alwysfishn

I have closed hooks like this with Vice-Grips before. Adjust them, so the jaws are just snug on the hook with the lever and handle almost together, and squeeze them. If the hook closes a little, release the lever, turn the screw a little and squeeze again. Repeat until the hook is closed. You have to take small "bites" utilizing the mechanical advantage of the Vice-Grips unless you're Superman or have really large hands.

A Cherry bomb will stay lit under water because the gunpowder in the wick has an oxidizer in it. The gunpowder being the fuel, burns because it gets oxygen from the oxidizer. Once lit it will burn until it explodes in or out of the water. Of course they've been illegal since the mid '60s.

The lights we used were special made for night fishing. The tank had a short piece of pipe straight out of the top then an elbow with about 2' of pipe then another elbow with the lantern attached. This got the light out away form the boat and with the tank in the boat it made it easy to pump it up when the light got dim. They had a large dome cover that directed the light down into the water. Not much light shined in the boat or any where else except into the water. This really helped to draw the bait up to net them, They were actually pretty close to the water when we had the wooden Penn Yan boats as they didn't sit too high out of the water. The propane lights were hung from home made rods shaped like a shepherds hook. We used flexible gas lines from the lights to the tank. Angle food cake pans were riveted to the original tops to direct the light downward into the water. And the Cherry bombs were not a wives tale, trust me. We would hear them quite a bit when there were a lot of boats on the water.

My father, my uncle and myself used the hand line Seth Green rigs on Keuka, Canandaguia, Hemlock and Canadice. We used a home made adaptation to a Coleman lantern to get it out over the water with one on each side of the boat to attract saw bellies using white gas or Colman fuel. My dad and I later switched to propane lights. We have always used the hand line version for the Finger Lakes. 10' leaders with 2 hooks each, spaced 10' apart on mono) attached to the green "cloth" top line coming out of wood drawers stored 3 apiece in wooden boxes and went down with 7 leaders and saw bellies (5 for the shallower lakes). The drawers have screen bottoms with the left side divided up into 7 or 8 compartments where the hooks and the sinker are placed to keep them out of the leaders and lines. Some of the guys always called them "Set Screen Rigs" which I think they got confused with the actual name Seth Green Rigs. The lines and leaders are coiled in the drawers. We always place an outdoor magazine on the lines to hold them down. It also gave us something to read on a slow night. Anchored with enough rope to give the boat a good wide swing the Lakers, and the occasional Brown, Splake, Rainbow, or LL were in trouble. We used soup cans and later on plastic cups fastened together, filled with water and hung on the outside of the boat to put the saw bellies in as we pulled up the rigs. Like Ray 4852 said the Rainbows would raise hell with everything. When the line went slack you know you had one. They would jump right out of the water sometimes, and they liked to circle the boat wrapping up every ones lines and the anchor rope. Good times! We'd dip saw bellies for bait with a net like the one in the picture. Used to be lots of boats out there back in the the day. A regular party every Saturday night. Sometimes in the midst of all those boats you would hear a Cherry Bomb go off in the water. (Maybe they forgot their dip net?). No one out there anymore on the Bluff or on Canadaguia at night. Too bad.