yukiginger

Sounds like a great boat. Posting a location might help your sale. MarkG

Let's see - landing a king over 25# on your first pier fishing outing, and on medium/light tackle no less - quite an accomplishment, and quite a story. Well written, too. I would recommend stepping up a little in tackle, though. This will bother fellow anglers less on your next hookup and in other seasons when C and R of healthier fish is more important it would help in this effort (land the fish sooner). MarkG

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Matt G/Karen1 ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): 9/4 Time on Water: 1:30-7:00 Weather/Temp: 75, sunny Wind Speed/Direction: NW, West 5 Waves: 1-2 ft Surface Temp: 71 Location: I bay LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 8 Total Boated:7 Species Breakdown: 4 steelhead, 3 kings Hot Lure: NK mag Trolling Speed: Down Speed: 2.0-2.3 Boat Depth: 260-400 Lure Depth: 90-120 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS Started out in 250 feet straight out of the bay with my brother in his 18' Starcraft. We had a pretty steady pick, a few small steelies. Caught two 5-6#'s, kept one. One on a DW glow frog metallic mag, another on a 42nd spin doctor with fly. Caught a small king on a blue dolphin spin doctor and fly, 6.5#. Put a large NK mag spoon in green glow down about 4 o'clock or so and had a nice release, boated a 22# king. Didn't fight as well as I had expected, but my best fish so far on the Big O. Got another 10# king on the same spoon at 6:30, pulled lines shortly thereafter. Marked fish fairly often anywhere between 250-350, so that's what we worked almost all day. We had a good time out on the water. I want to thank everyone who posts on the forum and has shared their knowledge, expertise, and fishing reports. We'll be back out in the morning. ====================

7 for 7 in just a few hours of fishing, too. Good going. You son (?) has some muscle! Thanks for the report. MarkG

Hey, I feel for you, bjo, as my brother and I have not had a single "great" day after quite few trips on the big lake. Our best was in May with 4 browns in a few hours. Still, it's fishing, and I've got to tell you, participating on this board, and reading, and learning from the posts by these experienced anglers (some Charter Captains) can only help. I've learned a tremendous amount and feel that I am close to being able to dial in as well as I can given my equipment, the weather, and my knowledge - to increase the probability of success as best as can be expected. There's no doubt, however, that if you are looking to take home fish to eat it's a much better deal to go to the supermarket and pay lots per lb. It's fishing. One thing I would recommend, which I've never done for Great Lakes fishing, is do a charter. Get a couple buds together to keep the cost down. I know that stings after sinking so much into your equipment, but I bet you learn a ton, that might really benefit you thereafter. Keep at it, man, and don't be too discouraged. According to other posts here no one slammed them out where you were, even guys with paying customers (whose livelihood depends on it). MarkG

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name:McQuade ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s):8/15/09 Time on Water:6 hours Weather/Temp:hot Wind Speed/Direction:none Waves: calm as can be on that water Surface Temp: 76-77 Location: off Braddocks; launced at the river LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 3 Total Boated: 1 Species Breakdown:steelhead (5 lbs.) Hot Lure: Silver J-Plug Trolling Speed: 2.0-2.2 Down Speed: Boat Depth: 120-250 Lure Depth: 100' ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Only got the one - about 9:00 a.m. Out at 7:00 and fished until 1:00 or so. Two other hits, but nothing home by the time off the release, etc. Tried spoons on the riggers and flasher/flies-squids off dipsies. Marked quite a few for periods 47-55' down - couldn't get them to go. Pulling out of the Gennie was fun with the pleasure boaters lined up. Can't blame them as it was hot, hot, hot!!! MarkG

Awesome fish! Thanks for sharing.

Sold to JR. Thanks, John! MarkG

This is the base that fits the Springfield mounts. I think I used it twice and it looks brand new. You can see it here: http://www.bigjon.com/store/list.asp?Su ... ductID=207 $22 shipped or $18 in person. I live outside Rochester (Webster, NY). Email at [email protected] for quickest response. MarkG

Thanks for the help, guys. Exactly what I was looking for. MarkG

I know that most of you don't eat out much as you have so much fresh fish from your outings for table fare !!!! - but my family is staying on the west side of Seneca - in Himrod - for the weekend and we're looking for a decent restaurant for Friday night. Two small children will be along, so keep that in mind. $12-$20 entree range is the ballpark. We are staying near the Rainbow Cove and Showboat - but I don't know much about those places. We can travel as far as Watkins Glen, Penn Yan, etc. No special food preference. All advice is appreciated. Thanks. MarkG

Thanks for the report, Slimy. It helps the less knowledgeable like me figure out what we might have done wrong. My brother and I fished over there Sat. and Sun. morning with just one brown and steelhead to show for it. We marked fish up and down the column but based on your report we probably were set too shallow. I think we only ran one line down more than 35' and that probably wasn't for long. Maybe some day I'll be able to use a temp. probe. My leads off the riggers were not very long, either, mostly 20-25'. MarkG

WOW!! Congratulations on some beauties and a great day. MarkG

Corey, I know you moved to Florida. I PMd you a month ago. Please check your messages or contact me directly at [email protected] MarkG

Corey, I know you moved to Florida. I PMd you a month ago. Please check your messages or email me directly at [email protected] MarkG

Greg, thanks for your reply (and your troubleshooting). This was just as we were mounting it to the boat, so not pulling a weight, just some resistance that I provided with my arm, but nowhere near what a 12 lb. weight would provide. My brother spoke with Penn about it and they suggest something in the circuitry, so it's going to them. Thanks again. MarkG

Installed used 820 and 825 downriggers on my brother's new boat. We put an inline 30 amp fuse in on 12 gauge wire. One rigger blows the fuse when powering the rigger "up" only. Down it works fine. Other rigger does fine on the same line, etc. Any ideas on what is causing this? We replaced the male plug on the cord from the rigger, tried wiring with 8 gauge wire on the positive from the female plug all the way to the fuse and on to the battery - same effect - blows the inline fuse. Again, one rigger works fine and it only blows the fuse when trying to power up. All advice welcome. HELP! MarkG

Thanks, mdryer. MarkG

Searching the reports I don't see anyone that's launched out of I-Bay. Are the docks in down there? I am in Webster, so I will launch either there or out to Hughes. Could run to the river also. Any advice? Thanks. MarkG

Yes, thank you very much. Friend is going with the OptiMax. MarkG

Thank you both - very helpful. MarkG

Thanks, Split. MarkG

A friend of mine plans to buy a Tracker Targa 185 for trolling and still fishing in the Finger Lakes, mostly trolling. Estimated package weight per manufacturer's site is 3,000 lbs. A Merc 115 Optimax and 115 EXLPT EFI Four Sroke are the same price. They have trolled before with another boat employing bags and buckets to get the speed down. Will they be able to troll down with either of these? Is one a better choice for fuel economy (a 7 mile run to the deep waters where they troll and then some hours trolling). Which one would you choose? I have this over on the Boat forum, but thought I might get more reads over here. Thanks for any advice. MarkG

A friend of mine plans to buy a Tracker Targa 185 for trolling and still fishing in the Finger Lakes, mostly trolling. Estimated package weight per manufacturer's site is 3,000 lbs. A Merc 115 Optimax and 115 EXLPT EFI Four Sroke are the same price. They have trolled before with another boat employing bags and buckets to get the speed down. Will they be able to troll down with either of these? Is one a better choice for fuel economy (a 7 mile run to the deep waters where they troll and then some hours trolling). Which one would you choose? Thanks for any advice. MarkG

My apologies. I'm almost certain yesterday that no location showed, but I must be mistaken. MarkG