Sk8man

The old Downeaster clamp on rod holders used to clamp on my little aluminum boat pretty good in times past but I would recommend that you install some VERY sturdy rod holders with bracing underneath if they wobble at all on the gunwale. The equipment we usenow puts a lot ofstrain on the rodholders and bases and when you combine that with a Chinook salmon your equipment could be "history" if you have flimsy rod holders.

Almost Ed only 6 months away this year

Great job on the video Vlad!. Looks a lot like the scenery around here except for the good looking ladies Thanks also for answering my previous suggestion of more "chicks" in the video Les

Right now I'd settle for the green grass in hose pics....nice fish!

Just make sure everything is fastened to the boat real well. When the weight is suspended or even when up in the air there is a lot of torque at the base from the weight dangling not to mention if the weight should get hung upon bottom. If you plan on using dipsey divers the rod holders will also have to be fastened down real well for the same reason as the downriggers -torque. I'd practice a bit with the downriggers to get used to them If going out on Lake O you will have to choose your days (wind and waves etc.) and Stay relatively close to shore. In the Spring the browns and other fish will be close to shore so you'll be fine and you might want to start out with a combination of stickbaits and medium sized flutter spoons run 30-60 ft back behind the downriggers and experiment with the distance of the leads (shorter and longer). If you have Yellowbirds or small inline planer boards and relatively stiff action rods the boards can be run right along the shoreline with floating stickbaits (floating to keep from hanging up on bottom and rocks etc.). Sometimes the fish especially browns will be hugging the shore in very shallow water especially in the early morning before things get too bright and when there is a chop on the water. Productive areas include river or stream mouths especially where here is a mud line....fish the edge of it where the color line is. go back and forth in it with your lines. Troll in "s" curves and vary your speed up and down intermittently. Other folks may have additional suggestions or different ways of doing it but this is some basic stuff to start. Good luck with it. Have a great season.

First of all welcome to LOU. A couple questions to start - what kind of pole holders and how sturdy are they? and...what specific downriggers and releases?

That is a real bargain....they still work well when used right and sometimes even when Spinny's and Flashers aren't doing it....glad I held on to mine from the 70's and 80's

Also known as Seth Green rig....wow I guess I am getting old

I've been using 7 strand wire for well over thirty five years so I'm somewhat familiar with keeping the reels in the right position but I also fish a lot alone and between controlling the boat and netting fish and boards pulling etc. s**t happens The interesting thing is on all my other wire and thermocline rods the side rails are hardened so never a problem like this. The really good roller tips are about a hundred bucks or more so I'll stick with this set up for now. I've had some twillis for years but I'm not crazy about them....rather deal with the rollers. I just wanted to give a "heads up" as far as periodic checking of equipment now that we are (hopefully) heading into the real fishing season

Yeah he had a similar bunch a couple days before ....you might want to keep some of your secrets in jigging to yourself (i.e. from your girlfriend) too because she may end up out jigging you like my kid does to me

My kid fished it today too by himself for 5 hrs. and here's what he ended up with....makes me kinda wish I'd been there too