Sk8man

I know we have been here (night fishing topic) before but Ray brings up a lot of nostalgia . I too used to fish by myself out there at the south end of Canandaigua at night and Seneca and Keuka as well in my little 13 ft Whaler no less. I remember captains John Roides and John Oravec (often in his Greek fisherman's hat) at the south end of Canandaigua. They both had good sized boats that I thought were like the Queen Mary compared to me The marina that John and Miriam Clark owned was a bustling beehive of fishermen in those days and you'd put your money in the money box and launch but most of the time I launched at the public one there in Woodville. I also had one of those nets that I bought at Sutton's. It took awhile to learn how to get the sawbellies and smelt with it though. My technique was to hang only one of my Coleman lanterns from the boom of one of my Riviera downriggers so that the light was brighter on that side of the boat (which I could do because my boat was so small and low to the water) and when the bait came up I would scoop the edge of the school from the other side of the boat where the light wasn't so bright....often worked but you had to be real quick and have the net already in the water and wait until the bait was over it and then lift up. As Ray mentioned it could be very lonely out there especially on the Seneca (mainly off Dresden) and somewhat on Keuka when the lights went out from the cottages along the shoreline. If you didn't have much moonlight you would have little ability to tell where you were out there until morning. It is hard to describe the thrill though when you nod off and then hear the drag playing out in the darkness with something unknown on the other end. Rainbows did indeed wreak havoc and the only clue might be hearing them splash from jumping out there somewhere in the darkness. The south end of Canandaigua was the most social of the places in the AM when folks came in and like Ray I usually trolled for a while before quitting. Probably hard to imagine the scenario for many folks today but it was a hell of a lot of fun at the time.

yeah Xray vision.....just has to stay away from Kryptonite

I think you'll be happy with the Opti too I love mine and 18 years now....still runs like new but I use my kicker for trolling and have since the Opti was new.

Wow! likes like a freakin elk

This thread is another great example of the type of generous information sharing and idea generation that can and does go on at LOU

WTG. The thinness probably reflects the nature of their diet without the fat rich alewives in there. The worms and marshmellow rigs work better for trout there than any of the other Fingers too

Hang in there Bob I doubt if it is just you

I hope you aren't giving some lurker a good start on things with the details. It is always a potential problem same as some of the National Geographic programds that cover drug deals and smuggling. These guys are able to use information to develop "work- arounds" despite the original concerns and intentions of the presentors. A lot of the current telephone and other scams are now done by the cartels as they are less liable to get caught and the penalties aren't as great as for other stuff.

Kickers are a good investment and it can also save wear and tear on your larger main engine. Trolling for extended periods on the big motor can load up the plugs and is less fuel efficient.. I use my 135 Optimax mainly for traveling back and forth and only for trolling when extremely windy going against the wind. I can troll down to 1.8 or so with the Opti at 550 rpms if I have to.

Good going Rob. Persistence paid off once again

You know I think if we step back a bit and look at all of these watersheds they all have changed to varying degrees and much of it is the result of human interactions of various types and degrees. Everything from the salmon runs in Alaska and the northwest, shut down of the Cod fishing in the Atlantic and problems with the Finger Lakes fishing (e.g. Seneca lake and many others). The climate is changing, and we've had many invasive species of both plants and animals that have upset the natural balancing act of Mother Nature. Land development and use along the lakes and waterways and pollutants of varying types and concentrations have entered these waters. Even things that may be ignored or that some are unaware of is our own boat motors potentially contributing to problems; especially in smaller bodies of water because most water treatment processes don't fully take out all of the potential pollutants. Regardless of political views etc. this is the reality and it has been creeping up on us for some time now and this situation is global in nature if you carefully look at science and the glaring disappearance of many species of animals and plants and changes in land masses. The disappearing frogs and honeybees are just "canaries in the coal mine" and many folks aren't listening or perceiving their demise. Sorry for the rant but we seem myopic and may not be fully looking at the main problem (climate change in conjunction with human interaction with the environment)..

If it were me I'd be listening carefully to Hank's advice

I think you'll like it here Sean

Man..... what a shame Sean. What a brute!