Sk8man

I believe they had problems finding someone to do the silver plating for awhile. They had a good selection of spoons a couple months ago when I was there.

Thanks great resource.

You might want to take a trip to the Sutton Store in Naples as they have most of the heavier weight spoons. They run about $5.50 or so apiece.

Dick - When I started out quite a few years ago with the TX 44's I had some difficulty getting them to run right too. I found that I had to play around with the positioning of the weights on the bottom and sometimes had to make adjustments when the water conditions changed (e.g. waves etc.). I also tried the modifications suggested by Bloodrun but without success. I know some of the guys have mentioned that the boards should be run directly to the sides of the boat but mine have always run somewhat toward the back but out away from the boat and that to me is the important thing as long as they are away from my other stuff and out of the boat turbulance I don't feel they have to run like "big boards" out there. They do need to cut through the water though and you should be able to achieve that by adjusting the weights (I keep a screwdriver handy) if running hardware that is reasonable. For most of my lighter stuff I have switched over to the Walleye boards and run 4 at a time and they handle most stuff other than the real heavy things (e.g. longer coppers etc which I run down the chute). If you point the tip of your rod toward the water during retrieval you'll eliminate most of the "diving" concern.

I'm willing to bet a bunch of us have been there.....good one Kev

You'll notice the diversity of replies here and it suggests that there is no one strategy that always works for browns. They can be very easy to catch at some tiimes of the year (e.g. Spring) in the shallows in the early hours, in the summer near drop offs and at other times seemingly gone but it also depends on where you are fishing for them. For example, Lake O doesn't have the rapid steep drop offs near shore in most places but the Finger Lakes do so you need to exploit the underwater terrain as well as the edges of colored water. On Lake O much of the brown fishing can be found in the shallow water aong the shoreline sometimes running boards right into just a few feet of water can produce. In the summer where you find about 58 degrees intersecting the bottom can produce or on the Finger Lakes where that temp intersects bottom near a drop off. Browns are often active night feeders so the early morning hours can produce some good ones right near shore sometimes surprisingly close even right around docks etc.. Silver Fox made an excellent point about the colored water and in the Spring trolling in and out of the edges of the colored water especially around creeks or the outside edges of flowing water can produce nice browns. Sometimes even a couple degrees of elevated water temperature can attract them in the Spring. Browns can be quite line shy and this becomes important in the clear water which now days covers a lot of areas but sometimes folks run way too fast for them and use too short distances both away from the boat and in back of it. I've run floating jointed Rapalas 100 yards off my outriggers before and had the browns hammer them and you'd think the sticks wouldn't run right that far back but browns aren't as fond of the turbulance from prop wash and motor noise as steelies or cohos can be A potentially deadly way to troll specifically for them is with lures that go back and forth like a flatfish or quickfish, jointed Rapalas etc. way back behind the boat off boards trolled VERY slow with brief increases in speed and then slowing back down and then turn. It can be easier without boards in this case so I use outriggers and straight toplines here. Often it is the outside line on the turn that will be hit as it speeds up a little. It helps to specifically target them with your setups and trolling tactics rather than running mixed stuff hoping for anything to hit thinking it could be a brown. The main thought here is that all your stuff will be running at a similar speed with minor fluctuations. I use 8 to 10 lb. fluoro leaders with small black good quality ball bearing swivels or use a Spro #8 a few feet up the leader from a small duolock snap or Fast Snap depending on where I fish (e.g. Fingers or Lake O).

I just returned from St. Augustine and am now wishing for the ice on Honeoye. I'm also looking at this post in secret so my wife doesn't see it and get ideas from you guys....especially Keith

Each type may have advantages dependent on the size of boat and hull shape as well as what material the hull is made from. Rollers can leave indentations in the bottom of the boat if the weight isn't distributed properly or the trailer isn't set up properly for the boat.

Forget about the line counter on the rod (e.g. Berkely) it sucks. The line or especially wire pops out of it all the time despite snugging it down

The mono helps reduce the internal pressure on the spool which can create undue compression and wear on the spool or other parts connected to it. I consider it "preventative maintenance" So far in the entire time I have been fishing with all the equipment I have I have only ever had one reel problem and that was because 7 strand wire got in the side of the spool between the side plate.....operator error

Yes, for the past few years and for the reason you stated and I've mentioned it on here in the past but many folks seems to think it is unnecessary despite the fact that Andy Copenhaver and the other folks in the Tuna shop have seen the inside of reels more than possibly anyone on the face of the Earth If you put braid directly on a new reel for example the spool often "slides" giving the appearance of an inoperative drag.