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Damn off season!

Robhuntandfish

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Robhuntandfish Grand Master

Robhuntandfish

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Always gets me some how.  But it gives me time to get ready and make it count.  Gonna try these new rigs for slow trolling with braid for walleyes with crawler harnesses.  Worked great last year but mono kept getting twisted and love the better feel with braid.  Switched over to braid and a couple of baitcasters late season last year, but my baitcasters were 10+ years old and needed some updating for sure.   

Spring is coming..... 

Also adding a front depth finder to the trolling motor .  Best way of catching them last year was to have two lines out with crawler harnesses and have the trolling motor on low.  Couple of times had one on each pole.  

Looking forward to open water again. 

IMG_20190222_103551658.jpg

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Robhuntandfish Grand Master

Robhuntandfish

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bought a depth finder for the front of the boat today .  Not putting it on trolling motor - but have another plan - just going to run the line to the back with the other one.  Funny thing is i want to try to get into the storage barn to start working on it - but chances are not getting thru the 3 ft of snow in front of the door at storage - lol ........ and im too old to shovel all that!  but i really want to! 

Winter blahs make me think of these things, Gotta have something to look forward to.  And yes i did line these poles up already and hook crawler harnesses and sinkers to them! 

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Robhuntandfish Grand Master

Robhuntandfish

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6 minutes ago, GreenDrake said:

Now why would you want to be prepared and not scramble the night before opening day trying to find your equipment like I do? Isn’t that more fun??

lol - for sure !

Last few years i either spend opening day in the dacks for Northerns or in the turkey woods.  First weekend is such a mess on Oneida lake.  But have spent many opening nights there years ago for sure.  I'm glad i dont have bait yet, might have thought about it too! 

opening day reminds me of this

 

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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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16 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

bought a depth finder for the front of the boat today .  Not putting it on trolling motor - but have another plan - just going to run the line to the back with the other one.  Funny thing is i want to try to get into the storage barn to start working on it - but chances are not getting thru the 3 ft of snow in front of the door at storage - lol ........ and im too old to shovel all that!  but i really want to! 

Winter blahs make me think of these things, Gotta have something to look forward to.  And yes i did line these poles up already and hook crawler harnesses and sinkers to them! 

I use three depth finders on my boat, which handle any trolling, drifting, or anchored situation pretty good.  Two of them are antique flashers (a Humminbird, with the transducer mounted on the front trolling motor and an Eagle silent 60 mounted on the center council).  A nice feature of running the two different brands, with one transducer up front and the other on the back of the boat, is that I can run them simultaneously, without interference, because they run on different frequencies.   That always allows me to see how steep the bottom structure is.

I use three different trolling methods:  One is forward trolling with the main engine (70 hp outboard), operated from the center council.   On the big waters of lake Erie, when walleyes suspend in the summer, I use that method, with a newer Eagle chart depthfinder that is mounted near the back of the boat (near the 15 hp "kicker" motor).   I like having the chart on the back for that (and summer Salmon trolling on Lake Ontario) because everyone is always looking back anyhow, waiting to see downriggers to release.   Since that chart recorder is also an Eagle, it runs the same frequency as the center council mounted flasher, and I can not run them both at the same time.  That would not provide any useful bottom contour info anyhow, since the transducers are mounted right next to each other on the back of the boat.

Backtrolling with the gas kicker motor is often very effective early in the season when the walleyes are shallow and either of the two the stern-mounted transducer Eagle depthfinders work well for that.  Walleyes don't seem to mind the underwater exhaust noise of the old two-stroke, 15 hp kicker motor, and I have taken many,  even in water less than 5 feet deep, right below the spinning prop.   Smallmouth bass are another story though, and they rarely tolerate that gas motor noise.   Drifting and/or slow forward trolling with the quiet electric trolling motor up front, and the Huminbird flasher transducer mounted to it, usually takes care of them without a problem.   Those bass usually relate to the bottom structure and having two depthfinders running at the same time, and being able to see how steep that is, helps out a lot.    

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Robhuntandfish Grand Master

Robhuntandfish

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Def handy having options. I planer board troll with the 40 up and the speed seems about right.  When I use crawler harnesses I slow troll with the trolling motor.  But can't t see my depth finder.   Def need to change that .  And also while we are just drifting.

Plus my fishing buddy is sick of me asking the depth every 2 minutes. Lol. 

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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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1 hour ago, Robhuntandfish said:

 

Plus my fishing buddy is sick of me asking the depth every 2 minutes. Lol. 

I know how that goes, having burned out several Humminbird flashers in the front of the boat.  I should put a swivel under the Eagle flasher on the center council, so I can see it better from the bow seat.   I bought an Eagle Silent 60 flasher from Bass Pro Shops in 1981.  It is still going strong, hard mounted to the council of my walleye boat since 1989.   I hate to mess around with it and would love to see if I can get 50 years out of it.  It transmits the depth very well with the boat at planing speed, almost up to wide open throttle in shallow water.  I first had it on a well-used rowboat, with a 9.5 Evinrude on the back, that I bought with trapping money back when I was in high school.  I have burned out about (4) Humminbird flashers since 1989.  I usually find them cheap at garage sales, since they stopped producing them about 15 years ago.   The Hummingbirds do "hum" a little bit, while the Eagle flasher has always ran silent.

  In most fishing situations, especially in low light situations, I prefer a flasher over a chart display.   I only like the chart display when fish are suspended, and I do not do much of that type fishing anymore.   The Lake Erie walleyes start tasting like zoo-plankton, after they move out and suspend under it in the summer, and the Lake Ontario salmon have "eating advisories" which limit what women and children can eat.   For me, fishing, just like hunting. is primarily about the meat.  The fact that it is fun is just a nice bonus.               

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Robhuntandfish Grand Master

Robhuntandfish

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16 hours ago, TreeGuy said:

Rob..... I thought we talked about this.....

Leads
Sticks
Inline boards

There's your list!

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk
 

eye eye captain!  lol 

Works good when i need to search em out for sure.  But found last year if i knew where they were at - drop down slow troll with worm harness and limit by 8am!  But am planning on more trolling this season now that i am setup better.  Start off on my regular haunts with harnesses, then if no early action boards and sticks.    

but sure had fun learning those  - we are getting the hang of it.   Had a tough time in Oneida  late summer/early fall trolling though - so much floating weeds i couldnt keep a clean line and had to go to a lot slow drifting and some jigging.    

we will be on the program once there is open water for sure.  Already have the tackle bag loaded and ready, three poles lined with lead, 4 boards in the boat and a box of stickbaits.

And thanks again for your help with this.   

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grampy Veteran

grampy

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On 2/22/2019 at 1:29 PM, Robhuntandfish said:

Always gets me some how.  But it gives me time to get ready and make it count.  Gonna try these new rigs for slow trolling with braid for walleyes with crawler harnesses.  Worked great last year but mono kept getting twisted and love the better feel with braid.  Switched over to braid and a couple of baitcasters late season last year, but my baitcasters were 10+ years old and needed some updating for sure.   

Spring is coming..... 

Also adding a front depth finder to the trolling motor .  Best way of catching them last year was to have two lines out with crawler harnesses and have the trolling motor on low.  Couple of times had one on each pole.  

Looking forward to open water again. 

IMG_20190222_103551658.jpg

Hey Rob, let me know how you like those Abu's.

I was cleaning the snow off my boat cover this morning. Doing so, I muttered "won't be long now old girl"........

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grampy Veteran

grampy

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6 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

Got room for an old, short fat pervert  ??….

I'm more of a bass caster. But you are welcome on mine anytime! Along with a few others on here!20170611_180720.thumb.jpg.b11e9c804cf40576c8268dd1fff41ed0.jpg

 

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Robhuntandfish Grand Master

Robhuntandfish

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10 hours ago, TreeGuy said:

Ok. Start planning dates. Treeguy / Rob / pygmy

Ladies night out on Oneida.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk
 

Epic trip!  Capt name a date or two, let's do it!   I know I can't June 30th and July 19.  Other than that pretty free.   Or I can captain but don't quite have the trolling setup you have but we could get it done!  But I only Capt in the daytime.  Lol.  

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Robhuntandfish Grand Master

Robhuntandfish

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12 hours ago, Pygmy said:

Got room for an old, short fat pervert  ??….

 

10 hours ago, TreeGuy said:

Ok. Start planning dates. Treeguy / Rob / pygmy

Ladies night out on Oneida.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk
 

If you Capt then we could meet you out there for an Erie run.  Closer for you and bigger limits for us!   

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