hawkeye625

How do you guys keep your main line from twisting when using spin doctors on downriggers? I run ande and big game 30lb mono on my rigger rods with blacks releases and cant seem to keep the line from twisting beyond control when I run spinnys. We usually run a 6 to 10 foot lead from the ball with them. We use the big swivels that come on the spin doctors tied directly to the main line. Should we add another swivel? Jeff

It was good meeting you Tim and thanks again for the tips you've given me. Tied a couple tourney leaders after talking with you at the cleaning station and hooked a couple high teen kings the next day on them without issues. I used VMC Barbarian trebles and gamakatsu wide gaps for the singles. Seem to work very well for us. Had a similar day with most coming in the 105-130 FOW. Jeff

I think you can pull these behind in-lines and they should get you depth with your mono. http://www.torpedodivers.com/

Fishhawk makes a device you attach to your line and gives you temp at 5 ft intervals, I think it's called a fishawk TD. It also tells you the max depth your line reaches. Might be a good thing for finding the actual depth of you dipsy divers and will get you into the thermocline. They are new to the market this year but I'm sure someone on the site has experience with one. http://www.gloutdoors.com/marineelectronics.aspx $139.99 here.

donutman, glad your are a LOU member, that gives me the chance to say thanks. hopefully we can return the favor in the near future. with the long drive we both have to the lake it sure helps to have a little "push" in the right direction. it was refreshing to see a father and son having a good time together doing something they both enjoy. i could tell by the smiles on both of your faces you had some good "QUALITY" time together and made a few life long memories. i try to get to the lake once a month so let me know when your headed back up and maybe i can return the favor. good luck and tight lines.

Thanks for the link Tim, looks pretty easy. What hooks do you reccommend?

Mongo, I have a lms 520c and having trouble as well. Picked up on this thread and called Wood Boat and Tackle 401-739-4040 spoke with deb. After a lenghty conversation with her she got my information, called lowrance, and called me back. Will have to send the unit to her, she will send it to lowrance, they will test it, if found bad they will give reduced pricing on certain units. For my unit they are offering the HDS5 base map for $349.95, HDS5 Lake insight for $399.95, or a HDS7 base map for $499.95 plus $25.00 shipping. Deb was very friendly and helpful and certainly beat the heck out of waiting on hold for long periods of time with the 800 number from lowrance. Also emailed lowrance with problems and they just got back to me with basically the same scenario, but only offered the HDS5 basemap. They (lowrance) also informed me that there would be a $49.95 testing fee if they found nothing wrong with my unit. I know it stinks to have a 3 year old $600+++ dollar unit fail, but at least they (lowrance) are finally giving something for the out of warranty failures. I would give Deb a call if you haven't already she is very pleasant to deal with and very understanding of your issues. Hope this helps. Jeff

Looking to tie my own fly leader as replacement for some beat up ones I have. Skirts are still good, Just looking to replace leader and hooks. Kings seem to beat them up pretty bad. Also looking to improve my hookup ratio with a better hook set up. What knot / hooks / line do you reccommend? Would like to tie similar leader as ATOMIK tourney flies use. That set up seems to work the best for us. Does flouro need to be leader material or can you use strait flourocarbon or mono? Or is it better / cheaper just to buy new flies?

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s):6/18 Time on Water:7am to 8 pm Weather/Temp:sunny Wind Speed/Direction: Waves: 1 ft or less Surface Temp: 65-70 Location:wilson to red can LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 35 Total Boated:20 Species Breakdown:kings,steelhead,laker,coho,atlantic Hot Lure: green dolphin Trolling Speed: 2.5-3.5 Down Speed: 2.2-2.5 Boat Depth: 150-330 Lure Depth: 45-70 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS Headed out of wilson and set up in 150 fow. 1st rigger rod fired before I could get the second in the water! Bloody death dreamweaver down 55 took a 18lb king. After that is was a slow pick of smaller fish til about noon mostly on the dreamweaver green dolphin cheater. Only 1 hit on a wire diver/white spinny but it was a screamer that never made it to the boat. Some guys at the hotel gave us the heads up they hit a few kings at the red can so when things slowed down we made the run to the can and all the sailboats. Should've started the day over there. Set up in 330 near the canadian line and trolled south east toward the can to avoid sailboat traffic. Took 3 good shots on the wire diver/spinny combo but nothing to show for it. Set out a braid diver on the other side and started taking shots on it as well and all teenage kings. Spoons on riggers that produced all morning didn't do anything for over an hour then took a 15 lb king on a orange dreamweaver down 65. Steady pick of 15 to 20lb kings til near dark. Surface temp was reading around 70 vs the 65 degree water we saw by wilson. Ended the day with a triple that started when we both pulled the rigger rods to leave and seconds after tripping the rods we both had a fish on. Pleasant surprise. Reeled mine in while the other proceeded to 300 400 500 550 feet behind the boat...rip the braid diver takes off to 300 400 500, now we have 2 ripping line again. 30 minutes later we had a 18 and a 19.6 pounder to finish the day. All told the 2 of us boated 20 out of 35ish hits for the day and finally were able to land a couple of the screamers we hooked up with. A couple of bigger fish got the better of us by charging the boat and thrashing the surface. One ended up with a black spinny with white dots (if you catch it please pm me for return of lost tackle ) Wire and braid divers were hot in the afternoon with white spinny/green/blue flies. 150 to 225 feet back on a 2 set. Best depth was around 220-240. I must say, the ATOMIK tourney flies stayed buttoned up alot better than the others we were using. It's kinda sad to see so few boats on the water, hotels empty, and few customers for the local bait shops. Only plus side of the bad economy is there should be tons of huge kings this fall!!! ====================

Rc, Just started fishing Lake O a couple of years ago myself. You came to the right place for knowledge. Search this site for "spread help" posted last year. I picked up alot of good info from the thread. I also would advise booking a charter or trying to find a first mate that has the day off and offering them $$$ to go out on your boat and help you out (just a thought I had but haven't done yet). I went out on a charter in May and picked up a few good tips but most of what I learned came from this site. The best advice I can give is to make sure what you are running is running correctly. Stick with one brand of spoons (your preference) to make sure they all run the same and take a good look at them beside the boat before sending them out. My biggest mistake was mixing spoons/brands and not getting the right action at varying speeds with all the spoons/lures. It's very basic, but if you're only running 4 rods and 1 lure isn't running right you decrease your chance of getting bit by 25%. Plus you may be spooking fish from your spread. Keep your spread simple to start with and vary your speed until you get bit. The second mistake we made had to do with speed. We were running too slow all day and didn't realize it til the kicker ran out of fuel and had to troll with the big motor (pushed us .5 mph faster and wham all 5 rods fired within minutes!) Good times! Ask for general info at the local bait shops before you launch. They are all very helpful and usually give you spot on information (unless of course there's a big tourney that weekend). From what I've learned start with 2 dipsys with spinny's and flies or flashers and flies and two riggers with spoons and cheaters/sliders. Stagger them so you cover the water column you are marking fish in. This is our basic 4 rod set learned last year and usually produces fish. If you are marking fish, vary speed until you get bit. When one lure gets bit often we start to switch other rods to that lure/color. If things stall out, go back to what was working. Sometimes it's all spoons, sometimes it's all spinnys. Give them what they want. You can get caught up in all the copper/lead core/wire divers/torpedo divers/slide divers etc. etc. etc., which all work and some days work well, but keeping things simple to start out with will save you alot of head aches and $$$. You can always add things to your arsenal as you learn. Keep reading old posts and ask questions...these guys are all great and willing to help. Good luck and tight lines.

I use the roll up version from cabelas. I think it will hold about 10 spinnys and you can roll the leader up with the fly still attached. It has clear plastic on the inside so you can see all the spinnys when you unroll it. It works for me.

I have the PD70V2 with I Pilot and like it so far. It pulls my 19.5ft Sea Nymph with 3 guys around O.K. Really like the remote vs foot control. We used it on Niagra River and Bar area for the derby and I will say it does not have enough power to pull back upriver for snags but will hold ok in current, and the anchor feature works well. The Autopilot feature seemed to wonder a bit but I would say we were in extreme conditions with 15-25+ MPH winds and the Niagra River current. Have not tried it under normal conditions or on a smaller lake. As with my old PD motor it is a little hard to deploy and bring up. Seems to be too tight even with the wd 40 trick. Over all I like the motor, but should've listened to other's from this site and went with the Terrova 80 or larger. Depending on the boat you're putting it on, you may consider a larger motor. I'll be in the Olcott area over the 4th of July, if you'd like to see how it works shoot me a pm. Good luck. Jeff

Just finished upgrading/replacing the drags in my daiwa 47's and the old drag washers were shot. Hopefully a little love is all the reels needed. The smooth drags seem to be just that SMOOTH. Two of the old washers were actually cracked. Have to chalk lost tackle up to ignorance - never really had to do any maintenance on drags before playing with kings. Thanks Yankee for the advice - obviously the reels were not taken care of. The previous owner used them occasionally for walleye, but they were always on the boat and in the sun with the drags set - not backed off. Hopefully I can take better care of them from here on out.

Just wondering what you guys think are the best reels for kings (affordable). We ran the older great lakes lc47's because that's what came with my boat and they work great for walleye, but the kings took me to school last year (8 or 9 break offs with dipsy/spinny/fly). Just ordered the smooth drags for them but really want to add a couple "better" reels to my collection. Bought a couple of okuma magdas last summer when the daiwas gave me trouble and they seem o.k. but chinsy, sound like they wannna fly apart when the drag is screaming. Also picked up 2 convectors over the winter which feel alot better for the price difference (had 1 good run on wire this spring which sounded much better and the drag seemed alot smoother) 1st good fish on wire which we also just added to the arsenal. Looking to add 2 more reels and wanted to get some opinions before spending any more money. Not looking to spend alot, but considering the $200/$300 of lost tackle from last year I guess around $100 or so/reel is reasonable. Thanks so much for all the great advice gathered from this site. You guys have brought me light years from where I started a couple of years ago. I look forward to this season and hopefully can improve on my landing ratio with a couple of better reels.

Took a couple of pics of the adapter on my motors throttle linkage. Hope this helps. Jeff

I had the same issue with installing a control king on my tohatsu. Contacted their customer support and they sent me an adapter which was basically a piece of brass tubing with shink tube on one end. I had to cut the throttle likage going to the tiller and put the tubing over one end and heat the shrink tube to the other. This allows the cervo to control the carb without pulling on the tiller throttle. The tubing slides on the throttle linkage when using the control, and when you use the tiller throttle it pushes on the linkage. Works great for me. Contact customer support, they should be able to hook you up with the adapter. I'll look for the directions that came with my adapter and shoot you some pictures when I get a chance. Also be in Niagra area next week if you wanna take a closer look shoot me a pm. Good Luck Jeff

Should have been more specific, the dealers didn't want to do "warranty work" since I didn't buy from them. The motor came with a 3 year warranty and I didn't want to void the warranty by going to my normal mechanic (he is not an authorized tohatsu mechanic) in case anything else was wrong. Most outboard mechanics should be able to work on them just not under warranty. There was enough room on my transom to mount the tohatsu beside my main motor so no mount was needed. There are other brands of throttle controls out there, found the control king in the bargain cave at cabelas for $120 and it was new in the box, just couldn't pass it up. The West Virginia store has a few in the bargain cave as of Saturday but not sure what motors they fit and they were a little more expensive $140-160 range. Also used the ball joint style steering connector that works well for me. Had the ez steer on the back of the motors but the bar would rub my main motor while running with the kicker up. The one I use now connects to the front of the motors and uses a piece of allthread between them. Simpler, and can be disconnected on the water if needed without having to hang out over the motor. Also less expensive. Would consider taking it off when not in use if you don't have secure storage. Mine sits in my driveway in the country and someone tried to rip it off this fall. Luckily my dog is a light sleeper and woke me up before they made off with it. It is easy to take on and off so I'd recommend bringing it inside while not in use. Just my .02 cents. If needed, make sure the motors have the charging system before you buy one. The tohatsu 8hp electric start model does have it but the pull start models do not. I'll be up for the Spring derby all next week if you'd like to check it out. Be somewhere between the bar and olcott. Hope this helps. Good luck, Jeff

I went through the same research last year and ended up with a tohatsu 9.8 with electric start and tiller and added a control king. My boat is a 19.5 ft sea nymph and it'll troll for 12-14 hours on 3 gallons of fuel, no smoke and super quiet. It'll troll down to 1.0 mph and top out around 7 mph. Bought it from onlineoutboards for just under $2,000 shipped. Love the motor, but if you are concerned about service work, I would buy from a local dealer rather than online. I had an issue with the timing gear on mine and none of the dealers would give me the time of day since I didn't buy from them. The said they would work on it but it would be several weeks before they could get to it. I can understand their point of view, but they wanted $500-$800 more for the same engine. Tohatsu ended up sending me the part and fixed it myself in about 10 minutes. The control king gives you throttle at the wheel and you just have to start the motor and put it in gear from the back. The tiller gives me the option to use the motor on my smaller boat as main motor. Controls would be nice, but I really didn't have room to mount them and the control king gives me more precise control of speed. Good luck with the search and stay with a 4 stroke.

Al, Cabelas sells a auxiliary steering unit that works well for me. It mounts to the front of your outboards with a ball joint on each motor connected with a piece of allthread that you cut to fit your boat. I had the ez steer and it did not work well for me. The bar would hit my main motor when the kicker motor was tilted out of the water. My boat has a Johnson 140 and Tohatsu 9.8 kicker. This system is easier (much cheaper) and it is in the front of your motors (easily accessible) if you need to disconnect while on the water. Each ball joint has a spring clip to remove it. simply pull it back and the rod disconncects. Took me about 20 minutes to install and couldn't be happier. I wrapped the all thread with duct tape to keep the threads from rubbing/wearing on cables/fuel hoses but a piece of old hose would work nice too. Hope this helps. Jeff

Still searching for a larger aluminum boat and found a 1997 23ft sylvan with an outboard bracket. I can't find another to compare it to and can't seem to find much information on this model. Really liked the extra room in the boat with no dog house, but a little concerned that I can't find another. Anyone have one of these? It seems a good bit deeper than the 21 ft and seems like it has alot more room. Any input is greatly appreciated.

I was at a swap meet in Erie on Saturday and saw 2 sets of used big jon dual rod holders. Capt Dan from Buckets charter http://www.bucketscharters.com had them on his table think he wanted $50.00/set don't think he sold them. Also saw the guys from Craigs rodholders with some of their demo models at really nice prices. I picked up 2 sets of the craigs. If you haven't seen the craigs holders I'd give them a look. Very solid and adjustable without tools. They also make one that fits in the berts track. http://www.craigrodholders.com They had some smokin deals at the show, you might want to give them a call to see if they have any of the demos left. Good luck.

I know this is a stupid question, but I haven't had any quality time (other than reading posts here) with experienced trollers. When deploying a dipsy (or a rigger line) do you release the spool and add tension with the small spool tensioning knob, your thumb, or leave the spool run off the drag and just loosen the drag a little. We've been using our thumb on a free spool for both riggers and dipsy's, but one on the guys seems to let out the dipsy too fast and they tangle. Can't seem to break him of the habit and sometimes we unknowingly end up dragging a fouled dipsy for a while. Also seems kind of cumbersome when sending down a rigger. With the riggers we use the cannonballs with a curved tail and sometimes they seem to swim back and forth like crazy right at the boat if we don't run a line off the back of the ball. Should I be looking for different type of weight or are we doing something wrong? Planning on a charter this spring (should've done that long ago) to shorten the learing curve. Also thinking of being an observer for one of the tourneys if anyone is looking let me know. Would've loved to make to LOTSA seminar but already committed elsewhere. Thanks in advance. Jeff

I upgraded to a lowrance 520 from a hummingbird 565 a couple of years ago. If I were to do it again would have kept the hummingbird and bought a stand alone gps. The screen is too small for both sonar and gps running together. Also if your combo has problems you may lose both your sonar and gps. And IMO stay away from lowrance. My transducer went bad after 1.5 years and they wouldn't cover it under warranty, had to buy a new one for just under $100.00, and from what I understand this is an ongoing problem with lowrance units. If you are happy with your current FF you may want to keep it and just add a gps. As far as maps, my unit came with the fishing hotspots eastern edition. It is very good for other lakes, but does not have lake Ontario details. Good luck, Jeff

I've had my lms520 for a couple of years now and still trying to figure it out. It lost bottom signal in the spring and after a few frustrating trips figured out the transducer was bad. A call to lowrance ended in a trip to cabelas (only 1 year warranty). Hated to put another $70+ into a 2 year old unit but what else can you do. The new transducer works well, but rarely tracks downrigger balls unless fishing in the top 40fow. I did aim the transducer back a bit and started tracking a little deeper maybe 60 fow but thats about my limit. Also have trouble picking up fish and bait if going over 5mph. Unit will shut down when going over 15mph. Didn't know if this was normal or if my settings need tweeked. I've talked with others with different units that search for fish at higher speeds before ever setting a line. We have to drop down to 5mph and putt around looking for marks. I'm still very new to trolling and eager to learn, but it seems like being able to cruise around at higher speeds searching for bait/fish would help in finding productive water. Thanks to all for your help over the last couple years, this is the best source of information a fisherman could have. Jeff

I'm looking to buy a survival suit for fishing cold weather and wondered if you guys have any suggestions as to where to buy and what brand to buy. The only place I've ever seen them is at the Pittsburgh outdoor show. Thanks, Jeff