thumper rod. So the morning starts off with a core firing, more than any other rod. Wire divers are cold, but also you took a shot on your highest set rigger set at 30 back. The fish now are telling you to run longer leads behind any disturbance, albeit a rigger ball. So now you want to pull a wire diver, and possibly employ a slide mono diver into the mix. If pattern continues, then possibly add another until this drys up. On the flip side of this. Say the deep set fires with a tight lead, or the fixed cheaters are taking shots, the fish are now in a more aggressive mood. This is when your wire divers should also be active, if not then start changing that set up. So in conclusion, sorry this is so long. To limit yourself to a depth of 35 feet and up, is often handicapping yourself. There will be times when this will happen. Spring time, or after a hard N.E. wind that will flip the lake, after the cline sets up,among others. Head offshore and find some warmer water and fish that. But lastly don't limit yourself to a particular depth, not only does each day change, but also by the hour.

ReelDiel, thanks . I'm glad someone else thought it may be worthwhile. I felt if there was enough interest, that we the members of this board may provide enough funds to supply 1 pen, be it at the Genny, Hamlin or where ever. At $20.00 per boat, that would be roughly 75 needed. Also, not being locked into 1 day, would allow hopefully for the small boaters to take place as well. Lastly, being for the duration of the summer L.O.C. would give a lake wide chance, at different ports thru out the lake itself, and just not to those whose port is lighting it up at one particular time. Anyways, thought I'd throw this out, but for all the more responses thus far, maybe others feel it wouldn't be worth it.

Stix, I put a post over a month ago that drew little response, about the members of this board and a derby for such. It could consist of an entry fee to be decided, that would in turn go to a determined site or sites for the penrearing projects. If entry fee was at $20.00, which would be open for discussion of course, with most if not all proceeds going back into the fishery. As far as bragging rights, the derby would run from the dates of the summer( May -July inclusive) L.O.C- ESLO for the largest king that was taken. Weights could be confirmed thru the certified scales, thus those who partake should have a handle on what it would take to challenge for the lead. Any other ideas?

Speaking of red, I've been using a large red "bubble" eye on most of my go to spoons, such as spooks, laser spooks, 42 second, glow frogs among others, for many years now. Also, put red bubble eyes on our meat heads,mostly glow frogs, purple and blues. Lastly, another red spoon the 51 Chevy first taped by Mike Ayotte from the Captains Cove is another one to try deeper than most would think. This spoon has been on fire before at depths of over 80 feet and deeper.

Have a friend who bought 4 when they first came out. He found out as Billy and others have mentioned (here and on the GLA site), that fleas were a problem for him as the tip would sometimes load up. He put his away when fishing infested waters. Asked him for his opinion,which I value highly for I thought about purchasing several myself, and he didn't think they were worth it. He did say that they stored nice with no guides, but felt the flea issue outweighed that benefit. Just one mans' opinion however.

Have to agree with nyforests. GFR9 for a body bait. As far as a spoon, Pirate 44, 5 of diamonds would be my first spoon choice off a board.

Penn Yan 20, as others have said, hope for the best of health to you. Lost my best friend to pancreatic cancer 3 years ago. He was just getting ready to retire, when they found it in stage 4. Fished with him for over 20 years on the great lakes. If you're wanting to get out on the boat sometime, you are always welcome to fish with us out of the Oak. Take care.

Machine shop Co-Owner, along with being a machinist, foreman and estimator.

Steve, Cabelas' advertises the Mag. 5 HS with a 24" heavy duty boom. Also, the lack of a swivel base is irrelevent when fishing straight off the back and not using them as an outdown. I haven't seen the new models as of yet however. I'm saying for the money compared to a Vector that they would be worth looking at. Also, they claim to be able to pull a 20 # weight which in itself is impressive to me.

Years ago a friend was thinking of a name as well, some that he liked but never took were, - Watt knot 2 Dew Crew, Empty Cooler, and -In2fishin

Ray, I'm sure that Hans was just giving Reel Bob a hard time on his spelling. There was no disrespect intended, I'm sure. Wanted to touch on one clarification, is that the 80's seen some mighty fine fishing days. Stocking levels were at 3.5 mil. salmonids at one time, from just for the state of N.Y. Then the baitfish crash of the early 90's, along came stocking reductions to 1.0 mil, then with the outbreak of Whirling Disease at Caledonia, all salmon were raised at Altmar, from the Salmon River. This is when fishing from the Oak and other ports, mainly those not in Mexico Bay saw some tough fishing days. Most of the salmon that were stocked in the weatern basin streams found their way back to the Salmon river, come spawning time, for they were imprinted upon release to that stream. After some time of seeing this same occurance each fall, Bob Songin and others decided to look into penrearing at the Oak, not knowing what the future would hold for this effort. Obviously, history has shown that the efforts are well worth the investment. But it does come with a price, through many hours of volunteer help and financial donations, especially from those of us who like this sport. Thanks for sending your check, and sometime when you don't want to haul your boat to the Oak, you're welcome to fish with us.

Since there isn't a 45-50 catagory, some of us don't qualify:( Anyways, I'm 48.

Reel Bob, thanks for the update. Keep us posted here or on the oak site about when the pens will be put in. I know last year it was about several weeks earlier than years past. Anyways, I put a check in the mail today for the Oak project. Usually sent it to Mike at Captains' Cove, for I knew he got it to the proper people in charge. But since he's now retired he's probably in warmer climates Also, as I made mentioned and Jerry touched on, all the projects no matter where they are located on the lake, enhances the entire fishery. So whether we are just a rec fisherman, charter captains, trib fishermen or just those who want to be supportive of a worthwhile project, get involved somehow. Lastly, Jerry if you could post an address for the Genny project I'd be glad to send a check there as well. Thank you.

I put a Simrad AP 14 on my 24' Penn Yan 3 years ago and have been very happy with it. As Tim mentioned, most who have the Simrad are well pleased.

Go with the new Cannon Mag 5 HS. Cabela's has them at $350.00 standard, where you are paying $699.00 for a Vector. The mag 5 pulls a weight at 250 feet per minute compared to 190 for the Vector. I must say however, that I feel the retreival rates are overblown as far as speed. I have the Cannon Digi-trol IV's and I have them set for the middle setting as far as descent and retreival. That said however, you are also getting the short stop on the Cannon's, which stops at waters edge. Again, you can pick up 2 of the Mag 5 for the price for one Vector.