Fat Trout

Im jealous of you guys. I managed to get my boat up and open my camp but spent the weekend cleaning up after the mega party in the red squirrels and mice had over the winter at my place [emoji2959]

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Nice work.  
 
I was out from 5:30am-11:00. Light east wind and lake was like glass all morning till 10ish. 
started in 50Fow in front of catfish headed toward plant. I was exchangin info with another member all morning tryin to get even a knock off. Trolled out to 110Fow and back in to 40.  Hit 1 6# brown at 70fow down 50 NBk. 
marked bait and loads of fish in an area 40fow and trolled east to west, west to east, north to south, sideways to backwards over that spot.  Pretty much put my spoon box with all the spoons on the lines and couldnt get a bump. Very tight lipped fish thia morning.  Talked to 10-12 other boats and all the same. 1-2 maybe 3 fish.  ThereS a sayin I’ve been hearin. “Wind from the east, fish bite the least”. 

(sorry thought your post was from today.  What I posted Is from this morning 5-17)
 

10 hours ago, Hachimo said:

My radio stays on 68. 
Usually go by Hachimo on radio as well

Some of the folks out of mexico use 69.  Scan both if you can. 

2 hours ago, Hachimo said:

Good to know thank you.  
my wife has family in Wayland NY (45min south of Rochester) and often thought of launching from the Rochester area 

Cheater 

45 minutes ago, lost a lure said:

I believe the electronic flares are only for night use. You still need a day signal.

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It seems your right.  Looks like I have to get a flag.  I got the electronic thing last year because I was piling up old flares and they were getting expensive.  

below is from the NYS boater's guide

On 5/1/2020 at 7:22 AM, j_wind said:

I ended up ordering two okuma set ups to run #45lb copper 200s. I have been watching a ton of videos hopefully it looks as easy as people show. 

If you run divers consider a braid setup as opposed to wire I was told to try it I did and  I find them easier than wire.  Wire has its place but is less forgiving.  I have a smart-troll setup and found the braid got deeper than I thought it would

those arrows are misleading.  Wind forecasts are based on where they are coming from.  Lake O is pretty simple.  Its length is west to east.  Anything heavy is trouble if you are on the opposite shoreline or out a few miles.  Canadians hate a heavy south wind.  US folks in Mexico like it.  the further you travel from any land mass the less it  means.  15mph from the south is fine if you are a mile off the south beach....terrible if you are in Canada.  In mexico bay a west wind "might" be workable if you are inshore inside of nine mile  point but that doesn't help a lot and if there is any north to that your disappointed.  Highly situational.  Similar for a heavy east wind if you are in Fairhaven and not too far out.   It also matters how it has been.  A 5 mph NW wind in Mexico is fine if it has been out of the south the day before.  If it  was blowing 30 out of the NW and settles to 5 mph that doesn't mean crap for a day+ until the mess settles down.

I suggest to use multiple means to review.  I'm out of mexico.  I check the Oswego weather buoy and NOAA forecast.  I also look at the Fishweather app and its forecast.  On top of that I try to use what I've learned...including that weather forecasters are wrong more than they are right.  I generally have a going far intent with a staying close backup.  When it all hits the fan I just go back or sometimes don't even go out

2 minutes ago, dickey said:

That’s funny **** Fat trout. I did use yesterday’s experience to tell my wife I need a kicker for my 84 bluefin. She said just go buy a new boat. Game on!


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Well played!

5 hours ago, dickey said:

 

I hope this never happens to anyone but if it does I hope my post can help you.

 

Fighting a fish yesterday off Braddocks. Tell my coworker (who also owns a boat) to grab the wheel. He goes to get out of drivers seat after I land the northern and some how he ends up shutting the boat off and breaks the key off in the ignition. Needless to say after some time I was able to get it started with a screwdriver. Once back home I was able to get broken key out with a pick tool. I have a spare key and back in business.

 

Again I hope this never happens to anyone but my boat will always have this pick tool on board from now on.

 

Stay safe!

Rick

 

 

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That's  ball busting story that will live forever.  

I had my sister in law's boyfriend out with me on my 18'er a few years back.  With that boat I trolled with my 115.  He spun the driver seat around to sit in it.  it was a little rough out and set of waves pitched the boat.  He leaned into the throttle and went full bore while I was clipping in to a downrigger.  I have no Idea how I stayed on-board and didn't end up in the spread with him heading away.  lol...  I've had him out since.  He won't sit in that seat even now that the my current boat couldn't have that same problem.  

25 minutes ago, Justy-Joe Sportfishing said:

Amen brother. I think my dream boat would be a 20' multi specie. They fish nice and easy to rig. Inboards can turn into a headache real quick and non stop. And when it's rough it's rough. Still gotta pick your days to some extent. My buddy phil has a 26 penn yan. He wants a 28 bc he still struggles with fishing in 4-6ft. Which is common out there as you guys know. And that still isn't fun in any boat for me personally. 

yeah 4-6 and I'm at the dock lol.  That's when I do camp maintenance, boat maintenance, drink a few with the neighbors,  appease the wife etc.    I've been out in the big water.  Its a ball buster.  even if you can get out there its rough on you.  I was an observer for the Atomik invitational last year on a 28 pen yan in 4-5's with an occasional six.  Lets see....they lost a rigger ball, fish hawk probe, 2 flasher rigs  and chewed up a copper line mid way when it got into a dipsy.  I think I have that right.   I fished on a 30'er in Lake O too....its a different feel.  Don't get me wrong they have command of things and can spread lines but I like the small-er boat feel and personal control.  I also have no concern with running solo.  Granted I do this for "fun".  If I was taking clients I'd have to be bigger, it is what it is.  

I can appreciate keeping it simple. Ive been doing this a long time. I ran more lines in the past and without always having a reliable crew i have the tangles to show for it. I now subscribe to the philosophy of "less is more". 5 rods max in my 20' tin boat.

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1 hour ago, Justy-Joe Sportfishing said:

I saw Dirty Goose go by me also...he must have been laughing his but off also watching us out there. I think I'm gonna bite the bullet and drag the big boat out next time. I realized the fish seem to be sliding deeper now and I miss my riggers.

The  problem with having a big boat mindset in a small boat is you will push it more and more.  I ran in boats up to 25' then stepped back for a few years and didn't troll.  Then I missed the lake and I got a 13'er  with a 9.9 thinking I was "just going for bass".   I did, then I slid out further for browns, then I ended up as far as 7 miles out with a rigger half ass strapped to this thing trolling for kings on flat calm days.  Got fish too, what a sleigh ride.   That's when I needed a self intervention and got a bigger boat....then yet a bigger one....lol

What’s your thoughts on running riggers in tracks. I currently have them mounted to gunnel but thought about putting them in my cannon tracks

I have 4 of these that I took off of my 2019 Ram 1500.  They have about 750 miles on them.  I could meet in or near Mexico NY.  When I head up that way I travel 81 north so along that route would work too.  They have been sitting in my shed so just trying to reclaim the space.

My 2018 Fishmaster 196 came with 2 rear seats which I don't use.  They have not seen the light of day so I'm considering selling them.  

They look like the attwood seat shown below.  Pics of the actual seat and post also included

$350.  shipping would be extra but I'd imagine these are better suited to meeting up vs shipping.   I could arrange to meet in or near Mexico NY.   I travel to Mexico on Rt 81 so anywhere along there would work too for meet up.

3 minutes ago, CopperJohn said:

This is forecast from water levels prior to the Seaway Authority, does anybody believe that the water level is not controlled completely by the Seaway Authority now ?.

Regardless of who controls what but there are 2 key differences this year.  First is they did run higher water when they could over this winter.  It helped but is absolutely because of the mayhem caused in the past few years.  The other which I seem to understand more now is that how much they will run (this time of year) directly relates to the Ottawa river flows.  The Ottawa was much more manageable this year.  This year for the Ottawa was similar to 18 where there wasn't a lake O flood.  2017 and 2019 were very similar for the Ottawa.   I'm not defending anyone, just providing some info.

No longer for sale

Good sign on the bait!   This is a good sign too (water level forecast).  

45 minutes ago, Silver Fox said:

The bottom tracking for lakers and browns is priceless.


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Do you use the separate cannon transducer or are you tied in with a Humminbird FF?  I've been afraid of going through the effort to install the transducer and tie it to my DT10's because of problems I've read where it goes haywire.  

I believe @Yankee Troller may run them.  If he sees this perhaps he can comment.

I have digitrol 10's that I bought specifically for the down speed adjustment and soft stop at the top. I wish they had adjustment to the "auto up" speed.   Id be curious if the optimum's allow for that. 

1 hour ago, GAMBLER said:

All this downtime has helped me get better at painting. Custom Hammerhead Cowbells I painted up the other day.


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If those glow like the Moonshine carbon 14 that Sh*t would be evil !  I'd love to see those spinning in the water before first light.

11 minutes ago, bikinibottom said:

Me too

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Dude, where have you been lol.   I need a 16# gator..... either one shown is good too! PM me.  I'm in

1 hour ago, FishingFool34 said:

You could PM "Fat Trout" he just switched to a Fishmaster 196 from a Starweld pro 20 if I remember right.   

yeah, you were close.   I had a Starweld 18pro which I ran for 4 seasons before I went to the Fishmaster 196.  @dickey  feel free to PM me & I can add to what I mentioned below if it helps.   I had good luck with that boat.  I ran it without a kicker motor, a kicker would have made it lean for sure.  Some folks had the 20pro and had difficulty with it leaning hard while running unless tabs were added.  I didn't have that problem but needed to balance my load of stuff / people.  Also, there's another guy on here who had some problems with his new boat and they a real hard time getting it to the factory and back (from what I understand).  I imagine he'll jump on here when he sees this.  paging  @hookedupf7  It think you had the starweld problems right?

PS.  I always kind of wanted the Fishmaster but didn't think I could swing the $.  After 4 seasons with the starweld I knew I really wanted the fishmaster and went ahead and choked it down.  Glad I did

12 hours ago, BocceNation said:

Thanks, Laker. I’ve been talking to Jeff about this boat for a few weeks now. Still waiting to see if they’re able to upgrade the steering to hydro so I can install auto pilot.


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Hey just a thought for you.  Your looking for used so used requires flexibility sometimes.  I have my 196 set up with a 72" shaft I pilot Minn Kota Terrova that came off my old boat.  It works great up to about 3 ft'ers going into them on the 196.   I may still put a true autopilot on the main / kicker tied combo.  I strongly considered it this winter but its not cheap or easy and after last year's performance of the boat and my Ipilot I put it off so I could spend elsewhere. Performance was way better than I expected.   I'm just giving you a data point.  With the 196 I had to ask myself how rough I'm gonna ride anyway going into it where I can't afford someone on the wheel.  Also, on a light tin boat how well is a traditional autopilot going to do anyways above 3 fters.     Perhaps put the $ into a more multifunctional trolling motor or if your lucky that boat you were looking at already has that anyway.  

3 minutes ago, dpiazza22 said:

there is no right or wrong choice, I just dont get the etech hate haha

Yup...your a believer.   I have a friend with a 300 Etec he bought on a used boat but new-ish motor.  He loves it.  We are all a bunch of picky, brand loyal opinionated buggers that's for sure.  Glad yours is working out.  I love my Yammy's!