Sk8man

Thanks guys

As suggested downriggers can be handy but they are not indispensable on Canandaigua Lake. You didn't mention when in the season you intend to fish or all season long as there can be different answers according to time of year. Smaller dipseys can be used in the upper level of the lake in the Spring and late Fall with small to medium spoons or small to medium stick baits. toplining from boards also works well during much of the season for rainbows and an occasional brown. The larger browns are often caught using live or dead bait (alewives) within the 100 ft or less water around the lake periphery near points and drop-offs, and often at night or early morning while a few are caught trolling. In the summer they tend to hug bottom in about 70 or 80 ft of water near drop-offs. There are no landlocks in the lake and only unstocked rainbows, stocked browns, and stocked Lake trout with a few naturally propagated fish of both the latter two species. Other than the early Spring and late Fall the Late trout are pretty deep so larger Deep Divers or Magnum sized are needed to get down deeper without riggers or Seth Green rigs. Flasher/ fly, Spin Doctor/ fly or both of these with spoons are pretty effective for lakers and the occasional rainbow or brown. It is important to keep the spoons and stickbaits within the small to medium range most of the time for most consistent results. Sutton spoons were were designed on and for Canandaigua Lake and they work very well as they are light weight and "flutter" a little differently than some other spoons and the silver plating on them is more visible for longer distances under water than say chrome or nickle. There is a large range of shapes and sizes of these spoons but they require a little trial and error experience to determine the best trolling speed for them and running several different ones of different shapes and sizes at the same time on a Seth Green rig usually means some may be running well and other maybe not so well. The larger ones seem to run best at slower speeds while the very small pones can be run at higher speeds usually for rainbows in the warmer weather and at some distance from the boat. If you don't get riggers or have leadcore lines you may wish to consider having a 5 color and 10 color to run from boards throughout the season. The smallest Suttons run very well for the bows from these. If I am found dead after posting this it was the other guys that troll Caanandaigua

Be aware though that the designated sizes are not the same for all manufacturers.

A few things come to mind: first of all fishing them in a pond can be quite different than in a Finger lake for example. They may or may not use the inlet or outlet. They are largely bottom feeders and prefer sandy or mud bottoms and usually are found scrounging things from those bottoms. They use their feelers around their mouths to feel for food rather than relying just on eyesight per se so they can be quite successful in muddy or murky water. I am mentioning this as it relates to the particular way you fish for them which can vary considerably. An important consideration is wind direction. Usually the most success is with the wind coming towards you because they follow the migration path from wind driven current underwater of whatever they can find and often near bottom, but they are attracted to movement detected by their feelers for moving worms, leeches or left over waxies or spikes from ice fishing dangling a foot or two off bottom can also be effective. They seem to be highly attracted to smelly/rotten things as well e.g. pieces of shrimp way past its prime, pieces of dead fathead minnows etc. Although they can be caught in the daytime most of their concentrated activity occurs at night as they are not as dependent as some species on vision for locating their food. As far as the pond situation you described I would position myself near the mouth of an inlet or outlet with the wind blowing toward you when the water is murky and at night just as dark approaches using a lantern or light with the side toward you blocked (we used to use aluminum foil on the half facing you to block the glare and enable you to see your lines clearly. Sometimes a small piece of broken styrofoam cup and pe placed on your line to help see the line go ou.t Find some shrubs a or bushes nearby and cut some forked sticks to use as rod holders to place your rods on. Cast out aways and put allow a "u shaped" loop in your line don't totally tighten it so that you can detect when they pick up the bait as they can be very light biters. The setups can be as you described, but I have always had success with a typical perch rig type setup with bell sinker at bottom and one or two hooks either tied directly to the line , or a two inch loop with hook suspended. In the daytime they may be caught with typical bobber setups with the line suspended just above the bottom in murky or muddy water. The version tied directly detects bites more quickly but they may also detect the tension while the loop version is not quite as quick to sense the bite. So there you have it....Bullhead 101 P.S. Small red (striped) manure worms in small gobs work great too.

Rick has given you very good advice. The Airmar's are excellent transducers and hold up well. The better matched a transducer is to your unit and trolling the better the performance. Transducers can go bad over time and although usually they totally crap out when they do but I have had one over the years that acted just as you described it. Best solution get a transducer that is better adapted to your situation and Airmar has a whole range of them for that purpose. Make sure when installed it is free from any surface turbulence from chines or strakes on the hull and that it isn't too far toward the outside of the hull and many times they need to be angled forward or backward ever so slightly.

Regardless of size get ball bearing AND solid ring NOT split ring swivels. If a knot slips on the split ring it can wedge in the depression of the split ring which is sharp and potentially cut the line (don't ask how I know this)

Great video and Pete is not your average "tree hugger"

I think you may apply at the following number for both the sporting license and the marine version 1-866-933-2257