Sk8man

The pressure is on....

I have t get back to it I've been side tracked for quite a bit and thanks for asking.....got to get my butt in gear

I haven't specifically night fished in a long time. I used to do it a lot on Canandaigua, Keuka and Seneca. back then I had specially rigged light weight Seth greens with 3 leaders and a sawbelly on each, sometimes just used two standard stillfishing rigs one near bottom and the other suspended and adjusted frequently to different depths. The slip bobber method can also be used in the shallower water especially on moonlight nights so they can see the bait contrasted against the sky. Usually I depended on the light from the lanterns out perpendicular to the boat ( or a headlight device surrounded by styrofoam hooked to the battery for short periods) for light to bring the bait up to get the bugs attracted to the light and the fish came after the bai that was attracted to the bugs. Sometimes you'd see these big hulking beasts rising from the depths after the bait For lakers I fished from 80 -150 ft and for browns within 80 ft depths and near drop-offs. Used to get some real nice fish at the south end of Canandaigua, the Hammondsport end of Keuka, and near the Branchport launch, and out in front of Dresden on Seneca. There is nothing that compares with starting to fall asleep by yourself out there and hearing the drag going out on a rod and all of a sudden hearing a fish jumping somewhere out there and taking line (sometimes it would be a rainbow).....kinda like fishing with a blindfold There is another LOU member that used to be on here called the Rainbow Kid that fished the south end of Canandaigua at the same time I did and a number of the charter guys that night fished it migrated to Lake O when the salmon fishing kicked into gear in the eighties.

Mike you have a PM

You can also get them (especially browns and lakers) on frozen sawbellies but in that application not a s good as live ones.

Possible to get them trolling spoons but by far the best way is to either anchor up or (carefully) drift if the wind is right with live sawbellies. Jigging can also be productive especially while letting live bait do its thing on other lines out nearby (get lakers and the occasional rainbow or salmon as well).Anyone doing it for the first time I'd say be very careful it can be very disorienting out there and especially after 12 or 1 AM when folks in lake homes turn their lights off Set up in your spot in the early evening when it is light and best to anchor. hang lanterns off your downriggers to bring the bait in the fish will follow. Tip: if your lantern doesn't have a "shade on the side) use some aluminum foil around the side facing the boat as the glare will mess with your vision otherwise.

I was referring to the particular browns that have been caught and pictured recently not the numbers caught. Also browns can be very elusive especially until you tap into their specific habits and peculiarities. They are often mainly nocturnal feeders and not too many folks night fish anymore.

man....lately that brown population has looked very healthy (and hungry)

My hunch is that either they are purposely trying to limit the amount of people there or the guys responsible for putting in the docks may have been furloughed or something.

It was the toughest Seneca derby out of the 50 or so I've fished. We only fished the first two days and only two 5-6 lb lakers to show for it and lost another with no other hits Even three Seth Greens with a total of 15 Suttons didn't get a hit trolling from the north end to Sampson. I did however learn an important lesson: You always hear the motto "Don't leave fish to find fish" and I've been a believer in that over the years, but it can be a mistake too and bite you in the butt if you get too fixated on it. We stayed on the fish most of which looked like lakers hugging bottom and huge pods of bait extending from 10 ft below surface to the bottom in 40-75 ft at the north end, and just kept working it in different directions and with many different setups for most of the two days. The two lakers we caught, and the one that was lost were all on Cowbell setups. None of the other stuff worked no matter what speed or direction or lure type or size. The bottom line seemed to be that the fish were stuffed on bait which was right nearby so why would they expend extra energy to chase artificials? I inhibited my instinct to go deeper along the bottom and out where i normally fish and it was a major mistake but the lesson will stay with me A lot of really top notch fisherpersons did not do as well as usual so it is easy to blame it on the conditions ( and suppress the fact that I screwed up)

I was there last Thursday and the docks still weren't in

The problem with bending the fins on the weights and sending them outward is that they will be tracking way out in the cone of your depth finder and you may frequently lose sight of them. Try running your center downrigger deeper than the side riggers and with a shorter lead say 10 ft back then use longer leads on the side riggers and while keeping the boat straight slowly lower each rigger if they are tangling on the way down you may see signs of it on the tips of the rod (e.g. vibrating). If your weights are tracking correctly you shouldn't be getting tangled under normal currents etc. I think your problem is related to the weights themselves possibly drifting sideways or perhaps turning back and forth.

You may want to consider the effects of wind on it and how that might affect your trolling. I have a friend that installed a t top on his Whaler and really regretted it on windy days

I doubt seriously if the Blacks are at fault. I have used them for more than 40 years without problems but if that weight is spinning somehow and perhaps in strong current it could introduce tangling. I mostly use the older Black releases that you thread right on the downrigger cable about 6 or 8 inches up from the weight but I have also used the more portable type as well without problems - even when pretty much "free-falling" the weights with sliders attached. Ifishy has given you a good tip too. I'd be experimenting with a different type weight such as the torpedo or shark type if it were me.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/l/lake-sturgeon/

Here is an example of the mounting plate to which I was referring: https://www.cabelas.com/product/MOUNTING-PLATE/3017920.uts?slotId=0 They sell them elsewhere as well.