Followed The Waves

Very nice! They look like decent, healthy fish.

Grumble… As if Seneca needed ANOTHER kick in the ass…

Nick, thanks---I had a good teacher. I've been looking around for one or two of those 30° gimbal mounts that fits in my stern rod holders. I can't find anything that Cannon makes but Bert's manufactures these. Price doesn't look too crazy bad and I think the ratcheting rod holders run around $80 each. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks to everyone for the help! Nick, I'll even throw in a bag of Martin's famous beef jerky. Finally broke the ice on Seneca Friday morning with a laker, salmon, rainbow, and only one lamprey. The laker and LL came on the lead core and the rainbow hit a dipsey/spoon.

Thanks---I picked up a few Tadpole Diving Weights to git 'em down.

I should have mentioned that I will be fishing Seneca only. I'm guessing I wouldn't need anything more than 15 pound test as a backing? I'd like to do it on the cheap but I'd like to do it just once. Braid? Mono? I have 10 pound fluorocarbon for a leader…

Hey, quick question from a newbie troller. I'm hoping somebody has a similar or identical set up. I want to run a couple of rods with lead core off the back of Followed The Waves. My rods and 18 pound lead core line were delivered today and I'd like to get spooled up before I get to the lake. The real is a Cabela's Depth Master III 20 (DM III 20). Looks like line capacity (presumably for standard monofilament) for 18 pound line is 230 yards. I bought 2 rods and reels and two 100 yard spools of lead core. Should I put some backing on the new reel before the lead core? I wasn't sure how much thicker the lead core was and how it relates to the reel's capacity. Thanks for any help! Addendum: The 18 pound lead core I purchased is .025" in diameter and I found this link which says 18 pound fishing line is .017" in diameter, so the lead core is about 32% greater in diameter---I'm just not sure how it factors into my reel's line capacity… Joe

Sunday morning, looking toward the north end from just above Pontius Point and I had the place all to myself (which may explain my empty box)...

Props to John and good luck to all fishermen tomorrow!

Bring it! ASAP!

I'm in! And if you enter by 5/1/21, I think you're eligible for a $250 drawing.

Doc, nice looking fish man! Bullet Bob, I wish you had a better day but I remember Ray saying years ago that we can't rush it. Probably two months out from 50° on the surface, although it looks like some peeps are rocking it. I'm dying to get back up on the water but I think Followed The Waves is due for a good bottom painting, so I am going to need some nice weather for a workday. I plan to focus a little more on the Silvers this year and maybe do some casting. Also hope to chase some Pike around later this spring. Sea yacht soon, Seneca!

Looking forward to it even if I do smell the skunk. I'm dying to get back out on the water. Hard to believe the marina opens in just seven weeks.

BD, I also have a Helix 5 with GPS (map of the lake is nice), Down Imaging, Chirp, etc. up on the flybridge where I drive. It's a nice FF, but more than I need. The GPS/mapping is nice. I bought an icefishing transducer for it too, and it works pretty good. You can set it up like a Vexilar or just watch the sonar (or both). I can see my tiny icefishing jig with it too. Good article here on vertical jigging with just good ol' plain sonar http://hstrial-jhalfen.homestead.com/DualBeamVertical.html Good luck!

For vertical jigging, I'm just running a basic Humminbird Helix 5 (sonar)---no GPS, no down imaging, no side imaging, no BS but I can follow my jig down well below 100 feet. The first image shows my jig dropping diagonally from left to right with a few small fish on the bottom. The second image shows my jig going down through a cloud of bait and a laker coming up for a look.

F-ing crazy! I used to catch about 350 lake trout a season (jigging) in the mid-2000's until I sold my boat in 2011. Came back last summer and caught nine. I've been on Seneca since the first weekend in April this year and I've caught 11 so far this year. SAD!

Priceless!

Neat! I've picked up a few very nice "incidental" smallies over the years out in deep water. Seemed like they were a long way from home but they were out there.

Thanks Ray---it's been a while! Are you still camping in the truck and running the old red Lund? I can't believe what happened to Seneca while I was away. Sad…

The fish all looked nice and healthy---no lamprey marks!

Fished north of Sampson to the north end and back Saturday and managed five Lakers over 12 hours---all caught jigging out of the back of a 28 foot Carver. Caught a couple of little ones (19" and 21"), 2 @ 25", and 1 @ 28" (looked like a nice wild fish). I fished Sunday morning for a few hours north of Sampson and managed one @ 27". Also had a few hits and lost a few after a short fight (typical jigging stuff) on both outings. Still crappy fishing but Saturday was probably my best day since I got back on Seneca a year ago. Also learned how to use the timer on my phone's camera for a selfie. Here's the 28 incher...

I cry on Nick's shoulder back at the marina and I hate to be that old guy living in the past, but I fished Seneca from 2003 until 2011 when I sold No Clue. I used to keep a diary and reported about 350 fish a season---all vertically jigged up. So far this season, I am up to FIVE fish and I've been on the water since April 4. I am having good marks but from my interpretation on the TV, I think the fish I am seeing are small and for whatever reason, are less interested in a vertical presentation. In this pic, you can see my jig dropping and a couple of lookers but it's pretty rare these days to see them firing off the bottom and intercepting the jig 20 feet from the bottom. Back in the day, they'd come flying out of the mud and often chased the jig right to the boat. I rarely jigged up a fish smaller than 24 inches so I'm hoping that what I am seeing on the TV are little guys who will grow up to be big guys. A boy can dream…