momay4000

Yes you did - today is Victoria Day in Canada.........good luck on the bridge.....

Thanks so much for your awesome reports - they helped me hook up yesterday. They put the "Live Tweet" reports to shame. With the exception of two or three captains who actually give some great information, theTweets have become nothing more than a bragging board and even free advertisement in some cases. Your reports on the other hand have been fantastic with real-time information on lures, depth, etc. Thanks again - I even like your reports on the food! Good luck on the water, Chris

As always gentlemen - thanks for the replies. I only lost one Scotty release (ten bucks) off my planer line today so it was a good day...lol. T-Lom, listen to Tom B. about the speed. If it was you trolling just south of us (we were in the hardtop yellow Trophy), it looked like our speeds we just a little different. You may have seen us lose that nice king that I was fighting b/c it looked like you guys were right next to me when I was standing on my motor cover trying to land it ight behind the boat.... Today was a day of "loud" chatreuse, red and orange spoons close to the surface and away from the boat that caught fish. Many of the lakers were trolling 2.4-2.5 speed at the ball on my Subtroll and were right below the surface. Keep at it and good luck - in time I think the chinook are going to be present in the Rochester waters in bigger numbers so the fishing will be even better. I was humbled by Lady O. on Saturday, only to make a few adjustments mainly in the depth of my trolling that made all the difference today. Good luck and keep at it, Chris

Fished only a couple of hours yesterday morning with my good buddy Anthony but we could only muster one fish that we were dragging on my port side rigger that we only noticed when we were pulling lines. Since a fish didn't touch the deck, it was my first skunk in 4 years so I was a bit bummed. I was back at it this morning with my good buddy Jason and his brother-in-law for another morning fish. After pondering all day yesterday what I did wrong and reading some great reports from Long Line, Yankee Troller, Bobs Boy, et al, I decided to hit water more east of I-Bay and fish my program a little shallower both in depth of water and presentation. We fished 8 rods - two wire divers (175'-225'), 300' copper, three and five color cores, a surface line with a 5/8 ounce keel sinker and two riggers with sliders. I put the riggers at only 45' and 55' and although they were a bit slow, they still took fish. We fished Spin Dr's on the divers and the copper, but the rest was all a spoon buffet. We finished 6 for 10, with beautiful lake trout hitting lures from the surface to the deeper stuff, along with some great steelhead action. We also lost a 20+ pound king right at the back of the boat after he smoked the 300' copper pulling a kelly green SD with a Green Krinkle Fly. He absolutely crushed the copper, peeled about 300-400 extra of backing but after about a 20 minute fight he broke the fly leader right behind the boat. He was a great fish indeed. The best depth was 100-120 fow and the MVP lure was the surface mono with a 5/8 ounce keel sinker pulling a ruby red spoon. It took both lake trout and steelhead. No wire bites this weekend, but the short lead cores were great today along with the free sliders on the riggers The following lures all had hits and took fish: Kelly green SD with a green krinkle fly, ruby red NK on surface with a keel weight, DW SS Buffalo Bill cheated (had an orange back), DW SS Steelie Dan on three color, Moonshine Carbon 14 standard size on five color core, DW SS UV Mixed Veggie cheated. You can notice a pattern that the top water stuff in chatreuse, orance and red was great today. Good luck to all and be safe, Chris

Hey Tom - that's hilarious!! I'm scared to go back out this weekend. However, if I catch one of these AUV's you better come rescue me. Thanks for the great laugh - as always good luck on the water and be extra careful, Chris

Interesting. However, I think most folks use wire along with a diver so the depth achieved is different that a ten color core. Also, often times I use leadcore at various core lengths attached to a board. If you are only using 19 strand wire without a directional diver and you suggest a sink rate around 40' for 300' of wire, I would imagine the only place in a trolling presentation would be "down the chute" since you wouldn't be able to attach a board to the 19 strand without fraying it or destroying it. Could you please help me understand what you are trying to suggest in your post? Thanks very much, Chris

Here's the NOAA link of the same buoy which also gives wave height: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=45012 Good luck, Chris

Hey Tom, Man - you are truly a wealth of knowledge and your diagram would explain it perfectly. Maybe I can contact the USCG in the fall if/when they pull it up to see if any of my tackle can be recovered. That being said, I'm sure I won't be the only person to lose tackle on this thing. As always - thanks to everyone for the kind words. Everything is fixed and I'm ready to be back at it next weekend. As a word of caution to everyone - I would really steer clear of all of these buoys by at least 500 feet or more based on my experience. Tight lines and good luck to everyone on the water, Chris

Hey Tom, Thanks for the update - yes it was right around 150-160'. Why would the tether/anchor line on the buoy be so long on that darn thing? I was a good 75 yards to the west. To all my fellow mariners - stay clear of those things!! I'll tell you what, I have about 20# of gear hanging off that thing, so don't be surprised if the data coming back is a little skewed....lol. Thanks Tom, Chris

Cornelis, Thanks for the advice on the fact that it may have been a gill net. We used to fish Ludington, Michigan a ton back in the day and the Native Americans used to have nets all over the place. In fact, a boat was sunk from one of the nets and many Captains lost tackle. I will contact the DEC to see if it could have been a net. Gentlemen - thanks for all the kind words, and yes Brian at least it wasn't a skunk for only a few hours of fishing. Be safe gentlemen and to all the fisherladies out there have a Happy Mother's Day tomorrow, Chris

Well - it's that time of year again for I-Bay reports. After our best season ever last year, we were anxious to get things rolling for our first trip of the year. I fished with my good buddy Anthony (Pike Hunter) and our buddy Barry. With the west wind howling, we decided to set up just a tad west of I-Bay in 100 fow and troll NE for a more comfortable ride. We fished two wire divers, two riggers cheated with spoons, 400' copper and a ten color core. Our first - and only fish - hit in 120 fow on a wire diver 820' out......yes that's right - 820' out!! I actually can't stop laughing when typing this, but Anthony thought the off colored clicker in the index position on the Saltist line counter represented "tenths of a foot" and not a foot, so he let out almost the entire spool of wire! Needless to say, Barry landed a 10# laker on that set-up and after reeling in the fish for 35 minutes, we found ourselves in 200 fow. Absolutely hilarious. For those of you that own Saltist reels I think you know what I'm talking about on the line counter with the different colored "one foot" position..... The waves were certainly building 2-4' out deep, so we decided to troll south until we saw a small CG buoy around 160 fow just north of I-Bay. Not knowing what it meant - or if it was marking a hazard - we kept our distance at least 75 yards away until both my riggers popped, my copper, both wires and even my starboard rigger itself all started taking drag. 20 minutes later, I lost my probe, coated cable, torpedo, 400' copper, one wire, one entire rigger rod, releases, two paddles/flies and a few spoons. I must have caught on the tether to the buoy or something else floating sub-surface, but I called it in to the Coast Guard just in case it was some free floating hazard (although I'm sure someone on this site knows what it represents). We only fished until 8:30 after my fiasco.....but I worked on the boat until 2 PM after two tackle store trips and three trips back and forth to my house and boat to respool my rigger, reels, attach new probe, etc..... I promise to keep up the reports - we will be at again next Sunday. Good luck to all and as always be safe on the water, know your line counters, and watch out for buoys, Chris

I agree with Don Supon - put a voltmeter on your aluminum panel to see if there is any stray DC voltage when you flip your Nav. lights, blower switch, etc. You should not have stray voltage on the aluminum panel, if you do, then you are bridging your gauges with the aluminum panel material. You will need to insulate your gauge that you made from aluminum with rubber or plastic. A cheap voltmeter is worth its weight in gold in situations like this. Good luck, Chris

Hans, Way to go! Glad to hear you are on the board. We launched this morning but could not fish as my brother had to be off the water too early so wew just got the boat settled in the slip and worked on a few odds and ends. The boat ran great and we had a chance to tune some of my new electronics. First trip for me will be next weekend with my good buddy Anthony (Pike Hunter) and our pal Barry. Glad to hear the I-Bay basin is producing fish as I talked to a few other folks and it seemed to be slow. As always, be safe and good luck on the water, Chris

Tom, Great to hear your reports again - as always I love your pics and narrative that tell the story of your mornings. Congrats on the fish. We launched today but didn't get a chance to fish b/c my brother had to be back early so we just focused on getting things set up for the year. Next weekend we will be at it for the first time this year. Good luck on the water and be safe and thanks for sharing!! Chris

Fluoro mainline material and fluoro leader material are two separate things. The manufacturers make each differently (different resins of mainline vs. leader) and because of extra resins, the fluoro leader material is more expensive. The fluoro leader material is typically more abrasion resistant and stiffer and it's made to be stronger at shorter lengths, whereas fluoro mainline is typically a bit softer and made to be stronger and absorb impact at very long lengths. "invisibility" is about the same for both materials. It's up to you, but I don't fish without fluoro leader material no matter what my mainline is. Good luck on the water, Chris

Pete, I tie the Willis all the time and it never fails. I don't attach it to mono, but rather fluoro leader which has a smaller diameter than mono. However, I cannot get anything larger than 30# Seaguar Fluoro leader in the sheath (not sure what that corresponds to in monio diameter). One helpful tip I use: I will cut the fluoro leader straight and very carefully with a razor blade instead of with pliers. I add a little spit and pass it through. The pliers tend to "squish" the cut and make it wider and it's hard to pass through the sheath. The razor makes a cleaner cut. I do not make an angled cut b/c the sharp end always seems to poke through the sheath. Good luck, Chris

I respectfully disagree with Doghouse. It can still get down into the low twenties, if not lower, at the end of April. If you have shore power at your dock, you can always plug in a light and run it during the cold nights under your motor cover. If not, you can sit at home and worry and pace around your house and wonder if your motor is going to get damaged. It's unlikely that your block will freeze after only a few hours of sub-freezing temps. but I've never been able to "stomach" the worry that it causes me when it gets below freezing and I don't like taking the chance. A few years ago when it got below freezing one night in April, I took an aluminum cooking pot and added an inch of water. I set it near the deck of my inground pool to mimic my boat being on the water. The next morning the water in the pot was frozen solid. That was enough of an experiment for me to wait until the threat of freezing has subsided before I launch. Good luck, Chris

The problem in this situation is you won't know what the long term effects are from eating the fish unless you have some sort of controlled clinical trial which looks at medical outcomes (i.e. compare the health of 1000 people who didn't eat salmon from Lake O. vs. 1000 people who eat salmon more than once a week) and not just what the concentration of pollutants are. Who cares what the levels of PCB's, mercury, etc are after they grind up fish and take measurements. What really matters is how many people will get some sort of medical problem from eating the fish. Since the long term health consequences (such as lymphomas, leukemias, nerve problems, stomach or bone cancers) of eating heavy metals, PCP's, etc aren't seen for many years if not decades, later how could somebody conclude how many fish should/could be consumed? My conclusion is everything has a danger when taken to extreme. I think you can feel safe by eating the smaller fish, avoiding the organs and belly meat, and avoiding the bottom dwellers like stated above. As a doctor, do I feel comfortable eating salmon that I clean about once a week during the fishing season? You bet I do. Cheers and good luck on the water, - Chris

I'm a big lead core guy so keep us posted on performance. Personally, I haven't had much of an issue with sheath failure with traditional cores (I use Cabelas), but I'd like to see how these products perform. The Suffix 832 only comes in 12 and 18# test, I believe, so for me I'm a bit leary. Also, the 832 is quite expensive. Thanks very much for your advice on the knots, too. Please keep us posted this year (I tend to use a lot of short cores in the spring when I'm planer board fishing so maybe you can give us feedback if you're fishing with them early) Good luck on the water - thanks Gill-T, - Chris

I vacuum seal everything using a Food Saver (cheapo model) and have done this for many years. I seal venison and salmon/trout along with other meats such as pork roasts. I always fillet my fish and store without skin. I do about 4-6 deer (including jerky and many smoked products) a year and probably 20-30 fish annually. Pros - food is always fresh and tastes good up to about a year although all food is eaten before that so I'm not sure if it would last longer, easy to store and stack the bags in the freezer, no need for extra liquid in the bags Cons - sometimes when I'm processing many fish or two or three deer at once, the machine has an "auto shut off" feature so the pump doesn't burn out which is extremely annoying, bags are pricey. Sometimes the pin bones can pierce the bags. All in all, I love the vacuum sealer I have. In about 8-9 years, I'm on my third unit but I use them a lot

Great report Bruce - thanks for sharing and it looks like Rochester is starting strong yet again. Let's hope for another great year. Good luck and be safe on the water, - Chris