CK3080

I had some service and electronics work done to my boat this spring at Krenzer's and when I got the call that it was all ready to go and seeing Monday's weather report, I couldnt pass up a quick shakedown trip.  Got on the water around 1 PM in Wilson and spent about an hour playing around with the new electronics.  Put out a 3 rod spread in 80 FOW straight outta port. Water was a perfect green sorta trapped between two mudlines. Fished from 2PM - 5PM and pulled three good kings and missed a rigger bite that never came tight.  Bay Rat LXD in green/yellow (cant afford it maybe?) 200ft back on an inline and 31 rigger with a mag DW game over took the fish.  Kings were 10, 12, and 14 lbs on the handheld scale.  Also, shout out to Rick at Krenzer's for doing a heck of a job on the electronics install.  He handled everything start to finish on suggesting new stuff, re-utilizing old stuff, and custom fitting all the installs.  Turned out great.  Boat is back in the barn and I will be back to Wilson in a few weeks.

Also, fished the AM of Tuesday 4/16 and couldnt buy a king bite to save my life, the good water moved in or out or east or west, not sure but I couldnt find a king willing to bite, and lakers and browns really arent my thing.

1 hour ago, Sealegs said:

Just left Wilson, flat lake

Howd you do? Heading out tomorrow/tuesday

PM sent

For what its worth, I had great luck buying and servicing my yamahas through Clayton Marina when I lived in Sackets. I bought a new kicker from them, had my F200 serviced, and had a couple warranty issues handled with no problem whatsoever on the T9.9. Couldnt say anything bad about that place for sure. Wish I still lived closer. 

Great info, thanks guys.  Thinking about ordering one new saltist and one tekota 600 and seeing which I like the best this spring before replacing any others on the boat.

John, you are correct, looking for mag dipsey reels.  Figured i would replace the hardest working heaviest loaded reels on the boat first before replacing any others.  Rigger reels dont get nearly the punishment that my inside mag dipsey reels pulling meat rigs do.

Hey all, i'm starting to phase out some old 30 convector diver reels on my boat this season and was looking to buy two new inside diver reels.  Looking at everything on the market, is the new 30 Saltist the best way to go nowadays?  I see the new okuma stormrunner 30s on Fishusa as well, but I think from what I've read, the Saltist is probably a better reel.  All I really have experience with so far is Okuma Convectors, with a little bit of time on others boats with the older saltists.

https://www.fishusa.com/Yakima-Bait-Spin-N-Fish/

Anyone ever tried these? If so, any particular size or colors work better? Saw a couple videos on them and was thinking about giving them a shot on the bar this spring behind a fish flash or echip.  

Similar issue here but with my downriggers and Raymarine AP.  Everytime I hit the auto up on my cannon mag 10 stx's, the autopilot loses heading and goes haywire.  as soon as the ball breaks the surface, the AP goes back to its original track.  I still need to track that one down though...  Thinking downrigger power cable and raymarine heading sensor might be too close.

On 7/23/2023 at 8:08 PM, rusty1034 said:

This outfit is awesome. Like any good tree nursery, trees are shipped once a year.  His trees go on sale in the fall and usually sell out in less than a day.  Many cold hearty varieties. 
 

https://bluehillwildlifenursery.com/

 

Good luck !
 

Rusty

 I second Blue Hill.  I ordered 11 trees from him in 2022 to plant this year, and ordered another 14 this year to plant next year.  I'm in PA, but Ryan gives good advice for what to plant where, and a good mix of species.  I emailed him directly when I bought my 12 acres last year and he has been an excellent resource.  All the trees I planted in March of this year are looking terrific, actually got a handful of crabapples on a few of the crab trees that I ordered already.  Highly suggest following his planting method too (starter fertilizer, weed mat, stone, wire screen, and 5' fence cage with EMT stakes).  

11 hours ago, jmyers8 said:

I run the dream weaver deeper divers with no ring. 124mm mag on the inside 1 setting and 107mm 3 setting on the outside and dont have any issues. 

Ditto. Plus I run 9’ inside rods and 10.5’ outside rods. 

we are coming in from PA 5/17 to 5/21, any idea if any of the cleaning stations will be operational by then?  Last year we launched at Tuscarora but drove to the fort to use theirs.  Once upon a time they had tables and running water with carcass dumpster at the state park launch, but i'm assuming thats long gone now?

message sent, i'll take two if you are willing to ship.

Another vote for pulleys and reels on each side, I think it makes attaching clips easier than having a huge long tow line. I went with cisco. Pic showing pulling and reel location 

Rod father, nbk, lance’s two face, bad toad, die hard

I try to buy made in america whenever possible, however great lakes trolling gear is tough to source domestic. Especially rods and reels. Casting/spinning rod wise, you can find models of St Croix, G Loomis, Cashion, several other brands made in USA if you are willing to spend the money.

Pliers/tools - i really like Donmar and Accurate. Not too terribly expensive and I have put a pair of Donmar pliers through the ringer and they still function good as new.


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I use two red light 14 bands buried deep into a laurvick release for all my coppers (150 through 500)

Spro’s are the smallest power swivel ones, 35lb I think. Duolocks size 2


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Another vote for igloo.  I use the cheap 120 qt polar cooler and put two cat litter jugs with frozen water.   Only complain is the latches break sometimes, but replacements are cheap.

I have a yeti that lives on the boat, but thats just for food and drinks.  too heavy to be throwing around with a couple limits of kings in there.

Any fly leader tied to an 8” spin doctor or e chip on my boat is 22.5”.

Twenty two and a half inches. Dont ask me why, just always worked for me.


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I only run FF or paddles with meat on long copper. Typically get bigger fish on these rigs and I dont like to drag skippies too long.


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400 gets used a lot in the summer. Much longer than that and its just a pain.


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3 hours ago, tenatureboy said:

 

 

Thanks for sharing info on the water!

 

Tim

 

 You got it man! its definitely nice to network out there.  You really helped us out on that deep bite as well.

Me and my buddies did our annual Spring Kings trip.

Wed 5/18 - rolled into town from Pittsburgh, checked into the motel, launched in Olcott around 430 PM til 8PM.  Fished a lot of water from previous years successes, but was pretty dead this year.  Went 4 for 8 on all smaller ones, all spoons, none in the box.

Thurs 5/19 - launched from Wilson at 430 AM.  Went a few miles NW of the harbor, set down in 140' and stared catching fishing before the last line was in the water around 530 AM.  Glow spoons and FF in the morning on 300 copper and outside divers, UV spoons and FF in afternoon.  190-200 outside divers, riggers at 55-65.  Fished til 130 or so, ended up 22 for 28 with 11 nice kings in the box.  No giants, but a good number of mid-teens.  Stayed around 100-160 FOW all day.

Fri 5/20 - launched from Wilson again at 430.  Same area as the day before, started in 160 and trolled between there and 240 or so.  More of a spoon bite, but did take a number of good kings on FF.  No meat bite to speak of.  Same depths as the day before.  Stayed on the water til 2:30, finished 21 for 28 with a 17 lber and a few other mid teens fish, but many small ones mixed in.  Killed 10 fish in the box.  Some nasty weather blew through around 11, but it calmed back down enough for a few early afternoon bites.

Sat 5/21 - very strong W wind in the morning, slept in, didnt launch til 6:30 and started the slow ride out to the same area as the days before.  Went further west and started on long East trolls.  Slow pick, mostly all meat bite.  took a few kings on mag DW rod father and roy boy.  Rig going the most was a chrome green dot stinger sidekick with attomik stud twinkie rig.  our big fish came on that one.  A front blew through and blew us off around 2 PM.  it got nasty quick and we had a wet ride back.  Ended up with one 20.7 lber (DEC weighed it at the Fort Niagara station), one 10 lb er, and a couple teenagers in the box.  11 for 16 on fish and hits and killed six.

Overall great trip.  For the out of towners, only cleaning station we found open was fort niagara. Best baits of the trip were: Spoons - Mag DW Rodfather, FF - Black Green Dot SD with a Shred Pro Am fly, Meat - Sidekick with Atommik Stud twinkie rig.

Added a tower, some rod holders, lights, and some new cisco planer reels and pulleys.  Ditched the old bimini and planer masts/rod holders.

Shook her down last week, she'll be splashing in Wilson in a week.