raider44

Yankee; Ive been keeping up on reading various reports and noticed that divers out past 300 have been a decent program for several anglers. Is that common for this time of year? In past years when I have visted lake O (late July early Aug) our divers are usually parked 125-160 back.

Mike C; thanks for the link and the advice. Thats a nice lookin king. Yankee; I will not be heading to the oak till the 1st week of August. I will probably buy a white on white smartfish and give it a few trial runs on Erie for some chromers before making it up to the oak. oh and by the way; I noticed your from Rochester. Not sure if you have ever heard of St. John Fisher college, but I have played football against them the past 3 years. My college eligiblity just ran out, so I will be coaching this year. I played at Mount Union College- We played Fisher in the 06 and 07 playoffs, and this past, and upcoming season we play them opening weekend.

Is it possible to run a fixed cheater (using a roemer liberator) and use a free slider on the same rigger? And, is it possible to run; flasher/fly at the ball, run a stacker, and a slider off the stacker on the same rigger? We have an older boat 22' with a smaller beam 7'10" i believe; so we only have room for 2 riggers.

What are some common set-ups of running sliders off riggers? I am not too familair with sliders. Thanks

I understand this is like the original spindoc- but it has adjustments that allow to play with the rotational speed, i think? I have never used one, and was wondering if they are worth purchasing?? And exactly how they work. We've had good success with DW spindocs in the past.

I would give them a try as well. Good advice here from skipper and jeb; I would add that last season our flies hit alot more often than spoons did. Our hottest set-up was a green dipsy with an 8 foot leader to a green spin doc with a green, blue/green fly. We ran 30 mono, the dipsy at a 1 setting, and average feet of line out was 135-150. Also try a 42 combo. 42 second spin doctor with a 42 second fly.

Thanks for the comebacks- I am using tapered leader; and my clinch knot could have been wraped too many times. I was doing 6 wraps-- I will try the double clinch next time. And I may consider putting a flurocarbon leader on; although I heard it can be difficult to tie knots with it.. Like I said I am a beginner and it will take some time to learn the tricks and proper techniques. Thanks for the info

Yesterday I hooked 10 steelies in the Vermillion river (30 miles west of cleveland). The problem is I only landed 3 of them; 4 broke my line, and 3 just got off. I am a beginner by all means to fly fishing- My line was snapping at the knots. I have never been a fan of the clinch (fishermans) knot- but that is what I was told to tie around the fly; and around the hook to run another fly behind it. None of the fish that I hooked up were small either; so that could have been an issue. Avg was 6-7lbs; the biggest one (I lost it) looked to be around 30 inches 10-12lbs. Does anyone use a different knot for fly fishing; or is that the best knot to use? It could be my knots were not the greatest, I am not sure... Any advice will help. thanks guys

CB- great reports... your right, the purpose of a report is to give people information, the more fishing reports the better. In my case I only make it to LO 1 time a year and I gained pretty much all my knowledge from Joe's reports from the oak website. They were a tremendous help; without his reports or any other reports, I would have little idea of what to do, use, where to fish, fow, etc. I hope you and other people help spread the word of what works and what doesnt. I know I cannot say thank you enough, to all of you, for the reports and tips that I have recieved and will continue to recieve from the LOU website!

Speaking of mupped rigs; What is a popular distance for leader lengths on cheaters, feet behind the ball on the target spoon, and the distance in heigth between the two? the oak says 10-12' feet for the target, 6' for the cheater, and 5' between the two on the rigger cable. Is that a good place to start or does anyone use different numbers?

Chinook- I have heard the black magic spoons are hard to find. The way they are described on the oak popular spoon webpage is a little different than how Silver Streak makes them. Which would you prefer if I could not find any in stores and I am going to make the spoon myself? thanks

Billy- are yours silver backs or gold and white as mentioned on the site?

I am looking for a website that sells laser ladder/NBK tape that would fit onto a spindoc and flasher. been to netcraft and a few others- havent found anything yet. Thanks guys

I know the majority of spoons on the big O are silver backed- I have several NK's that are pearl backs that were bought in a package deal a few years ago. Do pearl back spoons work on the big lake?

Edd- I just purchased 2 Roemer Liberator releases off their website for running cheaters. When I use riggers for walleye I use weldon releases, but they arent the greatest for L.O. kings- cannot load the rod enough, so we use scotty on the big O.

Where is a good place to purchase a Liberator? I logged onto their website- I do not have a paypal account, and I am unfamiliar with paypal. I called the number on the site around 3o'clock and it wen tstraight to a voice mail.

I have read about these releases on here- and have seen a video on fish doctor on how they work when cheating spoons. If a fish hits the cheater spoon will the Liberator release and slide down to swivel like a rubber banded cheater- or does the release stay in place on the line- and if so does it crimp the line? Second question is if a fish hits the target spoon- should the top of the Liberator be pushed back down by hand to slide, or can it just be reeled up into the eye of the rod? I might be doing some fishing alone and without a buddy, Im not sure if I could pull that off on my own.

I use Okuma rods/reels for my dipsy's as well- I have nothing but good reports fromt them. They are priced well and the quality is great.

Duane- I totally agree, the purple frogs look like they will be a hot spoon next year. I also liked Deathwish and Thriller. Dave- Haha, I get them mixed up sometimes too or have to look the patterns up on a website. I found some new 2009 Michigan Stinger colors up at this website today as well- Cabin fever has set in... but i can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!; http://www.fish307.com/index.asp?PageAc ... egory=1266

GL outdoors has some new 2009 DW spoon colors posted but only a few are ready to buy... http://www.gloutdoorstore.com/DreamweaverSpoons.aspx

I use Walleye boards a lot on erie. I run crankbaits and Jets with spoons or harnesses off them. They work great! Give them a shot Mike

dcso- A snap is just the upper part of the swivel-- A snap is essentially a swivel, just without the barrel swivel.

We used to use swivels on all of our lures and leaders. Recently we switched to snaps- A charter captain out of Cleveland explained to me that a swivel will decrease action on a Reef Runner (crank bait popular on Erie) and spoons, because it allows for 360 degrees of motion, whereas a snap will not. Does anyone like running one over the other- or use a Barrel Swivel at one end of their leaders or for their flies instead of an overhand knot?

Check out cabelas website- I myself use Eagle Claw when I replace treble or octopus hooks. Cabelas sells eagle claw treble in packs of 50 and octopus packs in 100. many many other choices of brands as well.

I checked those sites and videos out- the lite bite looks promising! When I fish Erie, way to many times a small white bass or white perch will not trip a regular diver, this should help get rid of dragging garbage for 20 mins at a time