Gill-T

I received a call today from the Orleans County DA office regarding my stolen Mercury outboard. It seems the bad mojo the thief acquired when he stole from a LOU member came back to bite him in the arse. Good news is they caught the guy with other stolen items. If anyone had fishing equipment stolen recently they may want to contact the Orleans County DA. I don't have the thief's name yet but I will post it when I do. I have a smile on my face from ear to ear.

Trying to figure out where I want to target kings this coming weekend and thought I would check what the Niagara flow was doing esp. with all these reports of kings still way out deep. Sure enough....even looking back to the 18th of August, the plume has been shooting out the top of the drop and heading out into the middle of the lake instead of staying along the shore....just like much of last year. I think so many are struggling to have consistent fishing in the usual staging areas in close is that much of the staging is occurring out deep. The pull to the natal waters will draw them inside but they may just be coming across the middle of the lake to Pulaski via deep water route.

Another King with a missing gill plate! Never seen so many as this year.

Detailed report...

One problem......the weigh-in. You can't transport gobies. Instead of CR it would be a kill on site tournament..... with extreme prejudice.

Your screen name suits you. You are rambling good man......go fishing.

Gobies don't leave the lake floor. Salmon and trout are pelagic. I would say the goby effect on salmon and trout has been positive. The only drawback I can see is they are carriers of VHS and can pass it up the food chain. High in thiamine....good. Easy to catch by predators....good. Filled a niche left by huge decreases in shiner levels....good. Lake Erie has millions of them but walleye and perch have learned to coexist. Lake Ontario bass and walleye will "figure it out" IMO.

Do not run flashers with 15 fluoro unless you want to get rid of some gear. Rig up with 30 lb. This is big gear time. The fish are aggressive, they are getting their teeth and the big ones are showing up now. Salmon do not care about 30 lb test. With the green water green line is all but invisible 100' down.

No ring mag dipsy hits 110'. Deeper diver mag taps bottom at 115'.

More numbers than last year. Lots of Kings were hiding/spread out offshore over deep water during the June/July "every-day-wind-blew-from-the-East" time lakewide except for the Rochester area. East winds often help Rochester anglers as the warmer Genny water stays in the bowl longer attracting fish. There are lots of uncaught fish swimming around out there as a result. Due to two tough winters there will not be as many 30 lbers swimming around. If last year is an indicator of what the run will be like (weather has been similar), the Canadian rivers will probably have another strong run of fish and our runs will be "off" a little. Just my feeling.

IMO the reason the fish are inside is the availability of food. Stomach contents of walleye and perch this year have been predominantly small gobies. Gobies need structure to hide. Find the rocky humps and you will find the walleye. By matching the hatch and using 1/2 crawler you may find more hook-ups. Traditional "perch" areas are loaded with walleye this year.

300' back on a standard dipsy will get you 80' down. 300' back on a mag dipsy will get you about 110' down. One on each side would be good.

Should be ok with rigger weights if you keep your down speed closer to 2 mph. You won't get much below 80' down with a standard dipsy. You could always add a torpedo diver 50' ahead of your dipsy on an OR-16 release to get additional depth.......or you could just buy a Mag dipsy for $12 and catch some fish lol.

Chrome edge/ double crush glow is always in the water for me......SD or Protroll. Make sure when you come up to bring your heavier downrigger weights and your Mag dipsys.

I don't get into the debate over what is better. The Protrolls displace a little more water and have the echip making sound so more of a "loud" paddle. When fish are beginning to get aggressive (like now) sometimes they prefer the protroll paddles. Otherwise......no real difference in hook ups for me.