Sk8man

Ouch! I guess most folks doing this stuff for a long time may encounter a hook in some part of them at some point. Good to know ways of successfully extracting them though. I guess the method also depends on the part of the body affected https://www.aliem.com/trick-fishhook-removal-techniques/#:~:text= Technique 1 A string or suture,out very rapidly and can cause... More

Had a Rapala in my shoulder once and had to pull it through and then cut the barb myself with wire cutters that works too

Great results and report Rick

Parker's are wonderful boats and if I weren't such a "Whaler nut" I'd be in one right now and this one looks exceptional.

I appreciate the sir......but I was only a Sargent

He does a beautiful paint job on them and they hold up better than a lot of others. I purchased a couple to try at the Watkins show a couple years ago and they have performed well.

I guess I should have been more specific The one I caught was down 40 ft over 200 ft. When I used the term deep I meant as in Lake O deep 300 -700 plus

Sometimes "old school" can be the best school Ray Netcraft has served me well too over many years

And the puzzle continues..... I haven't seen anything on here that indicates that the browns are being seen in numbers near or in tribs after the rainbow eggs either. Puzzling but disturbing as well. The only time I have ever caught a brown out in the real deep water was here on Canandaigua Lake during the month of June and it was on a Seth Green rig and the fish was about 40 ft down. They are much more "home bodies" than Atlantics etc. Especially troubling is the lack of small browns being caught for awhile now. The uptick in the cormorant population in last few years taking its toll? Any relationship to the dwindling population of smelt in the shallows at this time of year (ongoing for quite a few years)?

I don't have a clue about the smaller browns but I think Brian may be right about the larger ones. Even in the Finger Lakes the browns often can be found in that 30-80 ft or so right near bottom and near pods of small alewives with perch also mixed in feeding on them. The common mistake is to think they are lakers on bottom much as the case for mistaking kings near bottom for lakers in Lake O during the summer in the ice water. The browns have a pretty varied diet too so shad, fatheads emeralds etc. may be out there deeper too so they may be getting a break from the gobies.

Every species has its proponents and detractors

I hear you on the bending of blades Ray. I still do use the smaller sets on riggers or the #4 hammerheads. I also have made my own smaller ones from large willow leaf and Colorado blades and downrigger wire

Looking good

I've fished for lakers for well over 50 years on the Finger Lakes and Lake Ontario and I've owned and used about every type of cowbell setup (Millers, Luhr Jensen Dave Davis, Les Davis and 3-7 blade) run from hand, rods, victrola, A and S automatic etc. and used peanuts and Spin N Glows behind them since the 1970's. The Hammerhead cowbells with less drag in the water with Gambler rigs behind them are hands down the most effective weapon against lake trout and although the attractive color patterns may be a factor ANY of them work on lakers. I don't even bother running my heavier "old school" cowbell setups now. You can trust Brian for the best info on use of laker setups and he takes a lot of pride in his products. For folks unfamiliar with "old school" cowbells here are examples: