Cayuga 7-25 7-26

[slouiscar]

Been getting the boat out, getting it set up to fish, and trying to learn the lake a bit.  This weekend we did a little fishing. 

 

Out of Union Springs short trip Saturday mid day for maybe 2-2.5 hours.  Went to the Silos and trolled south down the east shore to Aurora.  Tried 90 to 150.  Most of the bait and fish we marked were 110-120.  Had two divers out 160 and 180 and a 300 copper.  Boat was moving 2.5-2.8 on the gps.  Took three hits but didn't get anything to the boat.  All spoons.  It felt slow.  Sunday morning we headed to Aurora by the college and headed south in a little deeper water.  200.  Same setup.  Landed two mid sized LT and lost one at the net.  Picked up and went a little past Long Point.  Felt like we were 100 yards offshore and in 300 feet of water.  Marked a lot of bait in the top 50 feet.  Switched up to flasher fly and started taking hits and landing fish.  All average size but much more action. 

 

Did unfortunately lose two flasher setups from the diver down.  Apparantly I needed to learn how to tie a knot... switched to a palomar and it seemed to stop dropping fish and reeling in pig tails. 

 

Released everything sucessfully but one who got it in the gil a bit, so he got the cooler.  Fleas were there but not an issue with the copper or the wire divers.  Not one hit on the copper.  Need to get the downriggers wired.

[rustyrat]

I hammerd the fish there on Sat. Try setting your divers deeper. First thing in the morning, I have them out 220 as the sun get higher, 240 to 260. I ran my riggers 50-60 with sliders. Lead cores were dead.

RR

[slouiscar]

I hammerd the fish there on Sat. Try setting your divers deeper. First thing in the morning, I have them out 220 as the sun get higher, 240 to 260. I ran my riggers 50-60 with sliders. Lead cores were dead.

RR

 

I've heard good reports on those locations so we planned to start there.  Thanks for the advice on the divers.  I will definitely adjust on that.  We are running wire on a 2 setting out 160-180 and figured it at ~65-70' depth.  Out 240-260 is what? 90-95' depth?

 

I think the time of day worked against us a bit.  Need to set the alarm earlier.

[rustyrat]

I run my divers on 2.5. I figure 80 to 85 at 240 to 260. 220 is around 70 to 75. I have been keeping my speed around 2.4 to 2.6 on the GPS. Green on Green has been the best and spoons are green with a copper or gold back. Also Chicken wing with a gold back is good. I have been fishing 85 to 130fow. BUT... The weekend before I was fishing east to west going 220 to 220 in a big circle but we had a good west wind that weekend. That didn't work as well this weekend.

I also did well last evening fishing Kingtown thru Rocky dock. 80 to 140 same rigs. If you have a radio you can always call me on 68. I will be out on sat only this coming weekend. Most likely be working long point but depends on the wind.

RR

[slouiscar]

I run my divers on 2.5. I figure 80 to 85 at 240 to 260. 220 is around 70 to 75. I have been keeping my speed around 2.4 to 2.6 on the GPS. Green on Green has been the best and spoons are green with a copper or gold back. Also Chicken wing with a gold back is good. I have been fishing 85 to 130fow. BUT... The weekend before I was fishing east to west going 220 to 220 in a big circle but we had a good west wind that weekend. That didn't work as well this weekend.

I also did well last evening fishing Kingtown thru Rocky dock. 80 to 140 same rigs. If you have a radio you can always call me on 68. I will be out on sat only this coming weekend. Most likely be working long point but depends on the wind.

RR

I am hoping to be out Fri & Sat this week depending on the weather.  I will definitely be running the divers deeper and I'll try you on the radio. 

 

The last stretch we switched one diver to a flasher fly and that went off enough times in a row that I will start with that next trip.

[rustyrat]

I always run flasher flies off my divers on Cayuga. Its funny though sometimes they want the spinny and sometimes they want the pro troll. I start out running one of each. Then switch to whats working.

RR

[quality time]

Are you running dipsy on mono? If you are running wire, fish doctor had some videos on wire knots. Very simple half hitch and overhand knot. It does not look like it should hold but it does. I even use it on my cannon ball. Not sure if you lost the rig before or after the dipsy. When the fleas are real bad we would double up on swivels so if one got bound up with fleas the second swivel would take over. Also to long of a lead to the dipsy can cause the line to twist to the point of breaking the line. We never had this problem with dipsy flasher fly combo but did when we ran a long lead off the rigger to the dipsy .  

[slouiscar]

Are you running dipsy on mono? If you are running wire, fish doctor had some videos on wire knots. Very simple half hitch and overhand knot. It does not look like it should hold but it does. I even use it on my cannon ball. Not sure if you lost the rig before or after the dipsy. When the fleas are real bad we would double up on swivels so if one got bound up with fleas the second swivel would take over. Also to long of a lead to the dipsy can cause the line to twist to the point of breaking the line. We never had this problem with dipsy flasher fly combo but did when we ran a long lead off the rigger to the dipsy .  

Running wire with the dipseys with the half hitch and square knot. Those have been solid. Knots that were pulling were improved cinch knots on the flouro leader to the swivel on the flasher. Those slipped at the swivel and came up pigtailed. Tied a palomar knot to the swivel after that and that seemed to solve it. At least my wallet hopes that solved it...

[quality time]

I use the clinch knot and have never had one slip. Are you wetting the knot before you pull it tight? The other thing could be if you trim the tag end to short. If the knot pulls tighter than you pulled it a short tag end could pull out. Practice with some line tied off to a tree or something. I've used spring scales to check things like release tension, knot strength , line strength. If you do not have a spring scale tie a bucket to the line and add weight until it breaks. You can see which type of knot or line works best. Not all terminal tackle is created equal. I was shocked when I had a split ring fail on 8 lb test. The line should have broke long before the split ring failed. I use nothing but swivels with welded rings after that. Lots of crap out of china. The small c in china is not a typo! The guys on the site can help with the best fluro. Knot strength varies. Science can be your friend    Wes   

[lakebound88]

What size dipsys are you using? We run mag for flasher flies, a mag out 175 will tick bottom in 80 fow with 30lb wire and a flasher fly on it at speeds of 1.8 and up

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[Fishbowl836]

Slouiscar

Started trolling myself about two years ago and I feel your pain. I went through a lot of the same learning curve that you are going through. One thing is for sure this site is great and the majority of the people on this site are really helpful and know what they're talking about. I also have used the videos from the fish doctor website that quality time is talking about. That knot works really well on all of my wire divers and it is the only knot I use. Another good website to look into is called the Great Lakes Angler Magazine. It is very similar to this site except it is just geared toward the Great Lakes. Between these two sites you can get a lot of good advice that will help speed up the learning curve. Just remember there is no dumb questions and before you know it things will get a little better.

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[Sk8man]

You may also want to try using Deeper Divers (formerly Walker not sure now) in the 124 mm size I have bumped bottom in 127 ft of water with 275 ft out at 2.1 mph set on zero so you have a pretty nice range to work with especially if going for lakers down deep or even kings down deep on Lake O. As far as the pigtails you need to use a high quality SOLID RING heavy duty swivel on your main line connection for spinneys or flashers as at higher speeds they can ravel up your line if some part of it get twisted.

[quality time]

I agree. He might have had a twist off due to fleas.