Sk8man

WTG Mark and cool report We trolled for 6 hrs yesterday AM out of Hughes with 6 rods out and never had a touch. In retrospect I think we should have started late afternoon. Glad you got into them bud.

Nothing worked for 6 hours of trolling yesterday off Hughes and only marked about half a dozen fish but some bait was there.

Best of luck with the situation....perseverance will pay off in the end.

.040 wire is about right for them the .30 wire will bend too much and more than .40 is tough to work with (bending eyelets etc.

Good luck with the deer Rich

Nice going Kade!

I know you said you used carb cleaner but have you tried running a can of Sea Foam through the carburator? I think the fact that the motor sat for 3 years combined with putting probable bad gas in it (even with stabilizer added 1 year is considered by many to be the longest to keep it and that is non-ethanol gas). I would be considering having the carburator rebuilt and taking the motor to a capable mechanic to evaluate....certainly cheaper than buying a new one. I can relate to your frustration though as both my main motor and brand new kicker are in for servicing.

Guess that solved that hypothesis

In looking at this I can't help but wonder if maybe the hull of the boat itself might have a manufacturing defect such as misaligned strakes and chines combining with the wrong prop?

Keith makes some great points and I'm visualizing him in his lab coat on the boat :lol:

Brian makes a great point and I forgot to mention that earlier. That is what I do as well and used to have temp meters in the past as well (the old Fishawk etc.). I clip the Fishawk TD to my downrigger when I'm out in say 120 ft of water before I set my lines out and run it down to 100 ft. I have a clipboard with a sheet listing depth in 5 ft intervals covered in plastic and I use a grease pencil to record the temp at each 5 ft interval and then look at the temp profile created. When there is an established thermocline it shows as the most rapid change in temp between intervals. I set my lines so that the thermocline is located in the middle of my setup. It should be noted that sometimes the thermocline varies greatly throughout the water column as do the underwater currents so this is just a "starting point" but it usually makes a lot of difference in results knowing the approximate relationship. If I had a Fishhawk X series unit I'd be doing it in "real time" with the probe rigger and adjusting accordingly. A s far as determining the depth I'm running again it is not precision trolling like with a downrigger. I "estimate" using the known length of my rig line (e.g. 120 ft = 10x12 bead chains) and then visually estimate the amount of mainline (wire) let out while watching the angle of the wire itself in the water from the rod tip and my boat speed and adjust as needed. If you are running braid and still have the line guide present you can count the times it goes back and forth on the reel as an estimate as well.

Joe I think earlier I mentioned that rig fishing is not "precision trolling" it is more like "prospecting for fish" or trying to "cover the bases" and I guess a shotgun vs. a 22 All these methods have their place in the fishing arsenal and I still do most of them and switch off depending on the situation (e.g. Lake O vs. the Finger Lakes for example) and it pays to be versatile sometimes even in the way specific setups are put together. Probably the most important thing in all of this is to have fun at what you are doing, try to learn from our successes and failures alike, and to get better at whatever we do in the process. Good luck to all you folks fishing in the Owasco Tourney

You know Joe makes some real good points in his rationale for doing things te way he does and hopefully he understands my busting comments are just that because I respect his fishing abilities and share many of the same thoughts as as well despite my "old school nature" . In the interest of airing both sides of the issue of rig fishing vs. other more "modern" approaches here are some of the classic criticisms of rig fishing for those folks new to this issue: 1."you can't feel or fight the fish as well on those cumbersome heavy duty rods and lines" - To a degree it may be accurate as very small fish are sometimes carried along without it being readily apparent they are there but this is also true of downriggers and occasionally on dipseys. It may be more frequent on "jug lines" as they have a lot of inherent drag and the wave action sometimes disguises having a small fish on one of the leaders especially small lakers on the deepest leader.or when you run cowbells on it. Over the years I have modified my equipment markedly going from a large "wheel" on a wooden base in the old days where I rolled up everything including all the leaders and lures - to the use of heavy duty solid glass boat rods with a roller tip (to accomodate the ss wire main line) to the present day light duty roller rods that have a more flexible tip so that virtually every movement is detected by the rod tip (e.g. lure action as well) and there is considerable bend to it while playing fish despite it being a relatively short rod (5 1/2 ft). The reels are Penn 309's with the line guide mechanism removed so that the wire doesn't cut the brass composed in them. Some of my friends have switched to braid so that they can keep the line guide and perhaps cut through the water a bit better with their line(less "blowback"?). Several of these same type of rods serve as good dipsey wire rigs as well. 2. Another common comment is "Rig fishing offers an unfair advantage to fishermen " - I would offer that anyone trying to hand line a leader with large rainbow or landlock or multiple fish would quickly see that although the number of leaders and spoons may seem like an advantage it can be just the opposite as well as there is much more to keep track of and the probabilities af tangles are higher when inexperienced especially. It reminds me of a comment made by a lady passerby at a launch ramp back in the 70's. I had a Heath Kit chart recorder in my little Whaler (which was one of the first of its kind at the time). She asked what that "machine" was and I told her that it marked fish on the chart paper with their corresponding depth. She acted all indignant and said "That is so unfair those poor fish don't have a chance" The issue is similar just because you may have multiple lures down there it doesn't "guarantee" fish either without the experience using the approach much as interpreting the marks on the depth finder doesn't guarantee you catch the fish either. 3. The term "meat rig" has been applied (often in a derogatory way) toward the Seth Green or thermocline rig - A major reason for this is that they can be very effective in catching a wide variety of fish and if lucky higher numbers than some other techniques because the lures frequent numerous depths at the same time and much of this is a function of "probabilities" as much as anything because you are basically placing your lures above the thermocline layer where often rainbows inhabit within the thermocline where bows, browns or lakers may be located and below it where often the colder water deep dwelling lakers stay. I love trolling of all types and especially wire dipseys and riggers but if I had to depend on fish to eat for survival I would be pulling rigs, jerking copper or still fishing not using the more modern (and perhaps more exciting) techniques because over time they have a higher success rate overall. I know this is a bit long winded but I thought it might be beneficial to new comers to give a little perspective.