Frogger

4-550. Down 70-90

Marina in Williamson, NY. West of Sodus.

Went out early with my youngest and signalman, got a tip from a regular there, has a Lund boat, don’t know his name, but gave us a plan to go deep. Lake was flat so we said let’s do it. Not 5 min in and we were hooked up. Boated 15 lost a half dozen more. Good day. All baits were hit. Even a monster rip on the copper that came off as soon as we grabbed the rod. Left it out a bit but then when we brought it, found we had a bent up tin can mangled. Great day.

Way to Hillside!

FYI not sure how old the DR is but cannon redesigned the head so the cable doesn’t jump off. You may be able to reach out and get them to send you one.

Pappy, signalman summed up the fleas pretty good….. nice going. I think you trained her very well. She was ready to go this morning at the launch. Nice going!

I’d say your learning curve ended when you left your driveway. Nice report and what a trip. Thanks for sharing.

Great fish Whaler! Love the story. I can just picture the flys……

I heard something about cables being replaced that is holding the barge in place.

After rereading and thinking about your issues starting after the new motor was installed, as others have mentioned you may have hit a point where the waterline is now at. Your splash well ie ports that drain out or transom area might be the area to focus. Try corking them if they are at the water line to see if they leak. Ripping up the floor with removing the tank is a royal pain. You might want to focus on the back. Mine has a couple of side pans in the battery compartment that might get you a visual access to see if water is coming in. Just drill out some rivets to remove them if it’s the sam. If not anything putting the boat in the water with someone’s head and a light to watch where she starts coming from might help to. Hope you find it. I know how frustrating it is.

Nice going adesalvo, you had a heck of a program. Thanks for the report. Great read. We had a 5.8 rainbow on the board for a little bit. Bled like a stuck pig. Tried the bottom work but was tough with the depth changes and wind yesterday.

Do you have a rollers or bunks on your trailer? Bunks might be hiding a loose rivet.

😜

Agree! 100%. A game changer. One word of caution that I quickly learned while using them, anything that can affect your boats movement or speed can quickly get you into trouble with your weights dropping to the point where they can drag or contact the bottom. For example wind, waves or turns.

Nice going, congrats on your weekend. You guys sure had things rocking with your program.

My hats off to you as well. Great job with your results. First time on this lake for you, I’m thinking you will be on top next year. Hope the mechanical piece worked out ok. Always sucks to have boat issues during the most important time.

Thanks Brian, thanks again for all you do with your lure brand and tips and tricks to catch lakers! Heres a recap of our weekend, which actually started back in March with upgrading some equipment. My plan was to never have to reel a 3lb thumper rod on Seneca during the derby or ever again for that matter. Fishing in 120-200ft all day, I was done. So I set out to rig the boat with Cannon optimums. Went out with Signalman two weeks prior to the derby to try them out. We’ll, we had the most fish in one day on downriggers with a slammer to boot. Just shy of 12lbs. No lamprey marks and released. The plan was coming together. Got my order in to Gambler for some rigs and within days I got my package. The team was ready. Boat was ready. Roy’s marina was our starting place every morning. Thanks Steve, (tell Larry and Roz) for the awesome hospitality. I’m just praying the lake was similar to like it was two weeks prior. By the way, we caught one fish with a lamprey that day, saw none during derby weekend! She’s coming around folks. Sat: started in 200ft worked the East side north to south and banged out 18 fish that morning. Gambler rigs on both downriggers did all the damage. Nothing on leadcore, copper or flatlines. Not surprised due to going slow down at the ball. Currents were wicked out in 200ft on the bottom but 7.13 lb was our best with my son placing in juvenile. He was pumped. After drying out from the rain, the afternoon slowed for us but we kept grinding. Picked up few more with nothing to go to scales. Sunday: Started at the stomping grounds but only netted 1 fish the first hour. Decided to pick up and go shallow to try for a silver or brown on top. Couldn’t move a rod. 8:00am we said back to the deep water. ( hence how I got the name Frogger, always jumping around) we started shallower in 120ft and was marking a ton of bait and fish. Boom, hit a fish. Then a second one. This one was a good one. Came straight up from the back damn near wanted into the motors. John (we call him Brad) did a great job keeping it away from danger with it making it to the net. Weighed it, 10.2. “let’s go boys” Into the scales. It’s a long wait when your thinking you have really no chance with a 10lb fish but yet it’s still in the lead. After that we worked through the slim pickings for the rest of the day. We did manage a 7.5lber that evening but decided to release her. Monday: plan was to go shallow, head down West side with stick baits to have only a smallmouth to show for it. Went back deep to pick up some more of the 5-6lb range ending the derby with a total of 29 lakers all on the downriggers. A record for me on Seneca. The plan worked. This time. As Les mentioned and as some on here know, I’ve fished this derby a lot of years +40, with the boat getting on the board 15 or so times. Weve won some majors, men, woman’s, juvenile, and Brown, but this is the first major win for the boat. And yes, some tools, past experience, friends help and time on the water sure do put you in a good spot but a lot of luck to have everything come together made this time work. Some good friends out there that you see on the water makes it a good feeling as well. This lake will make you humble really quick and no matter how good you are, you can walk away with nothing as has happened many of times on this lake the past few years. I think now after watching my 13 old get so into it setting and running the boat, I get to sit back, have that cigar, and enjoy. And yes I’m done buying equipment for my SeaNymph, for this year at least…..Tightlines!

You guys are awesome. Definitely with finding a couple heads up coins in the Byrne dairy parking lot that morning paid off….. I’ll post up some pics and stuff. Have to pay the piper for house work lol.

Great trip! Great report. Thanks for sharing.