Sk8man

All good tips and the suggestion of small spoons is potentially critical.I would try to find a baitshop in the general area and phone them and ask what bait is actually in those lakes (and what they sell) and then try to match up spoons and sizes to whatever bait is there and at this time of the season. I know that for a longtime acid rain has been a huge problem with many lakes up there for years and it has really colored up the water a lot and that may have impact on the level of bait and trout especially as they are PH sensitive living in those lakes and the color of the water may either change or obscure the color of the lures or ability to see them from a distance. In many places there is little to no boat traffic for the fish to get used to so stealth in your approach may be more important than elsewhere too. The suggestion of planer boards is a good thing to try (e.g. Walleye in-lines) with small spoons trolled at varying speeds and distances with careful but frequent turns. If you have an electric trolling motor that might be also worth trying instead of the noise of a gas trolling motor. I know you mentioned using worm harnesses but if the lake contains rainbows or browns I wouldn't give up on that right away either. Try using both natural night crawlers and also plastic worms about 4-5 inches in blue/purplish color or the "motor oil" ones sprayed with shad scent trolled way behind the boat or off the boards. You may want to try both Colorado blades and willow leaf because they cut through the water differently and sometimes one type will work better than the other.

Might want to consider some gimbal mounts and recessed rod holders installed and mount your "board" across them that way you can take it on and off rather than a permanent mount where you don't have any convenient access to the motor area of the boat. If you go with a permanent mount (e.g board across) consider hinging it (or part of it) so you can have that access when the riggers aren't on.

If my memory serves me correctly there used to be a yellow sticker on the rod itself stating that the tension is factory set and shouldn't be messed with Mike, When I first bought my boat the marina screwed with it and messed mine up so just an FYI if it applies

Mike ... at least you had more action down that way than we did up here. After two days of trolling a total of 18 hours from Sodus to Pulteneyville and beyond with only one brown trout (only hit) to show for it I'm hoping for a better time in the Spring

And hopefully AFTER spawning

Instead of finding fault with things why not instead put a little more thought into offering constructive ideas on this....Ted is asking for feedback so just saying " it is a terrible idea" isn't really fair to him or the process or very helpful for that matter.. I think it is a good idea to have something like that but timing will be important as far as fishing it and attracting more people. For many folks who don't yet have a boat or one that they feel is the one they truly want maybe trying to expand the number of participants and lowering the cost to say $200 per person might be fruitful as contrasted with limiting the number of participants but I realize it also changes the probabilities ratio too.. Also avoiding conflicts like the National Lake Trout Derby on Seneca and the Canandaigua Derby usually held a week or so after or perhaps run it right along with the Canandaigua Derby as a separate entity but taking advantage of the number of boats and people fishing that one and there already who might want to do both at the same time. Boat traffic could be a consideration though. Another possible factor influencing things is the onset of fleas....I think you'd want to have it prior to when they start to get bad or a Fall Derby perhaps before folks start putting away their boats. If they know far enough in advance the details of the derby they could figure out their own time to put away their boat as well as for some folks provide some time to save up the entrance fee. That is a heck of a boat to take a chance on but some folks might have difficulty coming up with the entry fee set at $500 per person. I'm just thinking out loud here and haven't had much time to carefully think it through but that is my initial response.

When Ted says "we" I believe he is talking about Seager Marine in Canandaigua where he works.

It can be done and we may do it but who really knows whether they actually make it. From what I understand there is a great amount of lactic acid build up during the fight and it may not be something that reduces quickly and these fish may already also be compromised in terms of their physical status because they are in the process of spawning and dying....they are in a much different situation and status than the younger silvers and in all probability much weakened and less resilient in terms of "coming back" even after being "revived". At this point in the season a lot of the fight is also missing in the matures in comparison to earlier on or when compared with younger and smaller salmon and I think this also underscores the weakened condition.

I think wicked salmon's advice is something to try because there are fish right on bottom in that range that give the appearance of lakers and as was said forget the temp stuff for the matures right now. On wednesday we made the mistake of roaming around trying to find active fish starting in 70 ft out straight from the channel and we didn't mark any fish until135-160 ft and they were hugging bottom for dear life and we figured they were lakers. I am now wondering if there were some kings mixed in because they were distributed all along bottom in that area. There were about 6 boats working an area back and forth on an angle of about 30 degrees east of the channel in about that same depth and I couldn't tell whether they had actually caught fish or were just working the area or bait even. In the past I have caught kings even in 25 ft of water west of the channel with very bright dodgers and squid just off bottom but water conditions are generally different now. If you have a silver J plug with the red mouth area I'd give that a good workout inthe40-70 range too. We trolled a LOT of water from 40-430 the other day and never marked a fish (or bait) from 200-430.off west of the channel.If I were going back out I think I'd be working the 40-70 early and if no success I'd motor out to 500 ft and look for the steelies and hopefully some silver kings. I forgot to mention w never moved a rod (6 of them out) the entire time from 7AM-4:30 PM.....better luck to you

Bet that cormorant gives you a tough go Rob.......and do the seagulls gang up on you like they do on the folks at McDonald"s over the french frries ?