Sk8man

I guess it may be a good idea to sort of go back to square one on Skinny in terms of basics. The usual effectiveness of lures and trolling techniques usually depends on trying to match up the types of things used with the indigenous bait or baitfish in the body of water. To my knowledge there aren't any sawbellies there (or supposed to be anyway) and when I have ice fished it in past years the lakers hit on shiners and fatheads considerably smaller than sawbelly size. Although there have been occasional lakers of huge size (and very old) taken from there most are pretty small in comparison to other Finger Lakes such as Owasco, Cayuga, and Seneca etc. The rainbows there at least in the streams have responded to small marshmellows drifted so Skinny is not your typical fishing situation and I even caught a small one through the ice with a piece of cut up shrimp in the past. I guess I have felt that it is not an optimal trolling lake and that stillfishing techniques and live bait seem better suited to it. With that said if I were trying flashers I'd be downsizing considerably from what I use on the other lakes and go with the smallest flashers possible and 2-2 1/2 inch lures and perhaps even drag worm harness sized spinners instead especially in the Spring. I always fished the northern part of the lake and not the south so that should also be taken into consideration.

And I can vouch for the fact that Bob did an incredible job on it and that boat now looks, acts and feels almost brand new....well worth the effort Bob put into it. Hopefully some day he will recover his brain functioning from breathing all the epoxy fumes from the other boat

Since the day I bought my present boat in 2002 I have taken it immediately after fishing to a car wash wherever I am and use the high pressure and hot water/detergent and then wax to clean it as best I can. It has messed with my decals a bit though

It seems to me that the comments made thus far are good ones and are on the mark. I also believe that looking at the origins of the problem of the introduction invasive species may be productive as well. A lot of these problems have resulted from the indiscriminate discharge of the ballast from commercial vessels transiting the seaway from far away places and the total lack of monitoring or intervention of any kind by the government or even the identification of responsibility for this monitoring from the looks of it. Targeting the end user for responsibility is in itself irresponsible on the part of DEC or the state government. There should have been existing governmental accountability for preventing and intervening in this mess long ago at the originating level not the individual end user level "after the fact". In large part the proverbial "horse is already out of the barn". If a state agency had been charged with the close monitoring of ships entering the seaway and perhaps something like enforcing the use of a non-toxic colored dye being mandated to be placed in any ballast permitted to travel in these waters allowing the detection of the discharge and then routine monitoring by duly authorized agency watercraft or planes this whole mess may have been minimized or avoided. Would there have been an expense connected with it? yes...but the commercial entities using the seaway could have been tagged with footing the bill perhaps avoiding some of these issues and heavy fines could have been levied similar to oil cleanup funds instead of holding innocent end users culpable for a problem they didn't create after the fact. Perhaps something like this could prevent or reduce the liklihood of future introductions into our waters.

In addition to the above try spraying the lure with shad scent

Yes they are in . A week or so ago the grass was in there as bad as I've ever seen it but a buddy said it was gone the other day (probably related to wind direction). Might be wise to keep your motor tllted up though as the silt in there can raise hell with the impeller. Mike you haave a PM also

So if my math is right you're charging $14.10 per lure?

Pete you have a PM

Jimski2 I used the 18 lb years ago and although the lead diameter appears the same diameter as the 27 lb the sheathing seems more durable on the 27 lb (that is where the strength comes from too) and especially if using for larger fish say on Ontario and Erie and the sink rate doesn't seem that much different on them. Leadcore can last a long time if taken care of but in my case replacements have not been due to line failure but rather to my own failure to keep it from tangling in my other stuff when running too much stuff and then taking some "unintended" turns

The question is not really an easy one to answer in short especially without actually seeing the lines in question. There are many factors involved in line condition aside from just the length of time it has been on the reel. Each type of line has its own characteristics that translate into strengths and weaknesses. For example mono and fluoro can be adversely affected by sunlight and high temperatures and moisture (i.e. humidity) during both use and storage. Leadcore can appear fine as far as the outer casing where much of the actual strength comes from while it can be separated (even in several places) internally without you detecting it visually. Some braid can fade from sunlight exposure and can weaken as well. If the braid (e.g. Power Pro) is faded and it is for only a short section (which may be used frequently) you may be able to just cut off a few feet and be OK. Another strategy is to reverse the line so that you are using the often larger part that has probably not seen a lot of use compared with the front part of the line. Usually the lighter the lb test the more the line strength becomes an issue but it also can depend on the condition of your rod line guides and tip and the line guide of the reel . You can also do the reversal method with SS wire if need be. I have had stainless wire on a couple of my Seth Green rigs for about 30 years or more but I inspect it routinely and redo connections periodically. On the 30 lb stuff (wire dipsey rods) I take a few feet off of it (at the front near the swivel) as I start a new season. I have never had ss wire break in and of itself on any of my rods. With leadcore I'd carefully check the outside sheathing for any obvious abnormal wear, frays, cuts or weak spots and if noted change the line. It is not the best idea to use it directly on your releases when using it from boards either or at least use it with relatively weak rubber bands or splice in a short section of mono for attachments etc. When using single strand copper cut out any kinks and splice in a small barrel swivel.....any kink will eventually fail. braided copper line is a little more kink tolerant but if it doesn't straighten out fully...better to be safe than sorry...cut it out and splice in a small high quality barrel swivel (e.g. #8 SPRO Power swivel). I know some guys on here may change their lines very frequently but unless you are a charter guy or very heavy use sport it is usually unnecessary if you haven't had any problems with it.

Sounds as though it could be the freshwater jellyfish... the freshwater shrimp have been there for years and the perch do actively feed on them but the huge hoards of them don't really resemble jellyfish. A lot of times when you see large schools of perch under the ice and they won't readily bite that is what they are often feeding on (freshwater shrimp).....they sometimes come up puking them and stuffed full.

Must have been a couple "misprints"... it should have listed his title as EMPEROR Cuomo and instead of the word "leadership" it should say "authoritarian rule"

I wish.... My dad did quite a bit including making his own lathe from scratch....and I have friends that do a lot of it.

Great job and both the shelving and the video Pete. You've got me looking around my home office thionking about "conversions"

I should have mentioned that mine is a 2 stroke by the way

Just as you stated it but you may want to use the High Performance straight 90 weight synthetic the Premium is 80/90 wt.....it is supposed to give better sealing and allegedly has stuff to keep water out. I know my mechanic buddy laughs at me for being overly conservative but I now do my own winterizing after I had to have new lower unit seals after the marina used the Premium instead of the High Performance in my 135 Optimax. Never have had any problems with the High Performance stuff. Just my 2 cents I know the motors are much different but I always like being conservative