Sk8man

Good suggestion decent rod at an affordable price (if they come in the 8 1/2 length) I think if memory serves me correctly the wire versions come in even 1 ft lengths. but they have AFTCO rollers which are pretty good.

OK. The reason I said what I did is that most of the common roller tip rods are often shorter in length than 8 1/2 ft I have at least 6 or 8 of them that are 6-7 ft. Others I have are 8 1/2 ft rods that I have converted to roller tip dipsy rods so that was what I was referring to... I merely mentioned the twilli as another option. Some roller tips alone can run into the hundreds of dollars for the really good ones.

If you don't have any success finding one in that length Carol a good solution might be a Diawa Wilderness DM802MR and put either a twilli tip on it or say an Allen (steel sided) roller tip. I have two setups like this and they work fine as my outer dipsies with my shorter roller rods with inside dipsies. These rods are inexpensive but serviceable. They have a flexible tip but the rest of the rod is sturdy so it gives some action to the dipsies.Thye have had plenty of kings test them out

Matt - The Blacks are good for all around use and especially for running things like attractors that have a lot of drag or resistance in the water as they have a pretty extensive range for setting tension. Chamberlains excel at lower range tension settings for fishing for walleyes and detecting small fish and light hitters. For general Finger Lakes trout and salmon fishing the Blacks are fine. Rig them on the downrigger cable itself not at the weight for better and more consistant releases.

They also run with the younger kings out deep in the summer months along the mid south shore (e.g. 300 plus water) and are often viewed as "accidental" catches to underscore Brian's point.

Always good to see someone doing the right thing

Dre you have a PM

Two issues here and perhaps different solutions for each. One is a very dull knife that requires re-doing the edge and the other is a knife that has an edge but needs to be "conditioned" to optimal sharpness. Time spent is also a variable. The Worksharp is a time saver and capable of sharpening from scratch to put a fine edge on a knife but it isn't practical for use "in the field" (e.g. on a boat) for a tune up. The inexpensive ceramic "pocket sharpeners" are OK for "tuning up" a knife out in the field but they don't do a great job of putting a finished enduring edge on a knife. The diamond steels are portable and capable of putting a fine edge on a knife. Although time intensive and more work establishing a basic edge and fine tuning it may be attained using the graduated stones with oil by someone who knows what they are doing can give a lasting edge given a good quality knife to begin with. The angle at which the knife is sharpened is also a big factor because the thinner the blade and edge on it the less durable for some types of use ( e.g. cutting through bones). In short you need the right tool for the job at hand, a good quality knife, and sharpen it according to the intended use. If you have a poor quality steel knife none of the sharpening of edges or particular tools will give superior results.

I usually have the best luck for bows on the Fingers with leads 50 or less Matt but experimenting is always a good idea. Stickbaits may be run back that far and I use a large split shot about 3-4 ft up from the lure to keep it down a bit.

I generally use one 20 ft long for sticks and spoons. If using attractors I hook directly to main line without leader.If you keep them the same length it helps with determining the set back distance from the weight.

Wonderful job on the video Pete. You beautifully articulated the emotional side of fishing as well as the technical aspects and very creatively used interesting transitions along the way. You certainly have found your creative niche and provided us not only with entertainment but useful information in your videos on everything from tree identification, jigging for lakers and this particular "gem". One of the perhaps unsaid aspects of your videos that bears mentioning is the quality of your voice....it is unusually well suited to instruction and video presentation. Thanks for sharing the video with us. Les

Matt a couple of considerations: the fleas later on and the species targeted. I use 30 lb. Bloodrun Sea Flee line to help with the fleas on my rigger rods and then leader off of it with 20 lb, fluoro on Lake O and 12 lb fluoro on the Fingers. If targeting browns during the Spring I sometimes use 8 lb fluoro on the Fingers.... just can't horse the fish with it. For many many years I just used 12 lb Big Game on Lake O and the Fingers but the fleas changed all that. The 30 lb seems like rope but it helps with the flea stuff so I leave it on year round and just change leaders. I also use a small high quality solid ring ball bearing swivel at the terminus of leaders and a #8 Spro barrel swivel to connect between the 30 lb and the leader. # 8's and 10's will go through most rod tips and eyelets OK..

One of the things not yet mentioned is the effect of length of the copper being used. The longer the length the more bow there is in the copper. The copper doesn't really stretch it is rather slack created by the bowing. An additional thing that happens is that with spoons or sticks run on a leader off the copper the lure lifts upward somewhat because of the weight of the bow in the copper and the longer the copper the more it lifts so a lot of times you may not be running where you think. I realized this when using the Fishhawk TD and it would probably be picked up by the Smarttrol as well. The drag setting can become important because if set too loose the slack in the copper may not be picked up quickly enough or tightly enough and the fish may either not be hooked well, or it can briefly use the slack to its advantage and get off. I generally go with a 20 ft leader and depending on what I am running on it may use either mono or fluoro. I use mono for deeper copper presentations because a little stretch is desired especially with attractors. I use fluoro for clearer water upper level (shallower) water situations running single lures (spoons or sticks) because it is stiffer and may give a bit more action to the lure and may be less visible. With a 250 or 300 ft of copper and a 20 ft. leader any lure is far enough away from the boat so having a very long leader doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose in my view as it may also lessen the action of the lure.Just my way of doing it I guess but it seems to work.

Rick always has good advice but I would add that the length of the copper is important. Some folks run 500 or 600 coppers which take a very long time to be retrieved hence the negative effects on fish survival. A short copper isn't much different than a 10 color lead core e.g. 300 ft.in terms of retrieval time (although they act differently in the water) so if you stick with shorter coppers say 200-300 ft and just add weight to them to get down deeper if needed the retrieval time stays reasonable. For most purposes the 32 lb copper works well and is fairly close to the 45 lb. in effect because there is less resistance in the water with the smaller diameter with the shorter sections of it and as mentioned if needed for increased depth just add snap weights.

I just received this from Assemblyman Brian Kolb in response to my earlier letter to him. Dear Mr. B: Thank you for contacting me with your objections to a potential merger of New York State’s Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) with New York State’s Forest Rangers. It is great to hear from you. I agree with you about the necessity to keep these respective departments separate. The ECOs and Rangers are trained for different tasks. You will be pleased to know that there was no mention of this possible merger in the 2019-2020 Executive Budget. However, this merger has been discussed in the past and could be revisited again as a part of an administrative action. Should legislation be required to prevent this merger I would support it. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact my office if you have any additional questions or concerns. Sincerely, Brian M. Kolb Assembly Minority Leader BMK/mjm