chowder

FLX , I do not know where White Rock is, Where did you launch from and how far up or down on the E or W side of the lake is it? We hammered fish up by AES down 30-80 in 240-300FOW on friday 9/5, shallow riggers and deep on the wire dipsies- chatruese spinnys w/ glow hammer and whitecrush smart fish w/ glow white fly. Had spoons on DRs orange/brown and natural killer worked best. Are the browns and LLs actually starting to stage in the south end?

You can run wire behind the boat using a large weight, that is what a thumper rig is. Each of these different presentations (copper, wire dipsy, downrigger, lead core, etc) has a different signature or personality if you will as it moves through the water, copper and lead core sometimes catch fish simply because the bait is presented so far away from the boat and the rest of the lines, it isn't strictly about depth is what I am trying to say.

JAX, who did you buy the unit from? Anybody know the steering configuration for the merc I/O in the Starcraft Islander?

What total length are you guys making the leader from dipsy to flasher?

I was hoping somebody could give me some idea of what it would cost/ involve to put the entry level Simrad autopilot (AP 15 ?) in a 90s Starcraft Islander w/ the Merc I/O.

Ray K, any words of wisdom?

I have been running 23-24" from treble on fly to the snap on flasher- is this standard for Kings or too long? I have been using this length for Howies and I was going to try some atomics with the tournament rigging. Also, whats a good choice for charging up glow flies/flashers, prefer something rechargeable or battery powered.

I have a 16.5' boat and I need to find the best real time weather/ wave conditions for Oswego/Mexico in order to decide on doing the 2 hr. drive. What is the best source for this information?

I like my blue diamond rods(have a pair of DR and roller dipsies) but one of the dipsy rod blanks has come loose and turns around the grip which makes bringing in a decent fish an interesting situation. To finish the season I have wrapped electrical tape around the reel seat and up around the grip. Has anybody else had this problem? The rod was new this spring.

I am not sure what you want to do with this rig but I was strongly encouraged to put 300 yds of backing on 1st (power pro 30#), then however many colors you need for your specific application. If you want to get a lot of colors on (8+), you need a big reel, shallower rigs you can get away with less.

Ray, is your revival procedure for real or is this another gag to see how gullible a green horn can be?

Nice fish! We were there yesterday and found the fishing hot as well. Our best Salmon of the year so far,and some big Lakers as well, tried to release most of the fish,brought home 3 big ones that just were not going to make it. The salmon was just short of 30",hit flasher/fly combo w/ 190' wire out over 320FOW. All our fish came from 20-70 down over 240-340. What is the best procedure for reviving fish, the smaller ones seem to do best unless they are gill hooked?

I use a-tom-mic's clear snubber, this snubber has a swivel in it and there is one in front of the flasher. A 6' leader would make landing fish easier, I have been using 8'+, maybe this is overkill?

Stinger, thanks for the advice. The swivels are the heavy duty Spro with the coastal lock, spindctrs come with this unit. I did just reread Keating's suggestions on rigging flashers in general and I noticed he made a point about the fact that any flasher will twist and stress the line in front of it and that sometimes you can have a break off there even without a fish on if you use less than 20#. I will try the Fireline, will 30# turn away fish? I have noticed that a longer leader between dipsy/flasher seems to trigger more strikes.

We sped up yesterday& got some nice rainbows. Had 2 real good ones on,1 on cheater/1 on main, that kept coming out of the water and finally 1 was on one side of the wire dipsy line & one on the other- lost both(heartbreaking, but I suppose thats why I like it!) Also lost a fine laker that parted the leader between Dipsy/ Spindctr, when I inspected this 20# FC it was very twisted feeling so I replaced the other one as well- is this common? I concentrated a lot on watching down speed and I have to say I am as confused as ever.Heading N, into the wind down speed seemed to lag behind surface, but heading S on west side down speed seemed at times to be almost even with surface- are there some rules of thumb for down speed as it relates to surface? I find myself distrusting the numbers. All in all a wonderful day on the water, today I will smoke the Lakers & Bows between chores.

Felix/Jayce, hope you had a good day on the lake. How close did the map on the GPS match up? If it was a good match which one is it? Anybody else got an opinion on the best map chip? I have a Lowrance 525, it does have a"high detail" Cayuga map, but it is pretty much useless(does not match sonar- sure does not show humps and shoals). It has nothing for Lake O.

I ran into the felixjayce crew at Meyers on Fri am, sounds like they were having a typical complicated vacation. We were going jigging but pointed out some landmarks and gave some last minute dipsy advice. Lakers were very aggresive around AES, as usual for this area it was an early bite.Browns were active on W. side , in and around bait stacks.

I have run up to 15 colors off church boards. Clip the board to the backing, if the pad is in good shape it will hold good- you don't want the board to release and slide down the lead core. Weeds are a big hassle to deal with, there is so much reeling ! Also you will probably have to figure out a strategy for letting out the core w/out getting fouled in your dipsy rigs.

Do you guys tend to go primarily with the down speed? I have a Fish Hawk 840 (I know, I should have gotten the depth raider) and down speed flutuates quite a bit, also sometimes down speed just seems unbelievable- how can I be at 2.0 down w/ a surface speed of 2.8, are the currents + side slip really enough to do this? I am guessing that I should believe down speed over all else, but if I am at 2.0 @60' down what speed are my baits @30, or doesn't that matter?

What are peoples thoughts on speed, I hate to beat a dead horse, but I am wondering if one reason we are not getting many browns,bows or LLs is that I have been running 1.8-2.0@ the ball/2.3-2.45 surface. This seems to snag lakers on the wire dipsy w/ flasher+fly combo almost one after another but I am hearing that I need to speed up to interest the other fish. What do you think?

My first season doing this, I am not sure where "Atwaters" is, got the rest of it ok.

58 Johnson, did you have the dog on board? I think we hauled our boats out at the same time @ Meyers, just wanted to say Hi and welcome to the board. I have the little Alumacraft with a grey bimini.

steady action on white smartfish/green fly on wire dipsy 190' out,240+FOW for Lakers , AES to long point and back down from Sheldrake to Rocky Dock, fish ranging from 26-33", smoker full, grill full , life is good! Trying to figure out how to target browns and the bow/LL combo- any good ideas appreciated.

What size or number Sutton spoons do I want- I found a couple of places to order them from, Thanks

Split, can you outline for us greenhorns this copper technique, it sounds like the type of spoon is key,where do you get Sutton spoons?