Followed The Waves

Outstanding! Very nice, healthy-looking fish!

You earned it out there and thanks for the encouragement. My marina opens in two months!

As far as your presentation goes, I've probably caught 10 lakers ripping the jig back to the boat for every laker I've caught "jigging." As far as the retrieve speed back to the boat goes, I had my best luck really honking it. Once you are able to see the fish, you can probably gauge their mood and how aggressive they may be feeding and biting. If you see a line firing out of the mud on the bottom heading straight up to your jig, start honking it back to the boat like you are a baitfish swimming for your life once the two lines meet. The line going up is the fish and the other line you see going down is your jig. It's very interactive and fun to watch on the TV. Sometimes they will grab it right at the boat. I'm sorry to be a wet blanket but for laker jigging right now, Seneca pretty much sucks. I see you are based in Romulus and I wasn't sure if you were fishing Cayuga or Seneca. My boat isn't trailerable and I love my marina on Seneca, so I'm staying put for now, hoping she comes back. I bought some trolling equipment and with some pointers from our good friend Nick O, I've been putting a few fish (mostly silvers) in the boat but most of them have been on the small side. Meh...

I agree with Spoonfed on the bait. I have two Humminbird Helix 5's. One has all the bells and whistles and one is just plain sonar. I track my jig better on the cheaper sonar unit. I'd start by cranking the gain all the way to max and if you get too much clutter or noise, back it off a bit. I also have the chart speed set to max. If you are fishing for Lakers, I'd also just focus on the bottom 25 feet or so. The Humminbird has a Bottom Lock feature or I can also set the depth range manually with a high and a low. Also, turn off Fish Detect or whatever feature Garmin calls it. If you are drifting, toss the jig out ahead of the boat so that you are directly over the jig by the time the boat catches up. The distance you toss it depends on the wind speed (more wind, farther toss). Once you get it worked out, you should be able to see a 1 ounce jig in 140 FOW. Hope that helps---good luck!

Looks like it's getting worse before it gets better. Haven't caught a fish jigging all year but managed a few trolling. Still SAD!

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!