The bottom of the middle is smooth you shouldn't have an issue just touching the ball to the bottom and cranking it up quick. We drag bottom with 20oz weights on meat rods and rarely ever hang up.
There are no doubt some monster fish in conesus due to the alewives, for that same reason they're difficult to catch using the "traditional techniques"
I think Justin's reaction bite techniques would really work well over there and I'm interested to see his results after he fishes it this year.
If you're fishing blind, my recommendation would be go right to the middle, drop a sutton or other lightweight down on a downrigger til it hits bottom, crank it up a few feet and troll around 2mph. You will catch lake trout.
Fished outta woodville tonight, launched at five. Only fish we marked were deep, felt good to be in the boat and everything ran like it was supposed to. Temp out deep was 34.5, probably shoulda stayed shallow and went after crappie but I had to scratch the trolling itch.
Why the 50' leader? I use 10' fluoro leaders with 20# Rosco snaps on the end and use sampo ball bearing inline swivels to connect leader to mainline. This combo works well for sensitive lures like Sutton flutter lures as well as just about everything else i troll with. http://www.roscoinc.com/fishing-tackle/product-detail/american-made-stainless-steel-duo-lock-snap