Gill-T

Yep. Works good!

Go to the Blood run tackle site and print out their dipsy trolling dive curve figures to figure out your diver program. I like to have each diver 20' apart in depth.

I try not to pass the outside dipsy across the inside. Helps to have a 10' dipsy rod for the outside diver to extend the diver outside the track as you deploy. As others have stated...creep them out slow and make sure you tell the driver you are letting them out and to keep the boat straight. Easier still is to use a mag diver on inside and #1 dipsy with a mag-sized ring on the outside diver.

Welcome to the dance. Looks like you got your boat set up real nice.

With the record class of three year old kings last year behind us, as a percentage....there should be a record number of four year olds swimming out there. I believe most of these tackle busters are just coming to shore from out deep lagging behind the inshore bait migration so check your gear and lighten those drags!!!! With all the rain we have had has resulted in a water color on the south shore that is more turbid in the Niagara flow. Check the depth your flasher disappears as you lower it down on the rigger.....visibility is much lower. Been having success all year adopting east-end color schemes as they have "greener" water off Oswego come summer.....so yellows are hitting. Mountain dews on the flashers, hammer flies (yellow strands), yellow beads under flies, yellow NBK's for spoons etc. For what ever reason yellows are working....my guess is water color. Next, if you have been struggling to put numbers in the boat consider how many east winds we have been having this June. If you can ever get out on any type of a west wind....the fishing has been great. Plenty of 18-20 lbers showing in the 150-225' band of water. With the increased turbidity consider a king is not going to see your bait unless he is within 7' of depth of your bait. You are not going to see huge movements of fish coming up twenty feet to hit your rigger line like years past....because they can't see it. Consider putting out a spread heavier in flashers and limit your spoons to the top 40 feet. Hope this helps....sorry I have been lacking in the report department but I have been really busy.

If you want to exact conservation measures.....start a club and get involved. The DEC has partnered with club interests up and down the lake. It is hard for me to believe that 15 charters could put a dent in a population of fish in an area so vast. Perhaps, as others have suggested the fish are in a different area. I can tell you on Erie the gobie has helped to move fish closer to shore the last few years. Now there are some great locations where you can cast near shore for 'eyes. Try fishing a little closer to shore? You also may want to hear feedback from our Canadian friends about the fishing in Quinte before deciding fish numbers are down. I would think you would see a decrease in population there first as evidenced by returning spawners numbers in November.

Alewives are high in the enzyme Thiaminase which inhibits reproductive success in Atlantic salmon and Lake Trout. Gobies are rich in Thiamine. By feeding on Gobies, Lake Trout reproductive success is probably higher. If they spawn deep enough or in the Niagara...gobies feeding on Lake Trout fry might be a non-factor. I agree....Lake Trout on the grill or baked is good food. I don't eat the big ones due to bioaccumulation of toxins. Lake Trout can live a long time and accumulate a lot of the bad stuff. If the DEC were smart they would place a slot limit to protect the biggest spawners and protect the public from eating them.

Been able to find scattered kings in the 100-225' range down 60'-80'. Full moon, I don't like to go out til 10:00 am. Fish have been well fed and mostly in the 18-20 lb range. Flasher/fly bite. Just not finding the monster pods of last year. Different year....getting small lakers up high on leadcore every trip out. Lots of cohos with steel mixed in. If you want numbers get a bunch of leadcore or copper out on boards and fish the upper layers. If you want size...the 80' down mark seems to hold the bigger fish.

what did the picture look like out there?

From someone who pulls up NOAA charts on Lake O every day.....even winter, I can tell you that EVERY day the down currents measured off Buoy data has been a different direction EVERY day. Lake O is a washing machine right now. Best advise I can give anyone under these conditions is fish the middle of the lake. Lake O is like a toilet bowl with the water swirling around west to east on the south shore. What doesn't go down the St. Lawrence will circulate back west along the north shore. With the toilet bowl effect "stuff" will move to center. Stuff being plankton, bait fish and therefore predators. During the winter the middle has the warmest temperatures. Because of the mild weather with mixing winds and currents the food chain has remained offshore. The bait is just now coming into the shallows and the kings will follow. We need sustained SW or W winds for multiple days.....weeks etc. for the fishing to pick up inshore. My advise for now for if you want numbers head out and fish high in the water column........and stop blaming the fishermen.

Yep, there are kings. When you find a king, mark them with GPS and pound the waypoint for a while.

If you want numbers, start at 400' and troll out. Fish the top 40'

what did the picture look like at the drop?

Hey even small greasers make a mess of the floor

The boating industry does us all a disservice by supplying only plastic scuppers. The sailing community has mostly large brass scuppers that last forever. I have looked everywhere for brass ones and can't find them to fit our small openings equipped on power boats.

I do believe some synapses got fried the moment Tim opened the engine compartment.

If anyone would like to add to their exercise regiment....P90-x ain't got nothing on bailing water for 1 hour. Today, I feel muscles in my thighs and back that I did not know I had.

Lesson learned is MAKE SURE THERE ARE MULTIPLE bailing buckets of various sizes in your boat...it could save your boat and your life. Thanks for the adventure Tim....you sure know how to show a guy a good time! Same time next week?

Aftco roller release to a fixed loop on the planerboard line. Place dipsy in water, clip line into release, send out board free-spooling/thumbing the dipsy reel so the dipsy maintains it's position in the water. Once you are at the desired distance away from the boat...lock down the planer reel, zero the line counter on the reel and send the dipsy out to the desired distance. You just made your 8' transom 50' wide.