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The VHS epidemic in the late 90’s put a huge bottle neck in the cut bait market I used Rhys-Davis cut bait for years ( $4.95 for 6 pennants ) there has never been another cut bait that comes close to that product I bought and used Rigged SFC bait and found it usable and the best value out there most of the cut bait I’ve tried over the years is soft , doesn’t fit the bait heads without trimming , and definitely not top quality times change and not always for the better I’ve used the cut plugs with mixed success. Tried soaking the included sponge in sardine oil , but found stuffing the compartment with either cut bait pieces or canned sardines worked the best Some days they work

Cut bait prices are up due to the Herring regulations. The herring fishing industry has been regulated tighter the last couple of years causing a supply issue. Supply is down, demand is up so the prices are up.

If it helps anyone coming from a new person, 6/17 evenings from rochester headed west marks on the bottom in 80-130ft of water, dead screen for a few hours between 130-160 fow had a nice king hit a black and green spoon on a dipsy 50ft down in 170 fow and the leader snapped as he was about to be netted only one of the evening

I'll look into that. Sounds like good options. Thanks for the heads up.

I and a few other captains/anglers I know have moved to cut plugs, most commonly Brads Superbaits, for that very reason. We tend to all have our own brine/salt method but a tin of young sardines (~$2.99), from any grocery store, fits the cut plug reservoir well. Just some food for thought if considering alternative options.

The good- we didn’t get skunked! We didn’t lose any gear! The bad - east wind with rain until 830am. No hits for 2.5 hrs. Covered lots of water. Crazy down current moving east to west. The ugly- lost a decent king on 300 steel with pickle seed spoon in 220 fow. Dragged bottom for a couple lakers for my buddy to smoke. End a slow morning with my Overheat alarm blasting 150 yards from the mouth of the creek coming in at noon. Found a hose that popped off going to the impeller. Almost had Rolmops tow me but I got it running and had him follow me up the creek! Thanks Rolmops! glad for a few days of wind for me to get my head back in the game!

PM Rigged on this site. Can pick up at his house or he will ship. Best bait out there.

Don’t cheat the channel markers coming in or going out. There is submerged railroad tracks just west of the markers even though it looks navigable. Stay between the markers.

Ok thanks for the tip! I move around the lake from Mexico to wilson but not familiar with braddocks, the only reason I'm there is my son is flying out of rochester,,,,any way to get my kids and grandkids fishing,,,lol

I must be getting old. Then again the price of everything since the pandemic has been ridiculous. With tax just paid $29.15 for 10 pieces of cut bait.

As long as it’s calm laker fishing is a no brainer, they are always there. Go west to Lighthouse in 100 foot of water (ish) and lower your riggers till they bump bottom and raise them up three or four feet. 1.8 mph ish for speed. If you need rigs DM Gambler. He sells the best ones you can buy and he is local, in Hilton. He will also be more than happy to give you tips to help you succeed.

Ah crap, thanks for the reports guys, I will be fishing braddocks on Monday Tuesday and appreciate your posts, I wouldn't care as much but I have a couple little grandkids I wanted to get a fish for them.

We went one for three this morning. Landed one coho down 60 in 280. Lost a good king down 70 over 300 after a five minute fight. Foul hooked a small king in 279. Lots of blank screens and I had warm water inside. A good blow can only help.

This morning was great boating weather, but it sucked for fishing. There were hooks and bait around 50 foot down over a hundred feet of water, but no takers. I continued out 280 feet and then back in to 250. At 50 t0 80 down over 250 there was a blank screen and the water temperature was around 47 to 49 between 40 and 90 feet down. Then I turned west because it seemed that there were some break lines on the surface that way. Sure enough the farther west the warmer the water became all the way up to 54 degrees at 70 foot down but no thermocline to speak of. Then within 15 minutes I caught 3 steelies all barely legal so back in the water they went. I was off the water by 1pm. All in all a nice morning. Probably the last one in a while with the weather prophets telling us that it will rain and storm for a while.

I doubt it. The Rochester basin is nothing more than a mud flat around our intake. I am all for the habit restoration too. I just want the juice to be worth the squeeze.

Brian - That's really interesting. I understand they move out mid-fall or so. Unfortunately, every question answered by research raises many more questions. Does the plant's intake also put in a lot of fish eggs? I'm really curious on the follow-up to the USFWS project as they caught a lot of gobies over 8 days on a very small patch of water during spawn period. I'm all in favor of the reef clean-ups.

Interested in hearing reports, albeit useless once everything changes tomorrow. My report is that I watched from my kayak as both a deer and a bear swam across the South end of Hemlock. I'd have been hard pressed to paddle faster than the bear could swim...but I could beat the deer lol.

Making a change on the rod holders on my 16'. I currently have 4 berts ratcheting rod holders mounted, and want to upgrade to 6. I have #5, but need 1 more to make the change. Wonder if someone has one laying around. Thanks. John