Gill-T

If you run them, don't put extensions off them of wire or mono, just attach the attractor item (grub body, willow-leaf blade, or spoon) to the eye on the spreader bar and you will have less tangle issues. I didn't like the blow back or weight of the rigs. Pop-eye charters I think run a similar rig called a six-pack ( I think).....similar with fish shaped spoons without hooks. I would think if you attached an umbrella rig to the back of a downrigger weight and ran a release 6-8' above with a deep diving stickbait back 20' the bait would settle in behind the rig and stay out of the mess. Blow back will be an issue. I have had downrig hits on mature fish that went straight down.....you will have a serious FUBAR if that happens. Good luck with it......just not for me.

I tried them this past spring. They were a pain in the arse to say the least. I used willow leaf blades on mine. The problems are tipping, tangling, and netting. Not worth the effort IMO.

I have noticed large yachts mooring overnight in the back area at Wilson, near the state launch. Mostly Canadian vessels staying the night before heading back to Toronto. Is this legal? I am wondering in case there are no slips for the Pro/Am....instead of having to re-launch each morning.

That would be awkward as a stacker. You would have to have the release already on the downrigger wire, and then hold it with you hand as you release the ball down until you hit the desired spread from the main line, and then grap two toothpicks and jam them in the holes......all while bouncing in waves? There must be a better way.

Blacks..."once you go black you never go back" because you will never get the false releases like you do with a pad style release, and you don't need a rubber band to see a shaker.....trust me I am the shaker king! I only wish they made a stacker release. I use Roemer for a stacker, but I do get false releases and the metal clip will chaffe the line fairly quick.

Even Friday night after the Captain's meeting? Most boats go out friday before the morning.

Nope, catch and release. Points deducted for dead fish esp. with large holes in them.

Come on Tim are you up for a little Carping ie. "poor man's salmon" ?

That second photo is a terrific picture of the hydrodyamics of the Niagara plume. At the head of the Plume you can see the well demarcated drop off past the red can shown as the blue water line intersecting the head of the plume and then the resulting reverse eddy north of that line that swings back towards the Canadian side. When you take speed readings on your down and temp monitors you will notice the difference inside the eastward plume vs the eddy north of the drop. You will see the difference in the downrigger cable angle as well. Two different water qualities in the summer between the two areas. When the eastward plume is too warm and debris ridden, the eddy will be cooler without the debris.

What I had in mind for the guys staying over for the Pro/Ams is having a little Carp contest. Rules would include a $25 entry fee. Biggest carp takes the pot. Great activity from dusk til 10 pm before the serious card playing starts. We will have to start a thread on best carp baits Blueboy korn kernals vs Delmonte. Great way to spend a summer evening on the dock or back of the boat in the slip with a rod in one hand (insert joke here) and a beer in the other.

We were off Weller for most of the ELSO derby last year. The US side was a huge disapointment last year because of old man winter hanging on too long. I sware the seasons have shifted one month. Thank god the boom is out already.

Sorry, IMO leadcore and copper kill the fight of the fish. I love to see that rod snap up with a rigger release and have nothing but the weight of the fish to feel. It was not an option, but, my favorite is hooking a king off the piers in the fall while casting. To feel that slam when a mature nails your spoon in the dark is nothing short of orgasmic.....sorry for the visual.

I did well last spring at the bar on 3.25" smaller spoons clean or with a flasher. Most of the Kings were teenagers last year so smaller baits seemed to do better. Now, thinking ahead to this year.....all those teenagers are going to be MATURES, with plenty of them remembering the painful experience of biting a spoon. I think we will have a good plug or flasher/fly bite this spring if logic holds. Then again, fish have the brain size of a pea and I may be over-thinking it.

Hot n'tots and reef runners work. Try throwing them down the chute ( off the back). I will often send these back on a light action spinning outfit with 8# test and set it in a rod holder on my hardtop. Will catch anything from cohos, and browns in the spring close to shore or even smallmouth and sheephead in the summer.

I have a Bayliner trophy that I purchased used four years ago. The boat came with marine carpet installed over textured fiberglass. The carpet was "non-slip" as intended, however, the carpet smelled of fish by June. My wife was not pleased! I also had to fight the adhesive failing along the edges over time. This made the boat look unkept. I decided to pull up the carpeting over the summer. WHAT A PAIN IN THE ARSE!!! The adhesive is very tenacious to say the least. Each little anti-slip groove in the fiberglass had to instrumented for gross adhesive removal, followed by stinky Acetone wiping. I am going to apply a non-skid paint this spring. DON'T put carpet over fiberglass if you ever intend to sell the boat. I think it will decrease the value of the boat, and if you ever had to replace the carpet.....a pain in the arse is in your future. On the interlocking matts...I looked at those to. My main concern is they will still be slippery when wet, and they will scratch the floor gel coat through micromovement. You certainly don't want to cover any floor hatches you need to store stuff in either. You could try just using a wet towel where people stand to rig or fight fish. Dollar store towels. When you net a fish, just place the fish on the wet towel and the slime stays off the fiberglass. Hang the towel over the side, ring and replace if needed.

When I put my new block in my 305 I/O, I used regular oil for the break in season. I have since used synthetic and have found the same thing....the oil looks as clean as the day it was put in! My plan to save money on oil is to drain one quart out at the start of the season and replace with one new quart before start up. My thinking is compared to a car....we don't put the miles or time on our oil with our boats each year....so why change it if is not needed? By adding one quart to the upper engine compartment before start up I may be protecting the upper engine when the key is first turned in the spring. I am also running the synthetic in my trolling motor. No problems reported.

I am just here to help Tom.

How about Tampax to plug the hole in your boat?

NK Purple hologram glow, and an orange-crush-ladderback on a silver NK

Leave the ring, and attach just a barrell swivel ( no clasp, usually Spro-SOLID ring). Your knots will be stronger, you get the anti-twist feature of a bearing swivel and you don't have to worry about a clasp opening up. Changing lures is done by back up rods. If your hot spoon is going cold, line up your back up rods with different spoons and replace in mass. I have a wacked out theroy that ball bearings spinning around produce a small electric charge that fish can sense as something alive.......just a theroy.

Usually, six rod spread. Two braid lines off the Otter Boats, two dipsys, two riggers. If I can add rods, a deep six down the chute, maybe a stacked rigger rod, maybe two fixed sliders...it depends how fast the action is and the wave height. I love rigging, but the guys in the boat like it simple esp. when the fish are biting. This year, I am diving into the copper game.

#14. All the flashabou glitter pieces that spring up when you cut them to length land on your face.....your buddies will worry about you, but your daughter will think you look cool.

They work, but they don't spin as freely as standard clevises. How big is your boat? I know the walleye in your area head out into the main lake as the summer progresses. Out near the islands towards the St. Lawrence river entrance the fish suspend.

The Black has huge fish that can be caught at night in the fall casting stickbaits like rattling rougues or thundersticks from the bank. Can't help you with trolling in the river although in the spring I have heard there is good fishing off the points near the mouth with crankbaits and spinner-worm harnesses.

It all depends on the body of water. Where are you fishing?