Sk8man

Thanks Tim and Rick

Thx Joe. Sounds as though you had it pretty well figured out for not having a lot of experience with this particular lake. I forgot to mention earlier that the water in close was crystal clear today and out in the middle (200 ft) there was a huge hatch of those small flea size black colored flies that stick to your boat and there were a bunch of dorsal fins on the top chasing and eating them but I couldn't tell exactly what they were ....suspect rainbows from past experience in looking at their stomach contents but it seemed pretty late in the year for them (flies).

Well I was about to mow the lawn about 10 AM and I said "screw it" (with the wind down) and hitched up the boat and headed for the launch ramp. Turned out I was the only one there....a little different than in the summer I dropped the two downriggers with sticks as main lure and small spoon as sliders and set to 40 and 50 ft. (Surface temp 55.6 degrees but I didn't see anything up there). Put out a 44tx board on braid out100 ft. with small dipsey and small Sutton spoon. Trolled west side to Notre Dame Retreat without a touch....changed out lures several times along the way on everything. Turned to the east and trolled back north closer to the east side but in 180-204 ft. Noticed the downrigger set at 40 with a small Sutton as main lure and another flutter as slider was bouncing but not releasing....popped it and reeled ion a 12 inch brown....first one in past two years here on Canandaigua. I'm still trying to figure them out again...used to get nice ones trolling for rainbows. Threw him back took off OK. A few minutes later downrigger set at 50 ft. pops and line starts going out and down ...lot of arc to the rod felt like a good one....started reeling in and it got heavier and kept heading toward bottom fighting real good....then I felt something give (like the hook in his mouth) but still had something on there ...reeled in a 2 pound or so rainbow on the Little Willy main lure....must have a a good one that got off on the slider (Sutton 31 doctored up)...sure enough hook had tissue on it from his mouth.....had nice double on that one rod....would have been released anyway though... I fished till 1:30 (heard the lawn calling me from home) The lake was nearly like glass for most of the time....nice just getting out there without the wind..... The view from back of the boat today

Bazooka Joe I understand your point of view but the primary reason for this thread is to consolidate information on this very specific topic based on the actual experiences and expertise of our forum members for the benefit of all but especially newcomers. Searching the site or the Web can be a valuable tool or option but it is also time consuming and in that regard....an inefficient way to readily gather useful current information. If folks find Youtube videos or other useful sites the URL can be cut and pasted here when someone runs across them rather than "weeding through" all the stuff that may or may not be worth looking at. We have a great resource here on this site in the way of experience and knowledge and expertise and many people are very generous in sharing it with others and I commend them for it.

Congrats Justin! It almost makes me want to get out my Ben Pearson Signature take down recurve and 125 grain broadheads and get back out there That's how long it has been since I've hunted Les

Sweet!

Hopefully folks posting will explain things too (what they are and how they work...maybe a pic (if possible) when mentioned for the benefit of new folks....for example "teasers, tournament rigs, Kingfisher flasher etc.). We get used to the terminology etc. and often don't realize it may not be familiar to people new to the scenes thx Les

Hi Frank, As Bob mentioned the ramp is located at the Seneca Lake State Park about a mile or so east of Geneva (toward Waterloo on Routes #5 and 20). There is park entrance right out onto that road (you can see the toll gate shack from it). Just follow the road in the park toward the pavillion area and the ramp and parking will be on your left. I'm not sure what the parking setup will look like at this point...we used to park on the lawn. P.S. I used to live at the Holley Arms apartments when I went to Brockport Frank...and I operated the Brockport Main Street bridge for a couple years and also occasionally the Holley/Hulberton bridges

A number of folks have asked questions regarding the setting up of meat rigs and the use of cut bait in general. There is a long history of its use in both fresh and salt water and in principle it is one of the oldest methods of fishing and especially trolling (and drift fishing). I thought it could be useful to start a thread specifically dealing with this topic with the hope that folks with expertise in the use of these very effective techniques might offer "specifics" that might help others here and especially new people to the forum or trout and salmon fishing in general. I know there are many Youtube videos (of varying quality and there has been previous commentary here but I thought it might be helpful to have some current input all in one place or thread. There is certainly an "old school" and "new school" flavor to this topic and I'm hoping also that some of the charter guys and our north shore (Canadian) brothers will give input too as a lot of them are very experienced with the newer stuff. What are some of the specific setups used, (distances run,leader length, behind dipseys, Spinneys or flashers etc.) particular baits found to be productive or more effective (e.g. cost effective/longer lasting etc.)? Any pics also might be particularly helpful especially to "newcomers". The pics came in out of sequence so I re-adjusted #1 and #2 numbering For reference sake I'm attaching pics of basic stuff ( so people will know what some of the objects themselves look like. There are many different ways to set up these things so these pics are only basic representations not actual setups PIC #2 - Cowbells (used to be called "flashers") with a sawbelly (Alewife) gang hook setup. The forward single hook slides for adjustment and is hooked in the mouth of a (usually frozen) sawbelly and then "scrunched up" so that it will twirl and roll in the water A weight of varying size is attached to the "rudder"of the cowbells to achieve depth and it is often run just off bottom for Lake Trout. PIC #1 - Cowbells with a "hemlock spinner" (made by Sutton) that has a treble hook with one hook modified so that is open at the "eye end" and can be slid on and off after a sawbelly is "threaded" on and the treble hook replaced and the bait bent so it will twirl or roll. PIC#3 - "Meat rigs" stored on foam. There are many types of "heads" and riggings and beads and other things can be added as well. PIC #4 - Meat rig - I used this as just one VERY basic example. Basically usually a commercially prepared (special brines used) herring is placed in the "head" and a toothpick used to secure it (end broken off after inserted) and the bait is bent to the users preference so that it twirls or rolls in the water when trolled.... again....folks have their preferences as to how it is rigged and I know that since Rys Davis isn't offering their bait that Familiar Bite and Erie Deerie are the more popularly used now.... THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR RESPONSES

Thx Marty

Thanks Nautitroller! You made my day

Some years back on Seneca my son and I were perch fishing in shallow and a huge northern surfaced and was doing just what has been described and we watched as we got closer we noticed he had a large perch caught in his throat with the tail sticking out his mouth...apparently the perch had put up his dorsal and the spines got stuck in the pikes throat and the perch probably had his gills flared as well.....looked like a "standoff"

I forgot to mention.....they extended the concrete further into the water and beveled the edge where it meets the bottom (instead of the 3 ft plus"drop off" that caught some axels in the past during low water (including mine) Les