Gill-T

I guess I should have been more specific. If I am using a spoon such as an NK with a split ring, I put a barrel on the split ring.

Depends....If you are fishing Steelhead at high speeds, then a NK 28 with its stock split ring will allow for more spinning which is ok with the species. If you are fishing browns, you will be fishing slower with lighter line leaders. Fish will have more time to inspect your bait so have as little unnatural dangling and clanking off the end of the spoon the better. Target browns and the standard is a duolock snap to the lure to a lighter line leader to a small barrel swivel. Browns don't want spinning spoons but seem to prefer side-to-side waggling. Guys will go further increasing the darting snapping motion by adding a bigger treble or deepening the cup (bend) in the spoon.

Thanks for the replies. You answered my question about needing a big spread. I don't have the space to store anymore outdoor stuff and don't want to make the investment either.

Information confirms what we all have noticed.....adult Lake Trout are on the uptick. The south shore has a world-class Lake Trout fishery......they really need to paint a rosier picture in their assessment. I would love to take one of the biologists on staff working on the project fishing off Niagara County in March/April as they might change their negative vibe. Very difficult to evaluate the Lake Trout population in a lake as big and deep as Lake Ontario with the sampling methods and at the times of the year they are conducting the sampling.

Under $500...Hummingbird.

Finally the weather has allowed a good overhead shot. Looks like the river is still running muddy. Won't be long before Erie freezes and she clears. Looks like the Niagara flow has "normalized" out in the lake.

Get a Cabelas Visa card and earn points. You could end up with a free reel.

Browns and Lakers will be available to you. Kings and offshore steelhead will be hit or miss.

Depends what type of fishing your are doing... Casting jigs to Smallmouth.......spinning gear Casting in heavy wind...............spinning gear Casting light weight lures..........spinning gear Using light line...........................spinning gear Casting crankbaits/heavy stickbaits......baitcaster Casting/flipping around cover or docks....baitcaster Casting bait with a bobber...................baitcaster Vertical jigging spoons ...............baitcaster Using a Carolina rig.....................baitcaster Drifting 3-way rigs ..............baitcaster what did I leave out guys?

You had me at hello Paul....you had me at hello. All signed up.

$89,000 won't pay for the diesel to do anything, never mind splitting it up into bity pieces......as a taxpayer I would wish they would bank the money until the pot grows to do something more meaningful.

I think I would have tipped my hat to the dogs and said "you won today". Got to admire your tenacity thou.

Bingo....that is great advise.........or you could just use an otter boat and not worry about diving boards, freespooling kings etc. etc.

I have ZERO experience trolling a 600' copper.

Just like wire, it is always a good idea to let out your braid and reel it back in under tension so it lays on the spool tight with no binding. You can do this on the water with a 1 lb ball, a dipsy or at home at the local school sports field (attach a swivel to chainlink fence and walk 800' back...and crank it back in tight). If you rely on how the braid lays on the reel the first time you loaded it......you will be very disappointed.

Your bait on the 600' copper is 300' away from the bait on the 7 color. The only way they will get together is if the 600' Cu pulls over into the lure on the 7 color. Very possible for this to happen if you do it long enough.

F'cked up beyond any recognition. Isn't this site informative?

Most of the boats I know (esp. on the east end) in the summer are running only three long coppers at once. One on each side and a chute copper.

I am not making a commentary about if it can or can't be done with a small boat, rather if you had to untangle a mess in the back of the boat with a small vessel....it shuts everything down. God forbid you are untangling copper when another rod goes off. There is a big difference Paul.....and yes I fish out of my friend's 16' Polar Craft, my 23' boat, as well as some of the largest in the fleet. Maybe as part of the presentation Paul you could give suggestions on what best to do with a copper FUBAR at the LOTSA lecture as I am sure there is a trick to it. I look forward to the lecture. The original poster's questions are about using his otter boats.

I would keep in mind how big your boat is. Having the space and transom width of Paul's boat is one thing to run multiple junk lines. Having to untangle a FUBAR copper in the back of a Lund is an entirely different beast. I have an eight foot transom and limit myself to two junk lines per side Max. I use linecounters for my leadcore and have the exact distance to the lure figured and written on each reel. As others have said, the outer lines are run higher and further back. In the spring my 4 junk line spread is usually all leadcore. One side will have a five and seven color core, the other side will have an eight and a six color (run off Otter boats/double keel). So .....say the starboard side will have a five color with a set-back slightly longer than the seven color. Let out all the 5 color and then backing until I have gone at least 20' longer than the seven color+50' of backing in the water. The effect is two spoons running approx. 10' apart vertically and say 20' horizontally on the planer line. To reset the outside line back over the inside core....I take the inside core off the release and place in on a release on the other side of the boat temporarily or you can keep it down the shoot and temporarily send it down with a torpedo diver attached to an OR-16 to get it out of the way from your reset. Let out the higher core and send it out.....let it ride a little, then swap out the inside core back into its original position on the original side. This works the same for a leadcore on the outside/ copper on the inside - 4 junk line spread. Know your depths of the junk lines and know how far back the stuff is running and you will go tangle-free. If you are going to add divers to such a spread, I would recommend using Mag divers without a ring to power the diver rig deep and close to the transom so you are less likely to catch any falling junk lines.

Pull a piece of gasket out to look at the cross section design. You may find a match at suppliers like West Marine or take it to your local boat marina/repair shop and see if they can match it up. The stuff is expensive so get it right the first time.

Les, the DEC trailer they have now can fin clip the adipose fin and place a "tag" in the nose of the fish I imagine not dissimilar to dog microchips. Nothing is visible or impeding with those tags unless you feel like myself that shoving a piece of metal into the head of a fragile young fish has potential pitfalls.