Tyee II

That's how mine were rigged...with the line through the rubber tubing. I was using 30# though. That could be the difference. 

I also had problems with break offs if my diver bumped bottom. Not immediately, but on the next strike. I haven't had that problem with flouro.

Run mono or flouro. The diver can slide down with braid...

Nice Atlantic... Well done!

I've done it with 15 and 20# big game with no issues. Biggest thing is it will be "loopy" from line memory, but that will work itself out after a day of fishing. 

Also should say...it is sad that a fish like that had to die in a gill net. So many years that fish spent only to end up tangled to death in the end.

Wow...that fish is truly amazing. That thing could eat my dog, no problem! You'd need a very large bait to entice that fish with hook and line...it could fit a spawning King in its gullet!! Imagine the size of the crap that fish would take in your boat, lol.

The "dead Perch" that were sighted by 1 individual supposedly occurred like a week before the discharge of toxic Chemicals in Indiana. 

Bouncing bottom is a very effective way to draw fish in, but it is definitely an art. You really have to hover over that rigger to be prepared for making depth adjustments. It helps if you have a locator on the rail somewhere so you can watch your depth and still be close to your bottom rigger. 

A lot of times when resetting, I will drop my weight right to the bottom until it hits and let the blowback lift the ball up off the bottom. I have footage of Lakers charging in to take a look as soon as the ball hits. I also have lots of footage of bouncing off big and small boulders and coming out unscathed. I don't recommend doing this and I'm sure it will bite me in the ass someday...

For spoons I prefer weighted line, but keel sinkers are my next choice. Next after that is snap weights. At times I'll have all 3 methods in play to see what presentation is working better on that particular day.

I really like to run a keel sinker in front of my J-plugs just to keep them from wandering into other lines on turns. Keel sinkers also make a nice stopper to keep your in-line boards from smacking into the fish if you set them to release (which I like to do with my higher outside boards).

This was a picture that was posted on FB by one individual and the news outlets ran with the story even though nobody else, including people who were fishing the area, witnessed any dead fish in the area. The OP of this story hasn't come forward and cannot be contacted despite the efforts of the DNR, and there are many in my area that think this story is somehow jaded...

Well...it happened! Not something I want to experience again. Bilge pump running with waves coming over the bow onto the tonneau cover. I definitely gained a great respect for Lake Erie that day...but my Tyee II got me back to tell about it!

I have the next year model tyee II. What a great boat it has been. She's seen 8-10 footers on Lake Erie and handled them better than I did, lol. Still putting lots of fish in the box! Good luck with your sale...I've never seen one for sale before...

Vetting nailed it. It's so your flasher/dodger can impart more action to the fly behind it. 

Very creative idea...thanks for sharing it with all of us!

I started running an echip on my gopro housing clipped above my rigger ball because I felt like the proximity of the bait to the camera might be spooking fish. The first time I put the camera down with the echip on it I got more fish footage than I had gotten in two years prior...in just one day. Since then I always have one on somewhere, and I definitely see more fish on camera now.

I'm not sure if an echip will make a fish bite your lure over a non echip lure, but I do believe that they will draw fish in to your spread to investigate. I think you could just clip one behind your rigger weight, or run paddles with them to achieve the same results without changing the action of your flies.

Yes, those stinger umbrella rigs catch big Lakers here on Lake Michigan. Spoons or spin-n-glos behind them seems to be most popular over here. Not too different than the old six packs or schoolies which I have had success running spoons around 3' behind as well.

Are those all silver blanks or are there some golds and coppers too? Referring to the Scorpions...

High speed retrieve is great for changing baits quickly on your long coppers and cores. Also comes in handy when a frisky Steelhead charges the boat! If you do use your rod to budge a big fish closer to the boat, high speed helps prevent slack line as you're reeling back down to begin your next "pump".

I was taught the walk back technique that Vetting uses by a great fisherman years ago for those big slob Lakers that don't seem to budge with a rod pump alone. It works great and I call it the "Richie Shuffle".

That population implosion has already occurred with the Zebras on Lake Michigan and we're waiting for it to occur with the Quaggas now. I don't think GM is the right choice for a solution... Mother Nature will prevail!

What a happy ending to this thread:)

There are many that think mismanagement played a big role in the demise of Lake Huron as well. If the Mussels are there, not much we can do but more importantly you need to keep a watchful eye on the management of the stocking program by attending important meetings and getting involved, IMO.

I'm glad you and your friends enjoy fishing for Lake Trout, but over here on Lake Michigan you would be in the minority. We still catch plenty of King Salmon over here, but they are mostly natural fish, which verifies their capability of surviving in our changing lake. Numbers are down, but mostly because they keep cutting them out of the stocking numbers. Truth is though, it's the huge amounts of Lakers swimming around that are putting a hurt on the available bait, and our Lake Michigan Committee has no idea how many long lived Laker mouths are swimming around, yet they continue to dump them in by the millions.

The zebra mussell problem isn't going away any time soon and the only thing that can keep them in check are predators like the round goby, and the millions of Lakers are putting a hurt on them, too. Even if you have an appreciation for Lake Trout, overstocking them is definitely a bad idea, and hopefully your DEC won't be allowed to make the same mistakes our DNRs have made over here. It takes a long time to eradicate overpopulated Lake Trout that most anglers don't target so decisions on stocking cuts have to be made much quicker than with other Salmonids.

What are some of the other dominant forage species you've seen they consume? The past several GLFC and fisheries reports I've read seem to point to Chinooks being the least diverse feeders for one reason or another. As far as Lake Trout are concerned, I'd like to see them at historic highs to the point where the population is what is used to be and is completely naturally producing. They're also a native species that has shown to be much more adaptable to a diverse forage base such as Round Gobies, Sculpins, Smelt, and Ciscos and with shifting water conditions. Personally, I'd rather catch Lake Trout than Chinooks, but that's completely beside the point, being which species are more adaptable. This is still pertaining to the topic which branches off of whether it's worth the risk to the entire system to attempt to edit the genes of zebra mussels, which I do not believe it is.

I've seen Smelt, Shad, Shrimp, Spiny Fleas, and occasionally Gobies in Chinook Salmon I've caught over the years. The fact is, Lakers are less adaptive than Chinook to our changing Great Lakes. That's why they keep dumping them in Lake Michigan by the millions, because they haven't adapted well and haven't been reproducing naturally the way the Chinook has. The strain of Lake Trout that was natural is gone now. They are shoving a non-native strain of Lakers down our throats that barely anyone actually in touch with the fishery (and actually paying to support the fishery) wants. There is a new "natural" in our Lakes now. Things have evolved like they naturally will. Humans are part of this evolution and that is a natural thing. We are not above nature, just an unfortunate part of it.

Chinook will forage on many different types of bait if they are available and they have done just that through their stint in the Great Lakes. Why would it be any different than in the Ocean where, as you stated, the feed on a diverse forage base? If the Chinook fail to survive in the Great Lakes it will be because the huge amount of Lake Trout our Government wants to shove down our throats will have eaten them out of house and home...Back to topic...

I used them for many years and they worked fine. Bought mine used when I first started Salmon fishing on Lake Michigan back in '96. I caught many big Salmon with them and only switched to Taloras a couple years ago because I wanted shorter rods on my small boat.