Sk8man

1000 ft. of 30 lb test 7 strand Accustrand, Malin or Mason is good for starters for each reel if you are talking fresh water for salmon and trout. There is also new 19 strand wire that you may wish to consider as well. For rods - either roller tips or twilli tips are wise choices and length is basically a personal preference issue but it should have some backbone to it . For reels it will largely depend on what you can afford but you need to make sure they have a good drag system or upgrade them with the carbon fiber drags and they need to have enough capacity to hold the 1,000 ft of wire. Line counters are very desirable too and the level wind guide mechanism should be made of a "hardened" material or have a hardened insert to avoid excessive wear on it or the wire line over time. A loud clicker is also helpful in being able to hear them above engine noise etc. You might even want to start with just one rig and see if that particular setup works the way you desire before buying a second one and go from there. You will find a lot of die hard Okuma, Shimano and Daiwa folks (myself among them) here but I would suggest that you go to a tackle shop (some of them advertise on here) that stocks a few different models and brands and try to get a "feel" for them and listen to the clickers, check the weight of them against your preference and intended rod etc. A lot of folks sell rods and reels here and on Ebay, Craigs List etc. that just ordered on line or went out and bought stuff they ended up disliking for a variety of reasons. Some places have combos already set up with wire so that you can try them for drag smoothness, clicker noise and general operation. Sometimes there may be trade-offs for example such as the Saltist issue of direct drive line counter which is accurate and functional but some folks object to it's placement at the side of the reel as being uncomfortable....you wouldn't know that from ordering it online or getting an opinion from someone who is in love with the reel and doesn't see it as a significant problem.

Sean, Thanks for the report and great fish! Things are really shaping up out there.... Les

Good going Andy! What is the grass and flea situation like out there now? (Just returned from the Cape so haven't heard anything since I left). Both the bows and landlocks are a lot of run and can be hard to hold on to

I think the Blood Run See Flea is the way to go. I'm going to spool up a couple more reels with it after testing it out last night on Canandaigua....worked like a charm with 17 lb 8 ft. leader of Fluoro...no fleas on it whatsoever while I had some on the 30 lb wire rig....limited test but it persuaded me to use my other two rolls of it. After years of fishing with 10 and 12 lb test it takes some getting used to using 30 lb anything...feels like I'm using anchor line I also forgot to mention....the See Flea line seems to float quite a bit on the surface as you let it out (probably the sliicone coating) so may be better for downriggers etc. than as a top line

Nearly every time I went against my better judgment and intuition ( especially during derbies when I really wanted to get out there) it ended up very disappointing to say the least. Although you can "survive it" it is no fun not being able to control your speed/direction of presentation, or your lines and major tangles (the order of the day) take the fun out of it for anyone, and usually you don't wind up with much in the way of fish because of the above. It sucks to be onshore during fishing time but being out there usually sucks much worse.

If I were to do new cable and fish lake Ontario I would get the 400 brown colored cable.

Ditto on B and E Tackle

Great report Pete. For years I fished out of Sodus in my 13 ft. Whaler and even fished out in the shipping lanes from time to time for steelies/salmon (younger and more foolish than now if that is possible ) but you really have to pick your days and have a good backup motor and radio etc. There are sometimes advantages to having smaller craft...like navigating in the shallow water during derbies and turning and rocking your boat during the doldrums to entice the fish etc..

:smile: Guess it reinforces my belief that I was lucky I didn't connect with a king....what were we thinking?

Some folks insist that Seth Green (or "thermoclining")rig fishing is "meat fishing" (or some other derogatory word or phrase) and they feel that it isn't much fun because of the heavy duty equipment (boat rods, wire line, large capacity reels etc.) and that it isn't nearly as much fun as downrigger fishing or using the current methods like dipseys, flashers, copper or wire rigs. Many of them haven't actually tried it either....when you are hand lining in a large rainbow or brown on a10 or 12 pound test 20 foot leader or have two 6 or 7 pound rainbows on at the same time on the same rod going in different directions it is VERY exciting and challenging. It is however pretty much a tactic reserved for the Finger Lakes not Lake Ontario although I have tried it in the distant past and luckily didn't end up with a chinook at the other end of it. In the mid seventies to early eighties when the stocking policies were in shambles on the Finger Lakes and it took 5 or 6 hours or more to catch a legal trout the use of these rigs was a good way to end up with a couple fish at the end of an 8 or 10 hour day, and it is still one of my favorite ways to fish.

A jug rig is usually used to get the lines away from your other side rigs while trolling and it also serves to attract fish that may be easily spooked (rainbows and browns for example another potential "side effect" is that you may catch fish that were interested in your other lines/lures but did not hit them for a variety of reasons (rainbows very often hit the top few lures). In a common example you'd have 2 5 leader Seth Green rigs -one on each side of the boat facing outward at 90 degree angles (to keep them as far apart as possible), then you'd have a third rig with 5 leaders that you would run out say 50 to 75 ft straight off the back. I usually run the jug rig out first to avoid tangles as I sometimes fish them by myself and do not have an autopilot. Keeping the boat relatively straight during this process is very important. Once the 5 leaders are out I attach a cylindrical styrofoam float much like a marker buoy only larger(can be a milk jug, bleach jug, or old plastic duck decoy etc) by the use of a very large strong swivel snap (wired to the jug) which I attach to the last bead chain on my rig line where my rig line meets the main 7 strand wire line that I use on all roller tip/guides rods. I then let out the desired amount of wire with the "jug" attached and then set out my other two Seth Green rigs which I adjust to the perceived conditions for depth and speed...usually one high and one deep until I see where the fish are if I haven't spotted them first on the depth finder. The drag on the jug rig reel is adjusted tight enough that the waves won't set it off but a fish will take out the drag when it hits. I've had very large (or multiple fish) not only take out the drag but actually take the jug under like a bobber. It can be tricky in rough water and windy conditions getting your jug rig back in without tangling in the other lines. I often drop both the other side rigs deep before bringing the jug rig in to minimize the leaders tangling. There are other versions of running jug rigs but this istheway I do mine. In the old days when we could run 15 leaders per rod I used to run 2 side rigs and two jug rigs (staggered behind my little 13 ft Whaler with my son or daughter up front andif both were with me I'd have 2 top lines out on my outriggers as well. Picture 62 lures running behind that little boat .

Check your power cable out carefully for cracks and wire breaks I've had to replace mine twice. The UV does a job on the old type. The new ones are much more sturdy but they are about $150 a pair. Also check on the positive lead to the battery to see if there is a fuse and if it might be blown or if hooked up via block see if breaker has tripped or wire is loose.

Kinda like a professional card dealer his hands are so fast