Gill-T

Chas, that time of year those were prob. Cohos not steelies.

Drift the tail-out in front of the green can. Bottom comes up quick from deep water to 12'. Bring your baits up as you come up the shelf. Three-way rigs with a lead pencil weight minnow or quickfish. On the minnow I run a cheater hook in the tail of the bait. These fish have been caught before and often know how to nip a bait off a hook.

God willing I will be drifting for lakers. Conditions will be right with light S winds. The south launch is usable. The north launch is too shallow.

Hawks are all over the 90 thruway the last few weeks which is typical timing for their migration north. I don't anticipate an early spring. I will hold to my traditional time of the full moon at the end of March before I start thinking about fishing the piers or shoreline trolling.

I don't think the fish compare the color differentials between paddle and fly, but I like to match the two because I am trying to find a color pattern for the day. If I start taking fish on a yellow/glow paddle and a hammer fly, I might key on the yellow and throw out some yellow NBK spoons as well.

Guys on Lake Michigan run them. They have a following.

Hard to teach people not to rush a fish towards the boat before they are tired and on top of the water increasing the chances of a wrap around a rigger. I always set the drag light on the initial run to get fish way out and tired to avoid trouble at the transom during netting.

Thanks for posting as the move by the netter to lift the fish to the surface could be the tip of the year! Great idea.

Hey Vlad, you and Lenok coming down for the LOTSA event?

I would add the Downrigger weight is acting like a "fullback" and reducing the drag in it's wake allowing for the flasher to do it's thing less inhibited.

I think there is more smell with emeralds than you think. I started messing around with them last year. I was fishing off the pier at Olcott and kept getting my spoon "tapped" by nipping fish. Frustrated, I grabbed an emerald and broke up pieces and put it on my treble.......next cast Coho. Bare hook....nothing. Loaded hook......more Cohos. That got my attention.

Brian, cheaper and easier still is to just add an emerald shiner to the hook. Fresh meat that is easy to find in bait stores. I just drain a bag of them and throw 'em in salt.

Niagara County in April. Fish 50-100' FOW. Brainless stupid easy fishing. Spoons, dodgers/flies, flasher/flies, cowbells, jig and minnow etc.....it doesn't matter just go slow.

no

Tim, you and I can agree to disagree on this one. I would pay double what I paid for my otter boats and still not think I paid too much. Yes, they NEED modifying. Yes, they store like crap. So much of the way I run my programs would not be possible with standard collapsable or even inline boards. I can count on my hand the number of calm days on Lake O per year. I have my otters out from splash down in March (god willing) til I put her to bed for the season in October EVERY time out on the water.

Matt, I am sure if I committed to it I could get it to work. A square peg in a round hole.....I try to fit meat into my other programs and you really can't do that and be successfull. Let me know if you and John are coming over and we could hook up.

Since fishing was so good this year, better to post what didn't work. Leading the way as it has for every year I have tried it........meat. Can't catch a friggin' thing on it. Try it every year and every year I wonder why I spend money on a pack of herring when I catch fish just fine on spoons and flies.

Don't know weight, but it is 1/2 the weight of a full keel.

For colored water

You are not an outcast. Not everyone can speak to the technical info you request. In the end you got some real pros ("Matthew" is mister Torpedo Diver and Capt Scott aka "Silver Fox") responding to your questions so I would say you got some top notch advise in a timely fashion from this site. Welcome, there are no outcasts.

The theory of the "haze" of the thermocline makes it easier for us to fool fish into biting is interesting, but I think there is more to it. The thermocline is a layer of water with high O2 content. Fish are more likely to be active in a higher O2 environment. Remember the first Wilson Invitational? A few days of east winds followed by two days of dead-nut no wind and you have a recipe for lethargic fish in O2 poor water. That is why the winning team won the tournament trolling the mouth of the Niagara. The thermocline is structure. Most of the ecology and food web takes place at the thermocline or above it.....therefore baitfish and the predators that eat them HAVE to play around it if they want to survive. Keep posting stuff....we all need these discussions at least until March.

Seen plenty of Fishers in Allegany Co. where they have been stocked and protected. Could be adding to the nest raiding population. Lots of Coyote sign also. May be behavioral changes to the increasing ground predation as I have been coming across more pine tree birds that act like spruce grouse and don't flush.