Spiny Water Fleas

[tamiron]

I have been using 50 lb for 3 weeks with no fleas. I use 15' of 12 lb mono for a leader with a #12 barrel swivel in between. Makes it easier to join the two, and I get no leader twist.

TAKE HEED

[Detritus]

If anybody is having trouble finding 40 or 50 lb mono in stores right now because of this, and doesn't want to wait to get some in the mail, Try your local Aubuchon Hardware believe it or not. Amazon failed to deliver my 40 lb today, and I was looking for a local source. Dicks was out, Walmart was out, tackle places were closed. I got 4 spools at the Vergennes aubuchon where I live, enough to do 6 rods today and spooled a couple hundred feet on each tonight to fish tomorrow. $12. The stuff looks CHEAP! but all it has to be is fat, right? If the weather lets us, we'll see how it goes tomorrow morning.

[Reelax]

Just got a BIG spool of ande brand 40lb test mono.. cheap stuff... Hope I dont have to respool again, but it is ready....

[tamiron]

I may be wrong, because I haven't spooled a reel in quite awhile, Ande (pink) was on most of my lines and never remember a problem. A friend who was a charter Captain was ordering some and he suggested that he double the order and let me buy a roll. Used it and bought more in different weights and found it to work fine. But that was a long time ago. It was a cheap price, but the quality was as good as anything I used.

[C-Hawk]

All I use is a 120' feet or so. Just added to my braid.

[Detritus]

Well, Liam and I fished Whallon and Sloop today for a few hours with our new 40 lb $3 a spool Aubuchon 40 lb line. There's about 140 feet of that tied onto our braid, then 15 feet of 15lb flouro leader. The line reminds me of the string that was on the front of one of those Fisher Price pull telephones where the eyes went up and down and made noise from the 70s. But, either the fleas are gone, or the big fat line did its job. We got one pea sized glob on the front of our sausage gravy milkshake spoon knot that never hits for us, but keep using because all of you guys keep talking about on here.

Went 4 for 11 on lakers today, all four boated were babies. Kind of weird so many got off, and the ones caught were so small.

Jack

[ReelInvestment]

The big ones are headed to the bottom for cooler temp. Start fishing a couple feet off bottom near 80foot contours. The flat south of sloop is a good starting point, north of sloop is good too! How was the water level at converse? (If that’s where you launched)

[Detritus]

We were fishing bottom, and did fish those flats, at 75 to 90 feet, haha. 75 feet was about 54 degrees, and 90 was 48.

We didn't launch at converse, we always launch at fort Cassin the mouth of otter creek. Plenty of depth, and 10 min from my house. Two things though, don't use the concrete ramp at the access, your trailer wheels will fall off of the end and you will be stuck, so launch in the gravel next to the ramp to the west side. When you get to the mouth of the river, stay very close to the north point when you exit, or you will be Rototilling there too. If you do those two things, you will always be in 6 to 8 feet of water.

[ReelInvestment]

Awesome thanks for the response! I’ve also been noticing that flat around sloop hasn’t been holding the fish it normally does. Try the ny side in the 80 contours that’s where we have been having better luck! Hope to see you out there someday!

[60Fishman]

Just ordered another trolling set up so I can have one rod with 40 lb mono based on everyone's advice. Don't think my other reels would have had enough capacity. I don't know if you guys are having similar issues, but there was little to no line at our local Dick's Sporting Goods. Was able to order from Cabelas.

[Detritus]

Awesome thanks for the response! I’ve also been noticing that flat around sloop hasn’t been holding the fish it normally does. Try the ny side in the 80 contours that’s where we have been having better luck! Hope to see you out there someday!

We have been out there a lot this year. When we're cold water fishing, we're aboard the "Country Angler" on 68. It's a '94 Bayliner Trophy with a huge crocodile with a fishing pole smoking a cigar painted on each side of the bow. Pretty funny. Typical fishing boat, more money in rods, tackle, and riggers than the boat itself. If you see us, give us a shout. That goes for anybody else reading this too.

Jack

[Crayfish]

Just ordered another trolling set up so I can have one rod with 40 lb mono based on everyone's advice. Don't think my other reels would have had enough capacity. I don't know if you guys are having similar issues, but there was little to no line at our local Dick's Sporting Goods. Was able to order from Cabelas.

Hi 60Fishman .... you don't need to spool up the whole reel with 40lb test. Just add 100 -150ft of 40lb on top of your normal line, as C-Hawk described above. This way you don't need to get bigger reels or have dedicated "flea" setups.

[Reelax]

We were fishing bottom, and did fish those flats, at 75 to 90 feet, haha. 75 feet was about 54 degrees, and 90 was 48.

We didn't launch at converse, we always launch at fort Cassin the mouth of otter creek. Plenty of depth, and 10 min from my house. Two things though, don't use the concrete ramp at the access, your trailer wheels will fall off of the end and you will be stuck, so launch in the gravel next to the ramp to the west side. When you get to the mouth of the river, stay very close to the north point when you exit, or you will be Rototilling there too. If you do those two things, you will always be in 6 to 8 feet of water.

This is KEY information for fisherman! thanks for sharing this Jack. I don’t use that lunch just because it requires so much “tribal knowledge”.. The info you posted gave me something to reference if if I ever do go there!!! I have heard some horror stories at that launch and shy away as a result.

[60Fishman]

Just ordered another trolling set up so I can have one rod with 40 lb mono based on everyone's advice. Don't think my other reels would have had enough capacity. I don't know if you guys are having similar issues, but there was little to no line at our local Dick's Sporting Goods. Was able to order from Cabelas.

Hi 60Fishman .... you don't need to spool up the whole reel with 40lb test. Just add 100 -150ft of 40lb on top of your normal line, as C-Hawk described above. This way you don't need to get bigger reels or have dedicated "flea" setups.

Thanks, Don't know how I missed that. In then end I ordered my normal reel size, so that will work out well. Just waiting for my 40lb mono, supposed to be here tomorrow.

[Detritus]

This is KEY information for fisherman! thanks for sharing this Jack. I don’t use that lunch just because it requires so much “tribal knowledge”.. The info you posted gave me something to reference if if I ever do go there!!! I have heard some horror stories at that launch and shy away as a result.

Yeah, I actually thought about not posting it, because it's never busy there, but, in the end I did the right thing, haha. You're all good guys on here.

Jack