Gill-T

Cabela's dipsy rods get my vote. With Cabela's visa points they are free.........free is the best value in my book.

I rigged the clincher as shown in years past, and it worked great....however I have been running a #20 shark this year and the clincher kind of scared me. With a #20llb shark $100.00 + probe I did not want to find out the hard way whether the clincher will hold all that weight. So after scratching my head in the offseason (I am bald), I rigged up a Cannon terminal attachment and stripped a large tag of extra cable coming out the end. Then I threaded the extra uninsulated cable around and thru the eye of the terminal swivel. There are at least five points of contact of the wire on the metal terminal swivel eye to transmit the signal up the coated cable and I have the piece of mind of the strength of the cannon termination.

Yea.........congrats! (Remember to keep your lures away from the diaper pail).

I am with ray on this one, get your readings and get that probe out once your course is set on a good depth. I will put it back on if making moves in search mode in a North/South troll on south shore of Lake O in case I troll across a temp break.

Adam, I run copper thru the swivel twice, then wrap tight. Finish it off with 5 min epoxy over the knot, blending the epoxy into a fine taper past the knot. You will have piece of mind with strength and the bonus of having the knot slide thru the guides and not getting hung up.

Sounds like you already figured it out, thanks for sharing.

Ray, I assume you were fishing the fingerlakes where the fish are smaller (generally). A Laker of the 2-7lb size does not have a big mouth compared to Kings on Ontario. Compounding hook-up problems is that the fly is whipping around behind the flasher (hard for the fish to track and hit accurately). Consider the problem may be the hook size... . try downsizing on the fingerlakes. We also had east winds this past weekend, which in my experience means more negative "nipping" fish. Just some thoughts. We have all had rubber hook days. I don't remember loosing as many fish when we all used mono/dipsys, so maybe it is the no-stretch braid and wire tearing the hooks out. I have seen video of some top tournament guys who back off the drag before pulling the rod out of the holder to help facilitate easier rod removal and ease the fish into the initial run.

Your Otters will function better with 9.5" and 11.5" settings on the tow string. Give your rod gently jingles (insert joke here) to help the releases slide down. Power Pro or weedwacker line is slicker and easier for the releases to slide if your tow mast is not very high. Silicone on the tow line helps as others have said.

It was only fair Rod gave you his lucky towel since he borrowed your shower drain plug last year

I thought about using the sebrile behind a slow-trolled flasher, but the cost has kept me away.

Could be. Could be Kings or Lakers also. Just be aware in May the sheepies school up, so if you are marking a ton of hooks that are not biting properly presented baits, you may be wasting time on trash fish. Better to find the bait and hooks out a little deeper.

This time of year the sheephead start to gather before going up the river to spawn. Some of the those hooks may have been schooling sheepies

Looks like an abacus fish counter, funny Ray. Remember to put nine up on the string for the Pro/Am.

The lighter line makes your baits run deeper. There may be a 4-5' differential in depth from your 17# test with a stickbait and the boats around you running 10#lb test. That alone could make a huge difference esp. with the browns keying in on bottom orientating gobies. Sometimes the difference between catching and not catching is a small split shot.

Stabil marine, or seafoam gas treatment.

Adam, my boat is in Youngstown as we speak......waiting for the crazies to leave. I will let you troll by me without any water ballon reprisals .

Been there done that. I did not get a spring Derby ticket because money seems to make A-holes out of normal people. I will wait until the LOC and Scotty is done.....and I will have the place to myself until the fall derby.

Nice report, looks like the Kings are still out a little deeper. I have been getting screwed by NOAA's wave forecasts the last two weekends......no suprise. The lake in the afternoons have been REALLY snotty with 4-6' waves. Sat. afternoon was one of those days where everything went wrong. GPS crapped out, NOAA was wrong again, cable got caught in trolling motor-lost a shark, caught a seagull, rod holder broke......got to get the kinks out before tournaments start I guess.

Then again, if 50% of the respondants have a problem with the current date I would say it is a problem overall.

It is all good. Kings are just showing up.

Ok, running 50/50.....apparently the Mother's Day weekend is not a problem for you guys. So, either you are not married, or have been married long enough that the wife wants you out of the house

How does the Scotty weigh-in work? Do you catch your boat limit and weigh the best five fish? Can you cull small fish or does everything have to be kept? Is this a six or eight-rod tournament? Sorry for the questions, but it looks like a fun event.

ESLO = LOC

Stan, try a double-deep six diver (Luhr Jenson) down the chute or off your new planer boards. Should be able to hit 150'.

Gambler, Gambler, Gambler......I know you are a newlywed....just wait. I like the May 15th start date, for fishing reasons, schedule reasons, Turkey opener reason etc. I could think of a million reasons.