Sk8man

It is my belief that most of the Lowrance manuals were written by the CEO's secretary while she was on lunch break. Mine didn't even mention how to get the speed impeller recognized by the unit itself....luckily while Bs ing with a techie at Cabela's he indicated that he had figured it out accidentally while messing with the unit....or I'd probably still be messing with it....

True..a lot of folks have never tried smoked fish either (of any variety) and smoked salmon is almost addictive once you've tried it and it has been done right after soaking in a good brine.

It won't be long until the weeds extend to nearly the middle in most parts of the lake and that14 ft is about there in many places. We were doing pretty well from the shoreline at north end at night until the weeds came in. Those largemouths can be a pain sometimes too but are fun in the dark

Nice going and good report also....keep those lines tight!

I second Paul Czarnecki's comments.....those of us who still remember when the salmon weren't the target species (or weren't even introduced into the lake yet for that matter) have an appreciation for each species...they all have their strengths and weaknesses but variety is the spice of life and let's remember the lakers were originally the NATIVE species in the lakes (before they were decimated years ago)...the Pacific salmon are not even truly fresh water fish... they have been forced to adapt to living in it during the major part f their life cycle.

It is also likely that lake trout are more biologically adaptive to this particular environment since the salmon are primarily a saltwater fish forced to adapt to fresh water year round in the Great Lakes rather than being born in fresh water spending your life in salt water and then dying in fresh water after spawning... the extended life span of lakers (30 plus years) would suggest this possibility as well as the fact that they are a true cold freshwater species.

Nice going!

When the lampreys were very prevalent on Seneca and I used to winter fish for trout in my little white Whaler in the dead of winter the lampreys would attach themselves to the back of my boat....the way I discovered it was that they kept messing around under my transducer and showing up on the screen as moving objects. I kept a long very sharp filet knife at the back of the boat just for them....

The numbers of lakers and the size of them being caught is probably a function of many things such as: they may represent strong year classes in the past (many years ago in the case of the big ones) where the survival rate was very good in given years for whatever reason. Lake trout do not spawn in the streams as many trout species do so they may be less susceptible to the various predation forces operating there as well as diseases and chemical contaminants etc.. They also have a varied diet....much more so than some of the other varieties such as salmon and rainbows. I've found small sunfish, perch, and smallmouth bass inside them along with various bugs etc. over the years in addition to alewives and shiners (and in the past smelt). Once they are up to size they can compete with larger predators in the shallows also (especially in the Spring) without fear. They may be stronger genetically. When you add these things to those already mentioned it could add up to greater general populations of them avaailable. The thing I wonder about is are juveniles being caught frequently too? If not it could be a bad omen for the future because these big ones are the spawners....

I always have a sharp pair of scissors in the boat for that very reason I 've always figured 2 halves are better than a whole in that case....

Not sure yet ....small trolling motor issues.... Good luck if you fish it... Les

Not every fish near the bait is a trout either...the smallmouths get their share as well as others....stick with it in any case....best of luck. Les P.S. let us know how the charter goes....

The fish seem to still be in the 40-70 ft range along with concentrations of bait (usually by this time the bait breaks up and moves out deeper as do the fish and apparently they haven't moved out to the deeper water yet on Seneca or Canandaigua. Many folks are having a hard time getting the trout to hit though and it may be because they are chowing down pretty good at night with the available moonlight and with the bait in shallower they don't have to work hard or expend energy to get food so they aren't chasing lures etc. Just my "armchair" view....I'd keep trying in that depth range and hopefully you'll get some takers, and don't be surprised if you connect with browns in there too..