Big Water

Good work Rick and crew!!! Nice report as always.

I had the same problem with too much bait earlier this year and a charter captain told me to head out of it. It was a good move because when I did, I started hooking up. Also I keep learning the same lesson year after year and that is, when your not finding fish, troll north until you do. I get hung up on where I think the fish should be and it costs me productive fishing time.

My experience is that I used to trailer a smaller boat most weekends from PA and get about 10 mpg (500 mile round trip) and spend 120-160 bucks for two days on a hotel. More if it were a 3 or 4 day trip. Then you had to pay launching fees daily and launch and stow your boat each day. I now keep my bigger boat at a marina and get 19 mpg for the trip with no hotel costs since I stay on the boat. Given the convenience of pulling up and hopping on the boat, I'll live with the marina costs. Per trip costs; Pre Marina (~14 trips per year) Travel 500 miles/10mpg X $4/gallon = $200 each trip Hotel costs (2 days) = ~$150 each trip Launch Fees = $14 each trip Total 14 trips = $ 5096 Post Marina; (~14 trips per year) Travel 500 miles/19mpg X $4/gallon = $105 Seasonal Marina = $2200 Total 14 trips = $3670 Staying extra days are free and no additional Launch Fees or hotel costs. Plus you get to meet and talk with a lot of knowledgeable and friendly guys at night. Since my travel costs were so high, this obviously changes the math for someone who lives close by. I also never looked into storing the small boat there during the week, but I'm still happy with the arrangement.

No, I'm sure they are not backward. It's only 2 of them with this problem. Must be an issue with the locking pin on the ratchet.

I'm having problems with a couple of the ratcheting rod holders not ratcheting. I greased them up good, but still need to lift the lever to go from position to position. Any idea what the issue may be. I haven't given them a real good look over, but I thought maybe someone else may have run across this. Thanks, Doug

I've had better luck in the pre-dawn than post-sunset hours, but they do hit. If fishing at night, be very careful because there are huge logs and trees scattered throughout the lake right now.. It no time for opening the throttle.

There are no salmon now in the Wilson area. It's a barren wasteland!

I really enjoyed his real time posts. Haven't even seen him mentioned.

momay, Your point is well taken and we shouldn't jump to conclusions about cause, but I see a lot of good coming out of this discussion for those that may be taking or plan to take small boats out on this lake. As earlier said, everyone thinks that they're cautious and pick their conditions wisely but Lake Ontario, or any of the Great Lakes can easily and quickly make that situation deadly.

Slide out to 50+ and you'll get lakers but there might be some salmon mixed in.

Exactly! Thanks Rick!

I've had problems with fleas even while using 30lb Big Game. Works most of the time, but not always. Went to FF and it does twist but hasn't failed yet.

Bought my first Clarion 55 for copper last year. Within 2 days I bought another, Great reel.

pm sent

Good vid to get the blood flowing. Thanks for posting. What's with all the fish on the port side? I want to know what you were running on the port dipsey.

I bought a second pair of weighted keels for my otter boats and they pull like a mule. A couple of 300-500' coppers off of a board is no problem. The problems is that the additional weight will actually sink the otter boat if you slow down too much. Also, if you pick up weeds, the boards need to be brought in overhand, because you cannot pull them in with the reel. If you get a second set of keels, get them without weight or even make your own. They are just a piece of bent metal.