13owhunter

First trip of the season for me. Set lines at 830 in shallow a few miles west of Webster. Water was green but crystal clear. Most boats were fishing a bit deeper when we started. Couldnt make anything happen in close so we slid out to 30fow. Took a descent brown on a chartreuse and chrome flicker minnow with a chrome lip. An hour later took a nice atlantic on similar stick bait. At about noon I had about a 15# silver fish slam an orange deep diving rapala. Fish ripped out 100 feet of line in no time and jumped several times completely out of the water. Unfortunately my board didnt release and the fish took it under and it ended up coming unbuttoned. I ran 2 spoon rods off boards on 1-4 colors of leadcore and they didnt do anything. Slow fishing but great to be out. Beats the office every time!

Launching out of Irondequoit bay would be a good idea. Good food right there and nice launch in early season, trolling shallow in front of Webster park is usually great this time of year and the bay for plan B if it gets rough. Its also a few miles from the Genny so an easy boat ride if there's not good water color to the East.

While I'm not sure I want to switch over completely to singles on spoons, this would be a great solution if you start running into skippies. They seem to get stuck with all three hooks even on a mag spoon 90% of the time and its a shame not to release them as nicely as possible. I did switch to double singles on flys and I don't think i have had any come unbuttoned. Interested to see what others experience is with singles on spoons....

I have found a noticeable difference especially when down deep and there is some current. I switched to braid and the combo of herbies and braid is a big difference from wire and cannon balls.

The saltist 30 is almost the same exact size as a tekota 600. I have both and prefer the new saltists.

I think its worth noting that terminating weighted steel is a lot more difficult than copper. I never liked crimps and they dont go through the guides very well. Personally, I splice weighted steel but it is very difficult especially if you dont have very good eyes. The trick is to pull leaders off the spool 7 times (for luck). Mine end up at about 38' when done (I'm pretty tall). Your length may vary but it is the 7 pulls that infuses a bit of luck that is the secret =0)

I dont see much advantage in using just a snap in most trolling applications. If I was really worried about impacting the action of the lure or wanted additional stealth I would, personally, tie direct. I use small good quality ball bearing snap swivels in the 50# range on the business end of just about everything I pull. Really cant say i ever had an issue with line twist even when I can see a lure helicoptering on the way back in.

Getting a new license with the icon was actually pretty cheap @ $14.

I second Gator's advice. The one in the link is way too powerful for putting in a tote. Youd need to turn it on for less than 30 seconds. I have a smaller 120v one in a portable closet and that is too powerful as well. I stopped using the one in my portable closet because I didnt want to expose any of my gear that I wasnt wearing that day. I have a rechargeable one (link below) that I like. Quality is questionable but its a lot cheaper than the name brand ones and you can bring it with you. Pretty sure I got it on sale at amazon for around $50. I throw it in a tote with my outer layers and turn on for a couple of minutes. https://www.amazon.com/Airthereal-PA1K-GO-000mg-Portable-Generator/dp/B08V8N5XNQ/ref=sr_1_3_pp?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VskF8wxxD-9w4kbbTdhnYZUCJlXUOLGEW42umU5TRak4yBnqB9lfHWBUYu7HtqvMd5lSs4aHoiVssMe16IlnuEw4rdvce4f5sdSg3Jt5_amudhc-X1lMQcvNlyB-d07DqJCGkXq5XCMk8pvJ8zNZh3C-mclby-Z45LN-S4YObcQ1LsnsTShOolobJyISSaZxE0CZVG5SEVIQszPKeTrezsvSdFyeCLI3VjAd5zyHJq4.zDKN_9gZHEbbCIxvcenm7cQq8LiPdX0dBpsraioEt2s&dib_tag=se&keywords=ozone+generator&qid=1724760722&sr=8-3