wnybassman

I have a small collection of "High Rollers". Most of them are when Smithwick had them, but a couple other companies have also marketed the bait. The coolest ones I have are a pair of signed baits by the original designer.

That's EXACTLY what I do in heavy current, such as the Niagara River or the St. Lawrence. Lift and drop, lift and drop. It's almost a vertical drag because you can feel the weight thumping along the bottom in the rockier sections, even though it is straight down.

Fishing in the wind can be a drag lol

8 pound Vanish for the open water and 17 pound Vanish in the weeds.

Sabres fan.

Fireline (the round braid) PowerPro Tuf-Line Spiderwire InvisaBraid

And as you move from piece of structure to piece of structure, you will find the subtleties as to why fish are holding on some and not others. There lies the pattern.

So the stress on the knot of the actual cast is over at that point, and being that far out the bait is just basically free floating pulling very little on the reel. I just don't see the knot breaking or becoming undone at that time, unless the line stops suddenly for some reason. When/if you found your bait after it broke, there was no line left on it? I only offer this possible cause because the exact same thing happens to me when I am using the 30 pound braid I use for deep cranking. If I let the rod do the work when casting I generally have no problems, but when I get over anxious and try to cast the crap out of the bait to really get it out there, my line fluffs up and occasionally backlashes stopping the spool instantly. This results in the crank sailing away from my line. I often have 10+ feet of line on my crank when I go retrieve it though, but it will usually only break at the weakest point, which in your case might be the knot. Sometimes mine will break in the spool after it digs in, leaving no tag end, rendering the rest of the line useless because you can't find the end.

How much line is out when it usually broke?

Are you sure the line isn't fluffing up a little on the spool and backlashing? A knot breaking on the cast doesn't make any sense unless the line suddenly stops and puts a lot of force on the knot, otherwise there is next to zero resistance.

A buddy was out yesterday prefishing for our club tournament out there tomorrow. Took a wave a little too hard.

In the first picture, the red/yellow blob looks like baitfish to me and the greener grass looking stuff in the background looks like some sort of interference.

Over the last couple years, when the water drops below 50º, it has gotten awfully hard to pry a Silver Buddy out of my hands.

Doesn't sound like he was on great fish anyway, there may not have been anything different you could have done. You weren't on Cayuga, were you?

How did he do?

I had it backwards. I knew it was something to do with a short leader at the hook though.

Isn't there some kind of law in Michigan where the hook can only be so far from the mail line? A traditional dropshot rig with the hook tied to the main line is OK, but if you dangle your hook several inches away (such as a three way rig maybe?) that is where the problem lies. I remember hearing something about this a couple years ago.

Fall can provide some of the greatest fishing of the year, but it can also be extremely slow. The best part is always............................... ....................no crowds at the ramp.

I run tip ups for pike and tip downs for perch...............................on the ice.

It will take you longer than a month to recover.

I have been using Spiderwire 30 pound Invisi-braid for a few years now. It's on a St. Croix LTB 7' MH Moderate action. No major issues. I feel the rod is slightly wimpy for snapping large cranks out of weeds and a few times a year I will get over excited and cast a little too hard and the line will break on the cast. If I stay settled down and let the rod do the work that is not an issue. After using braid for cranking for as long as I have now, I would find it very difficult to switch back.

I don't remember what worm I was using, or when it was exactly, but I do remember pre-rigging the Texas rigs the day before because the rigging technique was so foreign to me. It took me quite some time to get them straight enough. Some how I left a tag line off the hook, but have no recollection how I attached these pre-rigs to the mainline. I only caught one that next day, but was a two pounder or so, out of a local pond that took me about a 1/2 hour to get to by three-wheeler.

In the nearly 20 years I have been fishing Erie, I can't recall a single instance where I thought throwing out a drift sock was a bad idea. And I've been out in some ugly crap over those years. In most cases I still think it helps keep the boat in a way where it rides the waves better, and that is sideways. Most, if not all bassboats, will turn nose first if without a sock because the outboard acts as a drag and a rudder. As discussed, the transom into the waves is bad. Bow into the waves is a little better, but every boat I ever had still takes water over the front while drifting if the wave frequency/height is just right. I have been out in waves, and it usually starts when they get to be about 5 feet or so, where there is a bit of back current on the back sides of the waves. The sock will briefly go under the boat as the boat moves backwards but quickly go tight again once forward momentum is gained again. I've never noticed this to be threatening either. I very rarely have waves come over the side while using a sock, but often have waves come over the side without a sock while me trying to keep the boat sideways with the trolling motor, even on small local lakes. I've never really had the situation where waves/rollers grew big all of a sudden then dissipated just as quickly. Every time I have been out in waves I should have not been out in, they always grew steadily for the most part or were like that from the get go. Rouge waves are very real though, and you usually hear those coming from a ways away. I suppose the original story here could have been a few rouge waves in a row, but usually they are single waves every once and a while.

I've never had a loon go after a bait on me, but they gobble up all my lead sinkers that are 1/2 ounce or less like there is no tomorrow. Or so they tell me.

And BTW, you do have to know what the weather is like on the entire lake as waves do travel the length and width of it. And rollers after a big storm can take a day or so to settle out again.