RodBuster

Thanks Ray, looks like I'm good to go. I'll be trying out my new Honda 8 HP as well. Sounds like DeJAVU. But I ended up buying mine over in Little Genesee at Glen Delong's. I got it end of last year but them my big motor quit so I didn't get to use it. If i get anything I'll post a report.

Can anyone tell me if the launch at Sodus is open. Planning a trip for Friday/Saturday. Thanks!!

I'm no paypal expert but here is what I know. if you get a paypal account you can use it to buy things, and it will charge your credit card, which is on file. Or you can use money that you build up in your paypal accounbt to buy other things. I use mine on Ebay. When soemone pays me, I get in my paypal account and then the money is transfered to my bank checking account. It is a secure trasnfer, and it sometimes is insured. I would suggest you go on ebay and look up paypal. I found it pretty simple to get started. BTW, their is a fee everytime you do a transaction. So, if I get a payment from an Ebay item I sold, a small amount is deducted.

Legacy, it brought back good memories when i first started fishing in LO out of my 17' Sea Nymph. It was so easy to get to the water and fish. Not much worry about getting stuck at the launch, worrying about crashing on icey roads on the way there etc. I told my friend that owns the boat that catching a handful right out of the back gave me as much pleasure as catching 20 with the boards and all that rigging that goes with it.

Not much going on in the way of reports, so i thought I would get the blood flowing for the upcoming season. My buddies and i couldn't take cabin fever any longer so we ventured to Sodus in his 16 foot crestliner. Small enough to get there quick, and increase our odds of actually being able to launch the boat vs my 21 footer. The coast guard launch was mostly open, with only a few big chunks which we pushed out of the way. We hit the water about 7:30. I looked at the water temperature reading, and was suprised to see it was only 32.3 degrees. i had hoped for something a little warmer. We set up just short of Maxwell ,and headed west. He doesn't have boards, so we just flatlined three rods. The water looked pretty good, bit i had hoped for as little more mud from the monsoon last week. We trolled over to Maxwell, and it wasn't running neasrly as good as i thought. Not even a half degree temp rise, and no color. We trolled over to Boulder, and a rod went off, but we missed. Soon we hooked up. Nice 5 pound brown. We picked away at few of them, all in one small area. Ended up getting 6 browns and one rainbow. Nice day. All on Rapala F9 black silver and rainbow. One interresting thing that I had not seen before. if you are familiar with Boulder, it is a steep, brushy bank on the east face. Well , we were fishing right there after we found a pocket of fish. About 1 PM we noticed a whitetail, laying about half way up the bank, watching us the whole day! Never moved.

Thanks for the replies. It gave us enough confidnece that we could get to the water. See my report in the reprt section.

Anyone know if the coast guard launch at sodus is free of ice? Thanks!!

The problem I see with a dipsey straight back is the interfrence if you get a hit on one of your riggers. Seems like that line would be in the way, and you wouldn't want to bring it in everytime you have a fish on another setup. I use lead core. If i want to get real deep I fasten a weight (even up to a pound ) where the lead core meats the leader. I use about 50 feet of mono as a leader, and back the leadcore with superbraid. If you get a hit on another rod, just move it to one side or the other accordingly. I call it the widow maker. Not really the most sporty of setups, but it does get fish.

Make sure the rods are stiff enough. Two reasons. 1. it must be stiff enough to trip the diver from the boat. 2. When sending them out off to the side the stiffer rod will allow you better control of the dipsey until it gets past your out downrigger. Nothing worse than a lure and dipsey wrapping up on your downrigger cable.

Ray, We need to hook up sometime. i was by Seneca today and saw two trollers just outside the wall. Looked good out there.

I'm definitely not into pickin' fleas so I guess I'll stick with the wire!!

I never thought of the fleas. After your responses I was thinking about superbraid thick enough to avoid the flea problem. I did a little research: 30 pound Trilene Big Game seems to resist fleas, it is .56mm diameter. 150 pound downrigger cable is about .6858mm. 150 pound Power Pro braid is .5588mm diameter. Seems the 150 braid would work to resisit fleas while providing adequate stength and not increasing blowback. I may have to give it a try. Any more thoughts would be appreciated.

I wondered how this would work. I see Canon is advertising Stainless spools so superbraids can be used. Is it necessary to have a metallic spool? What size superbraid? I always wonder if that high pitched whine off the cables is a help or not. I bet the superbraids wouldn't whine.

How far behind the ball were you running? If your leads are long, the fish are coming up, looking at the weight, and headed away before the lure arrives. I have had good luck with real short leads when this is happening.

I launch at some pretty shallow launches, so I may be better of with rollers.

I think you were fishing the same lake i was............... looked like the spanish armada over by the red can didn't it.

time for an new trailer. i have been looking at aluminum I beam type. Any opinions on these? Also, i have a roller trailer now and wonderred about the bunk type. boat is 21 ft Crestliner. Thanks for any input.

saturday AM it was calm to start. We decided to pick on the lakers first and started off with all four roads going off. We picked away at them and it started to get choppy. We thought about going to the red can for some salmon, but it ddin't look too good out there. We counted 53 boats and it was not laying down. The radio reports didn't sound too great. So, we stayed by the green can. It was a steady pick all day, albeit lakers. Sunday we went to the red can and set up beyond. it was already choppy. As we got closer to the red can we began to mark a good number of fish. They didn't seem to be too active. We bounced around til around 11 AM then went in, hoping it would lay down. Monday was calm again, and we headed for the red can. Pretty many boats out for a weekday. It was pretty crowded by the can, but the fish were there. I would call it a very slow pick. We laned a few nice kings and a few small ones. Biggest was 18# For the lakers near the green can it was any color spoon, with the best being a watermelon, and a homade magnum size two tone green behind a dipsey. The kings were hitting purple and also a few bites on free sliders with silver/orange 28's. Not the best fishing i have seen. I think the east wind has them messed up. Good luck to all.

To the bar saturday through Monday. I'll let you know how it goes.

I am trying to decide where to go tomorrow. Sodus or the Oak. Sodus is closer ,but i wondered if there is any good colored water. Thanks

Only one small problem with using those ramps further in the bay that day.....the bay was still frozen. At this time of year if you want to fish sodus the only option is the USCG launch. Even with the ice and busted transducer, it was still a great day of fishing. I couldn't get out this weekend but i sure wanted to. Any reports from Sodus? I may head back up mid week.

I launched at the ramp next to the USCG station. yes it is scary. In fact the middle of the ramp has a hump. My crossmemeber in the front of the trailer was hitting it after the weight of the boat was on it.I had to back off(possibly when the transducer got knocked off) and reposiiton the trailer. Anyone with a larger boat stay all the way to the port side when relaoding. Two years ago i sheared off the bolt in my cross meember, probably 5/8 or 3/4.

Thanks Fishstix. I'll keep those things in mind. I want to do it right the first time.

Try Pledge. i don't know if it will get the tough stuff off ,but for general cleaning it workds real good.

Good news about the lampreys. I only saw one mark on all the fish we caught Saturday. It is encouraging.