IRISH56

I second rail bird ... R&R watermelon. Also had a couple of real good summer days with a Lemon Ice Stinger, kings and steelhead. DAN

Yeah those things DAN

Epic - standard dipseys (the bigger LJ Dipsey's) w/about 6' - 7' leader. Smoke dodgers, Luhr Jensen or Opti, Smoke w/painted green stipe LJ dodger if you can find one (let me know if you do), white or green E-chip flasher. Green, white, silver (alone or in combination) flies or squid and occasionally baby blue. Best producers for me over the past few years. I prefer the darker diver colors, black & purple, but others swear by the lighter ones. Have not tried the Walker divers but probably will this season. Good luck. DAN

Orange dodger w/blue peanut fly, 16" - 20" leader running in the wake of your planer board (big boards). Sometimes have to add a little weight to keep the dodger underwater. You can watch the coho slash at the rig sometimes ... pretty cool Not sure of the exact name of the rig, small (4" - 6") orange metal flasher looking thing w/a peanut fly trailing behind maybe 12" or so running on a mono orange diver out maybe 25' from the boat. Couple of years ago when the coho were real thick in the western basin we boated I don't know how many using the above rigs. We also took quite a few on bright colored spoons on sliders. Come to think of it the coho were so thick out in front of Wilson that we caught 'em on just about everything we put in the water. They are not spooked by the boat so if you want to target them keep your presentations high and close to the boat. DAN

I know Tompkins County used monitor nav channels but since the upgrade to the 800mhz system I would doubt they still do. Like Ray said - your best bet is cell phone & 911. Chances are a distress call would be received somewhere but most ship to shore radios on the finger lakes aren't powerful enough to receive any return transmission. I did read or hear something about the distance a distress call can be received by a CG station is pretty amazing but on an inland lake you're on your own for quite a while DAN

What FLX said! I use 8' 6" rods w/Okuma Magda line counter reels, get the best reels you can afford. The Magda's have served me well but others have had problems with the drag systems, especially for Lake O. kings. Tite Loc rod holders on my boat, very sturdy. If you're choosing between wire and braid just remember the braid will pick up fleas during the mid summer months pretty heavy. Wire picks them up also just not as thick and is easier to get them off. Wire takes a little getting used to but catches a lot of fish. DAN

Dryden Lake, Owasco Lake, N. end of Cayuga (venture carefully). Check out http://www.iceshanty.com/ for more info & locations. DAN

Plastic or actually lexan or something, it's clear. DAN

I have a plate mounted directly to the transom with, I'm assuming, some type of epoxy, definitely not screwed on. It's a glass boat so I'm interested to hear what the differences between glass and aluminum would be with that. Considering aluminum for the next boat. DAN

Sorry - that's to have it registered not titled. My bad!

Brother's duck boat about two years ago, no title. Bill of sale with description and verified hull ID number. You'll have to contact local law enforcement for the hull ID verification - letter stating the hull ID appears on the boat. I'd contact the NYSP or ENCON Police, local LE may have no idea what you're talking about. I verified it for my brother and I had no idea until he was told by DMV to have it verified. If it's on a trailer w/no title that is actually even more of a pain. You basically have to have it registered as a "home made" trailer?? DAN

Darren was the man!!!! I still have a couple of boxes of 16 ga. steel loads with the yellow Fays sticker still on them. They put Dicks to shame ... a drug store none the less. DAN

Rod - you lucky bas&^%$!! What I wouldn't give to have a few days on the flats 7/8 weight will work fine for both steelies and bonefish, as was previously stated too light for salmon runs. Do some shopping around for rods, I was able to find a smoking deal on a clearance Sage 5 wt. a few years ago from a shop in Rochester. Mid level Sage & Orvis rods cast a whole lot better than a lot of other high end rods IMHO. If you're gonna be hunting the flats you'll want a rod that can really shoot line in windy conditions. As far as reels are concerned, I'd look for a good large arbor reel. Definitely what you want for bonefish and steelies. I have a Redington LA that is not overly pricey but has a great drag system. Just make sure you rinse the heck out of it after every outing in the salt. You do know how to "double haul" right?? DAN

Been using a Bert's mast for 4 years no problems. Actually I bought the shorty mast to start with (bad idea on my part) and then bought an extension. I was pretty concerned about the two piece mast but I have never had an issue with it ... knock on wood! DAN

Longer rod will give you more seperation in your spread and afford you the opportunity to run longer leads off the diver. I run 8' 6" Okuma wire divers and a 10' 6" Okuma power pro diver. The 10' 6" is a little cumbersome due to the size of my boat but it gets the diver well outside the downriggers. DAN

My bro has a 2351, 2004 or 2005 I think. Very solid boat and is a great boat to fish out of. Wash down pump has been a PITA and the hardtop was not sealed well when he bought it. DAN

I was thinking of trading up but I guess you can't really beat the plain old Food Saver. I've had one for 4 years or so and no complaints, thought maybe I was missing something but apparently not. DAN

Very nice!!! Looks like y'all had a good time, wish I could have made it. Congrats to RR & team ... can you say "dynasty!" DAN

Very nice!! DAN

All - as much as it pains me to do so I am out. I'll spare you the details but it is mainly due to home construction/renovation and me being evicted (due to home renovation/construction ... not failure to pay for same.) Good luck to all. If anybody needs a decent boat mine is sitting idly in the marina @ Myers Park and can be had for the weekend for a nominal fee :evil: DAN

Honestly any color will work it really doesn't matter .......... as long as you paint it black. Seriously though, dark as possible down deep. Up in the water column I've had good success on steelies & coho with orange & green. DAN

Photo above is how my DR is rigged and I remove it after each trip. Has worked down to 125' w/out a problem. The key is installing the Black's release above the terminator inline on the cable. LongLine had a thread a few years back w/photo's showing the install which is pretty easy and works great. Basically, before you rig up the terminator slide a piece of plastic tubing (WD-40 tube) up the cable. If the release has the heavy wire running thru it just snip it with shears so you can slide the release up over the tubing. Using a couple of crimps ( I bastardized mine from a couple of 10 ga. wire terminals), crimp them lightly onto the tubing in between the holes on the release and one above the release to keep it from sliding up. My release is about 2" above the loop you make with the cable. Hard part is getting the crimps tight enough to hold under tension - too little and the release slides up under tension, too much can damage the cable. Wish I had photo's, it's much easier than it sounds. DAN

If you go to the GL Angler web site and look under the photo section there is a thread entitled "Sub Troll Connection" that has good pic's of the set up you are looking for. Was featured in the GL Angler magazine also a while ago. That set up works great, mine is set up that way with a black's release above the DR. DAN

Can't remember how much dacron backing comes with the redi-core but the more the merrier. I used dacron backing on my full core reel mainly because I mostly fish Cayuga L. where big king runs are non-existent. Ran it on Lake O. a few weekends ago and was nearly spooled on a couple of mid-teen kings. When I redo it I will pack in a bunch of power pro or similar super braid as backing. So .... my suggestion would be to clear all the dacron backing and go directly to the leadcore with whatever super braid. I use an Okuma Convector, never used a Pflueger. As far as amount of backing is concerned, spool with the leader & leadcore first then fill the spool with backing. Wind it off and then re-spool backing first. It's the best way I know to maximize the amount of backing on the reel, helps you retrieve more line per handle crank also. DAN

Did you fish it?? I couldn't imagine fishing in more rain than the Salv Army derby last year but Sunday would have topped that for sure. DAN