Miss em

Got out for a couple hours this morning and had a nice steady pick. Thought is was going to be really hot when my first rod fired with two walleyes on it while I was setting the second rod. Rapalas and worm harnesses on the riggers and a Reef Runner back 150 on inline did the damage. 1.5 to 1.7 for speed and the East end of Shackleton Shoals was the hot spot in 20 to 25 fow. Tried out by the bouys but never touched anything over the deeper water.

Wire line knot the Fish Doctor and me. Probably been using it for 6-7 years, never a failure. His stuff get run lots with 15# weights.

If your gunwales are not sturdy enough you may have to go with a transom bar that spans from side to side. Other wise, run the riggers just angled off of the side of the boat, not a full 90 degrees to the side. That will help take some of the torque off of the gunwales.

Got out this morning just after 6. Made a long drift along the bouys by Shakelton in 30 to 35 fow with the worm harnesses out first and never touched a walleye. Finally got in to 20 to 25 fow at the East end of Shakelton and it was game on. Confusion and Clown harness blades were probably best and probably had a dozen or so walleyes hit in an hour or so. Finished off trolling plugs around the east end of Shakelton, headed towards the launch in 20 to 25 fow and it was REALLY game on. #9 and #11 perch Rapalas (new lighter color version) back 100, right down near the bottom were the ticket. Even landed 2 on one rod with the $1000 dollar cheater rig. Ended up boating 12 with only 2 shorts.

Sent you a PM Mortigan.

Here is a video of how we do it. http://www.fishdoctorcharters.com/videos/video8W.html

Here is a video showing the different rod tip actions with a Luhr Jensen dodger.

Here is my Traxtech setup on a 17 Mirrocraft. If it is anything you want to check out, I am just down in Tully.

I had a similar problem once I ended up having to replace the main leads from the battery to the starter. Very easy to troubleshoot, just unhook them and try a set of jumper cables in their place.

Got one 20 incher last night trolling. Hit a black/silver Husky Jerk. One tiger at dusk about 6-7 pounds. That moon was bright!

Yup, I'd say take a look at your carbs. Float isn't right.

I have the exact same motor on my 17 foot Mirrocraft and love it. Most of my use with it is drifting for walleyes at .8 to 1.2 mph. Set the auto pilot and the cruise and just fish. Anchor feature works well. Haven't used the record track feature. I get a ton of battery life at the speeds I use it at. Interstate battery.

Food for thought - A level wind reel will have optimum drag performance if the spool is full. Most 1000 foot sppols of wire will not fill a size 30, 47, or 320 level wind reel. We like to add 20# mono on the reel first, usually around 20 level wind passes, then connect the wire to the mono with a nail knot. (Video also on the Fish Doctor site) If you are filling two reels, you can fill one with the wire first, then the mono, then reverse everything onto the other reel. Watch the line counter or count the passes and you will know exactly how munch mono to load first on the 2nd reel to fill the spool.

Attached a photo for you.

DeRusto Flourescent Orange. Here is a photo for you.

I disconnected the VRO in a 110 OMC I had a few years back. Ran pre-mixed 93 Octane and Amsoil and never had a lick of problems with fouled plugs. One set of plugs would easily go all season.

Got out for the last couple hours of the day and did okay. Fire tiger Thunderstick, Tuxedo Stinger, Orange Crush Stinger, and black/orange smithwick took shots from Browns.

http://www.mudhole.com/Shop-Our-Catalog/Rubber The Fuji Gimbal Butt Caps are really heavy duty and probably have one there that would fit the bill. The GC 25 has a one inch diameter but they do stretch a bit.

I used 32 gallons in my 60 horse e-tec in all of 2011. I'm getting a kicker this year to try to cut down on my fuel usage in 2012.

Took Em and a first timer out today for some brown trout action in Mexico Bay. We got there at 11 and the parking lot looked like it was salmon season. First pass was in cloud cover with nothing doing. Started to get bites once the sun broke. Water was crystal clear and about 7 degrees warmer than it was last weekend. Fairly slow pick for the trip but ended up in double digits on bites. Except for 2 hits, everything was on 44 Suttons, hammered brass and silver.

Don't be afraid to run the Suttons (or Flutterdevles) off of the boards with a split shot 7-8 feet ahead of them. Add another split shot when it gets brighter. They work really well that way. Our first action on Sunday was a double- both fish picked out the 2 Suttons we had out of the 6 rods. Hit almost simultaneously too.

Here is some action from Mexico Bay today. Fairly steady pick for the few hours. Got pretty sporty at about 12. Emily joined is just after noon so we tried for a pike in the Little Salmon. Got a pretty decent one and by the time we got back to the lake it had laid down again. Unfortunately we were out of time. Be back up next weekend. Here is a video on how we clean a northern pike. I kind of blew it by not zooming in for the good part (getting the bones out), but maybe you can find something useful here. Just noticed that My clips were a little screwed up but you'll get the idea.

Around Oswego a lot of times our hottest brown rig is a cheater spoon on the rigger. Any rigger going any deeper than 10 feet gets one. Two hottest spoons are the brass orange crush stinger and small silver Silver Streak w/ orange tape. Doesn't necessarily need to be real dirty water either.

Check out the swing hook modification video as well Jammer. You might like the free swinging treble version. Seems to minimize the leaders getting jammed in the bend of the treble and has to increase fly action. All of our new rigs have been tied with these the last couople of seasons and no issues with hook-up rates whatsover.

Don't forget the deep water behind the motels. I've done well running stickbaits on the riggers in Feb. and March there. Just creep the boat upstream in the current. Can do the same thing in the shallower water on the west side just flat lining them. Browns seem to like the slightly upstream movement on the plugs. Fire tiger thunderstick was a good one to run.