I use extremely light action rods on both my riggers and boards on cayuga
Sometimes I think it's too light as I'm hitting neutral quick for newbie fish fighters
You absolutely can catch lakers in the cold months. I would use brown streamers because the LT like gobies
Second best bet imo would be late March through April in the same places you would see people trolling stick baits on surface
Best value?
get a 90 sea nymph gls put a brand new 90 hp and 10 hp kicker and deck it out with rod holders, riggers and electronics and every toy you want for under 30k
Hi green
A lot to unpack here
You can flatline and have success in the colder months with surface diving baits. As the surface temp rises you will need to gain depth. 10 color lead and 300 copper can be your friend. I would suggest staying in 70-90 fow.
If you have not gotten into vertacle jigging I would highly suggest it. Get yourself a drift sock and use it along with trolling motor on windy days.
Theoretically with your setup you could use a bottom thumping rig with a heavy weight on a 3 way swivel
Trolled yesterday 3 ft off the bottom in 100 ft ish
16 lakers in a little over 3 hours. Average was about 6 lbs. Was epic.
Ran 10 color.. 300 copper... 2 3 color lead and didn't move them on silver fish
I have a 19.5 and you honestly really have to pick your days. No way would I be fishing in true 3's and still have fun. It's really hard to maintain speed and if the current calls for u to troll into the waves it's a non stop battle all day
Attach main line to release
Send it down x feet
Attach this to main line
Send it rest of the way
Fish eats the cheater it slides all the way down to the main line lure