Sk8man

Each of the Finger lakes has its problems and they are each complex in nature. Keuka has been in severe decline for a number of years and again the reasons are complex and not singular as some folks may wish to believe. Bulletbob makes some good points. One of the things that gets in the way of understanding the magnitude of the problems with the lakes is related to age of the folks viewing the situation as the younger you are the less you have of a baseline of information and direct experience from which to view the changes that have occurred and this fact has been evident in many past threads regarding the issues. What I am referring to is that there have been massive changes in these ecosystems since the mid to late eighties and they no longer resemble the lake or fishing conditions present in the past. I had uncles with cottages on Keuka, Cayuga and Seneca lakes when I was a kid and we had many reunions and get togethers etc. and I stayed sometimes weeks during the summers there fishing off the dock or rowing out in a a little deeper water to fish. The lakes were teeming with life back in the 50's through 70's and early eighties. There were fish of many different species along the shorelines and under docks or boathouses that could be caught from shore. There were minnows and young of various species all along the shorelines of these lakes. panfish could be caught at will as well as bass both smallmouth and largemouth and the occasional pike or pickerel mixed in all right from docks. During the Spring there were massive runs of Rainbow Smelt and al little later sawbellies in many of the streams on each of these lakes with runs of a few rainbow trout and large amounts of redfin and black suckers mixed in that we were allowed to spear at the time. The cottages along these lakes were quite conservative and just that "cottages" not mult-million dollar monstrosities with huge manicured lawns and multiple boat hoists etc. There was available land separating between the cottages. Contrast this picture with the present conditions on these lakes after all the development of residential properties, commercial enterprises such as vineyards, and farming etc. coupled with massive changes in the type and distribution of weed growth, vegetative invasives, zoological invasives, increased rates of photosynthesis from increased water clarity combined with increased introduction of bio-limiting factors from road salt deposits, to lawn chemicals, to sewage spills and many other factors too numerous to catalog. One of the main things the Zebra and Quagga mussels have done is to strain out an essential microscopic links in the food chain directly affecting minnows on upward in the food chain. Their shells encrust much of the traditional spawning areas for both bait and fish. When you take out a basic element early in the food chain things above it start to disappear some of it is gradual and some is relatively quick to happen. The process is ever burgeoning and Waterfleas and Gobies and who knows what else have been added to the complexity of the situation. When you put all of this together in an increasingly complex web large bodies of water such as these can take just so much and over time the sum total of these processes overcomes the natural ability of the lakes to counteract or recover. For Seneca and Cayuga the additional threat posed by Lamprey propagation is a huge burden to the already taxed ecosystem. The predator to prey balance appears to be significantly better at present in Cayuga as I think the lamprey control may be better than that on Seneca right now. The baitfish collapse on Keuka, disappearance of formerly available species such as landlocks, rainbows and browns, stunted growth of the Lake trout, and the rapidly disappearing perch and panfish population due to being ingested out of desperation by lakers is disturbing; and just stocking a few Cisco's doesn't seem to be the answer either.

You are getting some excellent advice here. Dipsy diver rod holders receive a lot of torque from both the dipsy and then when a large fish such as a king hits the tension on the rod holder is very substantial and it can quickly become the weak link in your system and become costly. Installing track can distribute the torque along the gunwale and serve a s a relatively substantially stable base for them and you have the added luxury of being able to move or re-position the rod holders. The Tite Locks can be OK as additional rod holders for lighter stuff but the dipsy holders need to be sturdier. If you do decide to go with them make sure you attach safety lines to your rods/reels. Cannon single axial holders, Bert's racheting holders, Cisco's etc. are not cheap but they will perform much better in safeguarding your equipment. In the long run they can become a much cheaper option

Jk1 you have a PM

When I started out back in the mid seventies with the Seth Green I had a large green wheel that was mounted on a pedestal and I rolled up everything right on it leaders and all . That lasted a couple years until I tried using a sturdy 5 1/2 ft fiberglass boat rod with roller tip and Penn 49M's then later 309's) to have more control of things and I rolled up each leader as I got to it on 4"x5" rigid styrofoam pieces and I kept five of them for each rod with a large rubber band around them and stored them in a waterproof bag along with extra sets of leaders all set up with spoons on them arranged by size. When It was legal in the good old days I ended up running 3-4 rigs with 15 leaders each using same method (running up to 60 lures simultaneously). Other than occasionally one of the styrofoam pieces would blow away in the wind before I got to it the system worked. It still works as I still use the same method. I am so used to rolling up the leaders that way that I don't even think about it while doing it and it is totally automatic at this point. I figure when something works why change it? Everyone has to develop their own system or method for doing it that they feel comfortable with and confident in. Hard to teach a dinosaur new tricks anyway

Congrats on the win Rick.

Not trying to kill the exuberance but some of those fish pictured are landlocked salmon (at least three of them); not rainbows. Pretty important to identify them correctly as there are different size and number kept limits there. Great trolling results though.

Sweet! great post and encouraging.

One of the things that is hard to factor in is that In Lake O especially the currents are not unidirectional they go all over the place and there are many cross currents. Very different than most river current.

Thanks for sharing the experience it is exactly what I was referring to.

You may want to rethink Lake O with the Seth Green because of the kings as they could make a huge mess and lose some tackle. I tried it a long time ago and luckily only caught lakers

Nice work