It sounds to me that the present drag elements may toasted. Sometimes oil gets to them and that doesn't help either despite what some folks may think. The reels have a 5.1:1 gear ratio which allows them to be retrieved quite readily in addition to decent line capacity. I have managed kings on them but they aren't the best at that. For somewhat lighter duty they perform adequately when the drag elements are updated. Do they compare with a Saltist? No. and that is what you want if fishing mainly or frequently for kings. For the $20 or so to upgrade the drags it isn't a bad investment if you do much fishing for browns or walleyes etc.
One of the things worth noting is how much difficulty the fish has actually catching up with the bait. Note the motion (action) of the dodger....it is being trolled too fast. The dodger should be swaying more side to side and more slowly so that the bait isn't jerked so much away from the fish. One of the things that becomes apparent in most of these videos is the difficulty many fish have nailing a target sideways and they try to come straight from the back. Either the lure has to be weighted more to slow it (and not necessarily the attractor). the leader from attractor to lure needs to be lenghtened, or the speed needs to be reduced over-all to allow them to actually grab it. Dodger operate differently in the water than flashers where speed isn't as critical.
I had a couple of them which Andy replaced the drags with carbon fiber a few years ago and they work very acceptably and definitely better than the original drags. I only use the setups on the Finger Lakes and for leadcore with walleyes but they work very acceptably. By the way, when he went over the reels and replaced the drags the reels came back to me in close to brand new shape despite their age and the cost was very reasonable and quick turn around time. Might be worth just having a couple done and see what you think
Very enjoyable Pete. Keep up the good work! Nice to see someone having fun out there and it demonstrates that you don't need all sorts of fancy trolling equipment to have a good time
You've got your priorities right We see a lot of negative stuff on the TV and news but this is the real stuff America is made from.....helping each other in need.
Good luck....I hope I'm wrong.....but last year they clogged up our downrigger wires so bad the weights couldn't be retrieved right about now....be interesting to see how you make out.
I think that they are there and probably large concentrations out there but the lines most prone to them seem to be lines running laterally (horizontal) and moving through large sections of the water column. Copper setups if running the braid backing just below the surface seem much less prone than other stuff where braid is run further out into the water column and riggers and wire rigs seem to readily accrue it and probably part of it relates to there being a lot of line out at an angle in the column. The flea concentrations seem to vary throughout the lakes and within the water column in those lakes. My hunch is that if you were to talk with folks that were trolling for good distances with riggers, leadcore, and braid they'd be complaining about the fleas. The fishook type seem to be more of a pain to get off too. Although the concentrations seem to vary from lake to lake and within the lakes they don't usually disappear until the water temperature gets down below 60 or so toward or in early Fall.At least that is what I have experienced with them thus far.
Most of the time I add it right at the connection of the fluoro leader but I sometimes run it at the connection of the backing and copper depending on what I'm running. If I am running heavier stuff at the end I use the former and for sticks etc. I use the latter most often. After awhile you can tell by the feel of the rod and tip which point seems better for that particular setup.
I camped at Sampson for years but never in the fairly new cabins. There are about 240 campsites and good bathroom facilities etc. At one time had a self-contained camper as well as tents. Tenting is not bad there and and no matter which site you choose (most are electric) water and facilities are in easy reach and the launch is within a couple minutes of any of them. Sampson and Cayuga Lake State Park are pretty busy campgrounds and often the sites fill up fast. Cayuga is also a real nice campground (just there past weekend) with many amenities and a wide range of sites, and swimming beach etc. and cottages but they are probably filled up for the season early)The launch there at the park is quite low water so I launch up the road about 10 miles south on Rt#89 at Dean's Cove where you have nearly immediate access to good fishing. There is a fee and a kiosk there in the parking lot that only takes credit cards no cash.