chowder

Well, my boat is finally ready... I am going to Cayuga tomorrow 4/18. I guess I am going to take Stingers advice and use 2 rods rigged with the baby dipsy divers. Last I heard chartreuse/orange was good . I think I have some smaller silver streaks in that pattern. Should I change depth or lure choice 1st and how long should I try either before making a change - should I make like a whole pass of the southern west shore down past the yacht club at varying distances out? I will probably try to get the short riggers out too-what lures can you run together- will spoons on the little dipsy rods be ok with small rapalas on the riggers or vice versa- Thanks everybody for putting up with my endless greenhorn questions.

I am not sure I understand all the implications of the stretch factor with mono.Will I get poor hooksets and diver action or what? I see the problem with spool capacity- I dont think I can get much over 180 yds of 30" ff on the reel - is this enough for the Finger lakes? Whats are the main things to be prepared for if I tried wire?

I am setting up a couple of dipsy rods (first trolling season for me) and I am not sure what to put on for line. I would like to be flea free so I figured I would put 300 yds of 30# flea flicker on these 9.5 med/heavy rods with the 27lc reels. Besides the fact that I wont get down quite as far with the ff line what are the other disadvantages to this approach. I am probably going to spend most of my time in the Finger lakes (Cayuga 1st) and I really dont feel like I want to deal with wire- I have enough other stuff to figure out.-Thanks for any advice.

Unless I install the Lowrance I wont have speed data, unless there is some other trick or guideline to follow. This crumby cold weather has kept me from working on the boat- should I wait till Ive gotten it installed?

I am trying to get organized for a first attempt at this salmon and trout trolling deal. I have more or less decided on the south end of Cayuga. Keeping in mind that I have never been out on this lake in a boat yet, what advice can you give me concerning lure choice, depth,and or any other practical issues? I think that I would probably be best off just trying to figure out 1 or 2 downriggers or maybe just 2 flatlines if this has much of a chance. I am not even going near the boards at this point. I am hoping to have the Lowrance 525c hooked up( it is replacing a cheap Eagle unit that probably came with the boat- it really doesnt show much more than bottom depth).Maybe I am better off using the simple sonar though, because there will probably be enough stuff going on for my small mind to begin with...

The question about using the walleye rods for trout and salmon made me question the way I have tried to set myself up for this (my first) trolling season. I am set up as follows: Trout/Salmon (4) 8.5 med rods with the 27lc reels spooled with 400 yds of 15# Stren High Impact. Walleye (4) 7.5 med rods with the 27lc reels spooled with 450 yds of 12# Stren High Impact. I figured that once I was comfortable with more than 2 rods per side ,the walleye rigs would work ok untill later in the summer, but now I am begining to think my line is too light all the way around.

How predictable is the dive depth of the slide diver- lite bite when used directionally to the side? Are these things awkward to bring in with a fish on? How far out to the side can you get and still get deep? What kind of rod strain do these rigs produce and what specs should a rod for using them have?

Hello,my name is Andy Bartlett.I own and manage a dairy farm in central NY.Last fall I bought a used 17' Alumacraft w/ 40hp Merc 4 stroke.My intention is to learn how to troll for lakers,browns,landlocks,and walleye in the fingerlakes. I have spent the winter trying to read what I can find about downriggers,planers,tackle, and the fish. I have installed 2 Cannon downriggers and a Lowrance 522 gps/sonar. I am hoping the 40hp Merc 4 stroke with a trolling plate will idle the boat along ok at slow trolling speeds. I am as green as it gets when it comes to all this stuff so I will probably ask you folks some pretty stupid questions. See ya.