Sk8man

Looks like somebody drank the beverage and the bottle

I hear you Mike. I still remember having one snap off my 20 lb leader on an old dock piling in front of Bellhurst way before they put the current dock in there and because the tension released so quickly the copper got all messed up and I spent hours fixing the mess The whole 20-30 ft area out there accounted for a lot of fish on wire....I know Mike C and Frank U would have some stories too....

Congratulations! Pete there really is "life after work"....almost 12 years into retirement and still feeling that it doesn't get any better than this

SCUBASLIM - I didn't mean to hijack your posting and I should add that the victrola you are selling looks very nice and these things are becoming quite rare now days so if someone is interested i'd grab it while I had the chance.....

Basically it is an "auto wind up" (the crank handle is used to create tension in the spring mechanism) system for trolling with copper wire and mainly for bottom oriented lake trout and used primarily (or at least historically) on the Finger Lakes. Mike's (Frogger) joke above about using it for kings is hitting at the fact that when a big fish such as a Chinook hits the wire can become an instant removal of your fingers which is why you don't see many (i.e.any) on Lake O using it Most folks using copper or monel wire use finger protection such as the thumb and forefinger/index finger cut from leather gloves. Depending on which type of lure or technique you wish to use a leader usually of mono can be used with the wire or if for example using a heavy spoon (like those mentioned in my post above) it is usually attached directly to the wire without a swivel snap. This is so that you can feel the changes in the lake bottom (cobble areas seem most productive) and lure action through the wire and any near misses from fish. You troll at relatively slow speed always letting out or taking up wire as the bottom contours and depth change. It is very important to be familiar with how your boat handles (speed-wise) and with the particular area you are fishing (to avoid hanging up on bottom).The object is to keep in close contact with or sometimes just above the bottom (e.g. flutter spoon) and the target is lakers sitting right on or just above bottom. In theory it stirs up bottom and creates a commotion down there mimicking prey. When a set of flashers (cowbells) is used at the end of the wire with a lure or alewive on a gang hook it is thought to resemble a school of fish near bottom and the lure is something "wounded" or"vulnerable" in some way trailing behind the"school"so the predator (laker) instinctively grabs it. I think that when a "peanut' is used behind this rig it is the action itself and trailing position of the peanut rather than the "look" of it that signals vulnerability to the laker. Once the fish hooks up (you lose some because of the nature of the technique no matter how good you are at it mainly because there is no "give" to the wire ) you start pulling him in on the wire and the victrola automatically winds the slack wire up on the reel which is spring loaded (or motor driven electrically (in some cases). The old timers didn't use the victrola they just coiled the wire in the bottom of the boat as they brought the fish in or rolled it up on a piece of wood or other home made "gizmo". There is a certain rhythm or cadence to pulling the wire which is impossible for me to describe....something that needs to be observed visually and doing it right makes all the difference in the world (even subtle differences count) Hope this helps... Pictured below are from left to right (note the large fixed hooks): Hopkins spoon, Barracuda Reflecto #4 Pfleuger Record #4 Pfleuger Record#5 Sutton 88 (flutter) Sutton 43 (Flutter) Leather Stocking (flutter) Ace #5 Barracuda Reflecto Crippled Alewife Johnson Silver Minnow Bottom row left to right: Twin Minnow (jointed version) Standard versions (trebles replaced with SS single) Second photo: variety of Sutton flutter spoons specifically for copper wire use:

Tileman Dan- your question was very legitimate and although this rig is a familiar sight to those of us who may have grown up with it, the victrola is not a common fishing "tool" anymore even on the Finger Lakes where it used to be a "mainstay" and is still one of the most productive and effective methods for taking lakers. I even caught the biggest smallmouth of my life accidentally (and out of season no less) on a twin minnow (7.6 lb smallie) using it. The victrola is a pretty versatile weapon for lakers because as mentioned you can pull flashers (cowbells) with a variety of tackle, troll with flutter spoons on a leader, or use heavy spoons (pfleuger 4/5, barracuda, blade runner, ace etc.) or pull the twin minnow or flatfish with it. It is a bottom-oriented technique and it takes a lot of time to fully master but there is nothing like the feeling of a big laker shaking his head at the other end of the wire and managing the net at the same time by yourself

I was told that it is being fished on both sides of the lake out there.

Ah....yeah it helps to know someone with a cottage there tough access to good water there otherwise.

Nice going! where did you access the lake from Keuka)?

Best used for salt water applications but we used to use them back in the 70's for Seth Green rigs and pulling monel wire for lakers on the Finger Lakes. They are much too heavy and bulky for the kind of things done on Lake O. At one point I even used them with my home made planer boards and they worked OK for that.

Yesterday the east side sucked for perch ....fished all day in the cold and between two of us caught 7 keeper perch and one pickerel....didn't even see any "dinks" and fished from12 -21 ft. (about 30 holes drilled looking for action).

I've fished it with Admiral Byrd in the past when the lake froze and caught browns there out from the creek on tip-ups with fatheads....drops off very rapidly out there. Not much structure and often a lot of debris and leaves on the bottom. I've even caught mud puppies there off the aluminum dock in very late Fall

Man....I'm really feeling better now.....

You know Justin I haven't fished anything but actual formal derbies believe it or not so I'm not sure but that range would be fine with me.