Sk8man

I prefer the old school method including a safety line for my probe. The old Blacks didn't haave the rod through it. You hooked it directly to the cable above the weight. What is pictured here is the old version Blacks which I still use and a second 90lb test wire with heavy duty snap.I attach both snaps to my probe so that if the probe cable or the downrigger cable terminating at the bottom of the main snap gives I still have the 90 lb wire and snap on the probe which is attached to the Blacks release. It hasn't been tested but I figure it is better than nothing although deppendent of the integrity of the crimp on the Blacks as I have seen the other usual hookups fail on friends boats.

Hard to keep a good man down

Great bargain right there.

If you watch some of the underwater videos of salmon trying to catch up with spoons - let alone an attractor/fly it becomes evident that although they are fast powerful swimmers they often have trouble actually grabbing the objects and sometimes they even may grab the wrong one, and sideways movement seems sometimes a problem for them. The wave action on the surface can also be a factor bouncing the setup up and down while it is going sideways or revolving. The fish may be following the setup for quite aways trying to nail it and/or they may just be checking it out because it or something about it doesn't look quite right to them. The situation is a good reason for always messing with your speed slowing down, increasing briefly, putting in neutral, occasionally giving the gas a jump, making turns so the inside setup(s) slows while the outside speeds up. The change itself may be the trigger that is necessary to make them grab the bait because it imparts a different action to the bait and where the following may have been curiosity the change in action generates an impulse to strike so it relates to a different behavior origin. Popping the rigger and letting it flutter as ifishy suggested may be doing the same thing and it often does work. The distance of the setup from the rigger weight may influence this as well as if placed close to the weight it may be seen as a unit vs. when the weight is followed at some longer distance by the setup it may either spook the fish initially attracted by the weight and its movement through the water from striking at the bait, or it may just lose their interest or curiosity and move away before the bait arrives. The deeper the setup is run it can pay to shorten the distance to the weight. The last time out one of them hit the rigger at 115 ft down and the flasher fly was running 3-4 ft behind the weight the other rigger with same stuff set much further back never saw action. Just some observations to think about not necessarily a rock solid answer to the situation

I added some to my earlier post as I thought about it.

Tackle Shop Brewer's Sporting Goods right on Main Street in Ovid (south of Sampson on 96A. Pam Brewer is great lady and has a lot of relevant tackle for a small shop. Sells bait as well. Worth a visit Wineries south of there (e.g. Wagner Vineyards right south on Rt#414). If Pam has any Great Lakes lures left get some Oakie Dokies for lakers and some 44's for the silvers. Also, if she has hammerhead cowbells and Gambler rigs they are the way to go regardless of which lake you fish. If you are in the mood to drive a bit while exploring wineries, or take the boat when out there Roy's Marina to the northwest of Sampson near the north end of the lake has the cowbells and Gambler rigs. There are outstanding wineries on the west side of the lake...my favorite is Fox Run and they have a cafe there as well.

You do look very familiar in the photos. I had a 13 ft Whaler with a dodger on the front of it....I was one of the smallest boats out there at the time so I didn't dock it or buoy it there at Clarks Luckily I had 250 ft of anchor rope too and I used my Riveria downriggers with the 4 ft booms to hang my coleman lanterns on for night fishing. Back then Miriam Clark was one of the best mechanics around and one of the very few females doing it too. I think we may have talked out on the dock there back then. I still remember Oravec always wore his Greek fishing cap too. ....the good old days.

Sorry about the pic screw up....don't know what happened there...

Nice going Rene That was a nice real fish Bob and that NK 28 had more scratches on it than two cats on a cat fight. Ifishy from LOU also had a 24 pound king that was a great looking fish and it was neat meeting up with him and his fishing buddy. My son Mark and I got an early start out of the channel and set up in pretty rough water in about 140 ft. We trolled out to 320 and then turned around because it was a hasssle trolling against the 3-4 footers (or more) out there and decided to troll in closer until the wind might let up a bit. We picked up 3 teen kings and a 6 lb steelie before 9:45 AM in various depths mostly on wire dipsys with flashers and home made flies in white set at 250 -275 on a 1 setting for the Deeper Divers. The steelie came on a 10 color leadcore down the chute with a black painted Diamond King spoon with glow bottom. After a few hours it started to lay down a bit so we trolled out deeper again and went out to 630 ft. Lost a big king in 458 ft on a wire dipsy with Spin Doc and white homemade fly. He was on for several jumps and runs and then parted the 50 lb mono on the fly. When it was retrieved it had been cleanly cut part way up the leader by his teeth just as if by a knife and apparently had the leader in his mouth. This is the first time the 50 lb.mono failed on one of the flies, but it proved that nothing is impervious to these beasts Trolled for some more going shallower had some hit and runs on riggers and wires and one on the leadcore...may have been the combination of our faster trolling speed and the waves and they couldn't get hold of it good enough. Finally, in the afternoon a 20 lb king nailed the 3 color secret weapon rig with flasher/green homade fly set at 115 ft on a rigger. man did that fish take some spectacular runs preceeded by a couple of lost fish on the wires...another great day spent with my kid

Brings back some memories.....I used to night fish next to Roides and Oravec when they kept their boats at Clarks at the south end of Canandaigua before threy moved their operations to Lake O and the salmon fishing reallly took off.

I believe FishUSA also carries them as well as Dreamweaver if you don't have luck locally.

Big Game mono x2 at Walmart in green color 440 yds about $7.00 Dreamweaver did buy out the Deeper Divers (changed hands a couple times before that) Not sure on the eye stickers maybe someplace like Netcraft?

Locks may help deter the opportunist but can create major problems if a ruthless thief. I remember years back when at a State Park I won't mention a guy had his boat docked and his trolling motor mounted on the transom and locked with a chain and lock. Someone (in a boat) came in during the night and cut out the transom section where the trolling motor was rendering the boat unusable. There are people put there that just don't care....

Interesting. It has seemed to me that things in general out in the lakes have been a couple weeks behind all season thus far, and I know the 20 lb female king we got the other day was just starting to blacken up a bit and when examined internally had 6 fresh 5-6 inch sawbellies in her stomach (so still feeding) and the skein and eggs were still firm and quite a ways from being ready. .