Sk8man

Brian is right about running off boards....I don't run my short coppers off boards. I wish you could have taken a pic of Keith's face when he nearly reached the end of the line with that king

They (Daiwa 47LC's) will work but it is desirable to get the drag upgraded to the carbon fiber ones (Dragmasters) before you set them up. I would also suggest using 32lb copper rather than the 45 lb if you wish to go to 300 ft or better on them. I'd use a short section of mono on the reel spool first (to avoid braid slippage) and then braid backing before the copper. I have one for a 250 copper and one for a 275 of 45 lb. copper. I know many guys on here want all the backing they can get on a high capacity (and more expensive) reels so in terms of that it is not the "ultimate" setup but it does work for short coppers. You can get about 150 yds of 50 lb Power Pro backing on with each of those coppers which again is not "optimal" but think of it in terms of being one and a half times the length of a football field and you can always chase down really big fish with a boat if you worry about getting "spooled" In all the fishing I have done fresh or salt water I have never been spooled. To get deeper I use weights rather than more length of copper as it helps to limit reeling and increases chances of getting in releasable fish quicker than using say a 500 or 600 ft copper. You won't be "horsing" any big kings on those reels though

Yeah he's easy to recognize by the happy look on his face and those eyes....nothing like butterflies to bring out the best in ya....to say nothing of the great net practice

Poor Nick..... first he loses his favorite net, then he gets busted mercilessly by his fellow southenders and worst of all he spent all his money on all those rod holders so he can't get a new one Life just isn't fair!

Nice work Mike Congrats on the win! Man the female bow looked really healthy and must have chowed down pretty good

I wouldn't feel too bad about the skunk Mike. You're both real good at the game and work well together....that lake has always been an "on and off" lake for me. I love fishing it but when I do I mostly go with thermocline rigs to increase the odds a bit. Also throw into the mix that it is June and I know a lot of the guys I know are even having trouble on Seneca and Lake O seems to be screwed up (temps etc.) right now. Once the thermocline sets up it should be "game on". The water temp on Canandaigua ran about 62-63 on average today and I'm wondering if we have some real warm weather that the fleas may end up being ahead of schedule this season...and that wouldn't be real great. I didn't hear anything about the brown situation

I usually send down the slider after I let my weight and main lure down about 15 ft or so. The slider lure often slides upward at the speeds I go. I don't usually use sliders in less than 30-40 ft of water. I just leave them wherever they are when I raise my weight up. They make the adjustment on their own and usually don't need to be reset.

Definitely one of the toughest and least productive derbies I've ever fished and a minor nightmare going solo. My daughter in law hit a deer with her car the day before so my son had to deal with that so even though registered he couldn't fish. The wind was brutal both days so both speed and direction were problematic. The fish and bait were VERY scattered and the ones marked would not hit despite changing lures and rigs what seemed like a million times. I only scored two fish - both lakers one about five and the other 6 lbs. (both released unharmed). Like Bob I fished 12 hrs (or more) on Saturday and 7 on Sunday. The only spoon that worked in the whole arsenal was a Great Lakes spoon (see pic) and I lost it shortly after the pic because the wind blew it out of my hand when changing. I did have some rather interesting screens on the depth finder though and I'll include them for you screen jockeys to scope out. One of them was real interesting....the one where I sent my spinney down and it was picked up by the transducer twirling around....pretty good example of the turbulence they create in the water . You can see from the speeds the effects of the wind and wave action on my speed and surface clutter etc. I won't go into the launch ramp fiasco that awaited me on Sunday afternoon, or the drawbacks to running three 5 leader rigs solo in heavy winds

Gill T makes a good point about the bugs and surface orientation of the fish....these hatches are real short lived though so keep your eyes peeled for them but if not there I'd try for the 30 -50 ft or so range.

I started my son out slow at 2 1/2 yrs ice fishing (first time 1/2 hr.) and on his third birthday he caught a 3 lb rainbow on Seneca Lake trolling with me and I think that fish sealed the deal for him. At 8 yrs he caught a 32 lb salmon on 12 lb test line on Lake O and after catching it he hugged my leg and said "I love you dad" It was one of the most meaningful days of my life. My advice is to "ease" them into it gradually in terms of time spent out there....we take the long days for granted but kids have a very different sense of time and if the action is slow it can certainly dampen their enthusiasm. have someone on shore standby if they are very young and give them a brief taste and then run them back to shore as soon as they appear "bored" or tired of it. I used to let my daughters each read their books up in the front of the boat and my son play with his GI Joe men there etc. until we had action and I didn't keep them out all day long either. My son has been my fishing partner for over 30 years now and we're still at it (derby tomorrow too )

I also use them like Big Dave usually with a lighter spoon but when I go that route I change to a traditional dodger for one off the downriggers and an Echip flasher on the other downrigger fairly short to the weight (e.g 6-8 ft of so and both with light weight spoons. Each has a slightly different action and I stagger them so that one trails behind the other distance wise but not too far back that they can tangle on turns.

Another possibility (if you don't feel like dealing with the messiness ) is to get some foam noodles that kids use for swimming and cut them in sections of quarters lengthwise (easy with a fillet knife) and then stuff short sections into the handle. The handle from most old fashioned outdoors lawn rakes will fit inside the hole in the handle of the net to pack the stuffing down inside. If the net doesn't have a cap on it get a rubber one that is used for furniture legs the right size. I also used some bright orange and pink duck tape in small bands on the handle so it will be visible in the water if I need to retrieve it.