Sk8man

The Pirates work very well as do the Southport Slammers (similar to Northport Nailers) The purple Pirate (lower in pic) is the old dimpled finish version. The later ones had finish like the NK's

x2 on on the lams comment.

Great boat cuts through Lake O waves like butter....solid confidence inspiring platform to fish from.

scobar mentions a good idea that we used to do in years past the balloon rig works and I used to use an offshore clip type or one of my home made ones to clip it to the line and take off on the way in much as you might do with a jug rig with the Seth Greens. Minimal drag on the way in too as most of it is out of the water at that point.

I'm not a scientist or marine biologist but fish make adjustments all the time to temperature changes and although slow changes may be the best I'm pretty sure that just the rapid change in water temperature isn't the one critical factor in their death. Releasing without handling is a main reason why I use strong single hooks on nearly every one of my spoons. I merely grab the hook in the heavy duty needle nose pliers while the fish is still in the water and invert the hook in his mouth and quickly pull upward aand usually the hook releases and the fish takes off like a rocket. Occasionally the single hook will penetrate the eye area of a fish usually rainbow or landlock but it is not frequent.

Good detailed decription from Luke

Back off the drag so it it slowly goes out while it sets in the rod holder. Don't let it out by the rigger or by trying to thumb it with he drag released.

Given the time of the season I'd keep a sharp eye out for blue/green algae in either place if it were me. I've seen Honeoye this time of year look as though someone spilled pea soup or green paint in sections of the lake (where it pooled up).

Something probably worth mentioning is that what you do when retrieving and boating the fish plays a huge role in whether or not they make it afterward. If catch and release is intended it helps to get the fish in as soon as possible, don't bring them into the boat release them in the net if possible by using needle nose pliers to take the hook out not physically handling the fish. Try not to have the fish lie on a hot boat floor while retrieving the hook. Don't hold the fish vertically and avoid placing fingers or hands near or in the gills area keep the fish horizontal and supported underneath whenever possible. Many techniques are used to "revive" them at the side of the boat and to plunge them back toward the bottom but it is unknown what their actual fate really is with any of these methods.I believe that lactic acid builds up in the kings when they are fighting all the way in and you have to wonder if this dooms them as well when released. Also I have seen fish that were "belly up" actually swim away afterward but who knows their actual fate long term. Kinda like the bass guys releasing fish near the launch after weigh in

I use the Starbrite hull cleaner spray on hose off stuff which works Ok for most times but again I trailer my boat and it never stands in water so it is mostly dirt rathet than moss etc. that is being cleaned.

I'm always proud to be with ya bud no matter which boat or whether filthy or not. That is what old friends are for to accept ya with all your faults

Lewis - for starters with a setting of 3 and a standard size diver I'm pretty sure you are no where near 88-96 ft down. The reference charts also do not take into consideration underwater currents or many other factors that influence the direction and depth of dipseys or anything else attached to a line for that matter as well. Keep in mind that although the #3 setting is advantageous for direction outward it also significantly brings anything attached to it upward and shallower as well. Another often neglected fact is that if the weight on the dipsey is moved PAST the #3 marked on it the diver can even surface it runs so shallow. There is also a point where especially with that setting you can keep letting out line thinking you are achieving greater depth when in fact the dipsey is just going farther out behind the boat and not actually deeper without slowing speed of the boat considerably. I use the 0 size and 1 size dipseys for shallow water applications (e.g. in the Spring and Fall) but for most other times I use the Dreamweaver (used to be Walker) Deeper Divers which have a larger surface area and heavier adjustable weight allowing them to achieve much greater depth with less line out and I use them on wire. Wire usually accrues fleas less than braid (which I reserve for Spring and late Fall when the water temps aren't as suitable for flea concentrations) These divers seem to offer much more control as far as the settings go too and can achieve much greater depth with less line out so that you are closer to where you think you may be. One way to tell whether your diver is doing what you think is to attach a Fishawk TD to the line and let it out and then retrieve it and check the depth it was running at that number of feet out (you'll also be able to see the water temp there as well).You may be shocked by the result As of the other day I was quite surprised to find that many of the trout and salmon are in much shallower water than I expected (i.e. less than 75 feet of water and normally at this point in the season in the Fingers concentrations of them are much deeper and often even out in the middle. The bait was running from 40-65 ft down pretty much wherever we went in the northern section of the lake and in pretty heavy concentrations.....also somewhat unusual for this time of year. What this suggests is that trolling out in the deeper regions may be much less productive than normal and trolling more toward running lines deeper and toward bottom in closer may be more productive (and more risky as well). The trouble with it is you have to be VERY familiar with the bottom contours of the lake or at least the part of it being fished to successfully fish it or avoid hanging up on bottom as there are places where you can be in over 100 ft of water and immediately hit a "wall" 24 ft deep it comes up so fast. It could be difficult in there doing what you desire with a boat as big as yours. The lakers seem to be roaming all over up high in water way off of their usual temps way into the high fifties and sixties (e.g. 35 to 60 ft over whatever).

It entails a bit of hands and knees scrubbing but Tilex (e.g. cleaner for showers - thanks Kev) does a real nice job on the non skid floor of my Whaler. I use the non bleach version now after screwing up the knees of my pants with the bleach version

or 6 inches shorter than the total length of the rod you are using. Reason: it is tough to find extensions for your arms when you need to net the fish

If you want a deeper and wider range of depths use a Dreamweaver (used to be Walker)124 mm Deeper Diver