chowder

After what I've seen launching on the Niagara this week, I'd have to say we usually have a pretty clean shot at the FLX ramps.

Pretty rugged today (Sat ). Only 1 drift on the Canadian side that held fish where we could get a good drift and everybody was in there so we quit early. Launch was completely covered with giant pieces of pack ice when we got back in. Major job getting the boat out but got it done. Looking forward to 'Blackend Steelhead' tonite!

Started our 4 day river fest with Vince Pierleoni on Thursday (2-13). We had an awesome time getting educated about the river and river rigging. I would strongly recommend this approach to anyone considering getting into this fishery. Vince is a witty, humerous , fish dog with a ton of energy who posseses a tremendous amount of knowledge about the river. The fishing was good with a number of nice steelies boated. Today was a different day with an ripping,ugly wind and a sky full of rain and snow. The Canadian side yielded some nice fish but the American side was pretty tough going and after getting buffeted around for a couple hours we packed it in. Looking forward to a nice baked fish dinner tonight! -Andy

We will be on the river Thurs-Sun. Hoping for the best & will report.

I have 2 set up with braid on 9' rods. Typically run them outside my wire mag divers with spoons. We clip them with a safety pin to the rod tip guide to let the line out outside the mag diver lines, then once the lead length desired is reached I take off the safety pin, engage the diver and let out my desired amount of depth line.

I go sometimes, have a lot of family there. More interested in fishing the river for steel when I'm out there!

Eagle Claw Starfire ML 7' 6" as rigger rods & flatlines (boards)for all species FLX, eyes & LO Browns.http://www.fish307.com/eagleclawstarfiretrollingrods.aspx

Thanks Glen. Saw these 9' next gen Ugli's at the local tackle store and I love my LO 6'5" Ugli stik rigger rods. Still on the fence but it's nice to be able to look at a rod without driving up to Pulaski. Good luck on Seneca, maybe we'll see you out there! -Andy

Stumbled onto these next gen Ugly Stik GX2 9' Med ( model USS P 902M) rods that seem to have the perfect action & speed for the application- $39. My FLX mag dipsy rods are 7' so using these as outside high divers should give me enough tip separation and be easier to juggle in the little boat.

Strongly agree w/ Dan! Look at installing the longest tracks you can. This way the boat can evolve with you and accommodate multiple changes inside of a season.

My winter boat is a 16'5" Alumacraft. I have 2 manual riggers on it w/ 1' booms at a 45 deg angle just clearing the boat. Never had any issues w/ this setup, using 12lb weights. Sometimes 'less is more' like better access and less stuff in your way- especially in the winter! -Andy

Came across a video of guys jigging lakers using these 10" 'Hogy' baits. They looked like they had great action. Just curious if anybody has tried them on the FLX.

One of my original super braid slide diver rods broke (they were cheap Daiwa 'Fire wolf' rods) and I've been wanting to use a 10' rod for this application for some time. Keep in mind I use these mostly for the Fingerlakes and for Coho/steelies so I want something on the limber side. I was pretty much set on a pair of Eagle Claw SF401 rods. I have a pair of these set up as 'high' wire dipsy rods and though they lack the back bone of my main 'deep' wire diver rods, they have handled numerous Kings over the years. Thoughts/suggestions?

SOLD, pending payment.

These were purchased new as fully spooled w/ leader and Power pro backing from Atomik. Used maybe a couple times. $80/ apiece + shipping.

I've got a depth raider in my Islander and the Fishhawk in the little boat. The Fishhawk is more consistent on both temp and speed. I did switch to the Walker Vision cable for the DR which eliminated the chafing issues but I frequently lose contact with the probe below 100'. I should switch the units around since I usually only troll w/ the little boat in the winter. In reality I think we all develope our own patterns for using these technologies. They key I believe is to constantly question what you are doing, especially when what you are doing isn't catching fish. When you catch a fish you did something right- the question is , what? The possibilities include the following: 1. The right presentation (wire diver, rigger, lead core,copper,snap weight,etc) 2. The right color,size, lure 3. Trolling in the right temp zone 4. Trolling at the right downspeed 5. Trolling in the right location (are there fish and or bait on the screen) 6. You covered enough water at enough different speeds, with enough different presentations that you came across an active fish. My point is that that there usually a bunch of interconnected reasons why you caught a fish. Two of the 6 reasons might be revealed by your speed/temp unit. Use speed and temp as ONE part of the puzzle.