Yankee Troller

  On 5/28/2025 at 7:56 PM, David Podlesnik said:

Thanks Richard, always appreciate your candor and knowledge. I've delayed coming up this year do to the conditions, but will be up next week Lord willing and hope those Kings are ready, fat and furious. I see a 28# won the Spring derby in St. Catherine's. Thanks

Expand  

Good luck when you get out. Fingers crossed the Kings start committing mass violence to our spreads.

  On 5/28/2025 at 6:16 PM, David Podlesnik said:

I hear what your saying. And a robust Coho spawn is great. But I don't remember it being this disproportionate to the number of Kings. If the Kings are still out there it should be as good if not better than last year with some really big fish. Tight lines.

Expand  

That Salmon fishing we saw the last two years was another example of what naturals can do to the fishery. We saw those fish two seasons ago as 6-12lb fish (2yr old's), and last year as 3yr old's. 99% of our Salmon mature at 2 and 3 years old. Last year was it for that crop of fish we saw.

Now, as far as the poor King fishing this season it's early to judge. We've had an enormous amount of East winds and cool temps that followed a cold Winter. Let it play itself out.

  On 5/28/2025 at 2:24 PM, David Podlesnik said:

If it is natural coho reproduction then what tribes are contributing. And why has it never happened before. And why would the coho's be so successful and, at least it appears, not the kings.  They both spawn at the same time with both needing the dame conditions. And your observation of a lot of coho's and few Kings makes sense to me. If the Kings never show up this year then your hypothesis might have to be seriously considered.

Expand  

We had a Coho boom 5-6 years ago. The whole lake enjoyed it. Again, the DEC hasn't changed stocking numbers for decades on these. If anything, they fail to reach target numbers due to poor eye up in the hatchery.

From the data we have the tribs on the North shore and the Salmon River are our best tribs to support natural reproduction. After a 9yr tagging study we settled on 50% of the Kings caught are naturals. If we stock 1,000,000 Kings another 1,000,000 are naturally reproduced. Of those 1,000,000 naturals 500,000 come from north shore tribs. Of the other 500,000 naturals 250,000 come from the Salmon River.

  On 5/28/2025 at 1:30 PM, rolmops said:

This season though , these 30 +inch Atlantics are a very welcome catch.Even in this cold water, their acrobatics lighten up my day. I must admit though that they do not taste very different from the ones at Wegmans.

Expand  

Everyone will take what they get. However, Atlantics are not targetable. Coho are easily targetable. Chinook are targetable. Heck, every trout species is targetable. If you can't target a species it's not bringing in anglers to chase them. It's very easy. ROI on Atlantic's is the worst out of every species swimming in Lake Ontario. 

The DEC stocks X amount every year. The variable here is naturals. Clearly a bumper crop of natural Coho in the system. In a season with tough King fishing it is a welcomed fishery. I've been asking for this fishery for years, but all I ever hear is how expensive it is to raise Coho in the hatchery. The state and feds have no issues pissing away money on Atlantic programs that very few people ever benefit from though. 

I haven't had one denied if you got the black screen of death

I ran 2 10" HELIX's, 2 cannon downriggers, a fish hawk, and fm radio off the cranking battery while the kicker was running. You should be fine.

The right way to do it is to add a house battery (I couldn't do that becasue my main engine was a 2 stroke and there was an oil tank so no room for a 2nd battery). Blue Sea Systems sells an "Add a Battery" kit. Follow the directions and it's easy to install (make sure you use the appropriate sized wire). The relay will close and send a charge to the house battery (that will be running all your fishing equipment) when it senses a charge from the engines alternator. When it doesn't sense that charge it opens and your cranking battery doesn't get drawn down by those electronics. Any questions call me at Krenzer Marine, or drop a DM. 

  On 5/20/2025 at 2:51 AM, BRsnow said:

Any links to that wire? What backing/how much? Thanks

Expand  

AFW 30lb can be found here at FishUSA. I use the two reel method for figuring out backing. Spool on the wire and then fill reel with backing. Take a second reel and zero the counter. Reel on the backing and note the counter number once it's on the reel. Continue to reel on the 1000' of wire. On your empty reel use the data you got from the first to determine where to stop with the braid.

I run 1000' of AFW 30lb wire and use backing to fill the spool.

I would say for Salmon fishing 27lb is the most common size. We use FishUSA Stealthcore and have had great luck with its durability. Walleye guys seem to prefer the 18lb.

Thanks guys, It's awesome to see since we've been fishing this derby since the ESLO days. I wish I wasn't at work when my brother caught it, but it's great to see him and good buddy Justin take home the win.

  On 5/11/2025 at 12:47 PM, GAMBLER said:

Thanks!  Too many here need to drop the political BS.  I have said it once and I will say it again, LOU isn’t the place for this political banter BS.  We have an issue at hand that affects us all and need to come together to fight this issue.  

Expand  

I agreed 110%

  On 5/9/2025 at 5:23 PM, Gill-T said:

Because it is an absolute waste of time voting on unimportant dribble as changing the name of a body of water for political gains when there are REAL problems that our representatives should be working on. 

Expand  

100% agree

The problem is we've been spoiled for many years with warmer Winters that progressed the season. We also had an enormous wild crop the last few years that aged out at 3 last season.

I grew up fishing the bar in May. I remember years having to go over the boarder to get Salmon the first week'ish of May. We had East winds last weekend, which will blew the water West. We had East winds the weekend before, and we had East winds this week. Our friends on the other side of the boarder are having a field day with the Salmon the last few days.

East winds blow water West, but bubbles can also break off and go North. If you can find one of those bubbles the top 40' can be dumb over deep water.

  On 5/9/2025 at 10:41 AM, GAMBLER said:

I switched to braid last season and will never turn back.  I got a lot more rigger hits than the past using wire.  Fleas were not an issue.  My retro ease on the cable took 99% of them off the line before they got to the boom end,  

Expand  

Everyone had a lot more hits last season 

  On 5/8/2025 at 2:21 PM, fisherdude said:

Took to much time from you busy day huh . 

Expand  

Family, business, and a couple of day jobs. Everyday is busy.

  On 5/7/2025 at 9:59 PM, fisherdude said:

I believe you misunderstood me the Democrats are not going to vote for Trump no matter if he's handing out gold to the Democrats if you sway the Republican Representatives away from Trump then that's a win for you as a liberal can you understand that

Expand  

  On 5/7/2025 at 10:17 PM, fisherdude said:

The Republican Party holds the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. As of April 2, 2025, the House had 220 Republicans, 213 Democrats, and 2 vacancies. 

Expand  

  On 5/7/2025 at 10:18 PM, fisherdude said:

In the current 119th Congress, Republicans hold a majority in the Senate with 53 seats, while Democrats hold 45 seats. There are also 2 Independents who caucus with the Democrats

Expand  

You couldn't find a way to put this all in one post? 

  On 5/2/2025 at 9:58 AM, fisherdude said:

Tough world we live in now. Democrat Representatives House and Senate are always going to vote against Trump's and the Republicans bills. contacting Republicans Representatives are your best bet to suede the rebs away from Trump. Trump has a tight grip on the Reds as of now . Some rebs are starting  to break.  Like Mitch McConnell which has no more skin in the game after his term is up. I did contact my Republican representative Claudia Tenney and left my option.  

Expand  

Wouldn't we want to contact the Dems becasue this is against what Trump is doing? lol

All politicians are slimy so we might as well leverage that and pit them against each other.

  On 5/6/2025 at 12:48 PM, Earl28 said:

Tell us more about productive evening fishing.  Thank you

Expand  

If I knew I'd limit out more in the afternoon and get back in time for a decent dinner! 

  On 5/6/2025 at 1:14 PM, Big Tom said:

I'm about to respool a Mag 5 with braid after losing perhaps 40' of steel cable due to bottom bounce spindle wrap. I had read somewhere that the braid could be attached to and put OVER the remaining steel cable. However, Rich's comment leads me to realize  that combining the two types will throw off the line counter.   I should just remove all the steel and start fresh with the braid.  Correct?  Kinda embarrassed to ask.

Expand  

I'm not 100% sure. On my Optimum's I can go in and change the algorithm for the counter by telling the downrigger what line type/size and amount I have on the spool. On Mag 5/10's I'd reccomend sticking with what was originally on there unless you want to experiment and tinker. 

Just note that braid on a Mag 5/10 will not allow the short stop at the surface to work.

It comes down to the correct transducer for the style of fishing you're doing. Bundled fish finder/transducers aren't always the best option. 

I sell marine electronics for my day job. Call into Krenzer Marine and I can at least point you in the right direction after a few questions.

I run a double charter every Saturday from May through September and I can tell you afternoons are much slower. It still beats sitting at the dock BS'n.