capt ace

Our rule of thumb is if it ain't broke, then don't fix it!!! If we have rods going and even if we have just one rod going all the time, the only thing we change is the rod that's the farthest away from the hot rod to see if it's the item or the position. Sometimes it's the items around the hot item that are making it go. If you are going to make a change make sure you remember where you were in case your spread goes dead.

There are days when you can get every rod to go, but there are a lot more days when you can't. It really comes down to what the fish want on any given day and it's our job to feed it to them the way they like it!!!!

I tie an overhand loop knot on the end of the fly leader. When using a spinnie without a dualock(stock out of the package) I just halfhitch the loop through the swivel that comes with the spinnie. This halfhitch is the same way that a treble is hooked on the back of a LJ J-plug harness. When using the dualocks I just clip the loop inside the dualock.

Bazooka Joe, I've run them both ways with and without the clip(duallock snap) on the backs of spinnies and e-chips which come with them. On the spinnies adding a snap makes it much easier to swap out flies when looking for a hot combo. I have not seen a big enough difference in terms of bites with or without the snaps, but it sure is a bit esier to swap out flies with the snaps.

Check out the Attomik website, especially the section where he has already made combos for sale.Most if not all of these combos were field tested at one time or another.

Some of the all time studs include a white spinny with a hammer fly. A green e-chip with a green glow fly. These two will make it into my program or begin as starters. Everyday can and sometimes is different on the lake and it helps to have an assortment of attractor flies to run. If you experiment enough based upon a program with studs in it, you will most likely come up with a few killer item combos of your own.

Good luck on the lake.

LOL Blue yuks rock!!!!! Just ask perk.

I have been using Berts ratchet rod holders for several seasons primarily as my dipsey rod holders. The newer designs are a lot more bullet proof than the older models. The company is reel good about replacing any holders that I have had problems with for no charge. The biggest problem I had with the older models is that they wouldn't stay in the vertical array. Not a problem at all with the newer models.

What I like about them the best is that using the ratchet feature, my clients can get the rod vertical and then out of the rod holder with ease. A lot of my clients are hands on and like to go for the rods themselves. I 've had kids able to ratchet up the rod in the holder and get the rod out to fight the fish. As many of you know, getting the dipsy rod out of a fixed horizontal holder with a screeming king on is no easy task and requires a lot of strentgh and time to get the rod out to a verticle position, especially for the inexperienced. I have had instances where a dipsy took off during a double or a triple and all I had to do was reach over and lift up the berts to a verticle postion. If I had to I could just leave it there until someone could get to it and take the rod out. Of course the drag has to be set correctly. I also have Big Jons on my christmas trees. I did have one loosen up (the bolt inside) but was able to tighten it up with no further issues.

I highly recommend the Bert's for dipsy applications and the big jons for more of a fixed type of application like board rods.

DM-DD-90M 9' Med. 12-30 2 C Dipsey/Diver from Cabelas I have had good luck with these rods for copper applications. The have metal eyes and are large enough so that the splices do not hang up.

Green Chip

White chip

White green dot spinny

White Spinny

Green glow Attomik

Hammer/Hammer Glow Attomik

Ace Fly/ (modified B-Fly)Attomik

Ultra white glow Attomik

What and when to run them depends on temps, sky conditions, time of day, time of year, and apparutus just to name a few of the parameters!

I'm sure if Tom writes his book there will be many words dedicated to this very subject!

Hi Tom, thanks for the compliment. After a year's hiatus do to the process of getting a divorce, I will be returning to the big pond to persue my dream of becoming a full time charter captain. Maybe divorce is part of it being an occupational hazard. Anyways, I am sold on the idea of fully submersing the copper all the way into the water so both of the ends are fully below the surface. On numerous occasions, over several years, I have seen rods go off when I have simply let out a few more feet of backing to get all the copper into the water. Most of the time my copper rods are fished deep in the ice. Maybe on occasion there could have been a fish following it when I let more line out and then hit it, but I don't think it happens everytime do to the fish following.I have noticed that fish tend to hit presentations on the rise, like when releasing riggers and letting them float up, or jigging shute rods.

Electrolosis happens when you have electrodes, like both ends of the copper section,completly submersed in an electrolyte solution, like the lake itself. It's my beleif that ions from the copper are emitted into the water and do draw fish in. Salmon have amazing electronic receptors and are drawn to the ions emitted. There is evidence to support that Salmon navigate to some degree by following magnetic fields.

Can you catch fish with copper rigs not fully submersed? Absolutly, I've done it and seen it done,especially in shallower water. Do I prefer to have all my copper burried, even off the big boards? You betcha and it usually has your flies being pulled behind it,too.

One of our members backed out on us for the upcoming Scotty tournament out of St. Catharines. We have three members and are looking for a fourth. Our team name is East Coast Boys/Attomik and we will be fishing out of a 2009 Baha GLE 277. Our members include Lester Zimmerman from Team Sparks who won the Amateur division out of Oswego last year during the Pro-Am as well as Mike Girard and myself,Capt. Jimmy Samia aka Capt. Ace from the Cortland Machine/Attomik Pro-Am team from last year. We finished 4th in Niagra, 8th in Orleans, 2nd in the Best of the West and 7th lakewide in the Pro Division.

Applicants will need a valid passport and Canadian/US fishing license. We expect to practice at least two days prior to the event. Applicants will be expected to share in all expenses including gas,entry fees,and lodging(two to a room) if necessary. Everyone is on their own for meals.

Interested applicants should e-mail me with their phone number and best time to call. I will be contacting them starting Thurs. of this week.

Please, only serious fisherman with a desire to win, apply.

e-mail to [email protected]

Capt. Jimmy Samia

www.acecharters.com

Hey Guys, Sharkman has informed me of a contest to name the new 25lb sharks that will be coming out soon. Here are the details!

Contestants can enter as many times as they like; all entries must be sent to [email protected]

The winner will be selected on April 4, 2009. In case of duplicate entries, the first one received will count. The winner will get one 25 pound____________Shark in their choice of colors; chrome, sapphire, or black.

We will publish the list of entries on our site www.sharkcannonballs.com The winning name will be decided by the Shark staff based on how cool it sounds. May the best name win.

Good luck,

Capt. Jimmy Samia

www.acecharters.com

As long as it's not pulling on the weight itself, I would think that it would be O.K., especially with the heavier weight. I've never tried it that way, though.

Jon Emory from Ledgendary Products has posted a few videos of recent tests that were conducted with his new Dipsy Diver product. Check out these two links to see the unique action created by this revolutionary new product.

Jon's new diver retro fit will allow a diver to be set,unset, and reset without having to reel it back in. These after market kits will fit Luhr Jensen and Walker divers. We will be field testing them extensively in the next couple of months. Stay tuned as this concept will make diver fishing easier than it has ever been before.

Capt. Jimmy Samia

http://www.acecharters.com

It is my personal opinion at this time that the Shark downrigger weights are the absolute best tracking weight on the market and have been since their inception. They run true without any tuning. One word of caution, besides dropping it on your toe LOL, it is not advisable to attach a release to the rigger weight itself as it can affect it's tracking ability. I use an inline Black's or Dubro. Any release that attaches to the rigger cable would be O.K. to use. There were some earlier Sharks that had holes drilled into the back fin on top. Guys were attaching leash type releases (Scotty's for example) to the hole. This was causing the Sharks to walk and not track as true as they are capable of when the rigger rods were loaded up.

I just received word today from the Sharkman that do to popular demand, Shark downrigger weights will be manufacturing 25lb Shark weights. These are designed to be run with the Big Jon Brute ES downriggers produced by Big Jon's John Williams with design input from Capt. Mark Chmura. As many of you may know, Capt. Mark let the cat out of the bag about way deep fishing for kings in a past article in GLA. Sharkman new of this deep fishing phenominon before it became public and we discussed the making of bigger sharks to meet the challenges of fishing down into the abyss. After polling many of the Lake Ontario Capt's invovled in the tournament circut, it was decided to start with the 20lb Sharks as most of the riggers manufactured could handle that kind of weight. Capt. Chmura stated in his article that he was running some proto type Stinger weights that were in the 25lb range.

Past experience has taught me that heavier weights have less blowback and that slimmer profile weights have less drag.I have been after Sharkman to make me some 25lb Sharks that I could use with my new Brute ES Downriggers that are going on to my Charter Boat this spring. He promised me that he would do this for me. Well, the time has come. 25lb Sharks have now become a reality and will soon be going into full production. There is a special introdutory offer being extended to Charter Capt's and GLA board members who own Brute ES's and would like to purchase them. Below is copy of the E-mail that I received from the Sharkman.

"To all you Brutes out there; to everyone who went out and bought the Big John Brute downriggers or are thinking about it; this is your moment of truth. You bought the wickedest rigger ever made, the Brutes are able to haul 25 pounds of lead; are you? Shark Cannonballs is ready to create the ultimate Shark weight, we are looking for a few serious anglers out there to step up to the plate and help get things rolling. We delivered the 20 pound Mega Shark as promised, we are now offering the same introductory deal on the 25 pounder to the first captains that are willing to place an advance order. Contact us at [email protected] for details on this offer. The introductory price will be $85 each plus $15 for shipping. The big Shark will cost at least $115 later in the season."

Guys, if I didn't use and believe in Shark Downrigger weights, there would be no way that I would ever post this.

Capt. Jimmy Samia

www.acecharters.com

Last year on the east end, the temps were up on a lot of the days. It's possible that you may have been fishing below the fish, I know I was until a buddy of mine helped me figure it out. When the temps are down only 40-50ft or so, you would be surprised to how much wire you have to let out to achieve depth. It wasn't as much as I used to think! I would suggest that you try going into shallower water, like 50ft or so and see how much wire you need to let out until you "tick" bottom at the speed you like to troll at with your equipment. Note your dipsey setting. The reason I'm recommending you to try it yourself is because everybody's set-up is different. Reel size,type,etc. makes a difference. How full your spools are makes a difference. What pound test you use makes a difference,too! You may even find variances from reel to reel due to line counter inaccuracies. On certain days you really have to be dialed in to get your dipsey bites. A few feet difference can sometimes make a huge difference in your dipsey bites.

Legacy's listing of who has the right of way is correct. There is also another rule that states that you must take evasive maneuver to avoid collision. There are also horn signals that are to be used to when overtaking or passing vessels to state your intentions and horn signals to answer that you got it. I havn't seen to many boat operaters, if any employ this rule of navigation.

Love my Sharks! I have been using them for several years. I would be lost with out them.

Hey guys, just wanted to give everybody a heads up on the new Mega Sharks. The first weights have been cast and came out of the molds last night. They are looking good and will be sent off to be powder coated and finished. I'm guessing they should be showing up by the end of Feb. to those that have ordered them. Sharkman e-mailed me this morning with the news and I could sense the exitement in his text. Can't wait to see them and more importantly, can't wait to put them way down deep for KINGS!

Thanks Deisel, thats great!

Diesel, how do you get the viewer to show on the post like you did instead of the link?

Thanks.

Last time I was up at Fat Nancy's they had 12/15lb Sharks in stock. If your up that way you can pick them up in person and save yourself shipping costs out of Canada.

Hey guys, I'd like to chime in on this one. Last year in an article in GLA magazine Capt. Mark Chamura let the cat out of the bag on way deep trolling for kings. He was instrumental in design help with the Big John Brute ES's downriggers which can handle weights up to 25lb.s Thats right,25lbs. Capt. Mark was using 24/25lb weights made for him by Michigan Stinger. The Stinger weights are up there in price, too. I think the shark design is more streemlined and will track with less blowback, all weights being equal. 20lb./20lb.

Ed Dzenis, "The Sharkman", and I have discussed in length the need for these Mega Sharks. I really wanted him to make them in 25lb size for the Brute Es's but as you guys know the majority of the riggers made today are only rated to handle 20lbs. max. Those riggers being the new Cannon's and the Scotty electrics. I'm not sure but I think the Vectors can handle the 20lb load as well.

Capt. Mark's rigger weights were chartreuse in color. Sharkman is sending me faceted blue/chrome 20lber's for now. Blue and silver are the last 2 colors to fade out as you go deeper in the water column. Besides making noise, the facets allow the sharks to cut through the water with less bowblack. Read the article on his website with reference to the golf ball dimples. Down 250ft. or more with "o" light I want all the attention I can call to my presentations and the facets should help. I know these weights are higher priced than plain round balls, but there really is a lot work that goes into making them what they are. Material costs have come down some, but these weights have expensive stainless steel in them, too.

Sharkman has promised me that he will make 25lb Sharks in the future, once he gets the 20lber's up and running. Can't wait to go down deep after those Kings when the situation presents its self.

After day one we found ourselves in 11th place in the pro division. There was only a few points separating us from getting higher up into the top ten. As others have mentioned it was difficult to keep the smaller fish off. Day one we dropped three majors. The second day our plan was to box out regardless of size and hope that if we got into majors we could end up netting them. As luck would have it we got stuck on 7 fish as we dropped the next five bites. At that point we were begging for skippies. The next fish was just that. We had 4 majors in the box and just wanted to box out. We dropped the next fish which was a monster and everyone on the boat was stressing big time. We then doubled on the wires and dropped both of them. Then our luck finally changed and we ended up getting the fish we needed, one anxious moment at a time. When we boxed the last fish you couldn't have found any more guys more relieved . We ended up in 4th place over all. Not too bad for our first derby.

Attomik flies , Silver Streak and Stingers did the damage.

Cortland Machine/Attomik

Capt. Jimmy Samia

www.acecharters.com

Here's my set-up. I did use a black's on this one. The dubros is easier as it can be done after the assembly. I only strip about an inch of cable where the SNT attaches to the cable. If you notive I attached a snap swivel above a scotty pin to stop the safety leash from sliding down if I should lose the rigger ball. I attach the safety leash to the snap swivel. I use a clincher on the bottom and do not strip the cable. Just make sure to use a new clincher and to pull the clip in tight. I've never had one slip, although if the weight snagged bottom it should slip. Above the Snt probe and above the blacks are two scotty pins to stop the blacks from sliding up. These are adjustable for height above the ball and or probe.