chowder

Jeez, went in to refill the boys paintball tanks a couple weeks ago and there's this awesome looking Savage .243 w/ the accustock and accutrigger marked way down on mid summer clearance and for some reason I've never owned a .243, so... Anyway, buddy had a Leupold VX-3 4.5-14x40mm getting dusty & needed some $ so I got this thing ready to start dialing in! It's a super nice feeling package that might have to be my 'carry' rifle now that the boys seemed to have claimed my .270 and the 7mm mag. If I can get this to do white tail duty it might be a good gun for an farmer w/ a tired shoulder. I'm starting out w/ the Hornady 100 grain BTSP and I'd like to hear from anybody who has a favorite .243 cartridge for white tail in the 50-120 yd range, especially if you use a Savage/ Stevens model 11. Thanks, -Andy

Sounds like you got 'bitten' by the L.O. bug.

Welcome aboard Thomas! If you are pretty 'green' to trolling you might consider getting this book http://www.amazon.com/Great-Lakes-Salmo ... 641&sr=8-2 The techniques described in the book are the same ones we use in the Finger Lakes. After you give the book a go you may well want to book a charter on the FLX w/ an experienced Captn. Between the book & a few bucks spent on a Pro you'll be ready to dump the $erious jack into your own rig.People on here are very generous w/ their time & knowledge too, so get started on the learning curve & we'll help get you onto the fish. -Andy

Wire line dipsy presentations have a distinct sonic 'signature' that often captures the attention of fish that are aggressively feeding. -Andy

Good looking haul guys, must have been a blast! -Andy

OK guys, here's the scoop for those of you that either fish out of a boat w/ limited room to cope w/ a long dipsy leader or for those of you that want to reel the wire into the the reel and have a long leader from the diver to run a spoon diver rig: Step 1,) Take the top of a mag slide diver & mate it to the bottom of a regular mag dipsy by drilling out the bottom so it fits the top. Step 2.) Using a HD spro micro swivel to fasten a 25' 30lb FC leader to the wire Step 3.) Slide on the Hybrid Mag Slide Diver + bead and fasten another another spro & short 2' 30lb FC leader behind the hybrid diver. Step 4.) Finally, tie on a Dream Weaver HD snap swivel ( you can go from this to a flasher type swivel or directly to a spoon). I love this setup on my 19' Islander which does not have a big rear fishing deck which can make it tough to net a nasty king on a long dipsy leader that's trying to tangle lines. After the diver trips I only have the 2' leader to deal with for netting & I can reel all the wire onto my reel & break it down too! It takes a little tinkering to set it up but I would never go back!!

Awesome, flat out gorgeous salmon! -Andy

Happy clients! Looking good guys! -Andy

Aaron, congrats on that monster & the tourny top slot! -Andy

Mark, you will enjoy fishing more if you can deploy your diver rods in 60 sec apiece. If you you use the wire knot and secure the diver & leader as I described you will have both diver rods out in a couple minutes -no need to keep cutting & retying and no need to remove the diver & leader either. Good luck! -Andy

Looks like a good time was had by all, wtg! -Andy

Must have been a heck of a trip Sean. Great pics! Thanks for posting. -Andy

Use this knot. http://www.fishdoctorcharters.com/videos/video3F.html Then be sure to either reel the dipsy swivel into the twili tip when you are done w/ the rod or secure the entire diver to the reel handle w/ a velcro strap (4 years of never removing the diver or the leader to the flasher- just secure the diver to the rod handle by wrapping a velcro strap around the diver arm & the rod handle and then wrap the flasher leader around and around the reel & secure the flasher snap swivel to the reel w/ a hair zingie). Whatever you do, don't allow slack line to accumulate on a diver rod at any time especially if it is cork screwing, you will get kinks and then you will lose tackle. This happened to all of us as we were learning too! Good luck, -Andy

And yet guys keep telling me "there's no eyes left in there". I gotta get over there w/ the 16'.Good going! -Andy

Don't take this the wrong way but there isn't exactly a shortage of lakers in Cayuga. Personally, my motto is " Eat a laker (or 3) , save a salmon". -Andy

Mark, we fished the Oak on Sat & Sun and we ran only Mag size divers. After back to back Kings on the wire diver rods for a couple hours we pulled them out of the water, switched over to an all spoon program on 4 riggers and moved out to chase Steelies.

Mark, check out Tom's article again. There is no hard & fast answer to this question because there are way too many variables. Just this past weekend we nailed Kings from 47 - 60. Bait, current, upwellings,etc create lots of very cool possibilities for feeding Kings (they are very opportunistic predators). Down temps & down speed are important parts of a puzzle that's constantly changing. Try to enjoy figuring it out and most important ' listen to the fish, they will tell you what you need to know, even if it's " we are in a bad mood & are not interested in anything". -Andy

Can't seem to get my Lowrance Global Map 5200 to 'read' my Navionics 'Fishing chip' SD card which is supposed to be "plug and play". I am not sure which choice on the Global Map's card menu for Navionics card choices correlates with the 'Fishing chip' SD card. The choices that are available don't seem to have numbers or descriptive terms that correlate w/ any thing on the 'fishing chip' (I did try almost all the choices anyway & nothing changed after selecting the choices anyway). If any body has installed the fishing chip in a Lowrance 5200 Global Map GPS I could use some help on this. Thanks -Andy

Gambler & Woody, I posted the recipe for the dish in the picture in Recipe section. viewtopic.php?f=17&t=25597

Thought I posted this b4, but I guess not. This is the recipe for the baked fish dish that is pictured in my post from last weekend. Ok, lets see... I usually drink beer while I'm cooking fish so some of these details might be be a bit hazy... I like to gill & gut my fish asap after catching & then get them in the ice -This is critical. All right, I got my filleting done, remove the 'mud line' and then I remove the pin bones with needle nose pliers. Turn on the oven to preheat @ 350. I pat the fillets free of any residual blood with a dry paper towel and arrange them in one layer in a large baking dish outside down. I slop some Mayo and some sour cream onto the fish and mix it around to lightly cover the fillets. Slice 1 or more Vidalia onions and lay them on the sauce covered fish. Do the same with a pepper or 2 and then w/ a couple tomatoes. I then gently work the veggies down into the sauce a bit. Now grind some coarse black pepper and some coarse sea salt over the dish & sprinkle on some grated parmesan cheese. Bake for about an hour depending on how many and how big the fillets are. Serve with boiled red potatoes (I like to leave the skin on). I place a sheet of foil over the dish while it is baking to keep the veggies from getting dry. Just let the sheet 'sit' there, no need to crimp it over the dish that just makes it difficult to check the dish & make sure it's bubbly, well cooked but not dried out. -Enjoy!

We were in Lockport this weekend visiting family and we crossed the canal several times the last few days and I kept thinking "now, if I had my little boat I would love to work that piece of water". Good for you for getting into those bronzebacks!

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name:The Bartlett posse, 'Emily' ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s):7/2 & 7/3 Time on Water:6-noon or so Weather/Temp: Wind Speed/Direction:s/w calm & west 10+ Waves: calm & 2-3' on 7/3 Surface Temp: 67-69 Location:Pt Breeze LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: lost count Total Boated:lost count Species Breakdown:4 Browns,7+ lakers,12+Kings,8+Steel Hot Lure: Kings, white sd/white & mirage fly & green dot sd & green /white flies, hot spoons were DW SS gator & diehard also good on browns. Steel liked warrior spoons in red/yellow and the Dw SS 'Nascar', mixed veggies,etc Trolling Speed: Down Speed:1.9-2.3 Boat Depth: 90-300+ Lure Depth: 30'-110' ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS =================== Went out of the County launch @ Pt. Breeze on Sat & Sun and hammered the fish. Was not familiar w/ the area at all and just tried to follow advice from Jason and FX, & Skipper 19-Hey guys, thanks, really appreciate the advice!!! . Took me a while on Sat to get on em but did manage to stay on em. Things were a bit different on Sun but got it together & the action was just as intense. Essentially circled our hot spots both days and then went much further out when the King bite seemed to slow and did battle w/ the Steelies. Tried to release as many as we could but there were still plenty of fish to feed my mother in law's neighbors as well as ours.Way,way too much fun!

Good to hear you folks are back at it in fine fashion! -Andy

I believe that those are very good indeed,only problem is that they cost more than a fish hawk X4 unit, $516 is a lot of money for boards I got a set of the Auroralite original size boards a couple years ago, they were around $275, look at the Amish outfitter HD boards , they were cheaper , I was just leery about having to reinforce my planer arch! Also Ernie L. has plans kicking around out there for his triple boards.

You just need to get some trolling socks to slow you down. Get them from these guys http://www.amishoutfitters.com/ Don't buy the light duty stuff from Cabelas,etc -they will not hold up to trolling.