Chowdaire

I think you're way over thinking it. Of my best spring patterns a couple can be considered natural, the rest are firetigers and bright oranges. Even in clear water. What are they matching? Also catch the bulk of my browns on spoons or long thin stickbaits even though they're puking up tiny shad shaped fish and/or gobies.

To me it's about going through a rotation and finding out what's working in a given area on a given day. It's fun to think we're really clever and matching some hatch or something but my experience tells me that's BS (I'm not a fly fisherman so not saying anything about that.).

And the SS Bayrat in goby pattern is a killer. I don't think it looks much like a goby but it catches a lot of fish and that's all that matters.

Beauties! Congrats


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Awesome

I know. I was just joking because that fish is massive!


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What the..,,,,

Are you using these in that brown pic?



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The secret is out!

Just kidding. That lure is on my shopping list for spring already. I'm hoping I can make it to the show in Chautauqua at the end of April and Llungen will be there. If not, Team Rhino has some killer colors online.

Another basic lure that consistently works for me is a Depth Raider. Two problems that I think cost me fish trolling are running too slow and too deep. I'm going to run faster on my top end and a lot more short leads this year.

I’m not anywhere near as experienced as a lot of you guys but I find the speed on the fishhawk very useful. The temp. Not so much.

I generally find the same thing I found before I had a temp probe. Start covering different depths and looking for bait and hooks and dial it in based on bites.

I often get my bigger fish down deep in 42deg water on meat rigs but there was a 2 week period this past year where the big kings were in the top 25fow. I got a couple on the free slider, started pulling everything up high into the warm water and started slamming them. Found later other guys were doing the same thing.

Maybe I’ll figure out the temp better with more experience but so far I may use it as a starting point but am quick to abandon it when I start catching fish.

Also. In terms of marking bait, at least when it’s up high, I’ve seen videos of people using the Panoptix and the bait drops as the boat goes over. So if you see bait 20’ down it may have been on the surface before the boat came. I’ve experienced this myself with walleye when I’ve had to pull up into the top 5-10’ when the bait is real high even though it’s showing deeper when my transducer goes over it.

Apologies for the rant but getting cabin fever with the crap ice.


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I attach ‘em to the wire, tighten ‘em down good and then drop them in at the side of the boat while trolling. I hold the rod and give it a good hard side sweep. Then I back the screw off little by little until it releases doing that.

I like them real tight so I don’t get false releases but you can get a good feel for the pressure you want by how hard you sweep the rod.


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Looks like a blast. Congrats!


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Beautiful fish


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I don't fish the finger lakes but I have 8' Talora roller rods that are medium power and pretty soft for a dipsy rod.

I used mine this fall many days under freezing and down to 15F.

Not sure what you're asking but the deployment was very slow in the cold. I was pretty concerned that it would freeze and get stuck down but that never happened. It just went up/down really slowly.

Hope this helps.

Awesome! Congrats

Thanks, guys. Definitely felt good to pull it out at the end. Now I can look forward to trying to get a new PB next fall instead of my first fish on the river.

So I started chasing musky this fall on the St. Lawrence on Nov. 17th. My last day was today and at 76 hours in, I still hadn’t boated a musky.

With an hour left to my season. I decided to pull my trolling lines and cast a bulldog on a shoal that had a lot of bait off it. As I was clearing my second line it got hammered.

Finally got my SLR musky.

I put the trolling lines back out and swung around. When I got back to the shoal I decided to throw the bulldog till dark. Unbelievably, #2 inhaled it in about 30fow off the rocks. Great fight.

No trophies, both 48”, but what a way to end the season.

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Ttt


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Ttt


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I bought this last season and tried it for a couple of hours before realizing that I can't switch back and forth between left and right handed reels. I took the line off, wiped it down and put it back in the box.

$80 OBO

I love these reels. Only selling because it's Right Handed.

I'm on the north shore of Oneida Lake so can meet around the lake or will look into shipping, if necessary.

50/50 sticks/spoons on the browns. All spoons on the bows. Black and orange mostly.

They were puking up a lot of small baitfish.




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I have mine track mounted. Makes it real easy to switch the configuration around for different types of fishing.

You’ll have to think about what you’ll want in there at the same time and make sure it will all fit though. Also that the gunnels are strong enough to support the riggers.




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Thanks for the inspiration to get out there this afternoon. It was a slow pick at first as I tried to find the right depth and then it was on for the last hour and a half.

I went 12/13 on browns and 3/4 on small steelies. Half of the browns were nice fatties but nothing really big.

All bites were around 20fow, 5-10’ down. Same program as spring.


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Wow. Great fish. Congrats!

Thank you.
 
Not at all...51”
 
 
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Gorgeous fish! Congrats.

Mind me asking how long it was?


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On 10/14/2019 at 8:28 AM, Dan M said:

I was just looking at that Starcraft and other posts online - seems like a great boat for Ontario salmon - my concern would be that I fish Waneta alot for musky - and with the high gunwales making it hard to net and unhook a fish while it's in the water - not to mention the smaller launch at Waneta.

Boat will spend probably most of it's life at Waneta/Chataqua/Canandaguia and sometimes Ontario.

Would a smaller boat be better for those smaller lakes? (easier to launch and reach over the boat to lip/unhook musky)

I think you're on the right track. I split my time casting and trolling and fishing a lot of walleye, bass and now musky and would go for a lower set multi-species over a pure Lake O style trolling style boat myself. As much deck space and internal storage as you can swing.

I had an 18' Lund Impact that was perfect for that but there are some less expensive options in the same style.

As for launching a big boat on Waneta. It's coming in that's the problem. Turning my 22' fiberglass in that channel and getting it on the trailer last night with a ripping North wind was a chore to say the least. And I also learned that when you think there is no one around at that launch you should still keep the expletives to a minimum because there is a house next door that can hear you fine from their porch. Whoops