chowder

I was heading out on a jigging run & saw ya getting ready for your Sunday trip. Your guys must have been pretty happy w/ that Sat. Trip Saw Rollie on my way in & pestered him on the radio for a bit. -Andy

After extracting a series of earwigs from the Merc's cooling exhaust port in my little 165 Alumacraft we cruised up to the point just short of AES where I hammered the lakers in 60-70FOW but had trouble explaining the technique to my buddy Fred. Boat control got tough and began to complicate the jigging so we crossed the lake & I got into them again a bit north of Tee Pee point in 70-80FOW. My buddy Fred who has not done a lot of fishing was having a tough time with the baitcasting rigs so I set him up w/ a spinning rod spooled w/ 12lb polypro w/ a 8lb test FC leader. I wasn't to sure how well the spinning rig was going to work for jigging but a few minutes later Fred was able to get a nice 9lb laker to the boat after a couple of really good runs. After a few more lakers , we decided we were hungry & thirsty so we motored up to Kidders and had a great lunch while watching a big Silverton trying to dock during which the first mate fell into the water between the boat and the wharf. Fred bolted down & helped the woman get out from between the piling and the hull. The owners shook it off after tying up & bought Fred a drink so all was well! Kind of an interesting and different day on Cayuga today. Well, brought home some sweet corn and a few fish for the grill so I better fire that baby up! See ya, -Andy

That's ridiculously reckless boat use on the part of the other boater! Hope they catch up w/ that dude & hope your shorts came clean in the wash. -Andy

Mark, good to see the new rig is at home in the Fingers HM we use the Scotty Power grips for copper & core out on the boards (remember; only clip to the power pro- never the lead or the copper)

The probe works nice w/ the 15lb torpedo I use the 13lbers on my other riggers & things seem to balance out better & less BB than when I had a 13 on the probe.

Have shot both & can't say I see any difference.

Good going! -Andy

Hey Chris, I'm looking forward to checking this stuff out. -Andy

Green horn here, gonna try & get educated for a walleye mission on Erie. Need to learn a whole new language I guess! Anyway, I'm hoping to give things a go Sun 7/30 thru Wens 8/3. Need info on stuff like how far out to go, down speed, depth of baits,etc I got a fair amount of experience using inlines (Church) and big boards, snap weights,slide divers, riggers & core. Got stingers/stix /cranks - (No clue on crawler harness stuff, need major help on this if this is the way to go) I'll be staying in Lockport,NY and trailering down to Dunkirk/Barcelona w/ my Starcraft Islander. I have the Fishing Chip in my Lowrance Global Map 5200 GPS. Any Help is appreciated! Thanks, -Andy

Me and my crew really appreciate the congrats guys but once again let's all give the biggest round of applause to Scott & Barney who so selflessly put so much into all these tournaments that we have so much fun at all year long. Here's a toast to you

I'm gonna copy a reply I made to some one asking what the 'right temp to look for was' that I made last week w/ a couple add ons cuz I think it would be useful for guys looking at getting their first speed & temp unit and there seems to be a lot of interest in this right now. Here's my 2 cents: Speed & temp units are great but let's all remember that we are not fundamentally looking for the 'right temp' or the 'right speed' but rather we are looking to hook up fish. A couple examples will help clarify what I'm saying: On Tues 7/19 we took Kings,cohos, and browns on Ontario in 60-65 degree water. All these fish were 'out of temp' for mid summer except maybe the browns and the Kings were mature adults 27-30lbs. Marked very, very few fish that day so I fished the bait and once the pattern was established we just worked the water where the fish were coming from using down speed to help us fish both East & West trolls w/ current at the same productive speed at the ball and just ignored the temp side of the equation. On Sunday 7/24 we caught big lakers & salmon on Cayuga down in cold water (43-47) down 90'+ over 300-400FOW. On this outing we did use the temp side of the equation as well as down speed once we had the pattern established. I like to get as much info about my fishing grounds as possible (down temp, structure, water clarity etc) but the most important thing to find out is where the 'active' fish are and what kind of presentation and down speed is gonna get em to go. Here's my advice for what it's worth ,which is probably not a lot, but anyway; 1.)Get some down temp & down speed technology & play around with it and learn the basic temp parameters for the fish you are chasing. 2.)When you start fishing just get the probe rigger down, raise & lower your probe rigger while you're looking at the sonar screen and see if you can establish ;a.) do you have fish and or bait on the sonar. b.) do you have temps that fish like if you don't have bait and or fish. 3.) If you have bait & fish prioritize your spread towards that zone & don't focus too hard on the temp (speed is probably gonna be more important) but keep a line or so above and below where you are marking fish too (remember you haven't gotten any yet so you really don't know where the 'active' fish are!) If you don't at least have bait n temp, it might pay to look elsewhere. 4.) If you do at least have bait and temp then troll at an avg speed (2.0-2.5 surface or so) & do a zig zag troll and see if you can get the fish to go. A zig zag tells you a lot cuz outside lines are relatively faster & inside lines are relatively slower.Change speed up and then down, make sure you are giving them a balance of spoons and FFs and if you still can't get em to go then start changing colors,etc. In summary: A speed n' temp(snt) unit can be a fun toy but finding the actual pattern that catches fish is obviously the real goal cuz that makes a fishing trip a bit more fun! The snt is just another tool. Have a good time, -Andy

I'd get a depth raider if $ is tighter/X-4 if not (got both in separate boats; pros & cons to each) I'm gonna copy a reply to a similar post that I made last week w/ a couple add ons cuz I think it would be useful for guys looking a getting their first speed & temp unit. Speed & temp units are great but let's all remember that we are not fundamentally looking for the 'right temp' or the 'right speed' but rather we are looking to hook up fish. A couple examples will help clarify what I'm saying: On Tues 7/19 we took Kings,cohos, and browns in 60-65 degree water. All these fish were out of temp except maybe the browns and the Kings were mature adults 27-30lbs. Marked very, very few fish that day so I fished the bait and once the pattern was established we just worked the water where the fish were coming from using down speed to help us fish both East & West trolls w/ current at the same productive speed at the ball. On Sunday 7/24 we caught big lakers & salmon on Cayuga down in cold water (43-47) down 90'+ over 300-400FOW. On this outing we did use the temp side of the equation as well as down speed once we had the pattern established. I like to get as much info about my fishing grounds as possible (down temp, structure, water clarity etc) but the most important thing to find out is where the 'active'fish are and what down speed is gonna get em to go. Here's my advice for what it's worth ,which is probably not a lot, but anyway; 1.)Get some down temp & down speed technology & play around with it and learn the basic temp parameters for the fish you are chasing. 2.)When you start fishing just get the probe rigger down, raise & lower your probe rigger while you're looking at the sonar screen and see if you can establish ;a.) do you have fish and or bait on the sonar. b.) do you have temps that fish like if you don't have bait and or fish. 3.) If you have bait & fish prioritize your spread towards that zone & don't focus too hard on the temp (speed is probably gonna be more important) but keep a line or so above and below where you are marking fish too (remember you haven't gotten any yet so you really don't know where the 'active' fish are!) 4.) Stay at an avg speed (2.0-2.5 surface or so) & do a zig zag troll and see if you can get the fish to go. A zig zag tells you a lot cuz outside lines are relatively faster & inside lines are relatively slower.Change speed up and then down if you still can't get em to go and then start changing colors,etc. In summary: A speed n' temp(snt) unit can be a fun toy but finding the actual pattern that catches fish is obviously the real goal. The snt is just another tool.

Do a search back thru the FLX forum for posts on jigging. I and others have made some very detailed posts about the technique and tackle that is required. -Andy Again, this technique has been honed to perfection on the FLX for years now . On the FLX we've had plenty of 20+ fish days, mostly lakers but browns respond well too w/ an occasional Atlantic. Do a LOU search, tons of good, practical info right here or get in touch w/ John Gaulke if you want an expert tutorial at http://www.fingerlakesanglingzone.com/

Do a search back thru the FLX forum for posts on jigging. I and others have made some very detailed posts about the technique and tackle that is required. -Andy

I cook a lot of Seneca lakers that way in the winter, glad you enjoyed it Ed! -Andy

Really good looking steaks you got there Stan! -Andy

A great read as usual! Good to see the father & son program creating more memories! -Andy P.S. We gonna chase Waldo now or is the plumber worn out?

Nice finish & WTG on that big old nasty looking laker! -Andy

Big smile,nice fish, happy wife, you got it all man! -Andy

Had the pleasure of fishing Cayuga with Tom (tcon) and his son Dustin on Cayuga today.We had a good time busting on each other and working together to put a bunch of nice fish in the box. We found a lot of active fish from the plant on north about 1.5 miles in 200 to 400 FOW. Hottest rig was the 92' rigger w/ FF combos. Mag wire divers out 200-250 also took a bunch of fish w/ FFs. Only one fish came off the boards on a 400' copper but it was a real slob. Thanks again for a great time guys & hopefully we can get together out on Hemlock some time. -Andy P.S. As always a big thank you to Splitshot for all the work on the derby, and also want to thank Sean & Jason for helping us get thru the zoo at the launch, much obliged guys!

Sounds good, might be back in Lockport at the end of the week! -Andy

Great pic of the youngster and congrats on the 'work' (maybe we could move the LOU-ALL a little further north?) -Andy

You earned those fish man! Nice going & thanks for the sweet shark pics! -Andy

Couple great pics there of people enjoying fish! That's what it's all about!

On Tues 7/19 we took Kings,cohos, and browns in 60-65 degree water. All these fish were out of temp except maybe the browns and the Kings were mature adults 27-30lbs(we did get a couple lakers down in the cold water but that's to be expected). Marked very few fish so I fished the bait and once the pattern was established we just worked the water where the fish were coming from. I like to get as much info about my fishing grounds as possible (down temp, structure, water clarity etc) but the most important thing to find out is where the fish are and what down speed is gonna get em to go. Here's my advice for what it's worth ,which is probably not a lot, but anyway; 1.)Get some down temp & down speed technology & play around with it 2.)When you start fishing just get the probe rigger down, raise & lower your probe rigger while you're looking at the sonar screen and see if you can establish ;a.) do you have fish and or bait on the sonar. b.) do you have temps that fish like if you don't have bait and or fish. 3.) If you have bait & fish prioritize your spread towards that zone & don't focus too hard on the temp (speed is probably gonna be more important) but keep a line or so above and below where you are marking fish too (remember you haven't gotten any yet so you really don't know where the 'active' fish are!) 4.) Stay at an avg speed (2.5 surface or so) & do a zig zag troll and see if you can get the fish to go. A zig zag tells you a lot cuz outside lines are relatively faster & inside lines are relatively slower.Change speed up and then down if you still can't get em to go and then start changing colors,etc.