FIshing around Schuyler/Willsboro and a mystery

[Reelax]

Hooked to the front and dragged along side or hooked to the back?

My boat has a handle at each back corner that I could tie the bucket to and be out of the way of the downriggers.

You can see the handles here:
"http://postimg.org/image/zb75ar0tr/full/"
online photo storage

Typically the buckets are on a short rope tied off to a cleat in front of the helm area. They ride near the front seats in front of any rigging.

[digitroll (ron)]

Guys, thanks for all of the posts. I like the idea of a simple approach. I like that Fish Ron was holding onto as well! That's some setup as well!

We just had to go out last evening and try 'simpler'... a bit late as we went out at 5pm, but a beautiful evening nonetheless.

Our first hit around Schuyler Island was on the diver, and a small salmon. Then 10 minutes later, we got a release on our downrigger at 80'.. first good hit we've taken on the downrigger, and the first time we ever heard a reel spin so fast... the fish was taking off and the reel was screaming... I took the rod and first loosened the drag because it was set for snapping up on a hit but then the fish was taking so much line i was worried I had loosened it too much and tightened it a bit and after another few more seconds the fish was gone! While we missed the fish, it was the most exciting hit I've experienced. In any case, it was nice to see a release on the downrigger and really happy to get such a lively runner. We don't loose many fish, but then we haven't caught any sizable salmon, ever. Am assuming it was a salmon but could have been a poorly hooked lake trout, but we've never had a lake trout take line off the reel like that. Pretty exciting.

After those two hits things went quiet, so we fired up the grill and had dinner while the lake calmed down further and we watched the sun set.. a nice evening!

Terri

Off and running now Terri! Your on the right path now.

[Lavman]

Hooked to the front and dragged along side or hooked to the back?

My boat has a handle at each back corner that I could tie the bucket to and be out of the way of the downriggers.

You can see the handles here:
"http://postimg.org/image/zb75ar0tr/full/"
online photo storage

Typically the buckets are on a short rope tied off to a cleat in front of the helm area. They ride near the front seats in front of any rigging.

Thanks Reelax, I will see what I can come up with. Time to buy some cleats

[Lavman]

Terri, great post! I am excited for you, sounds like a great evening all the way around.

Can't wait for Saturday!

[Gecha (Gerry)]

Terry,
Seems you had a great time on the water in the evening. The hard bite on the downrigger is a good sign for great fishing to come. You are on the right track.
Looking forward to see pics of your coming tight lines.

[jim]

I messed around with buckets on my last boat. Out the sides in front and off corners, but found that if you cut a 2 in hole in the bottom of the bucket and put a 2-4 inch wide line of spray foam from bottom to top, the bucket stays floating and in place. Also with the hole its easier to pick up out of the water. I ran only one bucket directly behind prop and it worked amazing. Without the floating foam spray though it tended to drop when going slow and get near prop, with the spray it worked great.

[Mr.Esox]

I don't know what dodgers you are using but your to fast 1-1.5 is usually right but if your catching fish w/o stay simple good luck and post some pictures.

[vtfishin]

to bling or not to bling? Depends on the day.

In my opinion, if the fish are hungry commotion and flash trigger the bite and attract into your set. They then look for the straggler which is your sppon (hopefully). I use Fathead blades often and they work very well. Just as with lures, different colors at different times.

At some times flash does not help ...depends on the depth, light penetration (and all that affect it like waves, etc), moon phase etc.

If the bite is slow we change it up, add blades or take them away.

Cheaters will improve your hit frequency for sure.

"Match the hatch" type of an approach.

[Vtfishinglady]

Guys, thanks for all of the suggestions and help, we hope to head out again tomorrow if the winds are less than hurricane force! For the time being we're going to loose the dodgers and flashers are go simple for a while to get some experience on these down riggers.

Terri

[fishhuntadventure]

Great advice, thank you. Are there any tricks to slowing the boat down? My motor is a 40hp and at idle my GPS says I am doing about 2.7 to 2.9 mph. Maybe I need a little kicker motor to get my speed down.

I have a 40hp on 14' boat and an "automatic" spring loaded trolling plate that gets me down to 2mph ish and dropping two 10# cannonballs takes a point or two off as well. I run a 45# electric for slower speeds.

Any sea bags or buckets should be run from lines fastened forward of amidship or to a bow cleat. That way you will never get the lines onto the prop and Murphy will not have one more thing to help you lose fish at the transom. LOL

[fishhuntadventure]

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Sorry just caught up on threads and reelax already said it