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Here's a comparison picture... Nick

Well many of you might remember that in Sept of 06 I caught a 20lb steelie on one of our September trips.... We decided to get it mounted immediately, pulled lines, dropped it in the livewell with fresh water... got back to the dock and it was still alive. We took a ton of pictures (it was still alive in the pic above). We bought 20 bags of ice, filled the cooler and put the fish in. On the way to the taxidermist we stopped at CVS and got our pics loaded onto a CD and printed out a few. We dropped the fish, CD and printouts with the taxidermist and even put on the receipt that it was a summer colored steelhead. Well a little over a year later, I got the mounted fish mailed back to me. I excitingly opened the box very carefully, removed a ton of peanuts, and some platic wrap. I didn't even finish unwrapping the fish.... I could have cried at the sight... I was expecting my beautiful chrome 20lb baby. Instead, I see a bronzed fall colored rainbow I called the taxidermist and got the "what you didn't want that color?" Um, no I wanted the fish to look like the pictures... "didn't it have a red stripe in the pictures?" umm, no. Now I have to either send the fish back or drive it 5 hrs up to the taxidermist and pray that they actually look at the pictures this time. Would you be upset, or am I over reacting? Nick

What a moron. After the raft drifted 50ft, I would have ditched it an swam to shore. He's extremely lucky he survived, especially this time of the year when there are few boats out there. Nick

Chug, I fish out of Sodus. This past week during the start, the fish were out in the 200-400fow range, then at the end of the week they were in at the 100fow range... it all depends on the wind. This time of the year there will almost always be a few fishin the 100fow range though. I'll be out there this weekend, usually on Ch9, sometimes Ch8 or Ch68 (I don't have scan). Or you can look me up at Arney's Marina. I have a 19' as well. Nick

Unfortunately for many yes. I stopped competing in the fair haven challenge though, simply because I can't compete against the charter captains. I was in it the first two years, and the 2nd year had one of the best days I've had EVER, boating 4 nice kings... and still didn't even come close... that's when I gave up on it. The sodus point tournament is single biggest fish, at least I have a chance as long as the waves aren't larger than 3-4' (only have a 20' boat). Nick

Guys, Just an FYI, there's a tournament Saturday 8/25 out of Sodus Point. It's big fish only, pays 1st, 2nd and 3rd. You need to sign up for it by 8pm Friday night. $50 per boat. Sign up at Abe's Tackle Shop. We're in it to win it! Nick

Even prime rib? :shock: Nick

Stop worrying about it and fish out deeper to catch next year's fish. I laugh every time I fish in September and watch people cutting eachother off to try fo fish in front of port... I fly out to 250fow and catch 12-15lb fish which aren't all dark and nasty At least in Sodus, the fishing really picks up in September as long as you're not after the 20+lb fish... although we still catch them out deeper as well. Nick

duh, because fish always lose weight on the way in hehe I'd be interested in this too, I didn't weigh a ~20lb fish today because I thoguht they raised it to 25lbs. Nick

Wow you sound like a spoiled child. Ok, you had a problem with your order... it sounds like they were honest with you, but got your order wrong. It happens. Everytime you cook someone's steak medium instead of rare do you give it to them for free? No, you re-order it. Gotta disagree with you on this one. Abe's is a great place, if your probe wasn't coming fast enough... go elsewhere. It's a tackle shop, with a great selection and the people there are very helpful and always willing to bend over backwards for you. They tried to order an item for you that they don't stock, tried to give you a great price... it took longer than expected (which is the distributor/manufacturer's fault) and then when it came in, turned out to be the wrong item (which could very well also be the distributor's error). If you're not happy with their service, it's definitely within your right to go elsewhere and no one would blame you... but to complain about not being given free stuff?? Come on.. If you want to see what poor service is really like, go to bay bridge tackle and ask them to order a probe for you Nick

10" Dalmation Spin Doctor: http://www.captgarys.com/catalog/produc ... ts_id/1797 Emerald Crystal Fly: http://www.captgarys.com/catalog/produc ... cts_id/917 Seaweed Fly: http://www.captgarys.com/catalog/produc ... cts_id/919 Two green snubbers to attach to your dipseys: http://www.captgarys.com/catalog/produc ... ts_id/1922 Two size 1 dipsey divers: http://www.captgarys.com/catalog/produc ... cts_id/957 A good spoon for me last year that I haven't been able to find, but stumbled across while looking at the other stuff: http://www.captgarys.com/catalog/produc ... ts_id/1887 Two spools of trolling wire: http://www.captgarys.com/catalog/produc ... ts_id/1729 White Fly: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... hasJS=true Flashers #160 & #102: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... hasJS=true Inexpensive Rod/Rell combo I use for wire rods: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... 50027&rid= Nick

Dale, You'll want to have both. I have weeks where my riggers will fire and my dipseys won't... and weeks where my dipseys will fire and my riggers won't. I run 4 rods, two dipseys, two riggers. The past three weekends I've caught about 25 of my 28 fish on dipseys. The two weekends before that it was more even at 50%/50%. I would buy one or two boards online so you are ready to go when you get here. One green one white would be my suggestion. Also, buy two or three flies... I use only green flies these days it seems, but occasionally white. Never had any luck with blue, but other people have. Nick

Dale, I've been fishing out of Sodus most weekend for the past 4 years. Skip the copper and buy two stainless steel wire spools of 1000ft. Malin wire is the most popular. Then get two large (not mag) dipseys to go with them. I have used the echips in the past and honestly, I don't think it matters what you use as long as it spins and has the right color I was having poor hookups with my atomik flies, so I tried a couple "siggs rigs" flies and have been sticking with them since. Either one works though. I'll be up at Sodus from Aug 25th - Sep 4th, feel free to stop by and see me at Arneys marina or give me a call on my cell 484-302-1590. Nick

We're not sure if we're taking Friday off or not. If we do, we'll be up late Thursday night and if we wake up in time we'll fish Friday morning. If we don't take off we'll be up Friday afternoon to fish Friday evening. My depthraider should be delivered to the marina today, so I need to get out and play with it this weekend Nick

Aweful weekend out of Sodus. The upwelling occured which usually means excellent fishing... not this weekend. Friday afternoon: Had two hours before gf's brother arrived so took a spin to find some fish. Hit a king over 150fow with a dipsey out 150' green protroll green fly. Ran back in to pick a couple people up. Friday night: Would have been one of our first skunks of the season if it wasn't for a 6oz king that hit a glow froggy as I was pulling lines... a skunk as far as I'm concerned. We marked a lot of bait but almost no fish. Saturday morning: Started out in 350fow. Marked a lot of bait with a fish every once in a blue moon. Hit a 10lb king on a black/crushed ice spoon down 55' over 550fow. Later hit a 21lb king on a green protroll/green fly out 150' on a dipsey. Lost a steelie over 450fow on a firetiger spoon. That was it for the morning. Saturday evening: Definite skunk. Worked from 100fow to 250fow, marked a bit of bait and a few more fish than we had been lately. Hope for sunday... Sunday morning: Started out in 100fow. Didn't mark a thing when we set up. Trolled north for about 5 mins and hit a 15lb king on a 250' dipsey green protroll/green fly. While taking pictures of the first fish, hit a 8lber over 150fow with a dalmation spin doctor/green fly out 150'. Trolled back around to our earlier mark and hit another 15lb king on the green protroll now out 220' over 130fow. Waves picked up so we trolled north with them. Over 400fow and the leadcore just starts rippin! My gf, her brother and his gf were all asleep... boy does that sound wake people up fast! Her brother jumped on the rod and just sat there and held on. It never stopped until the reel had only 20 wraps of line left and I told him to tighten it down a bit.... he went a little overboard and completely tightened it I couldn't believe it didn't break, but the fish stopped like it hit a brick wall. We slowly got the fish in, thinking it was going to be a monster. Turned out to be a 15lb fish hooked in the side of the head.... but man what a fight! The leadcore had 9 colors out and a green flasher / green fly. We started trolling back in and had another rip on the green protroll/green fly dipsey out 250' over 300fow, ripped off 100foot of line and was gone. We headed in. With the exception of Sunday, probably one of the worst weekends out of Sodus in a long time, especially considering it was August. We had to fish hard for our few fish and did a lot better than a lot of other boats. A lot of charters were back at the docks with very few fish. Sounds like other ports the fish were hot, some were not. Tough weekend. The gf's brother with his 21lber: The gf's brother and his gf with a 10lber and 21lber: Two of our three 15lbers from Sunday (we threw the 8lber back and quickly realized why we usually keep small fish caught on dipseys - belly up): Nick

Get a new girlfriend... no I'm not kidding. It will save you years of misery down the road I used to have a gf that got badly seasick and I felt guilty everytime I went out... now I have a gf that enjoys going out and it's an amazing difference. Nick

Bill... understood... but the link I posted is the buoy off Rochester ... so far the water temp closer to shore is holding steady (aka the cold water hasn't moved in much, at least not surface temp). Maybe I should be looking at the deep water temp though... but normally, when I've seen the lake flip, the surface temp drastically drops and causes the fog banks to form (also some real nasty rip currents... great time for surface steelies as well) Nick

CDS... they can be run off the rigger, just put them back 10 feet and keep your riggers at least 15 feet apart (depth wise). Personally, I hate running flashers off riggers, simply because there's nothing better than a clean fight on a rigger rod with just a spoon between you and the fish. I run flashers/dodgers off my dipseys 100% of the time though. I'm off tomorrow, so should be out fishing. Give me a call if you want to share info on ch9 this weekend or my cell 4843021590. Nick

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot.php?station=45012&meas=wtmp&uom=E Water temp is still holding...

According to the most recent wave forecast... one foot or less friday night through sunday... If the lake does flip, plan on heading offshore tomorrow. Keep heading north until the water temp begins to rise (it will most likely fall for the first mile or three, then begin increasing again). Where the water temp increases fish, keep moving out until you find water with fish. I've had my absolute hands down best days after the lake flips. Also, keep ALL your lures high... above 50ft (unless your ff says different). Things are setting up to where Friday and Saturday should be stellar. However, two days after a flip I've had trouble finding fish as the water begins to stabilize... so Sunday might be tough. Let's all hope for a flip Nick

Oh sorry let me clarify.... if you use a cable that is not coated at all (normal downrigger cable), the depthraider will only work down to 60ft. If you use the coated cable it comes with, it will work to about 120ft (blowback becomes an issue). Fishshack ... yeah I finally bit the bullet... got tired of not being able to catch fish anytime the wind blew or the current picked up! You guys fishing this weekend? It's going to be a tough one! Nick

FB, From what I've read, 60ft with uncoated, 120ft with the coated cable. Nick

All, Just as an FYI, marinegeneral.com lists the depthraider for $429 online, but if you call, they offer it for $399, I asked them to include shipping in that price. Picked one up, should be here next week. Nick

haha lumpy is when the waves aren't crashing over the breakwall Rough water today, tomorrow and Friday... all from the North/East.... it will be amazing if ANYONE catches a fish this weekend! Nick

http://instacam.com/instacamimg/SDSPN/SDSPN_S.jpg?rnd= Nice to be able to check the weather before heading out! Nick