TyeeTanic

I am using flea flicker on my chute rods - haven't had any twist problems yet. Have recently changed from single strand wire to 7 strand wire on my outside dipsey's. I know the single strand cut through fleas well, but how will the 7 strand hold up - is it as good???

Okay - I have been doing the above now for about 3 weeks and yes it is great for storage - it really has simplified things. BUT!!!! - the fleas are holding up a the micro-swivel joining the wire to the mono and I can't reel past this, so now I have 10 feet of mono followed by 10 feet of dipsey, snub, lead, flasher, lead, fly. We need to walk to the very front of the boat to get the fish even close to the back of the boat - and it is becoming a pain in the arse. I have moved over from single strand wire to 7 strand and this seems to do the trick. It is flexible enough that it doesn't kink as easily when I store my rod. This means I don't need a mono lead and I can attach my wire straight to the dipsey. This keeps the fish a lot closer to the boat when landing, which simplifies that final step in the process. Mark

I recently bought one - I think they are powerful enough to get only a couple of miles reception - no more. Sending is the issue. Receiving will be better if someone is sending a strong signal. They are really for conversing with close proximity radio communicators. You will not be able to talk to someone in Port Credit if you are in Bronte.

I have today changed from single stand 30# wire to the 7 strand. It is far more flexible and forgiving than the single strand - to say the least the single strand is a b$%tch. Anyhow - I do know the single strand does not hold up fleas at all. Does the 7 strand hold up any fleas or does it cut them off as easily as the single strand??

Thanks Skipper. Ya, I ran out of time to check the lines in detail. Will do that hopefully this Friday. It could very well be air. If I switch the pump off for 5 or 10 mins and then start up again, I always get about 50 - 100 mL of water coming out before it runs dry - so the water is coming in. If I let it sit longer, the water gushes out and then goes to a drop in a few seconds. So I figure the pump is working - either a leak in the suction or their is a partial blockage in the suction where water can slowly leak in but not fast enough to keep the pump running. Mark

So I went out tonight, hoping that by some miractle the livewell pump would work by just switching it on. I do this, and the water is pumping fine (plenty of water coming out) and then over about 2 mins it just dies down to a few drops before it stops all together. So, do you think there is just a blockage in the suction? The thing is I was able to flush water backwards through the system and I could see the air bubbles coming out of the inlet - so I figure maybe it's not blocked and perhaps what skipper is saying that there is a leak - but then why did the water come gushing out when I first started the pump?

I'm pretty sure it is because of one or both of the following reasons: 1) Hooks are not sharp enough - take your hooks and run them down your thumb nail, if they do not immediately bite into your nail and dig in then they are not sharp enough. Sharpen the hooks by striking the stone from the turn of the treble down towards the point. You only need to sharpen the last 1/4 inch and it will only take 3 or 4 good strokes to get them razor sharp. 2) You are pulling the fish in way to hard and the hooks are ripping out of their mouths. This is a major problem and if you are not careful it will get you almost all of the time.

Is there any trick to being able to check the pump without pulling the whole boat out of the water? Can a make shift plug with hold the pressure of the water from the inlet to the pump if I take the hose off and have a look? Or is this too dangerous to do?

I have a new Tahoe Q5SF - nice boat, but had a problem with the livewell pump today. We caught the first fish we wanted to keep and I started up the livewell pump no problem. Fish goes in. Catch another one we want to keep and open up the live well - no water! I switch it off and on - if I leave it off long enough it spurts out some water and then stops. I figure it's plugged somewhere. So I call the dealer and he says run some tap water back through the pump by putting a garden house onto the live well feed water nozzle. Did this and flushed the pump backwards. Saw bubbles and water coming out of the inlet nozzle just beside the engine, so I know everything is clear - tried starting up, and nadda - now I can even hear the pump running. What the heck is going on? Do I need to prime the pump again, or is there a more serious problem???

All I can tell you is that I've done it both ways - with only wire and taking the rod apart and with a 12' floro lead and taking the rod apart - I can definitely tell you it is 100% easier taking and putting the rods apart and back together with the floro lead. With the two lengths apart I can still wind my reel to tighten any slack in the line. Putting the peices back together is also simple and quicker. So, I'm not telling you to use it, but I find it myself much easier and the leader has never caused me any problems, so I'll stick with it.

K Gonefishin, There's one good reason and it is not really related to where your mind is going with this. It is a trick I learned from members on this site. With a wire rod, when dissassembling and putting it away, it is always a problem as the wire kinks over the guides when you take the two pieces apart and store together. A kink means a break in the future. If you use a floro or mono lead approximately 10 feet long, you can reel in the steel all the way to the reel and then leave the floro through the guides, which can take the bending around the guides. It means the difference between being able to fish within 5 mins, or having to cut my wire line and create a new loop each time I go fishing (15 to 20 mins). This is the main reason - the second is just a bonus, and that is to have a bit more stealth. The dipsey (with right color choice) can easily look like a fish and attract them to the fly/lure. I use 40 lb floro lead, really good knots - nothing's going to break before my rod snaps in half. Mark

Use flea flicker 30 lb is good.

I have a 10 foot 40# floro lead connected to my main wire using a micro swivel. I connect this lead to the diver. I then run a 12" snubber + 5 feet of 40# floro between the diver and flasher. Essentially what the fish sees is the diver, flasher and fly - with no line in between. I match the diver color to the flasher, so it looks like another fish. With this setup up I was able to land 10 large fish on the flies last week in about 3 hours. I can't say what would happen if I went from a 5 foot lead between the diver and flasher up to a 10 foot, however, I can say we had more than enough action on the boat to keep us all busy. Mark

I bought two Eagle Claw Wire Rods for $50 each. They are pretty good - but not the best. The big issue with wire rods is the tightness between the actual ball bearing roller and the guide bracket. Sometimes on my rods the wire gets wedge between the side of the roller and the guide bracket. It happens on the top guide as a fish may pull to one side or another. It gets anoying. When buying a wire rod, take a good look at how tight and robust this area is. I hear the more expensive rods are $100 per piece and they have good guides to prevent this from happening. Best regards.

Thanks Chris. I'll drop the fishhawk TD down next time I see this. I suppose if I see this it would be good to fish just above and in this depth right? Or will all the debri cause chaos with my line/spoon?

I don't think it is the dipsey, the lines are set out 200 feet on my wire rods, it would be almost impossible for the dipsey to get into my radar's view without significant slack on the line. I know that bait balls generally look like balls - but this is definitely something - you will see that even the predator fish underneath are picked up weaker than the ones on time. It's either bait spread out at one level, or someone else said it could be plankton.

The knot tbromund is recommending is a simple and VERY effective knot - it holds up and really is a quick knot to do. I have been using it ever since he recommended it to me.

Okay, here are pics of the formations on my fishfinder. First up are the diagonal lines across my screen - it does not happen often maybe once every 6 hours and lasts for 1 minute. Is this interference from something - if so, why does it not happen all the time? Second up is the 10 to 15 foot thick band that stretches over 200 feet - you will notice a few predator fish above and below this. Is this bait or thermocline??

Dewey - I just ended up changing all my braid over to flea flicker line - 30 lb test - because of the fleas. The flea build up on braid renders these rods useless in a few hours nowadays - I would not go with braid right now. You don't have to get wire if you don't want to, it is more difficult to work with, but I think good to fish with. You can put flea flicker on all your reels - it cost me $20 for 250 yards - and it works great - strong as steel and the fleas don't stick to it. Also, down temp is not a necessity, but I do produce more fish with it. First thing when I'm out on the water I put the lines down to 30, 40, 50 and 60 ft. Then I test the temp and adjust my depths according to where the 45F to 55F is and then put one just above the 42F. I have really zero-d into the fish zone quickly with this technique. I do agree with Dewey though, don't go replacing all your equipment - what I gave is a suggestion - rather tell us what you have and we can suggest any necessary changes. Speed is definitely important - 2.5 to 3.1 mph is my range. I get strikes mostly at 2.8 mph.

What equipment do you have? I thought I had the best equipment, and have changed it over 3 times. Firstly you should have wire dispey's and or down riggers. If you only have wire dipsey's then put on flea flicker on two chute (center) rods. Use 8 to 8.5' rods and nice trolling reels that can take at least 300 yards of line, with good drag systems. Next - you need to find out temperature by depth. Fishhawk makes good products they have the fishhawk TD, which you drop into the water and it tells you the temp every 5 feet. Drop your lines in the 45F to 55F depth range - spread them out. This time of the year you will find this temp range in 30 ft - 50 ft of water. Finding the right depth is easy with down riggers - needs some work with dipseys. Get the Precision trolling Big Water edition 2 - this has all the charts for wire, mono, etc. Put some good floro leads on the end of your line before you hook up to your spoons - try 10 feet of 20 - 40 lb test. Use Monkey Puke, Watermelon, Purple Black, Blue Silver Williams spoons - all size 3 or 4. Troll at 2.5 mph between 100 ft and 140 ft deep water. Try over an over until you catch fish.

Just got a new boat. Want to put the boat's name somewhere on it. What places normally do this sort of thing??

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Pirate's Cove ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): July 23, 2011 Time on Water: 6 AM - 2 PM Weather/Temp: Hot 32C?? Wind Speed/Direction: West, light Waves: 1 foot Surface Temp: 74F Location: Bronte East to Port Credit LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 17 Total Boated: 13 Species Breakdown: Steelhead, Coho, Chinook 10 - 20 lbs. Hot Lure: Atomik pumpkin orange fly + SD, atomik green fly, nasty boy 4" silver blue, 4" black purple. Trolling Speed: 2.8 mph Down Speed: ?? Boat Depth: 125 ft Lure Depth: 20ft, 30ft, 50ft, 70ft. ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Amazing day - we had 13 fish before our first 2 hours of fishing were up. Went a little quiet, but then got hits in the early afternoon. We had fun, arms need a rest. A lot of kings landed - consistently 17 - 20lbs. Lost a monster - I figure 25 - 30 lbs - wire got stuck in the reel!!!!! AArrgghh!

Okay, some weekly feedback on my topics. I loaded Prime Times Lunar Calendars - it said fishing would be good today from 6:30 - 9:30. Sure enough we hooked into 13 fish during this time - after 9:30 it all went quiet. Then it said at about 2 pm it would pick up again, and at 10 mins to two we started getting bites with 17 lb and 19 lb kings in the order. I really do think this moon thing works.

So can I simply attach a 5 gallon bucket to my ski rope hook on the boat? Isn't there a danger that it gets stuck in the propeller? I have an IO engine.

So can I simply attach a 5 gallon bucket to my ski rope hook on the boat? Isn't there a danger that it gets stuck in the propeller? I have an IO engine.