Trap Jaw

Sounds better then we did Shade. Sorry I didn't get in touch, we didn't even get out of the channel before we had problems with the motor. As rough as it was we didn't want to chance getting stuck in those waves with a wonky motor. At least we had a good ride if nothing else.

I'll be out of Olcott tomorrow as well. Hoping the few reports from the last few days aren't an omen.

Second Indecisive's method. Same set-up with the Garelick and EZ steer. All you need to install is a drill and a few hand tools, and an afternoon.

I've spent most of the summer reading the posts. Keep in mind I haven't fished for at least 12 years. One of the problems I'm having is the luhrs have changed totaly and I can't make heads or tails of what they are. OK, I get what they are, but where are these "colors" coming from. It took me 2 days to figure out that NBK refers to Natural Born Killer. I just don't even have a starting point. The problem I will have is if I take the old man and we get skunked I will never be able to talk him into going again. Then there goes any chance I'll ever have of going again since no one else will go with me. All I'm asking for is some help to try and reduce the learning curve.

It's been about 12 years since I last had the chance to fish Ontario. I finally talked my dad into going back up(he's the only one that would even go with me) and now he has the bug BAD. The problem I'm having is not knowing what the heck is going on or what I'm doing. I took a charter back in May just to see if there was anything new that I needed to know. That's an understatement. I guess now I just need a baseline, speed, depth, rigger depth... I have two problems: 1. I'm not from the area so I don't get any first hand info. 2. I don't have all the primo gear that reduces the learning curve, ie. rigger probe. Could anyone that fishes out of Olcott on a regular basis give me some info. I am not sure when we'll be heading up, but it will be within the next two weeks. Any help would be appriciated.

Don't really care that it's discontinued. I just can't justify spending 400-500 bucks for a new unit or 200-300 for a used. I just need something cheep that will work 3-4 times a year. Hopefully it would last a at least a few years and by then, maybe, I'll be in a better possition to buy a better unit. Most of the time down here there is no need for one. For instance, I'm still fishing for walleye in 25-30 FOW. The only time it would be nice to have one is when we head up there for salmon. It just stinks that there is no other options.

Just read this post and was wondering. Do you guys have the riggers with the metal booms or doesn't it matter what the boom is made out of. I was looking at purchasing a Cannon speed and temp since it is the least expensive and I would not be running it all the time. Reason, I fish Lake Erie mostly and only run riggers once in a while. I just can't justify spending the extra money on something I'll use a handful of times a year. On the other hand, if the Cannon's do this on all booms maybe I'll skip them. BTW, I have the Unitroll's with the composite booms.

Cabela's sells those Ram mounts that will fit a lot of handheld units. I have already found the mounts and power cable for my eTrex. I just can't decide if it is worth fixing my GPS/fishfinder unit or just spend 50 bucks and use my eTrex.

I guess the reason I get so upset when crap like this happens is that apperantly the fourth amendment doesn't hold true on the water. Unless this was different then what happens down here... Here, you are to stop and they BOARD you to do the "safety check". Bottom line is that is a search without probable cause. Did they get a tip off about me? Did I have an AK-47 stuck in one of the rod holders? No just a random boat that they decided they would use to meet their quota of checks for the day. The first time they check me you'll probably soon there after see my boat being towed in with me in cuffs, because I won't stand for this kind of manure.

Good luck, the only low cost GPS's out there are the hand held's. I've got an Eagle 480 with the GPS that is giving me headaches. I am thinking of buying a 12volt adaptor and using my handheld eTrex. Standalone units are over $500, and they have all the junk that is useless to you and I.

Ah, now you know what we put up with here in PA. PA Fish and Boat Commission... Power hungry, Overbearing, and have the attitude of "guilty until proven inocent". My dad has always hated the fact that PA makes you display your license. In his method of quiet protest he always pins his license to the fly of his jeans. I don't think I have ever seen him checked in all my years. The next time anything like that happens just grab a pen and paper and ask everyone on that boat for their names, badge number and supervisors name. The road goes both ways when it comes to busting chops. I'm wating for the time the the PAFBC tries to do that to me.

At least you were in the resturant when it happened. My second cousin had all his gear stolen out of his boat back in the 90's. The kicker is he and his wife were sleeping in the van that was attached to the boat at the time. Must have been some really light footed bandits.

I wanted to add that, like big said, you can get away with a lot less motor, less weight, and less money by going with a smaller motor. I think my boat is more in the size range of what you have. It is an 18' wellcraft crnter console. We just put an 8hp yamaha 4 stroke on it and after running it we realized that we overkilled the motor. We should have gotten the 6hp. Top speed with the 8hp was 6mph. I don't think we would have lost that much more by going to the 6hp, other then 10-15 pounds. Maybe a little, but it's only for trolling and how fast do you need to go there? 2-3mph. On my old boat, a 16' open bow fiberglass, everyone told me I needed a 9.9. I put one on and used it for quite some time until it started giving me problems. I found an old 4hp Merc and replaced it. I lost 2 mph on top speed(9.9 topped out at 7) but I gained on the fuel. I typically used 4 gallons of gas on an average trip with the 9.9, with the 4hp it dropped to 2 gallons per trip. Quite a bit over an entire summer.

Well, I figured I would let you all know what our decision was after the charter. Showed up to find them using Diawa 27LC's and Okuma Convector 30's and 40's. Maybe the Diawa's were a bit used, but not according to the Capt. Didn't really like them, drags still seem week. And the Okuma's, wow, I want a reel not a winch. Don't get me wrong, we had one hell of a time, but one of the things we wanted to do was try out other makes of reels. On the ride home we talked about it and decided that from here out it will probably be the 209LC's.

You all should try Lake Erie for walleye's. everyone tries to fish the same 100-200 yard stretch. It's fine till you run into that one guy that thinks it better to troll N/S instead of E/W. I have joked that I was going to get one of those dummy 50 cal. machine guns and mount it in my board mast when not in use so everyone would stay away from me lol. It's amazing, during the week no one has any problems, but the weekends are a different story.

Thanks for all the replys guys. Irish, I have sworn off, and at, Okuma's. If their products can go from good to crap in one year then I don't want to be buying them the next time they do. My buddy and I have decided that we will wait until next monday to see what they are running on the charter we are going on. It's close enough now we won't need any in the next 4 days, god I hope not. Right now it's narrowed down to the Accudepth or the 209LC. I guess I had the reels mixed up, I thought the 209LC was the same size as the 9m. My buddy doen't like the slower retreive on the Penn, but that's what we used for years.

Mostly they will be used on Lake Erie for walleye, but they need to be sturdy enough to handle the salmon on Lake Ontario. Thanks Splitshot, if they are made by Okuma then they are off my list. I don't care how good Cabela's customer service is, when the reel breaks it still needs sent back. I am glad to hear that they have improved the drags on the Diawa's. I figure that if a reel can hold up to screeming kings all summer long then it should be fine for me hossin' in walleye and the ocational trip to Ontario. Thanks for the input guys.

Ok, my dillema is what brand to buy. I have been using the Okuma Magda Pro's for quite some time now but in the last few years their quality has gone down the crapper, 4 broke reels in one summer. All the ones that have broke have been new purchases, all the old ones are still working fine. What do some of you recommend? I don't like Diawa's, had ones when I was a kid(non line counters) and the drags seemed to wear out. The Penn 209LC's look good, but they are a bit on the small side. Also looked at the Penn GT2, but some of the reviews online aren't that favorable. Thought about the Cabela's brand, but they look identical to Okuma. Any help here???

Just figured I would put this out there. This is the listing that I put for my boat on Fish Erie. http://forums.fishusa.com/16%27_Fibergl ... 982/tm.htm

How do the super lines do against the fleas? I have all my gear rigged up for Erie, 15# mono and superline, and would rather not have to get all new rigs or respool.

Hello all. Just wanted to make a quick post to introduce myself. I am new to the site but not to Lake Ontario. First of all you can't miss the name of my boat, it's the same as my screen name. I am actually from Erie PA, but spent tons of time fishing the lake with my family. It has been about 12-15 years since we fished Ontario seriously. Now that me and a friend both have boats we plan to make a lot more trips up from now on. Looking forward to the charter that we have scheduled in two weeks since I have a lot of catching up to do. I look forward to talking to everyone on the board.