Gill-T

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.

This video has got me thinking about the column of 44 degree water out deep....Hmmm http://www.bobstrophycharters.com/winte ... ishing.php

Mexico Bay and Sodus Bay come on first, but not far behind is the water from Olcott to the mouth of Niagara, the water around I-Bay and the Genesee outflow, then the Oak. Pick your poison. End of March thru April peak time. I am sure others will chime in with their take.

Best case scenario.....niners win in a good entertaining win, and Ray Lewis has his bad arm fall off making a tackle.

I would add also it depends on the spoon blank. I have light weight R&R blanks that have singles for running at slower speeds. My NK's I run for steelhead have trebles. I would have to say as a percentage I have killed more small fish with a single (brained) than a treble. The treble inflicts more "non-lethal mouth damage". You take the risk of killing a fish every time you put a lure down so I don't sweat it, I except it. For me it is about how I want the spoon to run.

Didn't see a link for rules. Has a decision been made about comunication vs no-comunication?

http://www.michigansportsman.com/Tips_n_Trix/Seeing.htm

Thank you to everyone who sent in a photo. Some truly great pictures of beast Atlantics! The pictures were submitted to the editor of GLA. Which pictures are used are at the discretion of the editor so we will all wait for the issue. Should be in either the March/April issue or the June/July edition.

Anybody who would like to potentially get their mug in GLA magazine email me your Atlantic Salmon photos. Thanks. email: [email protected]

Anyone have a lead on some birds on state land?

Mild winters......should be more birds. Scratchin' my head lately. Four trips for a total of maybe 15 hours of walking for a grand total of two flushes.......WTF. My dog has taken to chasing deer due to lack of action

30 lb green Trilene Big Game run clean to a flasher. For spoons I just add a small power swivel and a leader of 15 lb or 20 lb.