TrophySeeker

Only went 1 for 3 this evening. Landed a smallish steelhead and lost another at the boat. That one was pretty cool though, 'cause he jumped an extra time after I had the line in the boat. Pretty spunky. Couldn't get the wire to fire. Threw all of my most productive flasher fly combos out but no takers. Fished out from Russell in 150 to 200. Best screen was in 160-180. Temp was down about 90' in this range - deeper in 160 or less. NBK with prism tape on the cup was the hottest. Now for the weird part. The other fish I dropped fought differently than any fish I've caught on the lake. I had a release on the rigger on a slider. I was out by myself, so I turned the boat 45 degrees so that I was fighting the fish off the starboard stern. I slowed down and began bringing the fish in. The fish made a very fast run in the direction I was heading and wound up way in front of the boat. I tried speeding up and turning to port but, you guessed it, the fish headed across the bow, and I had to try to land it from under the boat. I got within about 3 feet, as I could see my main spoon come from under the boat. At that point, the fish took off to stern, I felt some added resistance and it was gone. When I finished for the night I found several feet on line wrapped around the kicker prop. The fish never came to the surface, so I'm ruling out a steelhead. Plus, I'm guessing it was pretty good size by the fight it was putting up. Could it have been a pi$$ed off king? I called my buddy and he mentioned atlantics fight differently, but I don't think I've ever caught one. On a side note, those 2 spoons and swivels are the only tackle I've offered up to the fishing gods this year, so I shouldn't be too disappointed. Wait - also 1 brand new Attommik fly that was gone after a snap failed. Better stop thinking about lost tackle.

I'm selling one here: http://www.lakeontariounited.com/fishin ... php?t=2872 Not sure if you are looking for just a GPS or Chartplotter.

Decided to upgrade to a bigger unit. I thought I would use this unit on my small boat as well, but never really needed it. Package Includes: Navionics Gold East Great Lakes Cartridge, Mounting bracket, 4 AA rechargeable Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, Padded Carry Case, NMEA/Power cable, and cigarette lighter adapter. Still have original box and User Manual. Will sell complete package for $450 delivered.

I just started running coated cable and a Depth Raider this year, but I can give an opinion. Regarding stacking, I would think the Roemer release would work well without hurting the coating. The Scotty style double clip release should work o-k, but I don't have experience with it. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I stacked lines. I have some Roemers if you want to give one a try. The have a nice feature that when the release gets to the downrigger boom/pulley they automatically un-clamp from the cable and slide down to the ball. A coated downrigger ball should have no bearing on the effectiveness of the Depth Raider, as it is well below the point where the probe terminates to the coated cable. FYI - I'm not sure your preferred main release, but I terminated my coated cable directly to a Blacks release and it has worked well so far.

The riggers are sold but the covers and gimbal mounts are still available.

Gottabite- Hey - this is the blue combo I like to run: Spin Doctor (or similar Pro-Chip): Fly (AT-TOM-MIC Little Boy Blue or similar): I don't run spoons behind SD's (others do, though), but did start playing around with spoons behind Dee's Diamond Flashers with pretty good success. Good Luck!

Finally got a picture. Only things missing from the picture are the other boom extensions.

Hey Bob, I think I have a few of these on my boat, which I will probably never use. Shoot me a PM - I'd be happy to help out a fellow Penfield resident.

Without a doubt, some type of green flasher/fly combo has been my most productive. However, I have that combo in the water more than anything else, so... To round out your selection, I would recommend some type of blue/purple spin doctor or pro-chip and Mirage and No-See-Um flies. If I were you, I would contact Tom at A-Tom-Mic and have him put together a package that meets your needs and your budget. Be sure to get the tornamant series flies - they are awesome. I have probably 20 flashers and 50-70 flies, and I run maybe 6 or 7 combos reguraly. Now matching divers to flasher/flies is a whole other issue. I tend to run a Walker Deeper Diver in a similar color to the flasher/fly combo, but most others run black or clear divers with every rig. Hope that helps.

Well, I was in the same position recently. The Depth Raider is a little less expensive, but the Cannon has more features. So - I did a search on LOU and other message boards. It seems like the majority of those with Depth Raiders were very pleased, and had very few problems. The opposite seemed true with the Cannon Speed-n-Temp (I was surprised by this, as I think their rigger design is superior to the rest). I bought the DR because of this. So far so good. Call Marine General and ask for the GLA discount - $399 delivered.

Gambler - only 2 times for the Auto Pilot? Mine went back 4. It took until the 3rd time for them to fix it, then last year the belt broke. Although this was very inconvienent, they were pretty easy to deal with. It took me a while to convice them that they needed to re-machine the face of the unit (SportPilot+). They answer the phone when you call, and seem pretty knowlagable. I stay with Raymarine because of that and I absolutely love my DS600X Fish Finder.

Yea - I was out off of Braddocks Point last night and tried 80-350 ft. Wound up with 1 small king. Temp was higher in 350 than in 100. Couldn't get anything to work, but only had 2 rods. I pulled them early, so only fished from 5:30 to 7:30. Had a few fish swim up and sniff at my lures, but no-one was taking. It was HOT out there (temperature). Maybe that's what caused my GPS to start smoking! Oh well - it's back to RayMarine. Hopefully they'll turn it around quickly.

Call Marine General at 1-800-777-8557 and ask for the GL Angler discount. $399 delivered. I got mine in 2 days.

The best results I've had is torpedoing the fish right back in. This has been more successful for me that trying to resuscitate them. Unless I have what might be a derby fish, I don't weigh or take pictures. Hooks out and right back in. Haven't lost one this year. I did have two that swam back up to the surface, but when I turned to get them they swam away when the net got close.

Mitchells has a pretty good selection, more than what I thought they would have. Narby's is pretty impressive - Sharon does a heck of a job out there. The store is for sale - wish I could afford to semi-retire... They have a huge selection of Yecks, as well as Stinger, NK, Spin Doc's (the new colors) etc. Pretty much everything. Captains Cove has a very impressive selection of NK's, but not a lot of much else.

Thanks to all. I used the DR today and it worked great. I wound up using a tru-trac klincher and terminating directly to a black's release. Had it down to 120' w/o a problem.

I just did mine yesterday. I used a tru-trac klincher similar to the photo below, but I teminated directly to a black's release, and used a much shorter loop. I had it down to 120 today and it read fine.

I'll second the leadcore rod. I use the Bass Pro brand, model GC70LDC. They are 7' one piece and have the larger stainless guides.

(3) Walker Electric Downriggers for sale. 1 is the newer plastic housing, the other 2 are the metal housing. All are in excellent working condition. Booms are extendable in 1' increments. Each have swivel bases, ball hook, and Cannon ball retrievers. $200 each or all 3 for $550 (2) Walker Covers for above $20 each (2) Gimbal Mounts $30 each Would prefer to sell in the general Rochester area to avoid shipping costs.

I'll chime in my .02. I used the Heartlands briefly. It is purely a personal preference, but I hated the long (9-6 or 10-6) heavy rods. Found a deal on 8-0 Talora roller rods, which I like a lot. Gander has their own brand which is very similar for about $40-$50 less. The 8' Taloras are the longest rods I use on the boat. Switched my rigger rods to 7' medium action Ugly Sticks after using them on a friends boat and loving them. Leadcore and copper are on 7' leadcore rods. I fish alone about 50% of the time, and when I fish with others I usually don't run more than a 6 rod spread, and never more than 1 dipsy per side. I found netting a fish alone to be much easier with the shorter rods, but again, it is personal preference. If you plan to run 2 dipsy's per side I would recommend the longer rods, which tend to be a bit stiffer (broom handles). The nice thing about the Heartlands is they are pretty inexpensive. If you decide you don't like them you are only out $30 and you can probably sell them here for $20.

Thanks. Can you get away with running Blacks releases above the probe without losing the signal?

Any issues with this? Do you have to skin the coating off the cable at the rigger? Any info / experience is appreciated!

I run Shimano Talora's, which I got a screaming deal on a couple years ago on a Dick's clearance rack. I like them alot. Gander sells a roller rod under their brand that also uses Afco rollers. They are nice as well and about $40-$50 less than the Taloras.

My understanding is no - you don't. Though I don't think it would hurt. You definately don't want to use a roller rod. I'm using a leadcore rod, but this is my first year too - so I don't have much experience yet. Ran it twice this year - it produced 1 of 2 times.

I'll 2nd the Rubbermaid cooler from Sams. http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/naviga ... pCatg=4408 Can't beat it for $60.