chowder

Hey Bob, it's a whole lot better thinking about you out in 6 footers than in a dressing gown! Here's to you for showing us all how to get back on track and live life to the fullest P.S. What's the bluegrass schedule looking like?-Andy

Mike, I wish I had a picture of me, Ray K, MuskyBob, and Schools Out (Nick) trying to get Ray's boat up on plane last year at Olcott, now that baby needed some tabs allright! I'm going to eventually get Hank at L&M to put a Tab system in it , but I'm trying to ride out the year in 'low rent' style. See you on the water sometime!-Andy P.S. How did the big steering/AP project come out?

Greg's program is spot on. I'd be happy to take a run in your ride & see if I can get you 'dialed in' on Cayuga w/ your own stuff, or you can take a spin w/ me sometime. Take Greg's advice, and get set up w/ a pair of wire dipsy diver combos b4 you put too much more time in, they have a bit of a learning curve but it's time very well worth spending. Simplest solution is to get a pair assembled by A-TOM-MIK. http://www.atommiktrollingflies.com/dip ... _combo.htm I'd go w/ the Daiwa combo unless you just hit the in the ground...-Andy

I ran into this last year and I thought I had the problem solved but, IT'S BACK! I've been fishing Ontario lately (fished the FLX spring/early summer) and now that I'm consistently running my probe rigger below 70' I'm seeing 'skinned' off coating and now I can't get readings below 90' due to lost signal ( bare wire). I've used electrical tape b4 to deal w/ minor scoring down by the probe but these are sections 2-3" long. This problem either occurs starting at this point in the season- or only when my probe rigger is used a lot below 70' down. Has any body successfully 'doctored' up their cable with this kind of extensive skinning on it? What did you use and how long did the 'fix' last? Long term it seems like an X4 is the solution (budget constraints make this option unfeasible at the present time) -Andy

Sounds like a heck of a great father & son adventure. A story to tell & retell, and a far more valuable experience than finishing in the money. Congratulations on achieving one of life's most coveted moments! -Andy

Hey mjb 377, Just use a 'Slide Diver'. Slide Divers allow you to have a leader as long as you want.When it trips it 'slides' back to a bead that is just in front of a short (2') leader that goes to your flasher or spoon. I have several sets of these for different purposes and use them instead of regular dipsy divers. http://www.slidediver.com/cart/home.php Also, for any of you guys that are interested in running a long leader behind short lead cores to make them more versatile, you may want to consider 'Snap weight'. http://www.offshoretackle.com/weights.htm They are easy to remove from the line (I usually attach them to the backing). When you have a fish on , or to change out , you just remove the snap weight and continiue on w/ the business at hand- much simpler than trying to wind a long leader around your hand (don't even try the hand wrapping trick w/ a Chinook!) -Andy

Sounds like a great time! I think we're in the same boat- trying to figure out what's up with the matures! -Andy

And a really helpful guy too!

Greg,I'm far from an expert and I don't want to start a controversy but, my experiences w/ my 400' copper tell me that 2.5 gps speed it runs at around 80' down w/ a DW reg size spoon and a bit less w/ an 8" spinnie/fly. My 600' copper picks up Zs in less than 100 FOW (have not pinned it down any closer than that & not planning too either).-Andy

58 Johnson's putting you in the right spots for sure, drop shot works good on those Skinny bronze backs too!

I have put so much gear + kicker in the stern section of my little Islander that she's pointing up quite a bit. I'm thinking 150-200Lbs of sandbags placed low as far up as I can get? Thanks, -Andy

Welcome aboard! Lots of FLX info on the FLX forum. See you on the water!

'All Seasons', across the street from Fat Nancy's in Pulaski.

How about a bit more detail? From the statement above I take it you generally run 2 riggers at 35 and 50 down w/ 3" spoons and 2 Lead core rigs. I'm not sure what you mean by saying "2 lead core 200 feet". You will not get down 200' deep with any amount of core, especially with a flasher on it, because the flasher makes the core kind of float up. Tell us how many colors or feet of lead core you are letting out -you will get about 5' down for every 30' of core you have out. After 12-13 colors though the stuff won't get you down much further because it 'blows back' up. Just off hand I'd suggest you consider the idea of getting setup with 1 or 2 wire dipsy diver rigs and run the flasher/flies off them. Then you could put spoons on those cores and run them off to the sides off inline boards. You might also want to run one of your spoon riggers down past the thermocline, like 60-70' or so. We could probably help a bit more if you could tell us what depth water you are trolling in, what species you are most interested in targeting and approximately what your surface speed is. -Andy

Good talking to you out there Chris! I did re find the band of 45 deg water @ 160-170 FOW on the way in from 250' and got another 25" King in there on a diver + a couple more Steelies up above him in that same band of water. Here's something, but I'm not sure it means much; Kings were all packed w/ what appeared to be partially digested alewives & the Steelies all had basically zero stomach contents.-Andy

Tell us what kind of program you are running (2 wire divers, 2 riggers,etc & what kind of lures & what depths you are fishing, over how much water & what speeds you are trolling at). Once we know what you are doing we can give you specific advice.

Congrats Mr & Mrs! That's a humdinger!

I use the big Scotty releases pulled out to the 'extra' tension position for coppers off my Auroralite big boards. These boards pull really hard and I have very few false releases. Occasionally in real rough water my 500' & 600' will pull out if I'm hauling the the big paddles.

Yeah, I run a 2' leader after the bead as well.

Deep line to the inside but be bloody careful, multiple cores/coppers off the same side planer line can be a recipe for some major issues!

Super job Glen! Thanks for the pics.

Jeez guys, I'm a bass fisherman. Oh, and I've got a sailboat too. -Andy

Sure looks like the Kaho. I got pretty close to it a couple times last summer.

Outstanding fish! You got the big one with the pressure on, NICE JOB! -Andy

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s):7/12 Time on Water:8-11 Weather/Temp:hot Wind Speed/Direction:SW Waves: 2'+ Surface Temp: Location:Port Bay/Sodus LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 6 Total Boated:6 Species Breakdown:4 good steelies,2 good browns Hot Lure: SS frog & alewife patterns Trolling Speed: Down Speed: 1.9-2.6 Boat Depth:110-180 Lure Depth: best was 50-60 down ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Got out for short run this morning and then got settled into our "Summer slip". Couldn't get the Kings to go but the Steelies were full of energy w/ some spectacular air shows, and the Browns were fun too! We had a great time and want to thank Hank for the help in getting the slip squared away! Here's a pic of one of my trusty fishing partners (youngest son Elliot) w/ decent steelie.