rswanson330

I run sticks and spoons 75-100' behind the boat when I'm luck enough to get up there in April. Everything is off the board, I don't use the riggers. Tight to shore. I've had good years and not so good years. If you have clear skys and clear water you may need to run further behind the boat. Look for dirty water.

I run sticks and spoons 75-100' behind the boat when I'm luck enough to get up there in April. Everything is off the board, I don't use the riggers. Tight to shore. I've had good years and not so good years. If you have clear skys and clear water you may need to run further behind the boat. Look for dirty water.

If I recall correctly, the Big Jon installation manuals they recommend wiring directly to the battery or buss bar, Not a fuse panel. That's why I went straight to the battery. Everything else (except the planer boards) goes thru a couple distribution panels that I have wired in under the dash. I've attached the owners manual to this post. OwnersManualWeb.pdf

I replaced my manual downriggers with (used) Big Jon's last summer. They're wonderful. I also went electric with my planer boards, but that's not for this thread. You definitely want to keep the Big Jon's off the trolling motor circuit. Mixing 12/24 on the same circuit can't be doing you any good. I am running both downriggers on separate (isolated) 10ga circuits (Ankor Marine wire) off my cranking battery. The Big Jon's have a circuit breaker in them that should suffice, But I wanted to doubly insure so each circuit got a marine 30amp fuse incorporated into each circuit as well. I mounted tracks on each gunnel into which I slide the downriggers, And a properly rated plug for each rigger was installed into the gunnel as well. This way I can take the riggers off the boat when not in use.

Fished all day, 07:00-6:00. Four hits, One king around 15 lbs came to the boat. It was only a one day trip. Green was the color, got it on a green and white spoon. Oh yeah, Primarily stayed with the fleet in 80-140 foot of water, Salmon came from about 100', 80 down on the rigger... Doing the geometry with blowback, really about 72' down.

Good to hear that you caught fish. I'm headed up Wednesday for a couple days, Weather looks OK, maybe we'll be able to make something work.

Thanks!

Forgive my ignorance, most of my Lake O fishing has been for browns in the spring. But being retired now I'm considering making the trip up again. What is an "FF Bite"? Is that "Flasher/Fly"?

I found that putting it thru the (little) release flat works best, twisting it resulted in less "pops" when the fish actually takes the lure. I use Scotty Releases. You have to keep an eye on them, those cookie cutter browns have a tendency to hit and then just kind of hang on there, with the line still pinched in the release and very little discernable difference in the drag (line pull) where the release is coming off the planer line. I'm anxious to see what others have to offer, I've been doing this for quite a few years but I'm self taught and don't know what I don't know.

When I was up there a couple weeks ago we ran purple sticks off boards 150' behind the boat in 12-20'. We did best to the west of the plant, in the last hour of daylight. If you're fishing west of the plant, watch your chart... As you troll west the bottom comes up and you will run out of water before too long. I usually do well there if the water is stained, I feel that the easterly wind stacks bait up in the elbow before the plant.

Magog. My nephew and I were supposed to go up there this winter but the ice was sketchy. We fish for smelt on top of the sunken islands, driving out from the eastern launch. That's always a gas, and he will usually put up a tipup or two for lakers. Its a good smelt fishery. I've never fished it on the Canadian side, but it too is supposed to be a good salmon fishery after you get up north a bit and into some deeper water. That's where the steelhead are coming from in the once fabled Willoughby River steelhead run. A friend and I tried that a few years back (in Orleans, VT before the chute where they post the jumping fish pictures) but it was only a shadow of what it was back when VT used to stock steelhead for that springtime run. There were very few fishermen, and very few fish. But we did see a few going up the falls. I spend a bit of time near Lake Willoughby and may be dropping my boat in there as well now that I'm a retired old fart, that is supposed to be a good steelhead fishery as well. Anyhow, good luck this summer. One thing I do know, the striped bass stack up in the mouth of the CT River in May/June gorging on alwives, and that's always fun.

Hi Doc, I retired out of UConn and know the place well. The landlocks we will be fishing for are swimming around in the First Connecticut Lake in upstate New Hampshire. The Connecticut Lakes and Lake Frances are the headwaters of the Connecticut River. Up there the river is a fine boulder strewn tailwater stream 75-150' wide. Fly fishing for trout is the game in the river, Trolling for landlocks and other salmonids is the game in the lakes. Connecticut does stock landlocks, but not (in my opinion) in anything resembling a good fishery. There are a handful of lakes that receive landlocks and broodstock, and they release broodstock in a couple rivers, But I've never targeted them. I tried centerpin on the float down the Salmon River on Monday and was frustrated and fascinated, If I ever decide to target the broodstock in the rivers, that's the way I'll go. Quabbin Reservoir, about 80 miles north, is a thriving landlock and salmonid fishery which I used to fish somewhat frequently, But they imposed severe restrictions in an effort to keep zebra mussels out of the Boston water supply, And that just made it so it didn't make sense for me to fish it any more. But it is a beautiful fishery. Essentially, they sanitize your boat and affix the boat to the trailer with a wire and tag. If the wire or tag have been fussed with, you don't launch. After you launch in Quabbin, DCR puts a new tag on your boat before you leave so you can come back. But that means you don't fish anywhere other than Quabbin, and that just doesn't work for me. And last but not least, Connecticut does have a very fishable kokanee fishery in two northwest lakes. I intend to try them again this year, I haven't fished them in decades. Have fun out there, and stay safe.

Boat goes back to the shop tomorrow. I called the shop owner on the way home to CT and when he asked me how I was doing, I told him I should be fishing. He thought I was fooling around. Then I explained and he kind of got the picture. I really should have been fishing. So, I'll have to pull another shakedown cruise someplace large before going for landlocks in the First CT Lake in early May. Maybe I'll come back up to Lake O for a day, long ride though. Have fun up there guys!!!

Fished out of Mexico Tuesday after a drift trip on Monday. Everything that could go wrong did, starting with a dead battery (Two years old with a fresh charge) Finally headed out about 1:00 and the kicker was running like poop. We headed west, the waves were building, whitecaps everywhere. The plan was to get behind the bluffs and see how it was in there, it wasn't bad. We kept the big motor running as well just in case there was another reason that the battery was dead... a short or something maybe. The big motor died, setting off an alarm so we turned around, pulled the boards and headed for port. I tried the big motor after a little bit and it fired up and ran without alarms, So we ran it to the point of the blufs. It was fine, so we backtracked and trolled off the ailing kicker back up along the inside, out of the wind and waves, picking up one brown. The waves and wind laid down so we took it around the front of the plant, nothing happening there. We got the the west side of the plant in about 16' of water around 5:45 and picked up five browns in the next hour, lost one at the boat. It got crossed up in one of the other lines and just messed itself and everything else up... then it left. Purple sticks were the ticket, 2 mph, 12-18'. We picked up at 6:40 and blasted back to the Mexico launch, Half way back an alarm started beeping, four beeps then silent for a while, four beeps and silent, The sun was down and we weren't coming in at the 2.3mph max speed of the kicker, so we came in on the big motor praying all the way. It got more persistent when we got to the launch, no warning lights lit though. We pulled the boat and it will go back to the shop when we get home (everything just had major service). Did I mention that the ABS in my truck started going nuts too? Just had that serviced too.

I have a 2000 Lund Tyee 1950. Its a great boat, but it will go back to the factory later this summer for a new transom. The wood inside the transom is rotted, and so are the aluminum panels that wrap it. I fish salt water somewhat frequently (I'm in CT). I STRONGLY suggest making sure that whatever you get, the filler inside the transom is COMPOSITE, not wood. That's what mine will be after it comes home from Minnisota. And, if I had to do it again, I'd probably go with a Hewescraft (they are made in Washington I believe). They are all over the northwest (you don't see any fiberlass out there), And are beautiful and rugged, I fished a charted on one and fell in love (it was probably 30' or so though). But, my Lund does what I ask it to, so I'm not changing (to the tune of beaucoup dollars).