nickihoyboy

Just my two cents, as opinions vary from fisherman to fisherman, but I would say if you don't have any experience using wire line stick with the braid to start out using dipsies, it's one less thing to worry about when you're learning to run them and a whole lot less expensive and more forgiving when you make a mistake. Also, you won't have to put TwiliTips on your dipsey rods, which is something you can do later if you decide to try wire. The biggest problem with running braid on Lake Ontario, as far as I can see, is that during certain times of the season spiny water fleas really stick to the braid and are hard to remove. If you don't have that problem in B.C. I'd say go with the braid. I've used both the braid and the wire and I personally don't see much difference between the two fishing less than about 75' deep, and as I said, the braid is much more forgiving. As for dipseys, I like the Chinook divers because they provide less drag when fighting a fish, but I also use and like the Dreamweaver Deeper Divers in 107 and 124 sizes because you don't have to mess with an added ring. I doubt you would need the 124 size for the depths that you are fishing. For linecounter reels on a budget, I know you said you're not an Okuma fan but it's hard to beat the Okuma Convector series in my opinion. I would stay away from the Magda series for the difference in cost. The convectors are pretty well built, easy to get service and parts for, and have a pretty good drag system which is easy to upgrade with Dragmaster drag washers if you feel the need. I have some Convectors and some Cold Waters, and also have some Daiwas, Penns and two Shimanos. The Shimanos are definitely the best, but the cost is about twice that of the Convectors. As with all fishing gear, I would say if you're really serious about what you are doing buy the best you can afford, it will last longer and give you better service. Good luck and great fishing!

Great store for us trollers. Owner is Jonathan Ross, one of the nicest guys you'll meet, and free with all his fishing information. My first visit to the Oak from NJ, I stopped into his store after seeing it mentioned on LOU and he couldn't have been more helpful. He recommended a few flies that were hot, some I had and some I bought, and all of them worked great with the combinations he recommended. If you stop by his store check out the super Mag spoons he makes, they look awesome. Wanted to buy some but the patterns I wanted were all sold out at the time. You can bet I'll be back every time I'm in the area. And by the way, congratulations to Capt. Jon and his crew for winning the 2022 Sandy Creek Shootout. I was at the fish cleaning station at the Orleans Co. Marine Park when his crew came in to clean their four winning salmon. Great store!

I did, about 20 years ago. It's been so long that I forgot all the particulars, but I remember that I tried two different models of them and I wasn't happy with either of them and I went back to my 13 lb. Slim Darters. They may still be lying around somewhere in my attic, if you're interested in them I'll look and see if I can find them. If I can, you pay for shipping from NJ and I'll send them to you. No promises that I'll find them though. Nick

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Bayonne59, had pretty much the same experience, only two weeks instead of one. Boiled my brake fluid and had my brake pedal go right to the floor towing my 23' boat in a two hour traffic jam on the PA Turnpike. Sat on the shoulder for eight hours trying to get some help, finally decided to try and make the next exit (13 mi. away) at 11:30PM with light traffic, only to find that the brakes were working fine once the fluid cooled. Never heard of this before, except in NASCAR, but I Googled it and it describes my situation exactly. Very weird. Anyway, get to my rental near Mexico at 5:30AM, take a nap, then take the boat over to Lighthouse Marina where I had reserved a slip, only to find I can't launch at their ramp because of the low water. The owner of Lighthouse, Abe, offers to go with me to the Mexico launch and drive my truck and trailer back to the marina while I drive the boat back. Barely got the boat off the trailer at Mexico, but finally got tied up at Lighthouse. Fished hard for two weeks from the plant all the way up to north of North Sandy, from 85' out to 400', with very little success. Threw everything I had at them, spoons, flasher/flies, meat rigs, you name it. Tried speeds from 1.5 to 3.2, didn't seem to matter. Even tried some stickbaits and j-plugs in frustration. Ended the trip with one king in the high teens, two steelies 9-1/2 and 10-1/2 lbs., one brown 6 lbs., one small laker and a bunch of small browns that ate the spoons (all released except the king). The charters out of Lighthouse didn't seem to be doing much better. Plenty of marks and plenty of bait, but didn't seem like the kings were interested. I was told the same thing, come the last two weeks of August and the first two weeks of September. Talk about combat fishing time. And I waited all year anticipating a great fishing trip. Oh well, that's fishing.