momay4000

Broke Off, Don't over think it. Here's the way I tie my copper: I pass the main line through the eye of an in-line swivel once and then pass it through once again and cinch down the little loop it makes. Then I take the tag end and wrap it around the main line about 7-8 times to make a tight barrel. Then I'll take the tag end after making the barrel and finally make 2-3 haywire twists and that's it. I have never had this fail. Could you possibly have this unwrap? Possibly but it would take hundeds, if not thousands of pounds of pressure to do this and I would guarantee that you would snap the 45# copper before you could ever come close to unwrapping this knot. More importantly for you - I would use an inline swivel to connect your braided backing to the copper. I have always been worried that the stranded copper line tied directly to the braid (as opposed to the nice smooth surface of the inline swivel) could wear at the braid and eventually cut it off. Good luck on the water, - Chris

Hey Don, I think many/most of us think our lures are deeper than they really are based on the sink rate theroies handed down year after year by us fisherman (i.e. lead core sink rates of 4.5'/color, Dipsy dive rates of roughly 1/3 the amount of line out and now copper sink rates of 20 feet per 100' of copper). However, the reality is that it's not a linear relationship at all and this is proven in the Precision Trolling tables. Once you start having great distances of line out, i.e. 500-600' copper, 350'+ of wire, 20 color core, etc., I think you reach the point where you don't achieve much more in depth b/c of friction of the water and physics. This is the same thing that you see when your downriggers are down deep and the blowback gets worse. Although I don't own the newer Precision Trolling guide which looks at copper, I would imagine the change in depth between 500' and 600' copper is no more than 10' or so, and not a full additional 20'. Every year I'm fascinated by "what lies in the deep waters" of our lake but like you I'm not sure how to get there without huge cannonballs on my riggers that my DR's can't retrieve or some sort of drop weights. A few years ago I experimented with Torpedo weights on lead core, but honestly I hated it and didn't see a change in my catch rate. I probably wasn't using it correctly, but I remember it seemed like a pain. I love Sk8man's idea of drop weights and a three way swivel - please let us know if you try it and it works. I'm not sure how a heavy drop weight would work when pulled off a big board (i.e. would it track too far back?). I might also give the Stinger Dive Bombers that SteelyDan recommended. I'm convinced that the biggest, baddest, meanest kings and lakers are living in the deep stuff and many of us haven't even scratched the surface of targeting these bad boys consistently. Please keep us posted with your attempts at targeting the "creatures of the deep"!! Good luck on the water, - Chris

Thanks very much gentlemen - your input was fantastic and greatly appreciated. Good luck on the water to everyone, - Chris

I phrased this this a bit different from my previous post - but could folks comment on the best Navionics Card in general to use in a Fishfinder/GPS specifically for Lake Ontario. I'm looking at the Platinum+ cards and the Platinum Hotmaps. Thanks, -Chris

Hey guys/gals, I'm looking for input on what Navionics chips folks are using if they own a Lowrance HDS unit. Mine came with the Insight Map but I'd like to upgrade to a Navionics card. I'm looking at the Hotmaps vs. the Platinum + card #648. I'm not sure if the Hotmaps Card made for the "Eastern US" supports Lake Ontario. Thanks for any help, - Chris

This was a good read - and you said it best in your article that the reason the flasher rotates in a tighter circle when it's farther from the boat is because it can't rotate in its maximum "arc" because it simply doesn't have enough energy to rotate all the extra line through the water because of resistance. The same analogy would hold true by trying to do a J-stroke with a canoe paddle submerged two feet in the water, versus doing the same stroke with an oar which is submerged 6 feet down. It's much harder to move the oar in a circle in the water b/c of the extra resistance. Good luck and thanks for the good read, - Chris

I have used a set of old Cannon collapsible planer boards, I made a homemade set 10 years ago using cedar and now I own a set of Otters. The Otter boards came out long before guys started pulling heavier copper lines with them and I presume Big Jon started offering the extra half-keel weight a few years ago to help with the pull after their customers asked for something better. Is it ridiculous to charge extra for components to make them "run right"? Perhaps..... but at least they offer something. As far as purchase, I bought the extra keel weights last year directly from Big Jon. It will take you about ten minutes to install. As far as Otter Boat popularity - I think they track awesome even in big waves and they "hop" the waves instead of digging like my experience with my homemade boards and Cannon's which seemed to ride low to the water and dig into the waves more. I'm not sure if the Amish boards are $179.00 for a set or for just one, but they certainly look well made. Good luck, - Chris

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=e1286eb9814cf594eba20351fe108b50&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lakeontariounited.com%2Ffishing-hunting%2Findex.php%2Ftopic%2F34405-low-water-levels-and-brown-trout%2F&v=1&libid=1360687612009&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.glerl.noaa.gov%2Fdata%2Fnow%2Fwlevels%2Fdbd%2F&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lakeontariounited.com%2Ffishing-hunting%2Findex.php%2Fforum%2F4-open-lake-discussion%2F&title=Low%20water%20levels%20and%20brown%20trout.%20-%20Open%20Lake%20Discussion%20-%20Lake%20Ontario%20United&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.glerl.noa...ow%2Fwlevels%2Fdbd%2F&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13606876291772 Here's a link which shows historical data on the Great Lakes water levels over time. Although I agree that the launch ramps and harbor access needs some TLC from government funded sources, I'm not so pessimistic on the water levels. I think they are following historical trends. Thanks, - Chris

Thanks for the quick reply and again, I thank you for an awesome site upgrade. - Chris

The new site looks great. I love the text options in the banner bar for posting. Congrats on your new baby! Quick question on posting a video: Since I plan on posting some video this year using my new Gopro, I plan on simply posting my video to Youtube, and then simply copying and pasting the URL within the body of my post. Is this OK? It seems like the post on "How to post videos" is from 2008 and seems to be a bit more complicated. Second question on Pro membership: What extras on the site do I get for my Pro membership? Thanks again Chad, - Chris

Good advice. I came across this pretty cool NOAA tool regarding historical waterlevels on the Great Lakes. It looks like they updated their website. The good news is it looks like the water level is starting to rise (0.1 of a meter from Dec. to Jan. which is about 4 inches) and this seems to follow the historical trend. You can see that the water level this winter is the lowest Lake Ontario has been in five years. http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/data/now/wlevels/dbd/ That being said, who knows where the lake level will be in the Spring, but I hope it's wet, wet, wet...... Good luck on the water, - Chris

Hey fellow fishermen/women, As per this link from the Pro-Am Website, does anyone know what is going on with the Wayne Pro-Am out of Sodus? There's no mention of anything for the Wayne leg http://www.lakeontarioproam.net/2013-pr ... es-update/ Thanks in advance to anyone who knows dates, or if the tournament for Wayne County is even being held. - Chris

1.) Otter boats are great - make sure you have your tow rope a little further forward towards the front of the otter (tie the small loop so that its closer to the front of the otter boat vs. the back) otherwise it won't pull properly. See the instructions in the box wehn it talks about the length of each segment in between the loop of the rope attached to the otter boat. 2.) Get the second keel if you are going to run copper, otherwise the board pulls too far back. 3.) If you run spoons, you will need to add a keel weight or split shot to your fishing line about 6-8' in front of the spoon, otherwise the spoon will just drag on the surface. Good luck, - Chris

1.) Don't worry about brand as much as I'd worry about getting one that's big enough. Go 32-40" wide if you can. Some brands include Beckman (although I thought I read somewhere that they were bought out) and Frabill. In my opinion, if you buy a net that's has too small of a hoop, you are going to wind up knocking off many of the big fish when you are trying to land them. 2.) Get one with a long handle - 5' minimum, and if you can find one that's longer or that telescopes, that's even better. If you find a net with a big enough hoop, you can always make your own homemade handle. 3.) It's nice to have a handle that breaks down (my Beckman and Frabill each have a small push button so the hoop can slide down the handle and I can store them in my cuddy. Good luck, - Chris

Reel: Okuma Convector 30D ( 5 color core or less) or 45D (greater than 5 color for my amount of backing) Backing: 50# Powerpro - 1100' on the line reel line counter (this is NOT truly 1100' of line) Core: Cabelas 27# core Leader: Seaguar 30# fluoro leader - about 30' on the line counter 5 colors will fill a 30D just about to the level wind bar, otherwise I use a 45D for 7 color or greater. Good luck, - Chris

Don't hang your spoons on anything metal - it will dull the hooks. Use something plastic or wood. Good luck, - Chris

Well my least favorite spoons are: Tech-11 in: Blue Shad Pink Shad Pearl Shad BlackNose Shad Gold Frog Pearl Dace It's appropriate that you are looking for "troll"-ing spoons......... Good luck on the water and thanks for the great reports, - Chris

I actually use #2 trebles and a #4/0 Octopus to tie my Tourney tandems. I buy them from A-Tom-Mik Good luck, - Chris