Sk8man

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

I agree Mike and thanks. I just saw your post from yesterday nice work and I'm glad we missed those idiots running full tilt. We did see a bunch of Seadoos going like H today but luckily they were in shallower than we were.

Admiral Byrd and I met early at the geneva Chaamber and decided the weeds clogging thelaunch and the brisk south wind weren't exactly optimal for a good start to our day so we motored to Sampson and launched there. We went south on the east side at turned around just north of Willard still on the east side. We set out (2) 5 leader Seth Greens, a five color leadcore and a 10 color leadcore and a 275 copper all spoons. It was fairly rough so we decided 5 rods was enough to start with To summarize it was a slow bite all morning and into the afternoon -nothing despite marking a huge amount of bait and fish all along the east side going north and they were nearly all within a narrow band 30-50 ft down and a heavy concentration in the 40 ft range over 50-110 ft of water. Nothing much marked other than the occasional lakers on bottom out past that depth. There was a moderate amount of debris mostly weeds in pods scattered along bands all along the east side on the surface as well as some beneath which was a moderate pain in the butt the whole time. Surface temp 68-70 degrees. We went 6 for 6 during the AM spread out time-wise. 2 rainbows, 1 landlock, and three lakers and none of them giants.....no hits or fish from about 11 AM until 2:30 PM. Orange and silver and some varied color tape on smaller spoons. The orange and silver Great Lakes Keuka Wobbler (heavy blank) worked well on the copper for rainbows. All spoons that connected were run between 40-50 ft down on downriggers, copper, and the Seth Greens. The leadcores didn't do a thing regardless how many colors used or the type of spoon. The sliders on the riggers were also unproductive. Mostly small and medium spoons used as we were targeting the silvers. We didn't use the divers because we were targeting the upper part of the water column. The best part of the day was all the busting that went on as usual....After 35 years of fishing together we are running out of new tricks and humiliation tactics

Nice report Sean thanks. That brown is probably one I'd put on the wall too from the Fingers... beautiful fish.

Nice going Nick! The happy facial expressions says it all A real hog of a laker sure would have been nice at derby time eh?

Yep good stuff. The comment about where the thermocline is meeting bottom (especially where there is a deep drop off nearby) is the "golden rule" for browns from the time it forms into the Fall.

John makes a real good point here. The fleas are a real pain in the butt starting around now until the water temps decrease significantly in the Fall.