Sk8man

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.

A worm harness works here on the Finger Lakes for rainbows too John. For those unfamiliar with them (worm harness = small set of blades somewhat like cowbells with a nightcrawler or plastic worm trailing behind it). I use them with a 1 ounce weight on a three way swivel within the first 40 ft or so from the surface and sometimes behind small dipseys.

Along that line standard clinch knots are not recommended for use with braid because they can slip.

I'd never seen the Mack's flash Lites Mark. Thanks have to try them.

Kings can sometimes smack them especially running meat or spoons behind them and with the smaller more colorful sets of cowbells running spoons I have caught rainbows and browns as well. The peanuts and Spin N Glows seem to work best for lakers though.

Sunday on the way to Seneca we observed what looked to be a hundred thousand geese flying north to north west up real high and in far too many groups to count....most I've ever seen at one time.