Yankee Troller

No docks as of today, but there had to be 20-25 boats out.

The mud coming out of the Genesee River made fishing from Irondequoit Bay to Ship Builders Creek almost impossible. We didn't hook up with our first fish till we passed Ship Builders. We tried to keep the boat between 8-11' of water, although later in the day it was bumpy and this became almost impossible. We ran a mix of stickbaits (J7 and J9 Rapalas, Smithwicks, Kabooms, and Matzuo) in both natural and bright colors off the planer boards. We also had two downriggers in the mix pulling a variety of light spoons down 2-5'. Water clarity varied from mud to gin clear, and we had temps from 39 degrees up to 44 degrees. Mostly a Brown Trout bite with a drop back Rainbow Trout and an Atlantic in the mix. Our two best fish happened to be Brown Trout. One was 8 pounds and the other was 9 pounds on the boga. Here are some pictures of our catch:

I heard the same from a buddy who is running them out of Oswego. He is very impressed with them.

Nope......Jax's

Irondequoit most likely.

Your probably right. However, I will have fresh PP on the new riggers. [ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Larry, Power pro does have braid from 150-250lb marketed towards downrigger cable replacement. My 250lb Power pro downrigger cable ate someones wire diver set-up for dinner when they decided to cut me off in the Oswego Scotty in 2009. Trust me we were surprised too! We ran 20lb weights off of it all last year. Not one issue or lost cannon ball. Except for when the ol' man ran one into the bottom off Oswego.

Should make things interesting this Spring. I can't remember seeing the lack of ice on Erie at this point in the last 6-8 years that I have been fishing the Bar. Time will tell boyz!

Your best bet is to launch at a River. The Salmon River isn't too far from FH. At least you know that ice wont be an issue there. The Genesee river is another good river. Stay out of the mud, and out of the clear blue, and you should have some luck. It isn't uncommon to work little sections of warm water this time of year.

That might help a little. MH is still light to drive a 7/0 hook home through a 6" plastic bait. [ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Tons of fleas! Expect the breaker to pop a lot when the fleas clog up at the end of your boom.

Your rod may have been too light to really drive the hook home. Swimbait rods are typically a H action rod in the 7-8' range.

Spoons and Paddles will work just fine. The Salmon show up during that transition into May. Prior to that you will probably catch a lot of lakers. Fish the marks as temperature isnt set-up yet.

Slapshot - what time of year? April, May, June?

Still a lot of ice B money. However, I can remember years when there was ice flows still coming down the Niagara in May.

Aaaahhhhhhh.........I love loaded up rigger rods! Nice shots Dick! The one thing we try to do is get those rigger rods as low as possible. Especially on the corner riggers. When a wire diver goes off a low rod on a corner rigger makes it so much nicer to go over. Your not stretching to get over it. We had to go to the vector rod holders on our Scottys to achieve this, but the new cannon rod holders will allow the cannon guys to do the same.

If you are in Rochester PM me and I can get you a kid who did my truck and Legacy's truck. He is reasonable and very good.

I run heartland diver rods too, and have no issues with them. I have been wanting to try their heartland roller rods for a year or two now, but the 8'6" rod just wont get outside my corner riggers. When I do go to a larger boat and have more rigger separation (wider beam) I may try to run those heartland roller rods to see what difference there is.

Great job! I'm jealous.

This combo is sold.

There were some very good points made by the biologist Brian. I am sure Mr. Tom B. is preparing a nice summary for all of us, which we all very gratefully appreciate! The future looks stable at best. However, at the end of the meeting when the biologist basically told Mike Waterhouse to shut up was a jaw dropper. He was questioning why we dont re-open the Caledonia hatchery for Chinooks. His reasoning was that right now our Salmon fishery is at the hands of the Altmar hatchery. If we have a crash there in the future due to disease there goes our fishery for a few years. The biologist say the transfer of eggs from one hatchery to another wont happen until they can treat eggs for VHS. Mike tried to present the article published by the US fishery biologist that they have medicine to stop the spread of VHS in the eggs, and they did not want to hear it.

Paul.....please don't tell me you were using a haywire twist directly to your spoon!?!?!?!?!?!?

We don't run them. No real reason why we don't. My guess is we probably wont until someone can prove to me it helps with lost fish. We run 25lb McCoy Mean Green for leaders, and can honestly say we have not cracked off a leader. Our drags are also tight while we await Mr. Salmons attack on our presentation.

Please spread your "secret" on copper leaders Brian. I would love to hear? Isn't that why we are all members of this forum?

Either one will work for you. With LJ Dipseys there is really just that one size everyone uses. Walker has more of a selection that will dive to different depths. AS for colors.......confidence is the biggest thing going for you. Everyone has their colors that work for them. On our boat we have a good amount of the metallic purple. Our other go to colors are glow froggy, black, and clear. We had some issues with the clear ones breaking apart. I tried contacting LJ with no success. I would imagine a CSR would be easier to raise over at Walker.