relaxer

What a bite today at the Oak. Beat up 90-110 of water until 11:00 with 35+ fish… moved out to 200 and hit a quad, then double, then picked away between 190-225. Finished w/ a teenager at 165. 60+ fish to the boat. Laker, couple browns, 6 steel, and 50+ kings from 1-20 lbs. green jeans/UV 190, Alty’s Stud /UV 190, 2 face doctor/ flow leprechaun, black mamba doctor/ stud and BAM / glow goblin were flashers on fire. Spoons were Warrior Menace, DW frog, hot lips, gold spook, orange slice. Warrior Menace mag to 20 bites alone. Had to pick through 1-5 lbs kings to find the good fish. Likely 70 bites today… 3 times had mainline/ slider doubles.

I have (2) Plano/Dreamweaver flasher file boxes for sale. Still in great shape. Hold (14) 8" flashers/spin doctors. $45 for the pair of boxes... Too much to ship but I will be in Oak Orchard July 4th to July 16th if anyone wants to make arraignments for you to pick. Tony

I have two older Cannon Unitroll downriggers with 4’ stainless arms, weight retriever and old style block base included. Came off a second boat I no longer have. Worked fine the last time I used but have been in storage the last few 5 years… $175 for the pair if interested. I will be in Oak Orchard July 4th to July 16th so can make arraignments for you to pick up if interested. Tony

looks like Creek or Lake chub... could be either as both close to same. Have caught some in the rivers trying to catch brookies.

Bright sunny days I likely don’t have crushed glow flashers above 70’ if at all after 8. Just me but I am normally fishing nice days.

I run green and chromes...often on a high diver or later in morning or depending on conditions. Just not in 10" spinnies. Black green dot 8" w/ #57 glow frog or #4 Mooneye and sea sick spinnie w/ glow stud are good blacks for me in the right conditions. Green/chrome 8" spinnies I like.... stud, UV 2 face, chin music, dragon slayer, white /green dot and white 2 face. I keep it simple and start with a stud or glow stud fly behind these and switch from there (sometimes to blue/green hammer, pro am, UV 190). In a smaller boat, I personally do better with a spinnie versus a paddle because of the speed tolerance of a spin doctor. If it's flat, I mix in paddles and let the fish dictate. Can be a little hard to control speed in a small boat with down current and chop so I lean on spin doctors or OKI flasher. Just find what works for you (pattern, spread, conditions) and repeat is the best advice though.

I like running a black diver w/ 10" carbon 14/carbon 14 meat rig or a chrome black mamba/night fury meat rig on the deep divers. If I can't get black to fire, I am running a white crush glow 10" with some version of white meat rig. Everyone has their favorite that fires though. If I run a 10" black spinnies, its normally in that 70'-90' down window. Otherwise, I am running white/glow deeper..

You sure that's a king? hard to tell from the angle of the picture, but resembles an Atlantic or Coho at first glance.

ErieBuck - if you have narrower guides where the knot catches going out, some glue can help smooth it out (somewhat). I just deal with the annoyance though since I know the knot never fails.

FYI.... you can Albright knot any of the lead core lines and if tied properly, it will NEVER let go. The knot is a little larger since the lead core is doubled over, but I have never had one fail in 40 years of fishing. FYI...it's rather easy to tie once you have done it several times.

This is probably just ignorance, but that never stopped me before, so here goes. So one of our wonderful government agencies decides that there should be protections placed on certain species, like cormorants and seagulls. For what purpose? It seems like both species' populations are out of control, to the point where they are causing environmental damage to other important species. Historically, were the cormorant and seagull populations ever as high as they are now, became depleted, and they are now trying to manage the populations back to previous levels, or what? I wish they would explain what their goal is by placing ridiculous protections on these birds. It doesn't take a Ph.D to know that populations out of balance with their environment can cause major harm to their surroundings. It's kind of ironic that protections are placed on these birds which have, in my opinion, minimal value to the environment, while allowing them to overpopulate and do serious damage to a resource valued in the tens of millions annually. Why are the folks responsible for these stupid migratory bird regulations placed on cormorants not addressing the issue more seriously considering the money that's involved? Typical government incompetence, inaction and pass the blame! They were depleted during the 60's due to DDT use. When that stopped, the population began to rebound just like the American Eagle which has become a common sight. When the alewife population exploded in the great lakes, the birds breeding success increased to the point where we are today. And it was groups of various environmentalist's and nature lovers who pushed against the US F&W to stop the culling in 2016 because the birds are also included in the list of birds as part of the Migratory Bird Species Act. Even now, as culling talk has increased and US F&W is looking into better controls, there are groups who are gearing up to stop them. Here is a good read to understand what you are up against with the cormorant fight. Not saying don't take it on...but powerful groups (Audubon Society) oppose culling. They are organized and have money for the battle. https://www.audubon.org/news/without-solid-science-government-plans-expand-cormorant-killing-efforts

I don't believe the DEC can do much to control cormorants because a 2016 ruling said that killing thousands of them violated the National Environmental Policy Act. The tree huggers won that battle. So have to prove they are polluting the water, destroying native species or some other reason to control the population. If it were up to the tree huggers, the lake would be filled with lampreys and cormorants.

For the money...the Okuma Classic Pro GLT's are hard to beat in the ~$30 range. I have used Daiwa Great Lakes, Okuma Blue Diamonds (still have some), Shimano TDR, Ugly Stick (still have some) and a handful of others. Save your money and get the newer Okuma GLT... they have the triangular front grip you asked about. For the money those are about as impossible to beat as any. The only rods I like better were Talora's and I got some of those for divers now after using them on a friends boat.

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