JimB

Additional kudos from me as well. Too many people would have said "hey look, a new camera". Far fewer would have said "how do I get this back to it's owner". Even fewer are folks that go through the trouble.... As a future "I'm missing something" type...thank you from all of us out there.

Make sure you check in every day Schreck. I outfitted my boat this season almost purely by buying items from members here. Things go fast, so actually, check twice a day if you can. There is some great stuff sold here....

I run into the same thing. Weather Underground shows winds at the airport from the south. The central Lake Buoy shows less than one foot, winds out of the south. Check all the local weather bugs that I can find, even check out the home owner weather stations.... I get to Sandy, and the wind is from the NW, or NE, and it's big rollers if I'm lucky, or just really nasty short chops with white caps that make it absolutely no fun by yourself in an 18' Tracker. We need to find someone that lives up on the lake within a few miles of Sandy that is willing to either: A)Put up an online anemometer so we can see what the wind is REALLY doing or B)Give us their phone number so we can call, any time of the day, (well, if I'm wishing, may as well go big right?) and ask what the lake looks like from his back yard. I live in Chili, so it's only a 35 minute drive, but I just hate getting up there only to find that conditions are totally opposite of what I thought they would be. I know I'm going to get blown off the lake, but I still have to go through the motions of launching, slowly going out to 100 fow to realize it's a no go. Those days I would have been better off handing the wife $15 bucks....would be cheaper than the gas I spend.

I have only been running a 3' leader on my cheated spoons. I've seen a few posts about how much distance, and 3' just seems to short... most run them 5-8'? Since I have yet to catch a thing on my cheated spoons, I'm willing to try something new!

New to this, so take my input for what it is.... I run my Spin Dr. about 6-8' away from the ball. The thinking goes like this: Closer to the ball, the period (where the Dr reaches the top of the "loop") of the spin should be shorter, and the rotation quicker. This should also give a tighter radius to the circle it traces (I'm guessing a 2-4 foot circle). Further away from the ball, the Dr. takes a longer time to trace a circle (longer period), the rotation is slower, but the radius of the loop it makes could be huge. (Again, guessing, perhaps 6-8 feet or larger? Not knowing a darn thing about how fish trigger, I would have to lean towards a tighter, faster spin to keep their attention. If they have to spend extra energy to follow a big wide circle, is it worth it to them? I'm following this one closely....I've already lengthened the leash on my cheated spoons.....

If it's anything like my tracker, it means pulling the decking....

Have a Mercury 75 that does the same thing...unless the nozzle is in the sweet spot, you would think my tank is full the way it blows back the fuel. Rotate the nozzle clockwise and counter clockwise when filling, as well as moving it in and out of the fuel port. I think the additives and anti foaming agents actually create so much foam and turbulence that it just boils out of the fill port into the nozzle.

Possible to get an estimate on shipping to Rochester NY 14624? Wonder if you could jam one into those "if it fits it ships boxes" or if it's by weight?

I was out last Friday and today from Sandy. Barely a flea on the lines. 2 weeks ago, I had to slap the rods to break them off. Running 25# mono on the riggers, and 7 strand wire on the dipsy. Thankfully I've never seen fleas as bad as some of those pics.....

Every time I head out in my 18' Tracker, I hum a few bars of "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" just to remind myself that the lake isn't very friendly if you get to complacent. The history of our lake is pretty awesome. Thanks for the link.

Excellent responses all. I knew when I started this that there were no hard and fast answers. I was just hoping for some inputs based on experience so I could start to eventually figure all this out. I realize that unless I spend all my free time on the water, it will be a long learning curve. I'm just hoping to get to the point where if I get skunked, I can honestly say "they just weren't biting today" instead of "I just spent 5 hours trolling, and really don't have a clue if I was doing it right, or wrong". Thanks again all! I have something to start from now. Jim

Thanks for the response Longline. Still wondering if there is a way to know how much depth you "lose" due to blow back. If I let it out 70', is it actually only down 50? I'm wondering if the depth isn't as important as the temperatures. If that is the case, then it really doesn't matter how "deep" you go, it's finding the right temps? I'm actually surprised that only one person responded...I thought I was opening a can of "how to" worms.... Jim

So I just outfitted the new to me boat this spring for fishing the lake. I've been out a number of times with marginal success. Just the other day I added a Sub Troll 900 to the mix, so I now have more accurate info. Today was my 1st run with it. My questions are: 1) Do I fish a specific temperature range? Sub Troll manual lists most salmon preferring the lower 50's for temp, but I've seen people talking about looking for upper 40's. 2)Using the sub troll, I kept the speed between 2.2 and 2.5 or so. I run a mix of spoons, cheated spoons, flasher/fly, and a dipsy with flasher fly. Are these speeds acceptable? I know each one probably has a sweet spot, but I'm looking for a decent average speed. 3)I'm using 10 pound balls. They don't really show up well on my fish finder, as they obviously tend to scope. This means that 60' on my line counter probably means 50' or less in actual depth. If I'm targeting a depth, is there some "formula" to compensate for scope? I know as you go deeper, the scope increases....how do you know you've hit your desired depth? Is actual depth an issue, or is it all temperature based? 4)If I'm trying to run cheated spoons, I know I need a "bow" in the down line. When letting out the cannon ball, just how much tension do I keep on the line as it runs out? Do I shoot for a 1:1 ratio of cannon ball to line counter? Or 2:1 etc. Say my rigger counter says 60'. I've been trying to keep the rod counter around 80' or so. I know there are a billion opinions out there, and these are some questions that will have a thousand answers! I'm just trying to get a basic start to the next 10 years of trying to somewhat figure this whole sport out. If you have advice, and can keep it simple, I would greatly appreciate input. I know lure color, size etc plays a big part, but I'm just trying to get a feel for the physical aspect of the set up at this point. Thanks in advance, Jim

Check your mail... PM sent 7/20.

New to the lake as well, with an 18 footer. (Okay, its 17.5, but I fish, so I see no harm in adding a few inches to yet one more thing I mention....) I've been out in 3' rollers, and it handled it pretty well. Not saying it was fun, or smart, but I didn't have that "hope my life insurance is paid up" feeling. As others have said, you will get plenty of good conditions to get out on the lake. Some good info on conditions can be found at: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=45012 http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=14624 http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/LO/043.html