FLXTroutman

I sometimes wonder where are they? Where did they all go? Sunday I was marking huge hooks spanning from 80' up to 50' in the north end on my Lowrance. I have seen streakers and bait balls but nothing like these huge hooks before. Could it be large schools swimming together or was it just bait? Down temp was better in the North from what I noticed, going away this weekend but I will be back out next weekend with my visiting nephews so I hope it gets better.

I used to have the DS 400x a little 4" screen but the picture quality was great. If you put it in manual mode and turn the gain up until the screen is just "snowing" you see nice hooks and should see the thermacline as well. Also manually adjust depth range to around that which you are trolling so screen is showing what you want to fish not the bottom to 250' -300', otherwise the 'cline will be hard to see. I would jig and I could watch my jig fall on the screen and lift up as I jigged.

After a late start Saturday, my wife & I & Angus fished the south end starting on east side around 11:00 am working our way north, blank screen. She was sunning on the aft deck so I just ran 2 wire rods. We trolled west and as we were getting to around 140' the starboard wire rod fired bouncing around like crazy. Bonnie took the wheel and steered us south as I brought the fish in. A nice 3 lb bow took away the skunky smell from the boat. Black dipsy with a A Tom Mik green hammer and Church green attractor on a 3 setting 210' out. We weren't trying real hard but I was glad to put a fish on ice. I am not sure of the exact location but there is a boat house with shamrock on it, and also nearby is a really cool boat that looks like a trawler/ tugboat. Sunday I had a newbie on board and we left the dock at 6:00 am so I figured my luck would change. This Naples resident gave me a nice Suttons Spoon hat and a Suttons 44 (hammered) which I immediately put on the port rigger with the chrome shark. We motored up to the trawler and I set the gear while Bob drove the boat. Just as I set the last wire rod that Suttons 44 released, and we picked up our first fish, a 3lb laker which Bob did a good job reeling in. I switched the other rigger to another Suttons 44 and slider with a Suttons 22, and sent my gift 44 and and smooth 44 as a slider. So our riggers were set at 50' and 60'. The 60' rigger with 7' lead off the shark weight was the one that fired however we couldn't get any other takers and the screen was blank. We ran all the way up to the north end found some more boats as well as some hooks and huge bait balls. We kept up the Suttons program on the riggers and once again that 44 on the chrome shark fired this time a 15" laker which I released. I ran flashers and flies on the wires trying all the colors combos, and ran some spoons too off the dipsies but no action. I put out the copper rig out 400' with mtn dew spinny and hammer fly and I think the copper line hit a fish or a submerged weed ball around 75' from the leader. The rod looked like we took a hit but stopped so I left it out and when I reeled in there was a loop sort of like a kink but not more like a pretzel.

geez sir, your frustration could have been helped by maybe by the 120 bucks you could have gotten from some fellars here on the lou classifieds PS I have heard that some of the models have had some issues with tracking, mine has Made In USA stamp on tail, no issues, 15 lb shark however.

Way to go, nice fat brown, awesome fish for Canandaigua, what did you say you caught him on? A Suttons 44?

http://www.fishdoctorcharters.com/templ ... ctor=video check these out, especially how to tie a tournament tie,

You should check glanger.com, swap meet section, many used fishhawks and moor subtrolls to be found. If you are looking to dial in downspeed and temp the probe is the only way to go. However you could use a wire rod set up as a thumper rod and watch the tip for speed. I believe you rig a Juhr Jensen size 0 dodger with a fly behind a 1 lb. ball. This gets lowered down the chute to desired depth for instance 75'-125' and as the dodger rotates the tip of the rod will thump thump thump. Perhaps someone more familiar with the rigging and presentation can chime in as to how much thump you want you thumper rod to thump.

I was over on spoonpullers and saw a discussion about shark weights, a post mentioned after painting a chrome shark black, his catch rate improved. Is the chrome shark too flashy at times especially if fish are neutral or negative? Also my main fishing location is Canandaigua Lake. If I used black spray paint on the chrome I figure I could steel wool off the paint if I didn't like it, but that would also buff the chrome shine also.

Also, I see the water temp in July runs about 72F. Waders sound like a good idea but should I plan on insulating them? Unless you want schvetty balls I would leave the waders home in July. People will be swimming in lake by the last weekend in June. Get some 1 oz. jigs, white, with some white zoom flukes, and jig off the bottom, or "troll your kayak" with a deep diving stickbait or heavy spoon before first light to a little after sunrise near shore. Net or book? Maybe at least have a stringer, you might get something to keep and that way you will have a place keep your fish , ie. in the lake.

http://www.fish307.com/index.asp?PageAc ... rodID=3791 this Depth Raider unit from Kell Labs is available in a model that reads in knots and celsius

Tell your sea sick waddler if he wants to go out again not have his balls busted by his captain, he should dose 1 Bonine pill 2 days before at lunch, then 1 day before at lunch, and then 1 the day of fishing trip upon waking, and he should be good to go. From one sea sick waddler to another, if it's not rough, at least your prepared for fun instead of heaving your guts out and running the whole crew back in early. PS He may feel a little tired out there but at least you can yawn and fish, also don't drink too much the night before either, if all. Save the beers for after the trip.

Hey cdgn troller I run a 85 Sea Ray, she stays at Smith Boys at the south end. If you can play hooky on Monday's that is one of my days off, I would welcome you aboard anytime. More people = more rods in the water. I work some Saturdays but Sunday and Mondays are days off.

I have used the mentioned add on line counters in my salad days, and I thought they were kind of a hassle. Two better solutions are: One, use a black marker and mark line just off the spool, pull one pass of the levelwind and when the black spot comes out of the last guide on your rod measure it, as stated depending on reel size and rod length it should be around 10'. Then just count passes of the levelwind to set your rigs. Two, use clear or pink mono on the reel, then using an albright, nail, or blood knot ( a knot to join 2 lines together) tie on a green mono. Spool up 10 passes or 15 passes, whichever you have determined is the length of line per pass, now when you go to deploy your bait, you just let out the green line until you reach the clear or pink and stop, connect your board and you have your preset amount of line out. This method allows for using a leader so to speak of varying lb test if you wish, 10 lb flouro has been discussed on the board before and many think it is weak. I use 30 lb Ande / Trilene on reels and will use 15 lb for sliders or planer board rods. By summer with fleas you will want all 30 lb lines. http://www.animatedknots.com/indexfishi ... dknots.com

I have only fished the lake for the last 5 years. I actually do quite well, better when I bring out other people, like my family. August is a great month for me. I would like to check out your set ups though, cheers

Jason, you must come out with me and I will show you how I catch em with the flasher fly program (when they start biting for me). I usually do better with more people on the boat, so if you have time let me know. We ran spoons, natural and bright colors, Suttons 44's which I know you use and nada. Also white, mtn dew, glow Spin Dr's, white crush glow/ blue Smartfish, white Pro Troll Echips, glow squids, Hammer flies in green and original, chicken wing fly, white NK fly, stick baits off boards in natural colors and bright, alone and with snap weights. We did have streakers coming up to the balls looking at the program but that was it. I hope it gets better for me soon, I'm hungry. I went out yesterday with ncallahan after he did a seat repair for me as I washed down the boat. We rigged up at the dock and headed out to take look at the sonar then the rain rolled in, so we cracked a beer and drove back to the dock.

Ok now that the derby is over besides fishing the north end what were you using? Trolling? How fast? I won't tell anyone

What are the LN , N and LS codes signifying, catch location? I would like to talk to Tom and ask him how to catch 9lb rainbows out there , now that would be fun. After talking to several guys, I am looking forward to when the lake sets up and the catch rates improve out there. I tried many programs and couldn't even get a shaker. I figure the full moon put the fish in a negative mood, see you out there. At least most of my spoons and flashers are washed.

The forward built in gas tank sounds like a good idea, I had a 14' with a flat floor, 25 hp & 6 hp kicker, with a low transom (short shaft 25 hp) lots of weight at the stern, I moved my gas tank forward, and always wanted to move my battery to the front too, but never did. On my old boat below the deck and along some sides behind aluminum would be some foam for flotation in case of capsizing I think, to much added weight could be issue for load rating of your vessel as well.

HI Mark I made my way to Jay Vee today and told the old dude there you sent us guys from LOU picked up Black's release, DW SS's in Lemon Icicle and Dirty White Boy also a nice Spin Dr Glow Blade crush glow tape thank you sir, I couldn't believe I found them w/o GPS, PS I am from Canandaigua

Hey Mongo, yes we will be in the derby, I finally brought all the gear to the boat Sunday 5/31 & rigged up the SubTroll , new coated cable on rigger, Black's release etc. Then me a the little Mrs took a shake down cruise Monday for a couple hours. Speed and temp operated fine, ran 3 riggers and wire , then switched to 2 riggers, wire and pulled Rapala GFR on a planer board. I hate to say it but I didn't mark a fish. To make matters worse, back rest for rear seats was gone. It also made a nice knee pad, leg brace for rigging. I saw a boat like mine on craigslist in naples, pics show beat up seats, I am going to go look at it and if the seats are beat up and it has a nice clean back rest I am going to call the guy on it.

Well, I headed to the boat for the first time after the marina dewinterized her and found the back rest missing. My wife says I took it off last year to repair it. I say I didn't and think some one made off with it when the boat was slipped at the marina since 4/30/09 with not so much as a visit from yours truly let alone a fishing excursion. What I am after is either some one with the same boat so I may look at the back rest and take dimensions to build one and have it upholstered. Or if any one knows if Sea Ray has any info on these types of things. This boat is a 1985 and I was told by the marina manager last year that parts like window handles and the flip locks are difficult if not impossible to find. in the pic it's the piece below the rigger in the background

canandaigua chamber of commerce, I believe, there is thread below about it, Todd you are good luck, I bet that new baby would be really good luck!

your connection could probably be simplified, Clincher or Black's release above the probe, as depicted in photo below or you can strip cable, use a thimble (steel type not SS) 3 or 4 crimps and Scotch 130 C Linerless Rubber Splicing Tape this allows removal of probe for travel on the road or up on plane. My probe stays down all the time, how else do you know speed at the ball if you bring her up and put her away. If you make your connections solid, trust your work and use it as intended.

I have this camera, Kodak-EasyShare-M1033 and it's sweet, great pics, nice big screen, shoots video, internal battery charges off of cord with usb end which fits into 110 Volt adaptor, and USB port on pc. I think you might be able to charge it from USB port off of pc too, not sure though. It doesn't have the big zoom you are looking for though. Good price, go local, and get 2GB or 6GB SD card for an extra $20-$40. http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/3 ... Megapixel/

Is your pod or module mounted with the factory bracket and rubber washers between the pod and the bracket then the thumbscrew? If not you could get excessive vibration inside the pod weakening solder connections inside. Many guys use the Black's release connected to the cable, cable through a thimble (steel type not SS type) when making insulated tape connection attach weight to snap so metal to metal contact is made for sure since you are a hanging a 10 lb ball from the snap. When using Scotch® Linerless Rubber Splicing Tape 130C, you actually attach the tape upside down or inside out if you know what I mean, not straight off the roll as would think, but upside down. Stretching it & pulling it tight, it will turn gray, then you overlap it half way on top of itself cover your exposed cable until your wrapped up tight.