Jolly II

Chris, It's great to hear a positive comment about this subject from a doctor. At least with eating some of the fish we catch, we are not exposing ourselves to other things like, E-coli, salmonella, and any of the Hepatitus viruses. Plus you have to consider the health benefits of eating fish, even from Lake Ontario, like Omega 3.

Bob, I saw ther that table there too about week ago in another part of the store. I don't use Trilene either, but it was a good deal. However, I won't buy another spool line at Gander after having a customer service issue there, plus getting into a bad spool of Leadcore. I don't know why I still go there, I almost never buy anything.

Shoebag, Trolling is the preferred method here on Lake Ontario, for all the good reasons that Longline stated. Here on the south shore of the lake, especially out of the Rochester area, there isn't a lot of great structure, and trolling allows us to cover nuetrel water quickly and find active fish. January through March there are a lot of guys that jig for lake trout on the Niagara Bar. The Bar is a huge piece of structure, and that's why it may be a good tactic for targeting winter Lake Trout, and many guys will continue to jig for lakers well into the spring. I think you could certainly try a combo of the 2 techniques. Perhaps trolling for the first hour or 2 on a trip, and once finding a good school of fish you could jig to them. It's like anything... I think you're going to have to try it, and put some serious time into it in order to be succuessful, and that includes many fishless trips. Much of what we do here on the Great Lakes for targeting salmon is just stuff we picked up from salmon fishermen in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and modified the techniques a little bit. Those guys jig for salmon quite successfully, and I'm sure the practice could be adapted for our fishery. The one thing to remember, our fishery is completely different than that in the Pacific, and even in the other Great Lakes. I'd say go for it, and try it, and teach us Lake Ontario guys something new. I'd be very interested in seeing how well you do with it. Good luck!

Thanks for the heads up, Rob!! Taking a day off next week to splash down.

This can happen when fishing for kings and there are lakers in the mix. You'll get a laker on the mainline and you won't be able to know it's there, then a king will take the slider, and then take the laker for a ride. Makes for an interesting battle.

Not really any different methodology in raising or lowering your rigger with sliders as compared to just running a single lure on 1 rod. If you are running a free slider, one that is not fixed to keep it from sliding up and down the mainline, the depth of the slider will very depending on depth of rigger, water speed at the lure, and how well the downrigger rod is loaded (how much slack line you have crank onto the reel after your set the rigger). The problem with a free slider is that if you catch a fish on it, it's hard to pin point where that lure was in the water column, or where it is running in your team of lures, and therefore is hard to repeat. A fixed slider is one that is, in one manner or another, fixed onto the mainline at a certain distance from the downrigger ball, for example 10 feet above the release. Because it does not slide freely up and down the main line of the rod, it will always be in a fixed position above your rigger ball, whether your raise it up or down. The method is also very repeatable, as it's position in your team of lures is controlable, and predictable. Hope this helps

Nathan, Thanks for posting here and clarifying what is going on with the business. I had originally contacted you by email about a month ago about parts, and I appreciate you getting back to me. Lots of guys here on Lake Ontario have the old Proos riggers, but many times the only parts source is buying used riggers and robbing parts. I checked out your website, looks great, and I'll be putting in an order for some parts in the next week. Thanks! Chris Jolliff

Mr. Clean, thanks for the info I really appreciate it. It's been years since I've fished out of Fair Haven, and I'm really looking forward to it. Sounds like Bayside has all the needs of a fisherman, and is nice to know there will be dock neighbors that fish. Up to date info is always helpful when hitting a new port. I'm staying in the park with my family and in-laws, probably about 25-30 of us in all. Some of the other family members have not made reservations on a place to stay, so I'll mention the Anchor resort to them as a possible place to check and see if they have something open. And I was thinking the same thing, calling next week and getting a slip reserved for that week we are going to be there. I'll see you this summer! And good luck fishing when winter breaks, and you can get out and do some BT fishing.

Mr. Clean, The family vacation this year is at Fair Haven State park the 2nd week in July. It's been about 7 years since I fished out of Fair Haven and was wondering about the best place to keep my boat slipped for the week. The park website says it has a small marina, or would it be better to get a slip for the week at Bayside? Just looking for an opinion from a local guy. Thanks!

Thanks for the info guys. This will help out alot with a couple of projects and my dipsy line experiment.

A Trophy 1802 WA is plenty of boat to enjoy the fishery all season long, just not the near shore brown trout fishery. There are many guys on the site here with similar sized boats that you will see on the lake in summer 4 or 5 miles off shore trolling. You don't need 25'+ sized boat to get out deep and fish. When I was a kid I cut my teeth on this fishery in a 14' motor boat, that I still fish with (spring browns), and my uncle's 16' Starcraft Holiday. Later I had a Starcraft 18' Supersport. All boats, no matter how big, have limits to the weather. Just use your head, and pay attention to the weather forecast.

King Davy, you are pretty much right on. The atlantic program has always been a troublesome program, and it's taken a long time and hard work to get it where it is. I was at the meeting on Tuesday and I think the whole room went Holy S--t! when Janet said the data shows that those are our Atlantics. I for one was really suprised as well, as I was under the assumption they were Canadian fish. But they are stocking very vulnerable fry, and more than likely have the worst survival rates. And you're right, you'll never see Pacific Salmon stocking go away. With all the initiatives to restore native fishes, Pacific Salmon have to remain a part of the equation in order to keep the Alewive numbers in check. If Alewives were to be left without any major preditation from Pacific Salmon, they could very easily, in Lake Ontario, get out of control again, and create the problems of the past. Our fishery is world class, and the biologists do a good job at keeping it that way. Again Janet's presentation on catch rates support that, 2012 2nd best year in the 28 year survey. That's great, but would love to see an increase in overall effort. I think that the state, and one particular lake shore county, could be doing a much better job on promoting fishing opportunities on Lake Ontario, and in NYS. So many people I talk to, even people that enjoy fishing, are surprised to learn of the fishing opportunities right here in our backyards. I even know of some guys that drove to Lake Michigan, to hire a charter, to go Salmon fishing. Wiskey Tengo Foxtrot! But that is for another topic.

At the State of the Lake meeting on Tuesday here in Rochester they did address the smaller sized males that they were getting in the hatchery. Because of low reservoir levels they kept the river flow at base water flow of 185CFS, instead of increasing water flows on Sept. 1st to help spread out the fish and ensure fair catch practices. But with base flow many anglers were able to sight fish, and specifically target the larger fish, taking those out of the equation. The average sized male actually weighed less than the average female, something that is unusual on the chart. As for fish condition of a 36" fish, the condition was good, and right on target where they like to see it.

Generally I've got 6 rods on planer boards, 3 each side, with either spoons or sticks, depends on what the browns want that day. I run them back 100' to start on a typical day, 150' with clear water. I usually add 2 riggers in the mix with spoons, sometimes those get swapped out for flat lines when I'm in super close. Leads off my riggers are usually 50 feet. It's really surprising some days to see the browns taking spoons practically out of the prop wash. As for leader material, I usually have 10lb Pline mono. As for inline boards, I've never used them, but have seen many that are running inlines. The TX44s might be too big. I think it would be more fun to fight these fish with just a clean line.

Thanks guys! I appreciate the info. My folks live in Ontario, maybe I'll have my Dad stop by and inquire for me at B&E. I did get an email response from a representative of Proos. Seem the downtroller part of the business has been bought. Proos manufacturing will continue with their non-fishing manufacturing business, while this other entity is going to take over the downrigger manufacturing. Here's the reponse I got from them; Good Afternoon Chris, I purchased Proos fishing equipment from the Proos family this week. We are in the process of moving inventory and putting up a proper web presence. The new company will be called Sovereign. The equipment and quality will be the same. But the Proos family is keeping their core non-marine business, so we've chosen a new name to reflect the split. Things are a little hectic at the moment. But, I will have a quote to you for parts early next week. Thanks for your inquiry.

Looking to get one for various uses, and good to know that the Berkley one is a good choice. My one question is, can you use it with copper? I've got to respool a copper rod and it would be nice to have a better way to put put a measured length of copper half way accurately. Right now I'm stretching out on the tractor lane by the house along a measured distance.

Dick, You got it right, outside diver=less line out, and on a higher setting, and inside diver=more line out, on a lower setting. When I fished with Lou last year we were doubling up on the divers. Good example would be setting the inside diver on a #1 seeting, and letting it out 325 feet, then deploy the outside diver on a #2.5 setting on letting it out 275 feet. This would run the inside diver deeper than the outside diver. It's easier to set up, and not as tricky as running copper. Chris

I'm at a total dead end. I've got Proos electric riggers on my boat, and I'm looking for counters and counter springs. I don't need them now, but I'd like to a couple of each in my parts box incase I need them. I've looked everywhere on-line to even just find a place that sells Proos riggers, let alone the parts. I did send an email to the company through their contact page on their website, I may have to call them. Anybody got any sources or other suggestions for parts?

John, I've got a 596HD on my boat. It's a similar unit, it just doesn't have the GPS stuff. As far as the sonar features on it... they work great, and I had a great picture on it all season last year. No problem marking my rigger weights, and no problems marking fish swimming in and out of our rigger set up. For the price of those units, and the performance, I think they are a good bet.

I just rebuilt all my sealines last week with the Dragmaster carbon fiber drags that Tim is talking about. It is easy, and if you go to www.alantani.com/ there is some info there on the sealines. There is a trick to getting the guts of the thing back together, but it's very east.