White Wolf

This is how we like them to release! 

Just an opinion, but 78 is very high risk for mortality, especially with a deep hook probably near 100% fatal. May not be too bad for a stocked fishery, but I stop fishing at 75 on my home water's which are natural reproduction only. As do almost all the successful and knowledgeable anglers that I personally know

Cold windy weekend kept the traffic down a bit. Got to use my new musky play pen

Anyone know if there's a night bite on Chautauqua? My guess would be more likely in the north end? Trying to get my father on some muskies (bucket list fish for him). No experience on that lake but should be easy enough, it just seems like boat traffic is going to be enormous this year. It might not make a difference for the fishing but I'm limited to weekends, and Id prefer a more peaceful outing if it's worth it

Very cool. Helps a lot having a visual to base my decisions off of. Thanks guys

AZ was my plan for the S-10s. I like the look of the Cisco mounts there because I definitely need extra height and adjustability in the back of the boat to get around my weird transom/splashwell design. I'm going to mess with some nylon washers and see if I can get the 17s to tip like the AZ. Never an issue with the rod popping out tilted straight down like that?

Putting tracks on my boat and just looking for any advice or do's and don'ts anyone with experience might have before I start drilling holes. I have 4 downeast that Im looking at various adapter's for. Two S-10 and two S-17. Also, if you could only run one down rod, would you prefer it on same side or opposite of the kicker motor? Or even right in the wash?

Thanks in advance 

For anyone that doesnt already know, Baker Fishing Tools make's a long T handle style hookout that work's far better than pliers for reaching into a toothy mouth or even hooks outside of the mouth. Better grab and leverage and they are pretty cheap. Just don't use it to remove a hook that shouldn't be

1 hour ago, maddog said:

Wow - Awesome fish Pete!

Justin - Thanks for posting about the vertical handling which is good to know. However, it brings up another subject regarding catch and release. Is it better to try and dislodge a hook that's deeply embedded even if they lose some blood or is it better to just let the fish go with the hook in there? I've heard conflicting opinions where some say the fish will starve with the hook in there and some say the fish will die with any blood loss so leave it in. Some believe as long as the fish swims away it'll be fine. 

A lot of my fish unhook themselves in the bag since I use single hooks most of the time. Whenever a hook doesnt just pop out, it gets cut (with fish in the water). What's a couple $0.25 hooks when it comes to saving a fish. Knipex (must have) will go right through the post of a treble and they come out easier when the bait is out of the way, but don't even try after cutting if it's in the gills or vulnerable area, unless the point is exposed and it slides right out that way. There's also debate going around about using gatoraid or coca cola, ect.. to stop a fish from bleeding but I have no knowledge of if it's actually safe/reliable. I've seen musky and trout guys doing it. 

Pm sent

Low clear water 4lb flouro, 6lb for anything else. Otherwise 75%+ of fish will pass on your offering in my experience. Keep your float on the mainline to avoid losing it from hangups. Use blackbird or similar micro swivel below AND above your float to get least line twist possible

On 10/7/2019 at 11:05 AM, Chowdaire said:

As long as it has Mega imaging you'll be good. I know from the other musky trolling post that you troll weedlines/breaklines for musky. You'll pick those up with Mega imaging. Mega+ is even better but that's the G2 to G3 price jump.

 

I was out in 10-20fow fishing musky and kings last week (different places, of course) and the newbie I had with me was picking out fish on the Mega SI. 

Well that is reassuring thanks. I bought it. Now let's see if I can figure out how to use it haha

16 hours ago, justtracytrolling said:

I liked my gen 2, and I love the gen 3.  If you plan on getting the most out of the si you need at least a 9.  

What are the differences with gen 3? Is it worth $1000 extra? I can pick up the g2 9 mega si for less than 900. I'm just trying to keep up with the locals that have tons of money to blow. I've watched guys drive by me, stop and then turn back and pick up the fish they obviously marked with SI. Kind of frustrating when your on trip 3 without even seeing a fish

9 minutes ago, wishinfishin said:

Not sure what you mean hd.

I got the ducer that came in the box and recently added the high speed ducer .



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J327A using Lake Ontario United mobile 

Im not sure what I mean either. I read somewhere if you send in the one that comes with it unused, and pay like 80 bucks, hummingbird will send the hd transducer for the mega imaging. Otherwise it costs almost 300 for that one. But maybe that was the high speed they were talking about? 

20 hours ago, wishinfishin said:

I have a helix9 gen2mega.

I think its great. I fish multi species. Took s little bit for me getting adjusted to looking at side and down imaging.

Side imaging and down only work well at slower speeds. In case you didnt know.

Depending on what your using for ,I think it great.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J327A using Lake Ontario United mobile app
 

Did you get the HD transducer? 

Does anyone have or know someone with a Helix gen2 with mega side imaging? And have anything good or bad to say about it? I am looking at picking one up for a reel good price but, it's still a huge investment for me (half the price of my entire rig). Is it a total life changer or a waste of money like my last fish finder purchase? Any input is appreciated 

I've heard that the windmills take more resources and money to make than they will ever save in their lifespan. Not sure how true that is

Muskiedreams,

I've had my fair share of flying baits hit me. I usually fish alone with a 9' rod... makes netting interesting. When one pops out it tends to windmill and tries to get you in the back of the neck haha 

I'm using a Shimano TDR with 80lb masterbraid and I've been running what I think is a lighter drag. I know from jigging it's easy to rip hooks out of a fishes mouth with too much pressure. I like the keeping the rod up idea to use more of the rod. I'm probably wrong in thinking so, but loading the rod up real good just looks scary to me because I'm used to graphite rods. 

7 hours ago, zach said:

I'd map out that weed line and troll it up. 5 mins of trolling imo equals about 100 casts.

 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Lake Ontario United mobile app
 

 

In that dirty water shortline scenario, do louder baits jointed or with rattles produce better results? Its amazing that they are able to find a lure in that situation with so much other noise and water displacement just a couple feet away

Ran out for a couple hours before dark after work. Big wind had the water nice green with maybe 5 feet vis compared to normal 30+. Got onto my spot and deploy ol' trusty black perch ernie with about 12 feet of line out, put rod in the holder because I needed 2 hands to drive with all the wind. Barely get to my seat and clicker starts going and rod looks like I have a snag. At the same time I was grabbing the rod decent fish came to the surface 30 feet behind the boat mouth open like a parachute, and my ernie comes flying like a bat out of hell straight at me. She gave a nice tail slap and swam away laughing at me. Drove around in frustration the rest of the night with no other bites. 

Maybe drag was too loose or too tight? What angle should rods be in the holder? I've been doing 45 on hard pulling stuff and 90 on the lighter 

6 minutes ago, Chowdaire said:

You can run the short leads off a board. Then you're getting out from the boat but still at the right depth. Works great for shallow walleyes not sure why it wouldn't for muskies.

I'm not set up to run boards. Or maybe I can and just don't know how? Something I should probably look into. Kind of snubbed my nose at them originally because I don't know anything about them, and because I'm just running a single rod that I'm holding onto. I have a down east but I lost 2 fish that hit in the holder, took it out landed 5 since that hit while I was holding..  

On 8/24/2019 at 11:02 AM, zach said:

To me running short lines is just bc I'm targeting fish in shallower water . I fish maybe a lil slower when running short ( less than 10' line)

Spring time is my short lining time when I'm trying to present baits over emerging weeds and only have a few feet of water above the weeds ie, the reason for only letting out a few feet of line.

 

I do want to mention the best big fish angler I know of says his best line length on super clear water is 100' back and 100' out to the side on a plane board. Simply to disassociate the lures with the boat.

 

My only double this year came fishing 11 fow with lines at 6' and 8' but that was in dirty water with 1' visibility .

 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Lake Ontario United mobile app

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what would you do if you were targeting fish hugging bottom, just outside of the weed edge in very clear 7 to 14 fow. Having to be super accurate with bait placement (within a couple feet of fish). Just cast at them? Lol that's what I want to do, but Im trying to gain as much trolling experience possible before the fall feed is on

Nice. That's exactly what I'm trying to do. Very buoyant but hard diving bait running at just the right speed where there's a fight between floating and diving making it act all erratic. Or at least that's how it's working in my head..

FWIW I use a support on my windshield to strap my phone to with a piece of velcro. I take a video and when I bring the fish up pause for just a second in a couple different angles. Then when I get home I pause and screenshot the video to get the pics I want. This gives me both hands and several photo's with fish time out of water under 10 seconds, if removed at all. Even those little guys can/will shake violently and really screw up their gill plate or your hands if you don't have a good hold. Trust me nothing is worse than catching an exciting fish and then having to go home because you need stitches or fishing the rest of the day with a ball of tape on your finger haha

1 hour ago, FishnChef said:

Yeah run one right down the Chute on a short line just make sure the ride is far enough back that you won't catch your line in turns whether it be on the main or the kicker since the line will be nearly vertical on a deep diver

So speed isn't much of an issue and fish will still snap close to the boat around 2.5 to 3.5mph? All the success I hear about is using decent speed. Only 1 rod per person and fishing solo, average 10-15 effort hours between fish is the norm here so messing with unproductive tactics can really waste a lot of time before realizing you're wasting your time. And I don't get a ton of time on the water lol 8hrs a week, with luck of the draw weather, if I'm lucky.