Sk8man

Time very well spent Sean the fishing stuff will be there long term the opportunities to connect with kids evaporates quickly and it needs to be maximized whenever the opportunity presents itself.Your priorities are certainly where they should be and....you haven't missed much out there either.

Lately it has been a tough day that the "fishing office" for most of us and the weeds sure don't help out either. Hopefully the water temps will drop soon and with it the fleas. The weed situation is another matter....I don't remember it being this bad for so long and it doesn't appear to be getting better. I'm hoping that when I return from out west in a couple weeks things will be back to the normal Fall fishing but a lot will depend on cool nights, precipitation and wind velocity and direction and we all know how much control we have over that stuff I'm crossing my fingers you find some "bald spots" in the weed fields Mike. Good luck out there.

Especially on Seneca Thanks Sean he is a great guy and is retired from there now. I hope all is well now with your stuff and that the fishing has been treating you well also.

Cool! by the way did you ever get that football out that he ate?

A now gone buddy of mine who was a Vietnam vet used to live right next to an abandoned gravel pit that was on the property he rented way out in the country without nearby neighbors. The coyotes drove him nuts at night so he rigged up an SKS rifle in a tripod aimed directly at the bait and set out bait and hooked a trip wire next to the bait so he let the coyotes kill themselves (not a recommended safe practice) but he eliminated a bunch of them.

If the holes in the top of the gunwhale are factory recessed rod holders (can 't tell from the pic) and are angled toward the back you can use Cannon gimbal mounts with low profile swivel bases and mount the downriggers that way.Mine are exactly that way and it works perfectly. It also allows you to take the riggers on and off just lifting them out for security purposes or storage. You can also use pedestals to increase the height if needed (not needed on my rig) Pic 1 - the components upper middle and right are the Cannon gimbal mount and the low profile swivel base on the lower left is a pedestal for increasing height if needed Pic 2 - the mounted downrigger on the gimbal and swivel base Pic 3 not a great photo but gives you the idea of how mounted - I have 2 sets of therecessed rod holders so I can position the downriggers closer to me if fishing alone and run the dipsey holders at the back

Congrats on a great Finger Lakes laker Bruce. Thanks for the pic John. Looks as though the winner ate one more sawbelly than the 2nd place fish Some nice ones caught.

Thanks guys - Jason Actually he pointed out several features of my MERC motor (even internal stuff) and prop that I wasn't even aware of and went over servicing specific things in it ....unreal. Best of all he said he was really impressed at the top end speed with 4 big guys in it and with all the equipment in the boat (47 mph) which I thought was pretty neat for a Yammy guy to say (even his motorcycles are Yammy's)

I think Ed gave you some real good advice. Although frustrating sometimes....having a "familiar" boat is worth reconsidering...."new" or "different" is not always what it is cracked up to be and can as frustrating or more so than getting your own "nest" in order....worth the money to have someone used to messing with it take a look as Ed said may be something simple but not obvious and could be inexpensive as well. Don't "throw the baby out with the bath water" this early

Thanks Mike best of luck fishing this week.

He would have a VERY large family Ed ......and some funny looking relatives as well

Still have company or probably would be out there too....good going Mike....just great to be out on such a beautiful day.

Geez and here all this time I was thinking that tiller control was the latest technology

I agree with Wes Ed....don't give him what he wants (to bug you) He obviously has some "issues".

We launched from Sampson at about 8 AM. On board were two friends from Michigan and a retired former VP of Yamaha Outboard division (in my Merc driiven Whaler no less ). We dropped in 6 lines - a couple downriggers with sliders and spoons, 2 wire dipsey rigs one with a wonderbread flasher/fly and one with green and glow E chip flasher and fly a 250 copper with dipsey and echip flasher off inline board and a 6 color leadcore with stickbait weighted with 2 oz weight. Before I had all the lines in the port side downrigger fired with a rainbow jumping wildly with a great Lakes Firetiger spoon (slider) in his mouth. Took his pic and returned him and he took off great. We marked a lot of fish that looked like lakers suspended off bottom and some fish up higher (50-60 ft) in 88 to 130 ft out in front of the chute but no takers despite messing with them at various speeds turns etc....just not interested. Went south against the SW wind which had some rollers initially and we went about even with the barge on east side going north marking fish sporadically along the way and again no takers. Trolled deeper and changed out everything ran 2 coppers, 2 downriggers, 2 dipseys off boards, 2 dipseys off sides still nothing. Ran out deep just south of barge in 470 ft water and connected with 5 lb landlock that jumped 4 times and even skipped across the water trying to shake the hook (on 8 ft.slider....again on a Great Lakes spoon (green and yellow KW with white underside) released him at side of boat unharmed. Decided to try Seth Green rigs out deep so two 5 leader rigs at sides with small to medium spoons after about an hour of up and downs with the rigs had the drag go out and 3-4 lb rainbow on first leader (about 70 ft. down on deeper rig). After lengthy time reviving at side of boat fish released and he slowly swam off. The entire time as we went north each time the grass got worse and worse. A few "patched" out in the middle but much better than at about the 100 ft or so along the east side. We spent quite a bit of time clearing the lines from grass but the fleas were minimal even on the braid, leaders or mono. We had one other hit on the rig out deep but gone almost immediately and that was it. Quit at 3 PM. Had a great busting each other and a few practical jokes some at my expense too . Previous to arriving at Sampson I told the guys that the launch should be "quiet" as the season is winding down at the park and nothing much going on there. When we pulled into the park just before the museum the place had hundreds (if not thousands) of cars about 12 very large (circus size tents) and hundreds of people milling around with dogs and security people directing traffic,,,,some MAJOR dog show going on.....of course I heard about how nothing much went on at the park throughout the day Only goiot the chance for one fish pic and it was of the smallest rainbow. The landlock was colored up but no chance for pic.

Cool Mike....nothing like breaking them in early and when the weather is nice.