Sk8man

Encouraging report and great looking dog

Sure glad I have held on to my Mag 10A's all these years.... slow yes but in my world that is good. I value stability over speed and I don't need the heavier weights the way I run riggers anyway. My theory is if something works stay with it. Something to be said for "old school" I guess

I think you're going to like it here Welcome!

A couple things come to mind. a) you want to be away from direct sources of turbulence and this depends somewhat on your hull design and the chines and strakes on the hull. The location should be towards the outside of the transom in a "clear"  "flat"spot. Can be on either side of the transom and you didn't mention if you intend to have a kicker mounted. If so it should be opposite side of that. b) Depending on the frequency of the fishfinder, it may or may not be a problem locating it near that transducer. The frequency of the Fishhawk is around 70 khz so if your depthfinder is operating near that range (e.g.50khz) it may be advantageous to locate on opposite side. If the depth finder is operating in a range higher than 100 khz you usually shouldn't have a problem with interference.

Cool. Each off these lakes can be considerably different from one another though as some such as Canandaigua or Keuka don't have the amount of water flowing into it as Cayuga does from Seneca and Seneca does from Keuka. A lot more control on the lakes hooked up to the canal system.

Going to be interesting launching this spring on many of these launches on the lakes. Water awfully low about everywhere.

There are a lot more critical things involved than ice fishing. The sale of perch being allowed is the biggest problem. When money is attached to anything greed takes over. It is interesting how many of the people taking out perch to sell and those taking of all sizes believe that it is an infinite resource that can be hammered day after day without any repercussions or lessening of numbers... it resembles "magical thinking"

Have always used wire Don (since 1975). Have never had any significant issues with it either but again it is a preference thing mostly but they do sing once in awhile too....

A lot of options but I use 30 lb Bloodrun Sea Flee on the riggers (clear), For leaders 20 lb. clear Seaguar Fluoro for leaders. 12 Lb. Big  Game mono (clear) for browns (Spring to early summer but have on high capacity reel s for occasional king) with 8-10 lb fluoro leader. For dipsys 30 lb stranded stainless wire both  camo and silver versions. Others also use 65 lb braid instead of running wire. A lot of the larger diameter line relates to the waterflea problem.

Might want to include a little more info such as what setups you intend to run e.g. Dipsy divers, downriggers, leadcore etc. and where you will be fishing (e.g. Finger Lakes may be different than Lake O). The "kings" suggests Lake O so narrow it down a bit...

Stan the size designations vary by manufacturer but the closest I have are size 3. The Sutton rings were pretty much all the same sized welded ones (somewhat oval rings). They would definitely be the same size as the  #6 or #8. I would go with a size #4 if it were me Stan The size 3 I have look a bit flimsy compared with the original Sutton rings.

Probably the best starting point would be to install a couple real sturdy metal rod holders....then you would have multiple options and not potentially lose equipment Actually one of the better fishing investments.

Gorgeous paint job

20 hours ago, Frogger said:

That green frog Les is near and dear to me… love that color

Yeah Mike I think I may have unconsciously hoping someone would say "I I have a bunch of these green frog ones if someone wants to buy them"

Joel I'm sorry to have "hijacked " your thread. I still think the best chance of getting a high quality victrola may be the Watkins show if the guy is there....they are beautiful boxes. and I believe worth the money.

For those folks wondering what the hell is a Twin Minnow. Here are some iterations. The black with the white belly was the most productive followed by the yellow translucent one. They originally came with a small treble. After losing fish from straightening out the small hooks I modified to SS triple strength (XXX) Siwash Salmon hooks 1/0 or 2/0 turned upward t avoid the weeds (and now zebra mussels)

Their outrigger release can be easily adapted for the use too with a couple duolock snaps etc. I've used them in a variety of ways for years.

I think it is usually about the last week in March isn't it?

You try not to let it get anywhere close to the spool. It is a dynamic process always taking up slack as you go along so only the amount of copper needed to touch bottom is used at any one point if done right. You assess bottom by feeling the "tick tick" of the spoon  or the "wiggle" feel of a Twin Minnow.

I haven't bought any in years but I used to get it from electrical supply places.

That is exactly it as Frogger says and additionally you can't get as much of it on the spool and you try to shoot for as close to at least 600 ft. of copper as you can get. I think I found that .024 diameter copper worked best for me and I  had tried .018-.032. The thinner wire will kink easier too and the single strand will kink easier than braided.

Reel Doc Although it could be done on Youtube  or with a Go Pro etc. the absolute best way to get the true gist of it is to watch in person someone experienced doing it because as I said the "nuances" or small things are critical to success. I did fail to mention that most folks use something to protect their fingers from the wire (often a thumb and forefinger cut from a pair of thick leather work gloves) because if you snag up on bottom or even have a large laker at the end you could potentially severely cut or even lose a finger from the wire cutting. It is a technique done totally by hand without any reel etc.  The slack in the wire is taken up automatically by the spring (or gear) inside the box. So as you change depths the victrola or A& S reel roll the wire onto the spool for you. In the old days various things were used to manually wind up the wire onto while trolling, OR the wire was coiled on the floor of the boat trying hard not to kink the wire.

Mike: It would be a lot of fun watching Bill do it wouldn't it (especially experiencing initial hit and then the "head shake" of a real big one

A few diehards like Frogger and Signalman on Seneca and there are still some on Cayuga, Keuka and Canandaigua. It is the one technique though that takes years to perfect with a lot of hands on experience and not because it is particularly "difficult" but rather the little nuances make all the difference in the world. Two people on the same boat doing it can appear to be doing about the same thing but with vastly different results, and the bottom characteristics felt through the wire are very important - so knowing the bottom very well where you are fishing is also a game changer. You troll at very slow speeds and usually on a diagonal from shore gradually letting out wire while feeling the bottom to know where the lure is. My grandfather did it on Seneca in the early 1900's from a rowboat

The Victrola is one option for jerking copper and another popular one is the A and S automatic reel which often used monel wire ( a silverish colored  soft wire somewhat like copper in many respects but at least for me tended to kink and break more often than copper.

Bill   It is mainly used for bottom fishing for Lake Trout. There are spring (s) (some have only one others have multiple usually two) inside that are wound up with a "key"  to create tension on single strand copper wire to which either a somewhat heavy spoon with the fixed hook facing upward to avoid catching on bottom or snagging weeds, OR a small thing resembling a flatfish on a leader (Twin minnow). The spoon is dragged slowly along bottom all the while "feeling" the bottom. The Twin minnow is run close to bottom. The operator holds the wire between his thumb and forefinger and uses a jerking motion ( often 2 small jerks followed by a long one or the reverse of it) as the spoon drags along the bottom (hopefully on cobble so you can feel it better). Like wise the twin minnow is pulled usually slightly and just off bottom, but everyone has a little different technique and success may depend on minor things that are done and firsthand  experience is probably more critical to this technique than anything else in fishing and closely relates to success. Sorry Bill I couldn't resist ( But I did make it in less than a thousand words) Oh I forgot..... any slack in the wire as you troll along is taken up automatically by the spool on the top of the victrola.