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Sk8man

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  1. Sk8man
    Reserve your Seth Green rigs for the Finger Lakes....you don't want a king or a big steelie on one or more of those leaders. Like the guys are saying go with dipsey divers and flasher/fly or Spin Doctor/ fly combos. Large Dipseys with spoons can also be an option. Fishing shouldn't be your MAJOR concern out there it is the weather and wave conditions. This time of year storms can come up out of nowhere out there and with one motor minimally powered you could be in the survival fight of your life in no time. Make sure you do not go alone. Make sure you have all your safety gear in excellent condition and wear your life jacket at all times no matter how hot things get. Keep your cell phone on something water proof and have the battery fully charged and have backup forms of alerting devices such as flares /flare gun etc. and if possible at least a portable VHF radio Let folks nearby know exactly where you intend to fish and stay within relatively close proximity to shore. A long time ago I went out about 12-15 miles out chasing steelhead in my 13 ft Whaler with a 35 horse engine and a backup 4 horse A big storm with lightning came up from the northwest and by the time I (very luckily) made it to shore I was in 12 ft waves plus. with about a foot of water in the boat. It would have made a great ad for Whaler but I was scared "s...less" and I still count it as one of the dumbest things I've done in my lifetime going out that far in such a small craft and without any radio other than a CB radio which would have done absolutely no good. Lake Ontario can be one of the most unforgiving places on Earth if your timing is off and you take one too many chances in a small boat. Stay well within rapid access to the shore no matter how tempting the deeper offshore water seems.
  2. Sk8man
    In a pinch if it is 1 inch diameter the hard black rubber caps that go on the legs of chairs can help out. I always keep a few in the boat
  3. Sk8man
    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.
  4. Sk8man
    A few things come to mind. The first is the actual placement of the transducer on the hull of the boat and the angle of the face of it, Airmar transducers are some of the best out there but they are also sensitive to the flow of turbulence as are most other transom mounted transducers. This flow may change significantly with the rise or fall of the boat hull when accelerating. Any strakes or chines on the hull that are near the transducer face can create havoc as well. You may wish to experiment with transducer placement before doing anything drastic by mounting it to a metal plate possibly bent if necessary to mimic the correct position of the face on the hull with suction cups on it and move it around and test out various positions for optimal placement (secure it with a safety line too). The second thing is electrical interference coming from your engine at certain speeds for which you may think about installing resistor spark plugs and see if this helps. This may even be the first thing to try. Another thing to try is reducing your sensitivity setting on the finder itself to different levels and try them out to see if it makes a difference. A lot of times with the higher settings or even auto sensitivity setting will generate a lot of interference or "clutter" on the screen when underway at increased speed.
  5. Sk8man
    WTG Andy. Looks like things are starting to perk up out there........just wish I had a "weed guard" of some kind
  6. Sk8man
    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.
  7. Sk8man
    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
  8. Sk8man
    Thanks guys. Hop i found the fountain of youth right here in Canandaigua.....at Walmart no less the heck with Ponce DeLeon
  9. Sk8man
    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.
  10. Sk8man
    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
  11. Sk8man
    Nice report Sean thanks. That brown is probably one I'd put on the wall too from the Fingers... beautiful fish.
  12. Sk8man
    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?
  13. Sk8man
    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.
  14. Sk8man
    The main factors have been mentioned e.g. cone angle of selected setting, speed of boat, and blow back, and water currents. Some of these things you can control to some degree and other not (e.g. currents). The 200hkz setting is good for most stuff within a 100 ft or so but I know with my 10 lb weights I sometimes "lose" my weight furthest from the transducer location especially if running fairly fast. You'll probably pickup; both of them quite well in that range if your speed is "normal" with the 83 khz setting on auto sensitivity and auto range. I usually use the 200 khz setting for most situations because I'm mainly interested in fish near my immediate path or near it rather than things that may be outside where my lines are running as I seem to mark fish with better detail but since i closely monitor where my riggers are approximately running I don't need to see the weight on that one just where the fish are showing up and adjust accordingly. If fishing Lake O and fishing real deep I may use the setting that uses both frequencies. I use often fast pings/chart speed. I leave mine on Fresh water setting most of the time and it seems to work fine (although I know others with other units may use salt water setting etc,.) I don't use the riggers real deep (more than 100 -125 ft) either much of the time so that is a consideration too. If you mean the stuff that looks like static it may be that water is racing past the transducer face either because of boat speed or exact transducer placement, strong water currents, or it could relate to electrical interference of some sort either from your own boat or another(e.g. even someone on a boat close by especially if running a similar unit.) The settings on these units are almost always a compromise in effect enhancing something perhaps at the expense of something else so you have to experiment with your own unit and even then different conditions on different days or in different bodies of water may dictate changes. Water densities temps and submerged debris or algae etc. may also contribute to your frustrations out there.
  15. Sk8man
    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.
  16. Sk8man
    I've had mine since this winter and have given them a real good workout and I like them very much. Rich does a great job...nice paint and very sleek shape and it is obvious he takes a great deal of pride in making them....the good old American work ethic.He is also an experienced fisherman so he knows what we are looking for. I give them a :yes: It is also worth noting that troutman87 (Harvey O'Hara) makes great torpedo shaped weights as well so we have a lot of high quality stuff to choose from without going to the big box companies.
  17. Sk8man
    That is where I normally use 30 lb. You want the leader to your spoon at a lower pound test (e.g. 10-15 lb) in case you snag up on bottom or something and that way you only lose the spoon and not the dodger, flasher or spinney too. ! oz or 1 1/2 oz jig is just right for most situations especially iffishing deeper places to get back down quickly
  18. Sk8man
    Mike thanks for that info. I'm getting sick of messing around with the regular charger and that is a good solution. The old logic suggested that you drag down deep cycle batteries and then charge but in my experience with a variety of batteries it makes sense in terms of longevity to keep them on trickle while not being used.
  19. Sk8man
    A lot of potential answers here but just off the top of my head (most everything else is gone from there ): !) I use two simple overhand knots and then I glue the knot. There are many other knots you can use on it though. Check out the animated knot website for others. 2) #3 Spro for Lake O #2 for Finger Lakes for the most part. I use the o rings on all my dipseys if they have them for great range of depths. The exception would be if I use the smallest dipsey in very shallow water (which I don't do very often) where I run it very near bottom to avoid the ring coming off. 3) Use electrical tape at the end that goes on the reel spool.
  20. Sk8man
    1) 25 should be OK on Fingers but I usually use 30lb if fishing deep or near bottom 8 lb test seems pretty light I normally run 12 lb or so if behind an attractor for spoons (rainbows and landlocks can put some pretty good stress on things). Lighter lines are Ok if running the spoons alone or toward the surface but if you hook a big one you need to be more careful bringing in 2) Forget using the dipsey approach to locate lakers prior to jigging. They are two separate and very different strategies. Use your depth finder to locate fish that look like they may be trout in terms of their position especially if near bait. Then either choose to drift is the wind is way down, or use an electric trolling motor (if you have one) to stay near them, or anchor up nearby and cast back into them. (Let your anchor down slowly and carefully so as not to spook them especially in shallower water. The rubber you bought should be OK If they are real hungry they will hit a variety of things. I'm not sure about the jig weight of the one in the pic but it may be light...usually 3/4 oz to 1 1/2 (or even 2 oz if deep)
  21. Sk8man

    Seneca New Camp

    Sk8man replied to ERABBIT's topic in Finger Lakes Discussion

    WTG Ed ...now I see why you're interested in a hoist
  22. Sk8man
    I steer mine with the big motor and don't even bother with the EZ Steer bracket. I fully tilt it up when I'm running high speed with the 135 etc. As you can see my kicker is a long shaft so the prop is close to parallel with the one on the big motor which allows for pretty good steering. With a shorter shaft motor you should still be able to do OK and if located properly yours should be all the way out when you are under power high speed. The other thing to think about is can you reach it to tilt it up without falling out of the boat?
  23. Sk8man
    We saw a bunch of them last time fishing Seneca floating int he scum line and weeds
  24. Sk8man
    Don't use crimps on copper copper is too soft ....it is primarily used on stranded stainless steel wire. There are many ways to do it but I tie the braid or mono backing to the reel with knot and then for a transition to the copper a Spro #8 power swivel (50 lb test) or the heavy duty inline version swivel (150 lb I think). then another#8 swivel for the fluoro leader to the copper. I just twist the copper a few tight revolutions at that section and tie whatever knot you feel confident in at the leader end and at the swivel as well.I use the clinch knot for them as I have never had one let go but many folks prefer the Palomar or others. Use a high quality SOLID RING ball bearing swivel at the terminal end. Since it won't be on Lake O I'd use good quality fluoro (e.g Seguar ) in about 20 lb test that way you can run most things without fear of breakage and since you aren't up toward the surface with the copper line visibility isn't an issue.
  25. Sk8man
    Welcome aboard LOU. There are a lot of good very knowledgeable guys up in that area that I'm sure will help you out with info. Hopefully the action will get hot and heavy and it looks as though things maybe starting up on Lake O so stay tuned
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