Sk8man

Ditto for the Finger Lakes as well for what Gambler said.

Possibly the low CHIRP if down at or near the 70 khz operating frequency of the Fish Hawk I would think.

I didn't realize that the Big Jon's came with that creative base......you can cook your fish up right on the boat Sorry I just couldn't resist that one

For the folks that are new to this sport and/or who may not have the $$$ to buy the latest and greatest gizmo: Forgive me but I think the guy got kinda wound up in his analogy and forgot to discuss what the actual value of CHIRP is and the reason for all the simultaneous frequencies. The basic purpose as contrasted with your older traditional unit and transducer is that the increased information returning to the CHIRP unit leads to better target resolution (e.g. clarity of the "picture") as well as better separation of targets (e.g. being able to distinguish between a clump of baitfish near a school of bait from a fish located there or fish positioned near each other from a single "clump"). Whether this function is absolutely critical to your own fishing situation is another matter and it comes into play in deciding whether you actually need it or a new unit and transducer. By the way, you can't just add the CHIRP transducer to a traditional unit to achieve it because the unit can't interpret the multiple signals. For the charter guys CHIRP may be a good option and although it may enhance the viewing for the avid sport fisherman should you get rid of your current unit? I think not. A lot of this is marketing hype as far as creating the feeling of "necessity" or "must have" to sell their products. Even being able to discern bait from fish although important is not going to necessarily put fish or the big ones for that matter in the boat but learning to use what you have properly and effectively, learning from the information you receive and adapting to the situation, and learning to effectively use and adjust your fishing equipment in response to that information is far more important.

You could do it carefully by using a set of graduated stones with honing oil and finish up on ceramic.

:lol:

Thanks guys. Mike you're always welcome on my boat bud. It would be great this season to go after some of those fussy little pecker heads together . I think this topic is a useful one and perhaps a first step in increasing awareness that there are existing problems as well as potential concerns if we keep doing "business as usual" without taking a close look at things and the possible consequences into the future. We are all in this together regardless of specific viewpoint or perspective.

:lol: Both good answers thanks

A couple of serious questions Mark: a. Does the D stand for dental in the "D loop"? b. Can you still get the floss to go through your teeth afterward?

There are surely a lot of ways to do this and Mark certainly has investigated further into it than most of the rest of us. I wasn't previously aware of that method so thanks for sharing it. I have been using the #8 SPRO power swivel (and others previously) for years with the haywire knot but i don't tighten the loop part itself hard to the swivel I let it form a little loop so that there is little stress on it because it can slide back and forth a bit and I have never had any problems whatsoever (and no visible wear on the copper loop itself) with it and the swivel comes through the eye of the rod and the level wind mechanism fine on my reels. No matter which method you choose or any knot for that matter you need to have confidence in it and that may involve experimenting with different setups.

I don't think anyone has said "stay home and don't go fishing anymore". It is also not the case that there aren't ANY perch still out in the lake but rather that some areas where perch are vulnerable are being too heavily fished (e.g. Sampson marina), over limits are being taken, undersized perch are being harvested, that the sale of them is a problem, and that there are a number of problems with the lake itself that are disturbing. I have seen the bottom of the lake via friends cameras recently and it does not even remotely resemble the way things have looked over the last 60 plus years during the various "cycles" referred to. I too have seen the bottom carpeted for hundreds of yards in the past and multitudes of weedbeds in the shallows with huge pike, panfish and smallmouth near them. Last week I spoke at length with a recently retired charter captain I used to fish with and have known for over 40 years and he was of the same opinion and he has probably caught more perch than anyone in the Finger Lakes and knows the perch habits as well as anyone. The problems are for real but there are still fish to be caught out there but before that totally changes for the worse a closer look needs to be taken regarding what is going on out there and some things implemented to lessen the impact where possible. The selling of perch, over harvesting, and keeping grossly undersized perch are things that some things can be acted upon and it is about time to do it. There certainly are times when you can see the perch are fussy and they won't bite no matter what you try and especially in crystal clear water as is often the case now and this has always been the case on Seneca and everywhere else at times for that matter. Sometimes they are just stuffed with other available food like freshwater shrimp etc.