momay4000

Nice video Nick - it's great to see someone who has such great passion about fishing take the time to teach others. Couple of comments: 1.) When I spool my backing for copper or lead core, I always put a small wrap of electrical tape over the knot (unless you have a small stud on your arbor) otherwise I have found that the backing slips 2.) The copper depth charts are a bit inaccurate. With the new Smarttroll data, the copper does not always sink at the proverbial 22' per 100' out rule. Somewhere on this site, the sink rates were posted Thanks again for sharing and taking such great time to help us - good luck on the water, Chris

I use Scotty Power Grips with braid on my lead core and copper and no issues with false releases. I bury the braid behind the black line deep in the clip and no issues. With other releases maybe there's issues with the braid slipping out. However, the Scotty's are ridiculously expensive.....

No - I attach the braided backing to the release. I don't splice mono segments

Great report mate! Night and day difference for me running lead core down the chute vs. off to the side on boards. Try running it off to the side, with something green and you may be surprised at some of those hungry kings and steelhead whacking it. Thanks so much for sharing your success - Chris

One of the best posts ever - buy these four patterns and you're in great shape. Good luck on the water, Chris

Hermit, I agree with eveyone here - somewhere you have a short which is causing the heat build up. Go searching for the short, whether it's corrosion in the plug or somewhere downstream in the trailer itself, but I wouldn't ignore it b/c where there's heat, there can be fire. Please give us a follow up post on what you find, Chris

Kuba, This might sound simple, but make sure you have the Dipsy on "L" for port, and "R" for your starboard side of the boat. Please don't take offense if this sounded simple but I can't tell you how many times newbies on my boat have them set the wrong way b/c they think left and right is when they are facing rearward instead of facing the bow. Also, make sure the weight isn't sliding around - there was a bad batch a few years back that cracked and the set screw in the center would allow the weight to slide around. Good luck and be safe on the water, Chris

I'd say don't overlook the ports of Rochester/Irondequoit Bay/Sodus for the month of July. Last year, 9 out of the top 21 salmon came out of Rochester/Sodus for the LOC (at least they were weighed in at these ports). Lots to do in and around these ports as well. However, I would agree that the Oak is equally as good in July. Good luck and be safe on the water, Chris Disclaimer - my home port is I-Bay, NY so i'm a little biased......

The keel goes on the outside edge set of holes on the board so that it angles outward. The weight of the keel is also facing outward. On the inside edge of your board (the side nearest to your boat) you attach the tow rope. You make a loop in the tow rope to attach your planer line, however the length of the tow rope in front of the loop is a little shorter (around 7" on my board) than the rear portion of the tow rope (around 8-9" between the board and the loop). I had to mess around with my tow rope on the board to get it just right so it would track properly with coppers. If your board is going too slack when turning towards the board, it might be b/c you are trolling too slow <2.0 mph. In my case, I have never been able to get boards to track right on my boat when I troll <2.0 mph. I have my planer reels amidships and at slow speeds there's too much slack in the lines and they won't run properly no matter what make/mpodel of boards. Good luck, Chris

Wow Tim - we are all glad you and the crew are safe. Your video is unbelievable!! That's a hell of an engine man. Chris

Fished today with my great fishing buddy Anthony and we decided to focus solely on lake trout, as Lady O seems to be making her June transition. Our goal was to try and find a bigger fish for the LOC, but we "settled" instead for quantity of fish over quality. It was steady action the whole morning with a few doubles and essentially a fish every 15 minutes, except the times when we were dragging a trout without knowing and it would slow things down until we figured out what the issue was. ALL action came on the riggers dragging bottom between 95-110 fow. We needed only two lures - Watermellon NK cowbells with a chatreuse spin n-glow and a set of 4/0 Hammerhead chartreuse bells pulling a glow peanut with red beads. We tried two wire divers pulling paddles and flies, a thumper rod and 400' copper but they did not take any fish (wire diver had one rip only). We fished east of the Bay and treid to stay away from the armada early although it seemed like all the boats were doing the same thing as us. It looked like others were also having fun as I saw quite a few nets moving all morning. We finished with 11 lake trout hitting the deck in 4 hours and we had around 4 or 5 more knockoffs. Best speed on the Subtroll was 1.7-1.8. East troll seemed the best, but once I adjusted my speed going west using my trolling bags, then the west troll became consistent on the troll back to port. The most important thing was I had a blast with Anthony on a perfect morning We have a wonderful fishery on this water, and it's so nice to know that you can target different species and different times. Good luck to all and be safe on the water and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, Chris

lol.......I was wondering if someone would get a little chuckle out of that.....nyuck, nyuck, nyuck.....

Shadster, I run 9'6" Heartlands and have done so for 6+ years. I fish solo on occasion and IMO it's not really that bad to net a fish with the longer rods in my 22' boat. I have the longer rods b/c at the time the 9'6" and 10'6" (which I used to use) were the only Heartlands in a Heavy format called "Dipsy" rods. More importantly, I like the longer rods so that they clear my downriggers when I run my booms to the side. Fool around with a 9-10' rod in your boat in your driveway (take one of your rigger rods and tape a stick on the end to make it 9-10') and see what you bang into when you are pretending to land a fish. If it seems cumbersome in your boat, get smaller heavy action rods. Good luck, Chris

I agree 110% with Gill-T. Rick - you have always been generous with your great and very detailed reports over the years and I'm glad your hard work rewarded you with a well deserved trophy. As always - be safe on the water and good luck the rest of the season, Chris

Scuba divers need weights because of buoyancy (they have air in their lungs and tanks which is lighter than the water they displace so they float). Lead core would sink to the bottom of the lake at a standstill no matter how much line you let out (thus it's not the "scuba diver effect" or neutral buoyancy). However, when trolling it hits a point where it flat lines under water b/c the resistance of all that line is more than the ability to sink and the lead core line is connected to the boat which acts as a force pulling the line upward, not downward. This is different than the scuba diver situation and neutral buoyancy. A better analogy to the lead core eventually flatlining, is explained when you troll a spoon on the surface using mono line. At 0.1 mph it'll probably troll a few feet underwater. However at 2.5mph it's bouncing on the top of the water. The boat is pulling it upward and the weight of the spoon is overcome by the resistance of the water so it's higher in the water column. This same theory holds true with copper, downriggers and blow back, divers, etc. Just my two pennies, Chris

You are correct sir! http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/data/now/wlevels/plots/ontario.gif

Great responses gentlemen, from some great names on the lake. I can appreciate all of your great knowledge and experiences and advice for me to consider going back to 20# leaders. Good luck to all, Chris

I respectfully disagree on this. I have always run 30# Seaguar leader material on all my mono presentations (except my rod that I run flasher/flies which is leader-less) and have never thought that it affects lure action or hook up rate. When I ran 20# fluoro leaders, it resulted in more breakoffs for me later in the year when fish were bigger. 30# Seaguar fluoro leader diameter - 0.020" 30# Big Game Mono line diameter - 0.022" Thus, line diameter is not an issue. Also, the stiffer fluoro leader actually will give more lure action than the softer/stretchier mono. On my coppers, I use 30# fluoro and on my lead cores I use 20#, b/c I have a hard time getting the 30# into the sheath. - Chris