JBoock

Starcraft Islander. It's a great boat!!

mid-October

I could not have said it any better!!! Jay

pillars of the bridge anytime of the day

Does anyone know the outcome of the Canandaigua Derby? I had to work all weekend. Jay

Congratulations Mike what a beautiful baby!!! Nothing beats fishing with your children. Jay

Thanks for the update

Chad, Where did the Christmas lights go? There is nothing better during the holiday season then to relieve stress by breaking things. I love breaking those lights it wouldn't be Christmas without them. I guess I'll have to wait to next year for my annual therapy. Merry Christmas!!! I hope everyone at LOU has a safe and happy holiday season. See you on the water next year. Jay

Misty IV, I have a 1995 Starcraft Islander 221V with a 4.3 Lx and I use Mobil one 15w50 synthetic oil. I found that it was easier to start in cold weather with the synthetic oil. I used the merc 25w-40 oil for one season and I think it is probably ok if you use your boat in May/June but if you use it in late March early April you will not have to crank so long before the oil will flow to kick on the fuel. The only bad thing about this oil is the price at $8.00 per quart. Jay

DF, I would agree with Pike Hunter. It is worth the peace of mind to have it professionally done especially if you are unsure of your own abilities. If you want to see how it is done go to the West Marine web site and search for winterization. They have have a checklist and a pretty good video on what to expect when you start this project. Jay

I called Cabelas and talked with their product specialist. It took me 20 minutes to explain to them on what page of their catalog I was looking at( the product number did not work in their computers). I explained to them that the product was on sale, but they couldn't find it on sale in their computers. It's not a big deal I thought I'd give them a try. Cabelas used to have a great web site. This new site is horrible!!. Thanks for all your help and I'll see you on the water. Jay

Doozer, I looked online at Cabelas and I couldn't find the Kokanee Killer signature series. Where on the site did you find them? I would like to try them on Canandaigua Lake this fall before the snow falls. Thanks for the information and your time. Jay

Doozer, nice job today with such tough conditions. I also fished the northwest side caught 10lb laker, 2lb laker, and a tiny smallmouth bass on white/green dot flasher with hypnotist fly 225 out on a walker deeper diver. I fished mostly in 120 to 150 fow. I did mark fish in close but I figured they were smallmouths, my mistake. I hit nothing on spoons and with all the waves pitching us everywhere I had the biggest mess with the copper, leadcore, and dipsies when the boat pitched sideways. I marked a lot of fish. This is the most fish I’ve marked on this lake in a long time. I think it’s going to be a good fall for fishing. Jay

I've used snubbers with success both on the Finger Lakes and on LO. For you guys that don't use them do you use mono leaders off the dipsey? I've used floro. for leader material. If I used mono could I remove the snubber? I'm still new at my wire dipsey setups and i'm just a little confused since everyone does something different. Jay

Flxtroutman It's good to see you back on the water. I've been out a couple of times this year and found that most of the fish are still on the south end down deep. I've caught most of my fish on dipseys on spin doctor and flies out 280/300 ft out on braid in 150/200 feet of water. Downriggers are slow. I still haven't seen any decent bait pods.I can't wait to the North end picks up it really sucks traveling the whole lake to find fish. Good luck with your copper set up this year I think I'll give it a try this year. See you on the Lake. Jay

Has anyone ever had success using the back hole(slow troll .5-1.5mph) when pulling spin doctors? I know at the LOTSA seminar Best Chance TOO stated that they used this back hole, I just have never had any success using it. I have also used the less action side of the flasher for the fly. Has anyone ever had success changing up the action of fly? Thanks.

I have had success on LO and on the Finger Lakes using Big Jon Mini divers setting them out , then running them deeper off the downrigger. I always thought of it as an walleye technique but it works great on every kind of fish. I have since removed my downriggers on the sides of my boat and replaced them with wire and braid dipsey divers. They are easier to set up and you'll catch more fish using dipsey divers then you will with this downrigger technique. Purchase some Walker 107/124 divers and watch the fish come in. Jay

Went out on Canandaigua Lake with my son for the first time this year. Started north worked our way south.Did not show any bait pods or any large fish in the north. Worked Vine Valley area 100-240 ft .No bait pods but lots and lots of fish down deep. Water temp on the surface was 41.6. and very calm. Fished two hours went 2/2. Caught all fish on spin doctor and fly out 250ft on a dipsey diver(walker 107). No hits on spoons. Had a great time!!! Jay

Do you usually run spoons behind the Grease Trap or are you using Bait? How long of a leader are you using? What color grease trap have you had success with? Sorry for all the questions just found this device interesting on BW web site. Thanks. Jay

Chris I just spooled the 19 strand wire on some 47 reels with no problem. You have to keep a lot of tension on the wire while spooling or that wire will start having problems. I have nothing but tape for backing. All 1000 ft will fit. I read on the GLA web site(LOU is a far superior site for information) that if you contact Torpedo directly that they will take care of you. It will save you forty dollars!!! Jay

Chowder I set the tension on the drag so that it is the same as when I was letting it out. What I've been doing is using an off shore release on the wire so that when it releases it allowes the fish to have as much as he needs before I start to bring it back in. (I thought I saw that on this Forum earlier this year). I do use a snubber on my Dipseys and I use the 124/107 divers from Walker. This is only my third year fishing for salmon/trout. I used to be a walleye guy before Mongo introduced me to my first King salmon. Twenty-five thousand dollars later(or more) here I am. I appreciate your help Thanks. Jay

Flxtroutman Most of the flies I use on the finger lakes are from Big Weenie and A-tom-ic. I'm always trying new things to try to get some kind of advantage The other day I was using an Bechhold & Son big Kahunas and fishcattcher trolling fly down 240 ft down on wire. The fish hit and just stayed down. We could not gain anything on it for what seemed like an eternity. We started to gain on the fish after Mongo started encouraging the fish to come to the boat (before we lost it). I guess I'll just use my a-tom-ic flies and have some patience. It was encouraging to catch fish on Canandaigua with flasher/flies. Most of our success had been with suttons and meat. Thanks Jay

How do you fight fish on wire dipsey divers? I've heard so many differnt opinions I'm just confused now. Do you point the rod at the fish? Do you sit down to fight them? Do you fight them like a mono downrigger rod? I'm currently using 10 foot Eagle claw rod with Daiwa reel and 1000 feet of wire. Yesterday was the first day I used them on the finger lakes, lost nice fish. Can you horse them in by pumping the rod or should you just be gentle like your walleye fishing. Many questions no answers. Thanks for your help.

Jason I just purchased a few vibrator flies. How do you rig them for use on the finger lakes? Do you use the the hole for more or less action? (The first or second hole of the vibrator head) Thanks. Jay