Mickey Finn

I use the weight retrievers for pulling the weights near the boat to rig lines, so I don't use the tip up feature for that. Actually, because of my boat layout, I have to swivel the back riggers to the side of the boat and then use the weight retrievers in order to reach them to set lines on those riggers. Maybe the tip up feature would work better on those back riggers. I'll give that a try next time I'm out instead of trying to swivel them. I do use the tip up feature when extending and retracting the booms and I use it to lower the weight into the water and retrieve the weight at the end of the day. Just have to make sure you don't have your finger or anything else stuck between the rigger and the base when you lower the boom down or you will get pinched really good. There's a lot of leverage with the boom all the way out and the weight hanging on the end of it. The Scottys have a warning about this on the rigger. So far, I haven't got any body parts caught in there.

That is a nice feature of the Digitrolls but they are very pricey for the average guy. Another thing to consider is weather or not you are going to be extending and retracting the booms often, which I do a lot when trailering. Those plastic things that tighten and hold the booms extended on the cannons were horrible. Either, they wouldn't hold the boom extended out or they were so tight, you could never loosen them or the little tab would break off when you tried to lossen them. I didn't like that feature. The extending boom on the Scotty is much better in my opinion. Just something to think about when you are considering new units.

Looks very much like an Atlantic in the hanging picture and more like a Brown in the cooler. I've never had a problem identifying the difference and I'd like to think if I were on the boat, I could tell easilly but in the different pictures, it looks different. I found the following information which won't help in this situation but might in future situations for people who have a hard time telling the difference: Identification of Salmon and Brown Trout The most obvious difference between salmon and brown trout may be found in the head and tail areas. Knowing them may help the angler release a fish more quickly when certain creel and size restrictions apply. On salmon, the vomerine teeth are small and arranged in single row on shaft, few to none on vomerine head. On the Brown Trout, the vomerine teeth are well-developed on both vomerine head and shaft, arranged in a zig-zag row on shaft. On salmon, the caudal fin may be slightly forked and on the brown trout, the caudal fin is square and unforked. The information about the forked tail is a little misleading I think. When the Atlantics get bigger, they loose most of that fork. I've caught quite a few of them on Lake O and a lot of them in the Penobscot River in Maine and that fork in the tail is hard to see when they get bigger.

Well, that is a good way to get one to hit. The up thing is mormal. Hitting the up will start them up and the auto up "short stop" feature will keep them coming up until you stop them. However, if they keep going down on their own after you hit switch down, something is wrong, unless of course, you are not taking your finger off the down switch. When they are coming up, you should just have to depress the switch down briefly and then let off the switch and they should stop right there.

Yes, once you hit the "up" switch, you have started the "auto up" and they will come to the surface. You have to hit the switch "down" to stop them where you want them.

I got tired of the Cannons. It seemed like they had a lot of problems with the short stop boards. Electronic circuit boards in a wet environment just doesn't seem like a good idea. We did some research and talked to guys who work on riggers. They said they never see the Scotty riggers in the shop. I switched to them and would never go back. They are simple and reliable...exactly what I want. With the manual down lever, I can set four of them much faster than I could with my Cannons. I've never had new Big Jons, so I can't speek to them. I did have some older ones that came on a boat that I bought and I had motor issues with them but they were old. Someone would have to do a lot of talking to get me away from Scottys.

Congratulations to Capt. Scott! Some big fish coming in the Henderson area. I see they just took a 22 pound Northern up there too.

Yes, I'd go with the 8 pound weight if thats what it's rated for. As for the shape, I haven't used the fish shaped ones enough to remember if they decreased blow back as compared to the finned round ball or if they track back and forth much. I had some a long time ago but don't any more. Once I got the slim darters, I never used anything else that much except for the finned round ball when bouncing bottom. Thanks for the info on the Chamberlain. I think I'll try one.

I use 10 to 13 pound weights on my Scotty electrics. The 10's and 13's are some of the old "Slim Darter" weights which are kind of torpedo shaped and create less blow back. I also use a 12 pound round ball which I like better when bumping bottom. I'm not sure what your riggers will support but I'd use at least a 10 pound if it's rated for that much. As for the cable noise, I don't know of anything that will stop it. Like you, I think it bothers me more than the fish but you just get used to it. How does the Chamberlain release work on small fish? Do they trip it? Can you tell if one is dragging? I tried different releases like those that I call "in-line" releases and had a hard time telling if a fish was dragging as most of the small fish wouldn't trip the release. I went to the releases like the offshore pad type release so that I could see when one was on (the rod starts jumping). They don't very often pull the line out of the release on their own. I never tried the Chamberlain though. Oh...and be warned that if you travel from Maine out to Lake Ontario, you will be hooked forever! I started in 1990 and I just can't stop! It will get in your blood and there's no cure for it.

That sounds about right. One day that season we did a 31.8, a 34 and a 36 all in the same day. It was a great year. Hopefully, that kind of fishing will play out again late this summer.

Don't recall the exact year but I'd say somewhere around 2000 I had a lady take one 38 pounds even during the fall derby. It was 12th place when we weighed it and didn't make the top 20. I think it ended up #21. Seems like there were like 10 over 40 that year. Anyone remember what year that was? It's amazing how much it changes from year to year. Lots of years, it would have won. Her husband did take the 2nd place laker at 25.2 the next day though.

fdny76, Something that helps in identifying the Atlantics is the shape of the spots. The spots are very irregular shaped. Some of them almost make an "X" shape. Do a search on here for Altantic and look at some of the pictures, especially the ones with close ups of fresh fish. You can see the irregular shaped spots.

I believe both of the bottom ones are Coho's. Look at the shape of the anal fins. They don't taper back enough to be a King. I have a great paper on identifying some of the fish on the great lakes. If I can find it tonight, I will try to scan it and put it up here.

Yup

We'll all be interested in what the problem was. Please keep us informed. That's whats so great about this site. Every time we discuss things like this on here, it provides valuable information for all of us when we have an issue that we can't figure out. This site has saved me countless hours of researching problems, making decisions on new equipment and I've got loads of fishing knowledge from it.

Awesome!

Thanks for the link. Lowrance just sent me a new one the other day. Should be here soon, I hope. If it craps out, or should I say when it craps out, I'll check into this...assuming I still own the unit or haven't ripped it off the boat and tossed it over the transom. Seriously though, it would be nice it this takes care of the problem.

We caught some in that area back in the beginning of May. That day they were between 100 and 120 feet. The bottom comes up pretty quick in that area, so there's not a lot of distance between 120 and 135. Those trout move up and down that face regularly. If you're coming out of Henderson, I'd start in 100 and troll out just so you don't miss them.

I'm sure he meant Brown Trout. Guys have been getting a few in the Eastern bays mixed in with their catches of eyes and pike.

Gator, Your idea about making a few practice calls to customer service before buying a new unit is a very excellent one! Great thought!

I use them even when I only run three riggers. Just gives you more spread down there. Make sure you use crimpless connectors on your cables. The wingers create a little more pull and a lot more cost if you break a cable.

Still have these if anyone's interested. Shipping is just over $10 which means they are less than $5 each.

One thing that helps a lot with an 8 foot beam and 4 riggers is to run wingers on the outside weights. This will spread them out and you won't have trouble with tangles. I run four on my Starcraft with no trouble.

motoman, what GPS did you get?