10thMTNDAVE

Also called studfish or topminnows. Don't know much about them except what you can read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killifish

I have bought them at Walmart

When I was out on Friday (02 April), the DEC boat out of Henderson Harbor was cruising all over the Lake tracking down every single boat they could see (They stopped me near Southwick Beach) checking for both licenses and PFDs. Kind of a pain for them to pull along side when your using Otter Boats...At least they were patient while we hauled everything in and my wife dumped her purse out to find her license. Saw what they needed and then took off after the next closest boat in sight. Wished us a good day when they left. Wasn't too painful and if it saves somebody from dying in the cold water I guess it is a good thing.

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: 10th Mountain Dave / Summit ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): 02 April 2010 Time on Water: 0800 - 1500 Weather/Temp: Awesome sunny day! Waves: A few waves early on but it flattened out by the afternoon Surface Temp: 41 - 43 Location: Launched at Stony Creek, went south to about Southwick Beach and North to Stony Point =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 1 Total Boated: 1 Species Breakdown: Brown Trout: 22.5 Inches 4.11 Lbs Hot Lure: Purple Minnow Trolling Speed: 1.8 - 2.5 Boat Depth: Hugged the 6 -10 foot contour Lure Depth: 3 -5 feet ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Shake down cruise for 2010. Using the Otter Boats for the first time. Got to say that I like em a lot. Although it was a long day on the water, picked up this brown at 1330. First and last for the day, but overall it was a pleasant outing (Getting my first sunburn of the year as well). Kept the Brown...No hate mail please. Was a female with just a few leftover eggs and was glad to see a trio of gobbies in the gullet...Good to see something is making use of the damn things.

I believe the Law states from 01 November to 01 May...Not April as listed in last post. It is also when on the water, just not when under way. It effects all boats less than 21 foot. How that 21 foot is measured has been a subject of debate. 21 total length?? 21 at the waterline??

I have Marinco outlets on the left and right side for my downriggers. My G3 boat came with the outlets already installed, and it was very easy to connect the Marinco plugs to the end of the BigJohn electrics. I think this is the same outlet and plug system used on bowmounted trolling motors for Bassboats. The plugs turn and lock in the outlets. Makes the downriggers easy to connect and disconnect, yet they are secure and safe while under way. Works for me anyway.

Dang! That settles it. Time to get the boat out of storage and put the game face on. Wish I didn't have to travel this week-end or I would be out for sure. Planning on launching at Stoney Creek next week end though. Looking forward to an awesome year, putting all the lessons I learned last season together. Have all the equipment now so there will be no excuses for season 2. Shouldn't be too hard to beat the 2 Steelhead and 1 Atlantic total for season 1!! Better not have one last big blow before the real Spring, or I will be one severely disappointed fisherman. Tired of climbing the walls and suffering from spring fever!

With the limits in place on the number of rods, I will not be "Wasting" a rod to give this a try. I use walkers without snubbers and can't say as extra drag has ever been a concern. There certainly is a learning curve on tuning the release to get it just right, but once you find the sweet spot, you don't have to mess with it any more. I just don't think the system is broke, so I don't want to be tinkering with it.

Got to love being stateside...That's a fact!! Thanks for all the Happy B-day wishes...Spring fishing is only 3 1/2 months away...Is it too early for cabin fever....Might have to take up ice fishing.

Thanks all!! As I blow out my candles, I only have one wish.... .....Lots more of these!!

Fishing Report (Finally found the end of the rainbow!!) Boat Name: Summit ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): 7 September 2009 Time on Water: 4 Hrs (1330 until 1730) Weather/Temp: Sunny Wind Speed/Direction: Calm Waves: 1foot and less Surface Temp: 71 Location: Left Stoney Creek boat launch and headed straight out to 100 FOW, turned left and pointed the bow towards the Nuke plant on the horizon. Stayed pretty much at 100 FOW =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 4 Total Boated: 1 Species Breakdown: King Salmon Hot Lure: Spin Doctor and Atomic Fly (Ultra blue glow) on a Dipsy wire rod set to 3 (Walker deeper diver, Green 124) back 200 - 250 Trolling Speed: 2.0 - 2.5 Boat Depth: 100 FOW ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== After going almost the whole summer smelling the big skunk, I finally get my Big Jon down riggers installed and operational on the boat. Been using two wire dipsy rods for a couple of months without even a hit...Maybe having spoons down 60 and 80 with a cheater on each adds to the whole presentation that made the wire rods such a hot ticket. Running Spin Doctors and Atomic Flies off the wire rods with Walker deeper diver disks outside the downriggers. Here is a picture of the boat set up: Did not take long at all after getting four rods in the water to have the port wire rod fire...Nobody Home, but still the best result I have had to date! Don't go too much farther and the starboard wire rod starts bouncing like crazy...again nobody home. Now my newbie mind is running crazy...Should I be running snubbers on the wire rods? Am I ripping the hooks out of the mouths of nice fish? Second guessing myself all over place! Things get settled down again and WHAM its a double on both wire rods and this time something is different...listen to the drags singing. My son and I are reeling away and cross talking about the fire drill we will have to perform with the net, and making sure not to get them both to the boat at the same time. My son was stalling with his to allow me to get mine to the boat first, and somehow the fish got off. (maybe a good thing, as we were barely ready for one, let alone two at a time) Finally get the Diver disk in sight and can see that it is a nice Salmon, and the beast peels off 200 feet with nothing for me to do but watch it go. Get it to the back of the boat again and my son takes the rod so I can work the net. We were bringing the fish straight up the chute between the rigger cables, but the Salmon had his own ideas. Salmon was finally put in the net right at the starboard corner rigger and wouldn't you know it, the Single hook on the Atomic Tourny rig fly hooks over the rigger cable. I have the fish in the net, treble hook in his mouth, single hook on the rigger cable and the weight of the 15 LB cannon ball is just enough to create fierce panic as I am holding the net with one hand and trying to pull the rigger cable up with my other bare hand to relieve enough tension to get the single hook off cable...All the while, my son is screaming at me: Get the fish in the boat! Don't loose it! Divine intervention occurred and it all worked out. Finally caught my first Salmon and had my Wife and Son on the boat to experience the whole thing. My son is now hooked, and I can't wait to get him a Salmon of his own, as I owe him big time. My wife commented on how I will have to catch every Salmon in the Lake to make up for all the money I have spent on the Boat and fishing stuff...Got to Love her anyways My Honey Bunches played double duty as chief photographer and autopilot during the whole escapade. Making my long story a little shorter, here is the picture of the King (36.5 Inches and 20 Lbs, 5 Oz) Now do I get to change my Avatar to this???

Dipsy Diver Disks. Kind of like a little in-line planer board except they dive down and can be set to go out to the side as well...Made by Jensen...You can also get Walker Deeper Diver disks (I use these), but they are basically the same. There is a dive curve chart that tells you for how many feet of line out, how far the disk will dive down. LOC is Lake Ontario Counties (Those Counties in NY Sate that border the Lake) If you bought your Fly from somebody like ATOMIC they probably already have a Floro Leader, but to answer your question, Yes, Use the Floro Leader

Get well soon!! Hope the nurses are REALLY cute

I also think this must be a wives tale. Just put an aluminum prop on my 250 Yamaha outbord, and it is a factory prop. If there was some truth to the tale, you would think that the manufacturer would have a notice posted somewhere and would not warantee replacing a stainless with aluminum. Much rather pound out an aluminum prop than have to go through replacing the prop shaft again because it got bent while the SS prop got a single ding and a few scratches. Would rather spend my ca$h on other fishing gear than boat repairs!

Having just had the unfortunate experience of clipping a rock just before the cut in Henderson Harbor with my new G3 (Stainless prop). I would go for the aluminum!!! This was a small rock that sticks up to around 6' totally surrounded by 15' water and unmarked. If I had been moving faster, would have gone right over with no problem, but I had slowed down to approach the cut and the ass of my boat was hanging low in the water. Didn't hardly ding the prop at all, but what it did do was bang up my skag and bend the drive shaft. New Aluminum Prop (Yam 13 3/4 x 21) is only $179.00 Getting a new Prop shaft, O-ring, seal, and a ten hour service on my Big motor and kicker with labor, along with the Aluminum Prop set me back $879.00 ROCKS

MOS is 37A (Psychological Operations) since 1997. Prior to that I was 11B (Infantry), Enlisted in 1984 as 11B and was commissioned in 1989 as a 2LT. Monitor 68 myself on VHF, will be out this weekend to try the wire and divers a little deeper this time and hope the skunk rides with somebody else!

Finally got a pair of wire dipsy rods (Nice set of Eagle Claw Starfire and Daiwa SG47LCA...Thank you A-TOM-MIK!!! ) to expand my program beyond flat lining. Downriggers from Big Jon are on the agenda for next month. Launched the boat out of Stoney Creek at first light Sunday, 7 June...Did I say JUNE?? Loaded down in the boat with sweatshirts and jacket and still was cold...maybe I am still not over those 100+ days in the desert. Surface temps were 59 degrees outside the creek mouth and dropped steadily the farther South we went. Hit a low of 54 degrees around Lakeview pond. Sky was overcast to dark, and a few squall lines passing with a little wind and light showers kept the boat top up. Spent the day frustrated and left to "pet the Skunk" Must have been fishing too shallow based on other reports I read(Action in 100 - 150 fow off Sandy Pond). Tried the 15 foot line that had been working a few weeks ago, but was not finding any marks. Kept going deeper and found a scum line in about 60 FOW that showed a bunch of bait schools and had a flock of Loons that were diving all around us, going deep and coming up with a fish every time. Looked like a good place to drop the Walker deeper divers. Spent some time adjusting the action arms so that they would not trip, but not so tight that I could not purposely trip them to real them in. Loons stayed around to continue to mock me as I got one rod off each side on a 3 setting with 100ft of wire out I was guessing they were down around 40'. I was seeing the occasional mark in the water at around 40' and had some spin doctors and flies spinning away. GPS speed was varied from 1.8 up to 3.0 and did multiple passes with "z" patterns crossing over the scum lines. Even saw some silver sided beast rise to the surface to take a crippled minnow left behind by the Loons. Even the damn fish were rubbing it in. Even dropped some surface minnows and a pair of Shad-Raps off my other poles after seeing that surface attack. Tried adding some weight to the lines about 7 feet above the snap and trying to get some spoons down as deep as I could with Mono...No copper in the arsenal...might go there after the downriggers. Finished the day in about 80 fow between Stoney point lighthouse and Stoney Island with nothing but a cold wife and son to bring home. The Skunk Bites...Somebody else can pick him up for next trip! (Hey...A Skunk smilie would be cool to have!) Anybody got any ideas for locations for this coming weekend (Have Friday thru Monday to play with) with my limited arsenal of weapons (four mono, two wire rods//floating and diving minnows (surface to 7') Shad-Raps (7 - 12') Walker deeper divers, spoons, flies, spin dr's and flashers. I know its not a huge bag of tricks, but its what I have for now. Might have to stoop for the Bass fishing until the riggers get on board

What is everybody using for throttle controls on your kicker motors?? My 21' G3 has a Yamaha 8 HP (HT) with the controls remote to the helm. It uses a standard Yamaha side mount digital electronic control mounted right behind the controls for my 250 HP main motor. It could be that I just do not have the feel for controlling the speed while trolling as I as yet only have about ten hours of use, but I am having a hell of a time making fine adjustments for speed. Was just wondering if it is an equipment thing or an untrained newbie hand thing? (opening for Ray K. to make his mischief). Slowly working my way up to the big leagues. Have a couple of trips under my belt now flat-lining up to four poles out the back (So far have managed to keep the Skunk off the boat too). Have just received my planer riggers and Otter boats and should have the mounting base for this weekend. Next step for me will be adding a couple of wire rods and walker deeper divers. By early next month I will be adding the Big Jon downriggers and some Cisco systems rod holders to move from the Trout waters to the Salmon waters. Hell of a learning curve and uphill movement. Don't know how I would manage without the generous help and experience of the great folks on LOU!! Stay tuned for more "Newbie Chronicles" soon...

OK, This was a really stupid thing to do. Trolling along in about 12 fow and one of the lures gets hung up on the bottom. I'm obviously not going to stop the boat, so I reach down to the rod without thinking and hit the spool release. ZING goes the spool about hundred miles an hour and continues to free spool peeling line all up inside the reel. The good news is the lure is free of the bottom, the bad news is that the pole is not being used for the rest of the trip as there is just no untangling that mess. In case you didn't know, I am kind of new to this trout and salmon trolling. Any ideas or advise on what is the easiest way to fix this nasty mess? Do I just cut off 1000ft of line? It sure seems impossible to untangle. What should I have done in this instance? My reels are Okuma Magda45's if that makes any difference with this issue.

Wednesday after work, waited for my youngest son to get home from school, and we packed the boat off to Stoney Creek Boat launch. Got the boat launched about 1630 (Kicking myself in the butt for being in hurry to get out and left the dang camera at home, had my cell phone, so I will have to be forgiven for posting the crappy quality photos). First time I have launched the boat out of Stoney Creek launch. Gets pretty damn shallow trying to get out of there! I was running my big motor through the mud, and then I tilted that one up and used the kicker to get out. After we get out of the creek mouth it was still really shallow. Only then did I realize there are some buoys marking a narrow channel off to the right as you are heading out... Oops Followed the buoys coming back in at the end of the day, but still had to use the kicker...water was below 2 FOW in some places! Turned south outside the last buoy and headed for drowned island. Starting fishing in 12 FOW (Surface temp was 59 degrees) speed (GPS) was 2.5 - 3.0 (Still having trouble fine tuning the trolling speed on the kicker) had four lines in the water, flatlining a bunch of Rapalas from 75 to 250 back from the boat. Water was like glass and without a breeze was a little on the hot side for my wife. Stayed in 12 FOW and moved south down the shore line. Passed about a dozen cottages on the shore and hooked up with a little 15" Rainbow (Still skunk free on the G3). Lure was a silver shad rap 75 back from the boat. After showing the wife and son how it was done (OK, maybe a little selfish taking that first one myself ) I decided to turn around (big looping slow turn) and follow my track on the Nav chart back over the spot we caught the first fish. Right on cue, hooked up again, this time it was a little bigger, but still only 18". Lure was a Firetiger shad rap that was 150 back. Both fish were clean and healthy looking with no marks, and were released without injury. Hoping the third time was the charm, we did another big looping turn and got right back on the same Nav track. Luck must have run out, dry hole this time thru. Told my wife she will get the next fish, hopefully this week end. Got the boat back onto the trailer and loaded up just before dark, no problems (No damage to my big motor that was run through the mud) and everybody had a good time. Still missing those Browns, but got a little closer. Can't wait to get my riggers next month and head for some deeper water and maybe some salmon.

Got out of work early, checked the weather report, and finally took the boat out to Henderson Harbor for the new boat shakedown cruise. New 21 foot G3 is still a work in progress as I don't have my Big Jon electrics on the corners yet. Have the Otter Boats but the mast is still on the way getting shipped and the mounting base is still to be ordered. Also still to come are Cisco rod holders, right now I am relying on Ram mounts rod holders that came with the boat. Probably a great mount for eyes, but don't think I would expect it to hold a diver, spindoc and fly even without some monster King attacking it. I took along 4 Daiwa 8'6 Wilderness rods with Okuma Magda45dx reels (two have Berkley Trilene Hi-Test 30# in green, and two have 30# Berkley BigGame in clear; All four have a 9' Seaguar, Fluorocarbon 15# leaders) and an assortment of floating minnows in varying sizes and colors and types some jointed, some not. Anyways, back to the tale: Managed to get the boat into the water and off the trailer with Wifey at the truck wheel and me in the boat. OK so far, no catastrophes yet. Head out the Harbor mouth and around association Island. Pretty stiff wind blowing down the lake so we hug the south shore and head back towards the harbor mouth staying in about 20' of water. Surface temps stayed about 54 degrees everywhere we went. Set two poles, one straight out each side, one was back 150 the other 100. marked a few fish on the Lowrance LCX-27C but no takers. Headed for the North side and dropped the other two poles straight out the back, one out 75 and the other 85. Tried to keep the speed (GPS Speed) at about 2.5, but the throttle control on the kicker does not want to take small corrections, and I just don't have the feel for it yet so we were anywhere from 1.5 to 3.0 Just after I sit back at the Helm after getting the fourth rod in the water, the rod back 150 on the starboard side starts bucking. I was hoping rainbow as I could see the dance happening way back, fish broke the surface at least four times. As I grab the rod and turn on the Auto-pilot (Yelled to wifey to grab the wheel). It was Chinese firedrill time!! Wife is asking me "what do I do, stop the boat?" I am yelling "No, don't stop just slow it down" while weaving the rod under the two rods on the port side as that is where the fish is going. I am thinking to myself this is going to be one hell of a tangled mess as my wife is asking me "How do I slow it down?" Guess it is my own fault for not bringing her up to speed on the basics before throwing her to the wolves "I tell her just pull back that lever do-hickey" As I am reeling like crazy to keep up with the fish who unbelievably is now swimming under the boat and heading out under the bow. It is at this time that I realize that my trusty autopilot has grabbed the throttle mashed the red button and pulled it back through neutral into reverse. Finally get the fish under control and reach down and grab the lower lip of a nice healthy bronzeback. Not a Brown and not a Bow, but at least I am not skunked on the first outing. The farther north we go the snottier it seems to get with that stiff breeze, so we pack the rods up and give my wife the crash course I should have given her before we started. In the end, it could have been worse. Didn't even have the Stowmaster landing net out of it's bow storage compartment yet. Managed to have my wife take a picture for memory sake, and after releasing the nice smallmouth realized I never weighed or measured it. It was a "Nice one" though. We even managed to get the boat back onto the trailer (took two tries) and out of the water. Looks like I have a long way to go, and a lot of equipment yet to install, but the journey is underway...Stay tuned for the continuing adventures!! Oh yeah, here is the pic:

Since I have about a 40 minute drive to the launch sites at Henderson or Stoney creek, the best I can do is rely on the weather reports from NOAA. I have been itching so bad to get out with the new boat. Waited for this weekend as I usually don't get the time off from Uncle Sam during the week. This weekend turned into a double disappointment with a small craft advisory and thunderstorms for Saturday and stiff breezes and medium to high waves for Sunday. Spending the weekend reading some more of the dozens of manuals that came with the new boat instead of going out for a shakedown. Guess I am satisfied that I made a good decision, but really wish there was some reliable buoy information or a local camera to go with the text marine forecasts. Where do you guys turn to for your "Reliable" reports?? Boat could have probably handled 3-5 foot waves this afternoon, but not the conditions I want for figuring out how to work the new boat with lines in the water. The upside is that I don't have to worry about not coming back! The "Newby Chronicles" report will have to wait for another weekend, or maybe I will get out during the evenings this coming week. I will be starting slow with only a few flatlines, as a pair of Downriggers and the mounting base for my Otter Boats rigging mast in on next months list of purchases. I will get out eventually, and keep you all up to date on my progress (hoping you will give your 2 cents when it is needed). See you out on the pond.

Finally back!!! Sure is great to leave the dry tan world behind and return to the green world. First thing you noticed getting off the plane was the nice fresh smell of clean air!! Today's 53 degrees is a nice change from the 100+ as well. Thousands of things to do after being gone for just over a year, But tops on the list is going to Clayton Marina and picking up my new G3. Still have a few Equipment requirements to pick up and install, but will get a shake down in by this weekend at the latest...you will get to read all about it in the forum...Little pay back for keeping me company for the last year. Eager does not even come close to describing how I feel about getting some lines wet. I will be starting slow to get the feel of the new boat first. Drop a couple of lines and try to get a few Browns or a Steelhead or two. Have not purchased my Big Jon electrics yet, so I will be flatlining (Something I am used to). Got to slow down a little on purchasing the gear, as the wallet is getting thin. It starts with the boat and seems to grow from there. Plus my wife is just starting to get used to the competition "you bought this or that for the damn boat, what have you bought me lately??" I will be haunting Henderson and Stoney creek area, hope to see you out on the pond. Thanks again for the great reads over the past year!!

Is it recommended to put a swivel between the main line and the leader??