Sk8man

You should be pretty good with that for most general applications.

The color shouldn't make a difference (especially when you are using them to fish deep. The 12 lb fluoro is fine for the Finger Lakes before the fleas hit. but for lake O when fishing the Chjinnok waters you may want to go to 17-20 lb. fluoro. When its flea season - larger diameter of line with a slick surface is wise (no braid or leadcore etc.) is the rule regardless how you do it. When it is flea season your leaders will load up the lighter you go with the leader but the main line diameter is more crucial when you are using leaders shorter than your rod. If you run say an 8ft leader on a 9 ft. rod you will have somewhat of a clean off problem but at least you will be able to get your main 30 lb line through the eyes and tip to net the fish.

Thank you Matt.....very well said !....and a very appropriate reminder.... Les

Eyeman is my kind of fisherman....never miss an opportunity to fish

That is the way I read it too.

Oh ....I forgot.....this is New York State....the land of legislative incompetence

Oh crap ! He finally woke up out of hibernation (yup another big word Bob) but it fits! I'll let you turkeys on the Adm Byrd boat get rid of all those little "snakes" to make way for our usual big fish... I guess I should get that 150 quart cooler out of the cellar this year....tired of bending the fish up to make them fit the other one....don't worry I'll take pics of our fish so you 'll be able to see what REAL derby fish look like.... and they won't be INFLATABLE fish like the one you're holding up in your pic. How's that for trash talking Nick ?

Oh ok you got the right model for fishing that's for sure. I was going to get the Outrage but I made the mistake of having my wife and daughter go with me when I went shopping. ...We settled for a compromise.....but actually I'm glad we did because this Ventura does everything I wanted and more and still pleases the girls in the summer....I'd never own anything else but a Whaler...had my last one for 22 years and sold it for $300 more than I paid for it

Hey John is that the Revenge model Whaler? Can't quite from the angle of the pic.

Got to hand it to you guys....got me pretty good ! Hey Jack.... when using only a depth finder you are correct in the way to go about it. The main reason Seth Green rigs were developed was to try to cover the column of water so that it included the thermocline layer and that was much before any of the fancy gizmos. If you find bait nearly always the fish will be somewhere near by so you just circle around and criss-cross until you hit pay dirt. Sometimes the fish are outside your depth finders cone angle and you won't spot anything but the bait.

Guess everyone can use an "extension" sometimes

Sorry if I sounded too technical or something...wasn't trying to show off or anything just trying to be as specific as I could to explain it....I think with Rye and Erabbits info combined with what Nick and I said it gives a fairly good picture of what is involved....and that's the important thing....

:smile: I think between us we covered most of it Nick...

Good thing it wasn't a sea gull Nick he might have stripped the pink tape off your rod

I have used various things on my nets over the years as extensions including metal vacuum cleaner tubes inserted and with screws on either side to hold it in place and taped the length of it to provide a good grip. Not exactly your fancy telescoping model....but it works... and especially when fishing by myself.....

As far as what you MAY see on a fish finder....there are a lot of variables involved. The actual sensitivity of your unit and transducer are the first hurdle. Units vary in their ability to pick up the thermocline (or other things for that matter). Then there is the sensitivity point you have chosen on your unit. More important factors may relate to water conditions at the time. Increased water clarity combined with a very well defined temperature stratification in the water column increase your chances of seeing it on your screen (usually looks like bands of tiny dots or pixels on your screen sometimes as though you are picking up your downrigger weight even). Often phytoplankton and zooplankton get "trapped" within the band of higher density water and this may enhance what you see on your screen and also probably accounts for the fish being there....because the baitfish feed on it. On Seneca it can start up in early June in some years but is more pronounced in late June to early July.

I think O2 levels is more plausible - freshwater fish are very adaptable to changes in water temp (unlike salt water varieties or aquarium fish). Also I wonder if spawning fish might be more vulnerable to things at that time compared to the rest of their life cycle. That aside I also wonder about the possibility of contaminants in the water table and underlyng aquifers that could affect multiple lakes at the same time.....(like natural gas leakage from vertical or horizontal drill ing. There are many gas wells right near the lakes.....or even increased salinity levels from vacated salt mines....

Not a bad idea to use small styrofoam beads (shipping packing) in the handle so you can go back and get it. They don't add much to the weight of the net and are a chap insurance policy.....

Many of the same things from Lake Ontario can work on Canandaigua but smaller seems to be better here in terms of spoons and sticks. In a couple weeks I'd be pulling thermocline rigs (Seth Green rigs) for rainbows browns and lakers with Suttons and a variety of other spoons. I'd run peanuts (Wobble Trolls) behind the flashers just off bottom from shallower depth to out deeper. I'd also run leadcores with 3 to 5 colors and maybe even toplines with a little weight or off boards (run way back 250-300 ft.). Light fluoro leaders are helpful (10lb test) until the fleas come out.