Fish Magnet

I bought a Fish Hawk about 8 years ago and it did its job at the time. It does eat 9v batteries. Two years ago I bought the Depth Raider and that is much more consistent on downspeed readings, the Fish Hawk jumped all over. I do not like the coated cable on the Depth Raider but there is a down side to everything. This year I am getting one of the X4 probes for the Fish Hawk. I will run both side by side and see which one performs better for me.

I am going to buy a new weight for my down the chute probe rigger. I can't decide which way to go, the 15 lb. Shark or the 13 lb. Ridgeback Rattler. The rigger is a 2008 Cannon Mag10HS so I know it will handle either one. I was hoping to get some feedback from people who have run either one. Right now I use the 13 lb. torpedo weights on all three riggers. Burt

Thank you for the information. Burt

How do you attach the leader to the main line? Do you use a small inline swivel or is there a specific knot?

I have fished during the Oswego Pro-Am for the last 3 years and have caught enough fish to have been in the money, but I will not enter because of the observer rule. I would be more than happy to enter the tournaments if there was no observer.

I buy a lot of stuff from that site. Captain Scott even made me up some of his own flies for free to try out.

I would drop my deepest set down to about 40 or 42 degrees and work up from there. All my biggest fish have come in the real cold water.

I'll be fishing out of Oswego from the 16th through the 24th straight. Then will be up for the 30th and 31st.

Definitely looks like an Atlantic to me.

Here are a couple of pictures from the storms on Saturday. We were about 5 miles offshore so we stayed out fishing and watched all the storms roll across inland. As far as the fishing went we were 2 for 6 on Saturday with the biggest being 15 lbs. caught down 125' over 550' of water on a chartreuse salmon slasher with an Atomik 3 fly rig with Big Weenie slickstrips fake cut-bait. On Sunday we went out late, didn't get set up until 7:30 and went 2 for 5 with the biggest being 14 lbs. caught on a wire dipsey out 300' on a 2 setting over 360' of water. We also caught a brown down 115' over 315' of water which seemed pretty weird to me, that fish should not have been there. A lot of downrigger releases with nobody home. I don't know if it was just small fish or they were just hitting real light. We are taking next week-end off then will be back up for the Derby. I am staying up for the first 9 days of the Derby with my son, so no reports until I get back home. My $25 check from LOC for the 16th place salmon was waiting for me when I got home Sunday. Hopefully we can put a fish on the board in the fall derby too. Good Luck to all. Burt

I've actually been fishing the big lake for over 10 years. Most of that time was out of a 17' boat so the Pro-Ams were not an option. I have a 22' now so I guess I could fish the Pro-Am I just don't know if I like the idea of an observer on the boat. We fished during the Pro-Am last year too and definitely would have been in the money. I guess I'll just have to talk to my brothers (my fishing partners) because I would really like to meet some of you guys in person. Ray, I saw your van in the parking lot on Sunday around noon when we came in totally drenched. I'll be watching to see how you all do in the Sodus Pro-Am, maybe I'll get lucky enough this week-end to have to go to get my $7500 check. Good Luck to all. Burt

I was up for the week-end but didn't fish the Pro-Am. We fished for salmon all day Saturday with only 3 fish to show for it. All fish came over 220' and more of water, down anywhere from 127' to 142'. Biggest and smallest fish was on a Salmon Slasher chartreuse glow with an Atomik 3 fly rig with Big Weenie glow Slick Strips on the rigger 142' down. The third fish was on a Blue Angel Kingfisher withAtomik 3 fly rig. No hits on the wire dipseys on Saturday. Sunday we only took three hits and landed 2 fish. 2 hits on the wire dipsey down 330' on a #2 setting, lost the first one landed a 15 lb. on the second hit. Another 15 lb. on the same Salmon Slasher. The best part is the big fish on Saturday was 25.13 which at the time put me in 12th place but it has already fallen 1 spot. I don't know if it will last but it was fun anyway.

Your going to need 30lb. test for the fleas. With 17lb. you will have to pull your lines every ten minutes and you would still probably be covered.

I fished Friday, Saturday & Sunday. When I came out of the chute and saw all the boats to the west I just headed a little east and caught fish every day with no problems. I have been fishing Oswego exclusively for over 10 years most of whick was out of a 17' boat. I always just go the opposite way of the pack. I admit I haven't caught any derby winners but according to the article in GLA by Capt. Ernie Lanteigne (spelling) to catch the biggest fish stay away from the pack the big guys don't like the competition from the smaller more aggressive fish. You never know when that 40 lber is going to hit and I would rather have a little room to maneuver when it does happen. Just my thoughts. Good luck to everyone, I will be fishing Oswego every week-end until Labor Day. Burt

Good thing you targeted the browns. We fished all day Saturday in anywhere from 100' to 400' looking for Kings and didn't find any. We fished in shallow on Sunday morning and got a real nice Atlantic and a couple of browns. I hope the Kings will move in soon. Probably be back up this weekend. Good Luck! Burt

I have a season launch out of Wrights Landing, I am usually up every weekend. I store my boat at the Farm. I'll give you a call if and when we find anything. Fishing has been pretty tough so far this year but I was looking at my posts from last year and it wasn't until the last weekend in June that we started hitting the Kings really well. Burt Boat Name: Fish Magnet II (22' SeaNymph GLS)

Will be fishing with my son this weekend was wondering if anyone else was going to be out? Was thinking about heading a north west out of the shoot and keep going until I hit some fish. We only fish for salmon, no BT for me. I always monitor channel 68, say hi if your out.

I bought three of them 3 years ago and have run them as is. It hasn't seemed to make any difference. I had the black vinyl coated ones before.

Yes, I had the rubber cap from one of my Bert's Rod Holders go to a watery grave last year the same way. I did the same thing with the replacement. So far so good. Burt

Baytech, Did you stay at the Evergreen Motel? I just booked my room for this weekend last night. Burt

I have been staying at the Evergreen Motel for the last 3 years, its just up the road from the Black Walnut. The rates have gone up a little this year but its still a good deal. Its nothing spectacular but its some place to sleep. There is also a gas station/convenience store right across the street. Just don't ask for room #1 I normally have that every weekend in June, July and August. I am at work so I don't have the number but I will post it when I get a chance. Burt

Finally got the boat up to lake. The fishing left a little to be desired but it was fun anyway. Saturday went 3/4 all steelhead the biggest 1 was 9.14 lbs. just 2 oz. from the leaderboard oh well better luck next time. We were set up for salmon(we don't fish for browns), first fish took a Magnum DW Holograph Alewife 25' down 100' back over 120' of water. The next 2 took aGreen Protroll w/ Green Hammer fly 90' Back on a #2 setting on awire dipsey. Last fish snapped us off about 30' behind the boat on a Magnum NK Diehard. Sunday was 2/2 with our first King of the year @ 10.75 lbs. on a wire dipsey 90' back #2 setting White/Mountain Dew SpinDoctor w/ Hammer Fly. Second fish a small steelie on a slider NK Diehard. Not a bad 1st weekend and it will only get better. Good luck to everyone and hope to see you on the water. Burt

It does depend on the time of the year. Once the fleas are out I use nothing but 30lb. test but earlier in the year I will go as light as 15 lb. for spoons . I use Trilene Big Game and have been very happy with it. For flasher/flies you could use the 30 lb. test all year long. Hope this helps. Burt

The salmon are still there and active. Saturday morning headed just west of the chute to 150'. Worked the area from 150' to 250' down 80' to 110' went 8/8. 6 out of 8 fish came on the wire dipsy out 300' with a Black lightning glow dipsy with a white glow/mtn dew spin doctor followed by the Hammer fly. Biggest was 22.4 which is the same as my biggest from last week but it was already knocked off the leaderboard. Sunday morning worked the same water but the waves were twice as big. Went 4/5 but I didn't run the dipsy because of the waves. Glow frog spinnie w/ glow frog atomik took 2 down 80'. Salmon Slasher chart. glow w/atomik 3 fly rig took 1 down 90' & NK wonder bread magnum took 1 down 75', biggest on Sunday was about 15.

It was pretty nasty on Saturday, we spent the first hour in the Harbor deciding what to do. Then we started to troll right from the Harbor out to the northeast so we could angle the waves. It white capped for most of the day but the wind did switch around and knock the waves down a little. At worst it was probably 3-5 footers, by the end of the day it was down to 1-3. I have a 22' SeaNymph GLS which is aluminum so its not like I had a great ride all day but the fishing was worth it. Sunday the lake did turn to glass about 10:00 and we didn't even have a release after that. We were off the lake by 12:00. Burt