Gill-T

Tighten your releases, make sure you gain slack line quick after a downrigger release, bow to the king on jumps, knuckle the star drag lighter when they turn and burn close to the boat, troll faster for reaction strikes without the chance to nip, sharp hooks, keep dipsy rods low to keep the diver and fish in the water - on jumps the dipsy acts like a counter-weight to dislodge the hook. On leadcore, copper, wire and braid no JERKY/ROD PUMPING, you will tear out the hooks-----slow and steady wins the race, don't try to net a hot fish....let them tire a little.

I think more deer are killed in the month of May than any other. If you drive thru Pennsylvania at that time of year it is astonishing at the amount of dead deer ( about every 2 miles). Usually they are does that are hit. Not sure if they get goofy when they are still carrying young (late droppers), or its the old expression " the grass is greener on the other side of the road", or if they are getting bit by bugs. Maybe because they are milk ladden they need supplements to their diet, like road salt.

Not sure what type of knot you are using, but there are some problems with light line tying to the large swivel on a dipsy. You can combat this by tying the leader to a smaller swivel and then snap that swivel to the large barrel swivel on the dipsy......this is nice because when you are done chasing browns, you can just unhook the whole leader and store it.....or what I like to do is tie a improved cinch knot, but wrap the line twice thru the barrel swivel before you start twisting, it will reduce the chance the knot will slip. Set drags light. Wire and braid have zero stretch. You should NOT be using anything rated at less than 20lbs for the MAIN line, otherwise you will loose dipsys.

I have mixed feelings. I am a avid bowhunter that had to put my time in to learn the trade and be successful. The learning curve and the joy of accomplishment would have been reduced had I started with a crossbow. However, what no bowhunter wants to discuss is bowhunting involves losing game animals due to poor shot placement, moving targets, those pesky twigs, buck fever etc. and anything that would help reduce the deer herd with a reduction in wounded animals should be considered. I might try a crossbow during gun season to fill my doe tags and keep the hill quieter ( to not run off the big guys).

Jerry, I think you are going to have a monster six point. Good deer to cull.

I would say 3.5 years old based solely on body size. A good one to let walk, should be a beauty in a couple of years! Looks like he will have lots of sticker points and may grow 11-12 points.

I got to agree with Shade somewhat on this one. Over the years I have met many Pro contestants and even consider them friends, however, I have NEVER asked where they are fishing, what they are using, or placed a call during a tournament about location of another boat. The reason I enjoy these tournaments is the chess game. For me it is matching wits with the fish with the current weather conditions and the time of year. I don't chase pro boats, because to me finding my own fish is SOOOOO much more rewarding. Live or die in the standings, I know the decisions made are mine and mine only.

Define what species you want to fish for, especially if you are running only two rods. Lakers are deeper, rainbow and landlocks higher and browns higher still. If you are dropping down to fish lakers, try a heavier downrigger weight and go deeper to the 80' level and beyond (80' good starting point). Lakers love the bottom, so try there. Try a little higher for the other trout species. You may be above active lakers and below active rainbows and browns. By targeting one species, you can put two rods in the preferred zone and cover water more effectively. Lure selection for each species is different as well, so by targeting one/two similar species your presentation will be consistent with proper running speed for the type of lure used.

What Tim means is........ he likes to use both holes

Kwickfill has non-ethanol american gas. When you go in, make sure you thank them for not putting ethanol in the gas, and explain that is the reason you chose that station.

For you Barcelona guys, I have never fished there. Do most fish to the west towards Erie? How is the trashfish situation? I spent an exhusting morning last Sunday off the Catt. cleaning perch and silver bass/white perch off the lines that it really took the fun out of fishing. Barcelona intrigues me because of the Laker, steelhead option. Hey, 1.5 mph wormharness speed is the same speed lakers like dodger and flies.

I just ordered their new DVD..."How to shake-off a shaker".

If they can't compete in Michigan, their pompass butts will probably be coming here to compete.

If you want to do silvers on the cheap. You can rent small boats with outboards in Valdeez. In August, just long-line troll large vibrax spinners or spoons near creek mouths and waterfall drops. The tides and wind effects on the upper layers makes trolling with dipsys and downriggers REALLY difficult, but you will be pleasantly suprised by the fish you can catch with surface lines. In the evening at Valdeez, or Seward, you can wade out from creek mouths and cast Vibrax spinners and kill Pinks, and Silvers. Try to find/or custom make the Vibrax with orange fur on the treble. Silvers LOVE their orange colors up there.

How high Mark? I usually have out mini-disks out 200' on braid (15'-20' down?) as my high lines, but have always wondered if a two-color core or deep diving crankbait fished clean might take some fish.

I have been wondering where all the walleye talk has been? I know there a lot of people fishing for them, and yet there is very little discussion on this forum. Come on walleye guys!!

Migration is Niagara then east towards Olcott in the spring. Then it seems they slide across to Canada in July, about the same time they start receiving upwellings with cold water tight to shore. Then some head east along the Canadian shore towards Scotch Bonnet and then further east. Some Canadian fish stay near their port of orgin and stage. Some come back around past Niagara and Stage along their stocking ports on the south shore with most going to the Oswego, Salmon river. Pen imprinting is real important to convince fish NOT to all go to the Salmon River.

I agree with the above comments, in that I would not deploy 400' of copper in 50' FOW, but would not hesitate in 100'. The methods used in the dive curve for the precision trolling guides were done on an inland lake with no currents, using a straight troll. There are huge variables not counted in the study that we experience in Lake O. NOBODY trolls in a straight line, so every time you make a waggle, copper on side you are turning towards, will drop. Take your copper down to the school football field and let it all out and see how frigin' long 400' is. Lots of variables working against it's length in Lake O. The variablility, rise and fall is probably what makes it effective.

Braid dipsys 135' back, wire dipsys 125' back with worm harnesses/pink blades. Had to clean WAY too many perch off the lines. One and done on brown fish, now back to fish that fight (now I sound like Slimyfish! )

More like 50' on a straight-no turn 2.5-3 mph troll. When you stall on a turn, the stuff drops quick and you will get zebra mussels on you lure in 100'.

The lense is all foggy because of the all the huffin' and puffin' realing in that fish Tim. Nice job on the king.

I use fireline #30 lb and DON'T have a problem. Not sure if it is the shape or wax coating, but I get less fleas on my braid than my wire. The difference being if I do get fleas, the roller tip on my wire rod cuts the fleas off nicely as I reel in, where as I have to use the "slap" technique to shake them off the braid.

Thanks for the report. I will be fishing off the catt. Friday and Sat.. Just hail Gill-T Hooker on 68 and I can tell you what is happening east of you.

I am a firm believer in the view of the spread has a lot to do with your success. Like Capt. Vince says " everything matters", for example the flashers/flies on the divers may be pulling fish away from the higher copper lines. How far back and how deep the dipsys and copper is running in relation to each other and the downrigs lines matters! I once saw some really cool underwater footage on In-Fisherman tv, where a diver was filming from a position deep under the water looking up at trolling rigs passing by. What I got from the footage was fish first see the downrig lures and orient themselves with the boat and start swimming in the direction the boat is traveling. Even fish deeper than the downrig lines, they slowly tracked them at a distance. These fish that are too far away to make a move on the downrig lines are the ones that you are targeting with the junk lines brining up the rear. It is important to know the whole picture. Ideally, you would want divers at AND below downrig lines. Copper, has been disputed about the actual depth it runs on a straight line troll, but from what the group that put out the "precision depth trolling guide" book dispute the 20' down for each 100' of copper......feeling the copper has a dimished return over length so by the time you get to 400', there is not much difference in depth achieved compared to 500' and 600'. In other words we are fishing higher with copper than we thought. Not a big deal, because fish come from "out of temp" all the time. But sometimes they are only biting in their preffered temps.......deeper than your copper is running. Maybe, in the middle of your troll you hit a band of higher cool water and now the copper starts hiting again. It is probably best to let the fish determine what they want.

No reason why you can't use only dipsys. I have every sized planing devise out there, including the deep six and double-deep six. If I were to devise a six rod spread for you involving no riggers. It would be a slide diver or leadcore or copper on the outside lines with the leadcore or copper needing in-line planer boards or big boards w/planer mast....to take those lines out WIDE and out of the way. You don't need boards for the slide divers. Middle lines would be size #1 dipsy with braid or wire set on a 3-3.5 setting. Inside dipsys would be a size #1 dipsy with braid or wire set on a .5 or 1 setting. You can't run two deep sixes out the back without tangles. The other option is a six rod all in-line planer leadcore or copper set up. You set the longer lines to the outside, working shorter on the inside lines.