Sk8man

It started to be a noticeable problem in the early to mid nineties I think..

I know during the season it has been $10 and you can pay it in envelope that is located in a smallbox on a pole near the Office.

For whatever reason the smelt have been on the decline in many if not most of the Finger Lakes for some time now. My hunch is that they are most vulnerable to the zebras and quaggas inflitration of the lakes and disruption of the food chain. We used to get them in most of the streams in Seneca, Cayuga and Canandaigua but seldom see any of them now. Their reduction and disappearance seemed to closely follow the introduction of the invasives. It is a shame as they are probably a healthier food source for the trout than the alewives.

I have also donated 30 Sutton spoons on two Seth green rigs in one incident to those cables in the old days which are about the size of your arms in diameter and anchored in 500 ft. of water. They will also yell at you through a loudspeaker if too close. If they are conducting sonar tests they may ask you to shut off your engines for quite some time as well. When asked how far you had to be away from there without them hearing your (9.9) motor to interfere with their tests they said at least 5 miles away They also used to have a 17 ft. Boston Whaler Montauk that would be dispatched to check out folks if need be.

Ask for Andy...great guy and very competent.

bulletbob - You did really luck out interacting with Hop. He and I have been close friends and fishing buddies for about 40 years. He is one of the best Seth Green fishermen on the Finger Lakes as well as being a very generous and knowlegeable fisherman. He is a great example of 'old school' values that seem to be disappearing these days and that we need to be "paying forward" to others. Acts of generosity are the type of thing that can make a positive difference in life. There are a lot of good folks on this website and it is very encouraging to see whenthings like this are brought to our attention.

Don't jeopardize your motor welding. Something to try is to see if you can find an old tire inner tube someplace and cut a strip to place under the existing clamp between it and the shaft (dry) and tighten down the clamp will bind into the rubber and it should stop sliding. I'm also wondering if the connector rod is adjusted right because it should slide with that much pressure being exerted. Sometimes when they are too tight the little bar that the fitting is connected to will bend too.

OR it could be the bait availability and they just were well fed and uninterested in feeding or working for it. Encouraging to see the bait and fish though.

In the old days before metered line we used to tie a tiny piece of red yarn (goes through the eyes and level wind just fine) every 20 ft or so. You can even use a tiny spot of glue to keep it there for good.

Ah OK Lee. Hopefully someone else has been through the situation on here and has an idea. I kknow it sure is frustrating to have motor problems of any kind. Good luck with it. Les

30 lb Sea Flee all year long and I leader down on fluoro from 20 for Lake O to 10-12 on the Finger Lakes. It limits the fleas (if heavy) to the connection point (#8 or 10 Spro) and possibly some on the leader while the Sea Flee is usually free of them.

As far as I know it is normal for them to make noise when raising and lowering (at least on bigger motors) and I Ithink they usually just stop responding period when they are shot and it is usually the button on the motor that has that problem. Is the noise radically different than what it has been since you got the motor?

I believe that although the (newer) Lowrance generation 3 units are CHIRP capable the generation 1 and 2 are not and that was what I was referring to in my comments. If the unit is a new Generation 3 unit it would be a different ballgame. As far as the Navionics app there is a web based app right on their website that can be used on a laptop to call up the maps of the lakes.

Sweet!

There is a guy on here (wallyandre) who seems very familiar with the technical side of the Lowrance units and he may be better able to offer more info. I'd send him a PM if I were you.

I would imagine it may be pertinent to note which transducer you already have installed as that can make a difference in the quality of the signal in the two machines. The Hook 7 is CHIRP I believe and I don't think the HDS7 is. Therefore If the transducer was used for enhanced detail in down imaging you will not get it with that HDS7unit. The HDS7 can use the standard 83/200 transducer. I believe it may be able to use the 83/200 mhz frequency of the Hook CHIRP transducer but it will not be able to access the medium and high range 455/800 mhz functions (ie. important for enhanced detail of the image on the display. Another potential issue may be if the power cord in fact does have a different connector the transducer cable my also and that would be a problem from square one.

WTG Ben. Any size to the salmon?

Great photos and it looks as though you may have saved him from a lamprey (mark right behind his left pectoral)

I think Skipper19 said it all and injecting some humor is a good idea here too. This issue kinda reminds me of some perch fishermen I knew on Seneca....."Hey you're taking MY fish"

I was kinda wondering that myself and is one ofthe reasons I posted.....wanted to get others take on it.

Pretty cool Cody Wish I lived closer.

I'll be eternally grateful to him although he did bust me rather severely by putting a sign on the back of his huge cooler (which sits on a swim platform on the back of his boat that everyone can see for miles) that read "Les' Savior"

Dead Perch in Lake Michigan http://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/2017/04/12/dead-perch-washing-up-in-lake-michigan-by-thousands.html

Rusty you bring up some really good points of concern. Unfortunately I am not an outboard mechanic. Mine is a 135 Merc Optimax 2 stroke. The primary time I troll with it is if the wind cranks up and the 9.9 becomes marginal in the wind/waves without really pushing it. I have tried to keep the hours down on the big motor. The fact that the oil isn't mixing with the gas sure could be a different case with the 4 stroke. My 2 stroke will troll down to1.8-1.9 at 550 rpms but I norlmally like to troll at about 620-680 and I know the oil injection makes automatic adjudtments for the slower speed etc. In 2013 I had the impeller go on my 135 during a derby and the winds were gusting at 40-45 mph. My 2 stroke 9.9 couldn't overcome the wind and I could have been totally at the mercy of the waves ending up miles and miles from where I launched or even crashing into the shoreline. I couldn't even anchor effectively in shallow water with 40 pounds of anchor to try to ride out the wind. Luckily, my buddy Admiral Byrd was out there too in his Penn Yan and saved our butts by towing me back about 16 miles to the launch. I have towed folks in the past but that was the first time being towed myself and hopefully the last. The moral of the story is even with two motors you can get caught short out there and total reliance on just one engine or perhaps in this even case on two can get sketchy. Although this is a bit embarrassing to talk about after spending the majority of my life out on the water....the point is it can happen to ANYONE and hopefully sharing the experience here might help someone avoid the same thing. You can NEVER totally rely on any engine while out there and always have to keep in the back of your mind "options". I now include carrying a tow rope on my boat too . Mother nature can be relentless and very unforgiving.