Looks like you folks had a blast. Yeah the lake trout may not be as pretty and fight like the kings but they are a hell of a lot of fun. Nice report and pics. Les
Nice going Sean I was wishing I was on Seneca for most of my time out on Canandaigua today I'm thinking Seneca is a lot healthier lake than some others right now despite not being problem free....still my favorite lake of all too Les
The Fish Hawk transducer currently runs at 70 khz purposely so as not to interfere with common sonar applications so I wouldn't think it would be a problem, I f it occurs it probably would because the Lowrance unit is not selective enough or the transducer possibly to filter the signal properly. I'd try it out first before getting too far ahead of things and go from there
I fall for it every June...always think it might be different... but the fish know better and are probably laughing their arses off down there at us on all these lakes Hey Ted I had on 22's and 44's etc. and today they wouldn't fall for them....did you take out the "vulnerable" ones maybe?
I went solo and had my lines in at 6AM this morning...figured the fish and bait might still be inthe same 50-80 or so range near the water plant and I was right...they were both there in numbers but after trolling back and forth through them and watching my downrigger rod tips bouncing after hitting the huge bait pods no takers. I changed lures multiple times ... was running two riggers (30 Sea Flee with fluoro leaders (12 lb) cheated and all spoons and a 5 color leadcore various spoons. Then tried a few sticks and then combos no luck there either. Anyway I trolled on the west side for about 4 hrs and headed on angle from Danny's Ex's place south east toward the Christian camp...nothing. At 10:40 AM 40 ft downrigger released and had rainbow on main line about 2-3 lbs released him unharmed at side of boat. Trolled east side until about 1:30 PM and pulled up the lines and the 60 ft rigger had a laker on it about 2-3 lbs released unharmed. That was all the damage I could inflict today. Pretty sad out there....but there was one good thing the Sea Flee lines never had any noticeable fleas.
Ifishy - the twillis are fine for dipsey wire rigs etc. but you really can't go wrong with roller tips (don't really need all rollers (expensive too) especially if you decide to go to wire. Some of my buddies use braid for their Seth Greens but I hate it after trying two rig lines with it (50 lb Power Pro) both cut off somehow when they pinched off at the side of the roller. I've never had a problem like that with the wire to mono approach. Al my Seth Green rigs and dipsey rigs are wire and roller tipped. There is less friction with roller tips and they come in pretty easy.
I don't believe the Fish Hawk will interfere with the sonars at 70 khz. The two sonars should be run at different frequencies if on at same time. I would mount aall of them on the starboard side away from the turbulence of the kicker if possible.
Oh oh....thanks...looks like I take my flea downrigger rods with me today. This is shaping up to be an awful year for them from the looks of it. I'll try the north end today and see if anything is happening in the way of fish there in light of your report yesterday. Les Looks as though I'm flying solo today.
When you say "stackers" I think you may be referring to "sliders" or "cheaters" (fixed or free moving up and down the line) usually stacking refers to using multiple downrigger rods on one or each downrigger. As for the question...you never know for certain unless you are that particular fish but I suspect that you may have attracted with your main lures or perhaps even the weight on your and then the slider presented itself with more and /or erratic action appearing "injured" to the fish. Salmon and steelhead (rainbows too) are particularly fond of sliders for some reason and they often will come right into the prop wash for them even,
You might want to look into different rubber bands too. If you go to the Dollar Store or Big Lots in the department where they have all the girls hair accessories you'll find some little ones or Michael's in the craft section they have bright orange or fluorescent yellow and lime green ones that are about the right breaking strength...again small bands but they work.
They aren't the easiest species to catch in either lake but if it were me I think I would be opting for Conesus because right now Honeoye is getting choked with weeds and it is hard to troll anything productively. Worm harnesses work well there though but again this late it is a problem trolling with all the weeds. The best time there is right when the season starts for a couple or three weeks.
Another possibility to check is the wire connection at the battery end and at the key end for corrosion It can act just that way but the fact that you have the power trim OK Frogger may be right..on my Optimax the battery has to be at least over half charge to even turn it over and they mentioned it when I bought the boat brand new. If it needs fixing Nick's suggestion is the way to go Fran Barrett is very knowledgeable and "the man" for Mercs. His stock of parts right there on hand is second to none in the state.
Yes we jigged today and I had one almost break the surface and two other real good hits one of which I had started up. I think jigging now is the way to go with the fleas there in such abundance.