Gill-T

Well done production. You must have hired someone to film and produce the video?

Ray, it has been one year and I am still waiting.......don't hold your breath. If sending packets is a problem, maybe packets should be made available to all teams AT THE PRO/AM events.

Jack, it is not to say don't buy copper. I have four set-ups. If I was just fishing for fun and not tournaments......they never would see the light of day. IMO, there are easier ways to fish away "stealthy" from the boat. Make sure you try one first. I will bet you will not be impressed with the fight the fish gives on copper, and if you are fishing catch and release.......forget it.

I think you should back up a little. Copper would be the last thing I equip my boat with. I can think of a ton of other things to help you put fish in the boat. I would consider two more downrigger rods to stack or two more diver set-ups or a couple of leadcore set-ups or a planer mast/otter boats or a thumper set-up....etc. etc. before copper. Copper is not some magical fishing secret.....it has been around since the turn of the century. You can achieve the same depths with pinch-on weights or torpedo divers without the hassle. Copper is a folly most of us get into when there is nothing left to buy or try. You have seen a lot play on this site and others because copper has become "new" again for a lot of people.

Paul, you could come up on the 24th, but the place will be empty. The event is for the 27th-28th in Lockport.

You can catch some browns thru the ice in harbors like Olcott as the fish fall back after spawning. A radiotagging study I read showed browns will move in and out of rivers and streams, but as the water temp in shore reaches 40 degrees, fish will migrate deeper to warmer water. Look at the surface temp map on the NOAA site and you will see the warmer water is out in the middle of the lake. In the spring, everything reverses as warm rain will warm the shallows and bring the bait and browns back tight to shore. Start the end of March probing piers, stream and even ditch mouths with run-off. Good fishing from shore til probably mid-april.

Hook the treble to the edge of a glass of Coca-Cola, and let the spoon dangle in the drink. Leave over night. Wipe clean in the morning.

They are truly screwed in Haiti.....wow.....wait until the second week when people start to run out of food. My donation went thru the Red Cross site. They have it set up to go to Haiti and not into their general fund.

.....exactly! There has to be penalties for cheating so severe, no one will risk the penalty. Make it fraud (criminal offense), give the commitee authority via entrance application to have the authority to sanction fines for cheating. But you still have to give people the benefit of the doubt. By saying the closed comm. rule format is unenforceable in effect you are saying nobody can be trusted. The more I think about it.....the more I am offended.

So as I am slogging thru 2' of snow today in a vain attempt to find a Grouse that has yet to be eaten by a Coyote, I spot a deer bedded in some pines. The deer has no idea I am there. I think to myself how easy the twenty yard shot would be. But you can't shoot deer now (esp. with birdshot) because.......there is a season.....rules. There is nothing to stop me from shooting this deer, dragging it past my inquisitive daughters out sledding, butchering it and placing it in my freezer except for the fact there are rules that I am aware of. Then I think to myself, deer poaching is really unenforceable unless someone calls in a complaint. Based on the logic of the Pro/Am commitee that closed communication is unenforceable, we should not have deer seasons or limits because poaching is trully "unenforceable".

Gander Mountain in Tonawanda

5 minute epoxy over the copper knot. Works great.

That was a good site Glenn, that explains it better.

I don't know, according to the Raymarine site I think I got it correct. Confusing.

The way I understand it, the two frequencies can be used simultaneously on a split screen because at different frequencies they won't interfere with each other. The lower frequency 50 KHz will show deeper objects better, but with a narrower cone. The 200 Khz has a wider cone and shows stuff up higher.

Sometimes it is a little thing. For example, I changed a treble hook on NK that was bent. I changed from a stainless to a black owner hook. Never took another fish on that lure until I put a stainless hook back on. If your dead rigger was at a different level, maybe the current was less at that depth so your spoon was not kicking as strong as the upper rigger. Little things make a difference. Scent on the lure, the swivel, the hook, the speed of troll for the lure and depth your are running, the current you are running into, light penetration, water temp etc. etc. etc. Enough variable to keep the puzzle interesting for the rest of your life.

It is not a level playing field if I don't own a cell phone or have the same connections as other teams. I understand the "you can't enforce it" arguement, but what happened to gentlemen's agreement to follow the rules? What about ethics? What about giving someone the benefit of the doubt? If there is evidence of cheating as witnessed by an observer then bring in the lie detector test and confirm it, and kick the S.O.B.s arse out of all future tournaments. Make the penalty soooooo friekin' huge, it won't be worth the chance. What is the point of HAVING OBSERVERS if we are not actually using them for their intended purpose?

Since the majority of teams prefers "no communication", I would be interested to hear what key arguements are being cited as the reasons for "PRO open communication". I will never make the jump to the pro-side until the communication rule is changed to CLOSED. Until that time, I will gladly play with the amateurs. I still love the events.

They are now.

Tips with wire and Dipsy not yet explained. 1). While mounting wire on the reel, MAKE SURE IT GOES ON TIGHT. It helps to put a little electrical tape on the arbor so the wire bites on the first few wraps. Get a helper. Place a pencil/pen in the spool hole of the wire to make a spindle. Next, have someone with ovenmits on hold the edges of the wire spool and apply enough pressure to keep good tension on the wire as it is being layed down on the reel. 2). Always keep the wire tight to the reel to avoid coils. When deploying dipsy, do it slowly with contant tension out. When not in use, reel the wire tight up to the top eye. Some will just hook the swivel to the top eye or add a plastic bead above the swivel as a stop. 3). DON"T SET THE HOOK. You will snap wire with jerky movements. When a fish hits the dipsy/wire, there is no stretch so the fish will hook itself. When releasing the dipsy, just give the rod a little smooth 2' sweep and the dipsy will trip.....if not then the dipsy is too tight. 4). Make smooth movements when fighting the fish....no jerkin, dippin the rod and crankin in back up. With no stretch you will tear out the hooks with too much pressure. 5). Take high blood pressure meds in morning, because the first time you see a mature King take a dipsy rip, you will swear the rod holder is going to come out of the transom!!!! 6). A twilli tip or a roller tip rod help with snap offs 7). Use the wire line knot as depicted on LOTSA's web page

A great light line early season brown rod. If money were no object I would have an arsenal for spring trolling.

The deep unknown really intrigues me. Any underwater footage of deep water in the great lakes shows infertile waters devoid of life. Some diver friends of mine confirm this. Maybe gobies have reached those depths, but I wonder why the fish end up that deep. The spring Scotty events will have contestants pulling Kings off 2 colors of lead or 225' down on the bottom. My best guess is those depths are where fish end up after inactivity. If you witness a fish in a fishtank at night sleeping, it will either be suspended and maintaining it's depth with slight fin movements, or they are on the bottom, resting on the tips of their fins. Neither type of orientation would lend itself to actively chasing a bait very far. I think first you have to wake them up with a sound signature like the thump and clank of a flasher or a gang troll or a rattlebait or maybe a loud downrigger ball. When the fish snaps to attention your bait hopefully won't be too far away, so troll SLOWLY like 1-1.5 mph. I do think larger fish with their larger body mass are more likely to sink to a deeper depth where the colder water is dense enough to make them neutrally bouyant upon inactivity and sleeping. I have heard stories from divers witnessing smaller fish refusing to swim through the hazy thermocline so are therefore more likely to be above it. Personally, I have caught PLENTY of small kings below the thermocline, so maybe that theory is species specific. I know I almost never catch Steelhead below the thermocline. Of course I might just be full of shiiite

Great news! Now get him a boat steering wheel to rehab with to get him ready for the season.

I would think running two coppers far out on the otters, and using inlines for the inside coppers you could keep them from tangling. I agree with Gambler on the tangle issue, never mind having to deploy four lines?????? I don't have enough patience for that.

Any local print shop can do it.