GAMBLER

I got the chance to hunt the depot six years ago. To say they stick out like a spot light is an understatement. I could see multiple white deer walking through very dense brush like the brush was not even there. The regular brown whitetails that were walking with them were unseen until they walked out of the brush. They would be decimated if they were in the wild.

The problem with coated cable is it only allows you to run the probe on that rigger. With the Fishhawk X4, you can run it on any rigger on the boat.

I might be all set. I will let you know.

I will take the Big Jon rod holder for $40.00 if you still have it. Let me know.

Not what I'm looking for. I need the rod holder and the small track that comes with it.

There is way too much food in that lake. The dink gills and perch in the lake make for a lot of competition! I hope we are not done for the season on Honeoye. I have a bad feeling...... The forecast after Wednesday looks OK but that could change. I would stay up north and have your buddy come join you Kevin.

I'm looking for two in the Silver finish in good shape.

I think you will be able to use a boat by Thursday Les. Not looking good. The weatherman said record warmth on Wednesday with wind and rain......

Spudded my way out to the trench from the east side today. Shore ice was far from stellar but the main lake ice was good. 3-3.5" of black ice. 33 keeper perch came home. Tips downs and tip ups were a waste of time. Jigging was fast and furious. Lots of dinks with keepers mixed in.

About fifteen or so years ago there was a hill billy bragging in the bait shop down there that he was dumping pike from conesus in there because he was sick of catching so many small bass.

There was a bigger one caught on the North end a couple seasons ago. The pic was on Iceshanty. I believe it was 42" long. Very nice pike for sure.

I keep bottom contact and raise it up 3-5'. I always keep dropping them to make sure I'm close to bottom. If my ball is dragging bottom, I raise the rigger up 3-5', I'm not far off the bottom. With my graph zoomed on the bottom, I will mark arches that the top off the arch is level with the ball. I do not run a probe that close to the bottom. I run a third rigger with a probe off the bottom that is clean (no rod). At the speeds I run, blow back is not an issue. The cable angle is next to nothing unless there is a ton of current. I run mostly .8 - 1.8 ball speed. I run 12lb weights. I don't have any pictures of what I'm talking about. This summer I can get you one.

20' deeper? When laker fishing, I keep my rigger weights within 3' of the bottom ( I keep dropping the ball and make bottom contact) and mark the top of the arches level with the rigger ball. There is no way the fish can be 20' below the ball.

Cannon changed the pulley to a new design that keeps that from happening. I don't have any issues dropping and raising in small increments.

You can't go wrong with either. I have been using cannons for a long time. I just replaced my old Cannon Mag 20's after 13 years of abuse. I spend a lot of time fishing lakers in 100+ fow on the bottom. They were great riggers for years. I upgraded to the mag 10 stx cannons and love them.

The ice was 4" on the south end today. Not far north of the boat launch the main lake was 2" according to the guy next to me. There were some nut jobs that ventured to the trench on scary ice. No thanks.... We stayed in the gill water and caught a bunch but a lot of small ones.

If you are going to buy the Smart troll for $800.00 just to hook it to any rigger, it is a waste. You can do the same thing with the X4d for less money. If you want the versatility to put it on a copper or diver, it might be worth the risk. To me, sh*t happens and the chance of a wire or copper break is way higher than losing a rigger probe.

Fish Hawk X4 or X4D.