Miss em

Standard dipsy on that one.

It is one I can't get anymore unfortunately. It was an American Tackle blank that has a nice moderate action that loads up really well. Looking for an economical replacement without much success so far. The one in the picture below is an 8 footer that I can get but I think it is borderline too light. Haven't run it much so I don't know if it will hold up yet. Did just get a new 7 foot blank that I haven't wrapped up yet but it looks like it has potential. I just laid out a set of roller guides on the new 7 foot blank and loaded up to see what it looked like. Looks like it's a keeper!

I don't have a picture of the one that Big Dave uses under load. Maybe Blue Heron on here has one of his?

Had a meeting in Watertown today and was able to hit the Salmon River for an hour or so this afternoon. Flow at 2000 cfs but fished some water that I normally stand in and found some to play with. Fished floats with the bait caster. Works just like a CP.

They were Gill-T. The warm weather definitely spread them back out a bit. They had been hanging tight to the pines in this spot when it was cold.

Blundered into a couple today. These two were full of the little purple wild grapes.

Checked on my good spot today for the first time since before deer season. Lucked in to the mother lode again. 14 flushes in less than an hour and a half. I would say 10 different birds. Connected on the only good shot I had. Amazing how they fly out in the open when you are in the brush and can't shoot and how they fly in the cover when you are in the open, ready, and good to go. The one I had had apple buds in his crop.

Checked a couple of my other good spots last Saturday and never had a flush. Was hoping that CNY was crawling with them everywhere! Not so.

I shoot a CVA Optima - 150 grains 777, 250 grain Hornady SST bullets. Attached target was from when I initially shot it after bore sighting it. Grouped equally well with 100 grains but was 6" lower than the 150 grains at only 50 yds. The few deer I have shot with this setup have dropped in their tracks on boiler room shots. Wicked power.

Just checked one of my spots in Central NY a had 10 flushes in an hour and 15 minutes. At least 8 different birds. Love to tell you what was in their crop but never had a good shot at any of them. Tully area.

I am certainly a beginner on Otisco but Seems like the month of September has turned to more of a night bite. I had some spoons working well in August in the daylight hours. I only started fishing it the first weekend of August. Looking forward to next summer when the thermocline sets up. They really seem to lay right on top of the thermocline in the 60 to 63 degree water all summer. Still a good thermocline but now the surface temp is in the mid 60s and that temp goes down to around 35 feet (as of last night) before it breaks to the 50s. My best one was 24 inches. Weighed some 23 inchers that were in the 4.5# range.

Got out for probably the last time of the season to run the boat and get the fuel stabilizer mixed in. West side was loaded with weeds due to the NE wind. Ended up taking a troll all the way down the east side and took one 22 incher on the purple/silver prism Thunderstick on the 3 color core. That setup has taken 5 of my last 6. Been a fun late summer learning how to catch those walleyes. Ended up with 26 over 11 trips. Only one on the setups Justin uses and none over 24 inches. If we ever figure out each other's programs, they will be in big trouble next year. Looks like the spoon program I had going was done around the first of September.

Couple tonight in the dark. 20 and 23 inchers. Both on large Purple/Silver Prism Thunderstick on three color cores. One bite on a spoon at dusk. Water is clearing up and thermocline is still at 30 feet or so.

70 something on the surface. Breaks from the 60s to the 50s right around the 30 foot mark. Been catching the eyes on spoons in the few feet above the 60 degree mark pretty well the the last month or so.

Was out last night Justin and the thermocline is still around 30 feet. No flip yet. Figured these hard north and south winds would have moved it around but it didn't. One 22 incher on a Purple silver prism thunderstick on 3.5 colors of core. Not a touch on the spoon program last night.

Dave and Ted both have the SWB70L built with roller guides.

I have built a few roller rods on a Batson SWB70L for a few guys on here and they really like them. I have a couple on SWB70ML that I use for mag dipsys and they work outstanding for that application. I have a RDR86MH built as a roller rod that seems just right to me. (See pic below) I broke 6' off the tip of that rod and that made it even better as a two piece 8 footer. I haven't tried any of the longer rods in that series. That Amtak blank I mentioned above is still my favorite dipsy blank.

I would say the "give" a rod blank is a function of both the length and the action of the rod blank. A 7' moderate action rod would have more give than a 9 foot fast action rod. It's all about preference at that point and finding that sweet spot for your own application.

The one thing that I would point out is that most store bought 7 foot rods that I have seen are moderate-fast action rods, which don't load up well and may lead to false dipsy rod trips under load. The line of blanks we use (my favorite dipsy blank is now discontinued unfortunately) are moderate action blanks that are very well suited to our fishing. Never had any problems with tripping dipsys with the ones we use. Like has been said here, the shorter rods have a lot of advantages, it just comes down personal boat configurations, clearances, etc on what you might use. The 7 footer in the picture is discontinued Amtak blank, but we found a line of Batson blanks that are as good or better as those. John, The best 7' diver rod blank I have ever found was an Amtak GFW701H but they discontinued them. They would make a run of 50 of them if you were interested. Hell of a heavy copper rod too.

This photo shows a standard 8'6", two piece rigger rod and one of our custom 7 foot rigger rods, both loaded on the same rigger. Basically, the bottom part of the longer rod that does not bend gives absolutely zero benefit to the angler, Both rods take up an identical amount of slack line from this loaded position to a straight position (we tested that). As far as steering a fish, applying a 20# force to the foregrip of the longer rod yields 3.5 pounds of force to the fish. The same force applied to the shorter rod gives you 4.5 pounds of force to the fish (we tested that too). Guess which one can steer a fish better? Just wanted to share a little technical info to the subject.

Nice going Brian. You deserve it for sure.