Sk8man

The more common "mix up" is between young browns and landlocks at first glance. Sometimes even the derby staff get them mixed up

Those are great examples Mike Better hope Joe doesn't charge you for royalties on the pic

1.6 -2.0 mph. run close to bottom short to the ball if using downriggers. Depth to start will vary greatly around the lake (look for bottom oriented fish) but working from shallower and adjusting toward bottom as you go deeper should connect. These work as far as tackle:

Here is what they both look like: the first pic is Spin-N-Glows the second s a set of Hammerhead light weight cowbells with a peanut attached

Beautiful rainbow Jim Here is a classic landlock that my buddy John H. caught this winter....look closely and you see the differences (I didn't get his permission to use the photo but I don't think he'd mind) Note the spotting on the body the size and shape of the head and tail etc.

I've always used crimps with wire instead of knots (despite all the contrary opinions on here ) and basically without any problems but you have to use the exactly right crimp for the wire diameter you are using and you have to crimp them properly so that the edge of them doesn't sever the wire from back and forth motion on it. and it becomes "one" with the wire. I use all roller tip rods for wire so the crimps go through them fine. I have used twillis but got away from them many years ago as the roller tips are easier on the wire and connections go through them easier. Just the way I do it and maybe not for everybody

For sure Mike. Glad nobody had any direct encounters anyway.

For Finger Lakes silvers - 30 lb Bloodrun Sea Flee line does a great job of keeping the fleas off downrigger main lines (verticals). One of the main things to do when fishing specifically for silver fish (rainbows, landlocks and browns) in most of the Finger Lakes is to fish specifically for them in your setups and place your lures at the top of and within the thermocline and that is usually where you'll be marking them. The lakers will most often be locating below it in colder temps (but not always). As already mentioned use small to medium spoons often run back quite aways (50 ft or more) from the boat and stagger them some further than others and don't be afraid to locate some above where you are marking fish because when the sun is up especially they will be looking upwards (eyes located forward and up) so lures may present as "shadows" of wounded bait near surface. The shallower you run your lures in the water column the further back they should be run from the boat or on boards or outriggers to the sides. These species often feed on smaller alewives and minnows of various types and that is why the size of the lures matters.....they may be more prone to hit medium sized lures as the season wears on and the size of the bait increases. It seems as though the bait is staying shallower this year than years past for this particular time of the season but normally the bait will head deeper by now and may appear as big clouds or distinct "patches" spread along the bottom with lakers often located near it. The silver fish may be anywhere in the top layers of the water and often cruising the deep waters near the surface or with browns in particular a few feet off bottom near deep drop offs where the thermocline intersects it so they may respond to attractor combinations (spinneys or flasher/fly) set a few feet off bottom as well as the solitary spoons run way backup in the water column. You'll notice I didn't mention specific water temps as not everyone is able to monitor this at the ball and the currents (and the thermocline) in the Fingers especially Seneca and Cayuga tend to ride up and down and around major structure changes differently than Lake O where the bottom and depths are more constant andthese fish are often found outside of their "preferred" temp ranges. As far as spoon color goes copper colored, brass and silver combinations work well as do orange or red ones....for me at least blue seems to attract lakers and smallmouths but not silvers As mentioned already trolling speed is important and often speeds of 2.5-3.2 mph are effective especially when doing "s'; turns and changing speeds one way or another (slowing down or speeding up) and outside lines will often take hits on turns. I'm always messing with my speed .

Back when they used to have the hydroplane racing out at Sampson I didn't realize it was going on and had been trolling north of Dresden over on the west side of the lake nearly a couple miles away and when I got to the rock slide they started up the race and there was so much noise and water vibration I could feel it right through the hull (13 ft Whaler) of my boat and there were actually fish jumping out of the water in response to it almost like those flying silver carp you see down south (and other places unfortunately now) it was unreal. I just pulled my lines and headed for home.

We had just slight fleas on the connections of the Seth Greens but that was it. The Sea Flee 30 on the downriggers helps a great deal so they were clean. The darned grass was our main nemesis today especially running the leadcores off the inline boards.

Nice going John. I thought that might be you heading out while we were trolling out there but I wasn't sure. That little guy looked like a "happy camper" with that fish

Thanks guys. Hop i found the fountain of youth right here in Canandaigua.....at Walmart no less the heck with Ponce DeLeon