chowder

RR, do you know what the skinny is on launching at Finger Lakes Marina, if Myers is closed that's my next best option?

It is pretty shallow from just past the bridge out to the drop. I went out of there today.

I had a great time out there today, glad we were able to make that happen and I'm real glad you brought that R&R spoon with you! -Andy

Couple thoughts; 1. I like to use snubbers, I use the Howie snubbers, they are fairly unobtrusive. 2. I like to use flies w/ the tournament rig, i.e a single followed by a treble. 3. Set the drag so that it's just barely giving up a little line all the time, then after the fish is on DON'T HORSE IT, adjust the drag a little and work it in patiently! 4. For FLX sized fish a rod w/ some give is helpful.

Hey W.W.IV. if you came all the way down & went home without getting the boat wet you deserve a chance to get out on the water. Shoot me a PM w/ #, etc & we'll figure it out!

Couldn't get out of here this past weekend.I'm shooting for Wens now, day after tomorrow. Looks like a nice calm day. If anybody is free PM me. -Andy

Shade, thanks for mentioning these ITO flies. I checked them out & I like the glow green with the white in it and I ordered a few. Variety is the spice of life! -Andy

Greg, get a Perko battery switch and then get 2 new batteries from whoever you want to install the switch, those batteries you got are "picked". I feel like I can say a couple words about batteries in general b/c I've got like 10 tractors and a bunch of other trucks and equipment w/ batteries, so here I go; 1st -a lot of these batteries are made by the same company and they switch things around all the time. 2cd -every starter/alt package is going to charge/use a battery differently so the same battery will have a very different life from one setup to another. 3. Battery quality control in general is poor and highly variable, it's best to just replace them when they perform questionably after they are much over 4 years old and then again you will have one that seems to go forever. There, I'm done!

I just finished up my emergency/backup bilge pump and after reading a post made today I thought I'd give this baby a plug! Glen (Spoonfed) cued me in on a good deal on the Rule 1500gpm pump, I connected it to a sealed 2 wire power lead w/ shrink connectors, added a waterproof fuse up near the lead ends and a pair of clips to hook it to the battery. I got a 8' section of smooth pliable radiator hose for a pump out line. This rascal is staying high/dry and going into the house at the end of the day w/ my fowl weather gear - it will be easy to test and it should not get filled w/ frozen bilge water or any other misc junk. Total cost was less than $85.

I'm w/ Billy, spill the beans on this "leader secret"

I might steer clear of those Okuma 45 Convectors. I myself and several other guys I know have had problems w/ them.

I'm aiming for hitting Seneca Sun or Mon in my 16.5' & looking for a copilot, pm me.

You can get 4 colors on a Daiwa 27LC w/ backing& 100'FC leader. I've got one w/ 5 colors on it but that's pushing it. The 27LCs were on sale @ http://www.glensoutdoors.com/ProductDet ... de=ADPx7LC + another couple bucks off if you use "The Find " coupon #. These are great reels for short cores and flat lines!

Bob, good to see that you understand it's not usually a good idea to have the wife and the girlfriend in the same place! Might see you up there-Andy

Hey Jeff, thanks for directing my attention to the blog, I did catch the browns piece back earlier but the spring kings stuff was new and great reading! -Andy

Stinger, the bill won't move along quickly enough for that black hearted bunch of brigands on Cayuga who run 6 rods/ man.

So, does a regular camera flash fail to charge these strontium aluminate particles? Do I really need a black light- I'm confused. Isn't there UV in the flash spectrum?

A couple years ago I got a small flash unit & started using it to charge glow baits. I've found this to be time consuming and I'm not real sure how effectively I'm charging stuff up. Could anybody w/ some serious experience w/ this issue tell me what they do? Thanks, -Andy

I think that a long or x long lined up w/ the cavitation plate is going to keep the prop in the water and the head out when you get into rougher water?

Great fish, great story, and a great picture that will stay with you for a life time!

From everything I've heard, and I spent some time looking into this, you want a long or X-long shaft on a kicker that is going on a full transom I/O boat.

Short & intermediate term money is costing me less than that right now but that was a low as the little amortization table I was looking at went (it's a little dated!). But the bottom line is that paying back any borrowed $( business,auto,recreational,etc) needs to be looked at as the same as investing new money unless there is a tax consequence or an early payment penalty to take into account. -Andy

I think I figured out the payback as follows; If the Kicker,bracket,etc cost $3000 then: Total cost + interest(any time you use $ for something it incurs an "opportunity cost", b/c the $ ,even if it's not borrowed, could have been "invested elsewhere with an alternate rate of return) =$69/month for 4 years (@5% annual rate) So that $69 x 12 months = $828/ year $828 / 30 trips(conservative) = $27.60/ trip (this would be the break even point) I can't see how the kicker's gonna save me $27.60/trip since that's more than it cost to run the I/O for the whole trip!. Hard to figure in savings on maint/repair on the I/O.Anyway, the point is that "on average" a kicker is not going to pay for itself in fuel savings until it's paid for, which of course, is a contradiction in terms.

Really nice work Vic!

Ok. Now, 1.What depth are you working & how much wire do you have out? 2. What setting are you using on the diver? 3. What color/type flasher & what color/type fly?