times two

YT: I did talk to the DEC contact. Basically said its 70 mutiple choice a portion of which is "open book" with a guide they give you with the test. For the rest, she said the BSA fieldguide would be an option. Just trying to judge if I can do it on the fly or if I should do some reading first! John

Just wondering if anyone has taken this test recently? Trying to get a handle on what type of questions..... John

Ray....saw those too, wondered the same thing. I use blacks now, and can set them pretty light. But those do look interesting. I was more interested in the light bite slide divers! John

Ray...you got that right....something new every time! John

Ray: I may not have mentioned it, but that's actually one of the walleye "tricks". When you are marking a bunch of fish, occasionally pop the riggers. Often that change in action will trigger a bite. Better than work! John

Any idea how old the Big Jon Holders are? John

I was actually fishing behind the hotel with my son last night for sunnies... amazing how thrilled a 6 yr old is to catch a 5 inch bass! Saw you getting the boat on the trailer but by the time we got over you were already rolling. 4/5 is not bad at all considering its October 19, and most guys,including me have been out for over a week! It would not be odd for the fish in the 60's to be eyes. In June we start as far in as 45 feet off Van Buren and slowly move out, so it would make sense the process would reverse. No idea about the jumpers other than I hope they are not THOSE carp! John

Ray...saw the truck in the lot on the way home....how did you do? John

Plus like Erbyjoe said....you can't beat a monster run on wire!!

2008 shouldn't be too bad..... Boat I looked at was very nice, but I decided no more i/o's; so that saved a bunch of cash for now.....unless the o/b version pops up! Otherwise, upgrading more of the old rods/reels to the Okuma Blue diamond rods I ran this year. New seat cushions on the 2 cockpit swivel seats. And of course, I'm sure there will be more tackle in there somewhere! John And hopefully a few more clients!

Made the last trip of the year today, and after a few brief light showers, it really was a nice day to end the year. Ended up with 8 walleye and 1 steelhead. 85-95 fow straight out of Dunkirk, 1.7-1.9 at the ball. Little bit of everything....10 color, 1/5 ounces of weight between the 2nd and 3rd color with a watermelon hatchet; couple off the boards 210 back on small slide, watermelon harness; 180 back on 2 on the big slides with a copper yeck; rigs at 65 and 72, copper confusion DW SS; stinger purple parrot and yeck watermelon. Sadly, pull the boat in the morning..... John

Ray: Typically the best walleye is from late June to mid-Sept., but that depends on the weather and water temps. Most of the guys quit by now, mostly due to the usual lack of good weather...this year being an exception. L/y we fished 3 times from 9/1 until I pulled the boat. We had 2 populations of 'eyes...1 is resident, and based upon the 2003 and 2005 spawns, is a pretty good year class. The other is the transient OH fish that come east to escape the ultra warm in Oh. Those fish usually show up from west to east starting in late June or early July. I like the walleye deep fried. Not good for the heart, but good to eat. Trim off any of the "silver" or "red" on the skin side, and soak in ice salt water for 30 mins or so. Makes 'em extra tasty. Try this....take the thick back piece of the fillet, cut into chunks about the size of a good scallop. Take a 1/2 piece of bacon (trim off some of the fat if it is really fatty), wrap the walleye in that and toothpick it. Sprinkle with old bay or your favorite spice, cook on LOW HEAT on a grill until the bacon is done. Err on the side of not so crispy so you don't over cook the walleye. Key is low heat.... John

Thanks Borderline. Been reading up a bit on the Seaswirl owners site...starters/alternators.... I have my heart set on a 4 stroke...want to get back to an O/b.. so I'm going to look at the i/o with an open mind, but I think I'm going to hold out for what I really want.... John

Billy... Don't know if there are any communities up your way or not, but I've had all my stuff done by the Amish down here. We don't have any locals doing it, and they are pretty inexpensive and do great work. Got my mooring covers, top/windows, cabin cushions and even the bags done by them. If you want to figure out how far, its in the Cherry Creek NY area. John

Billy... Hear you...tomorrow's going to be the last shot with the big boat for the year....after which I'm going to do a rain dance to get some H2O in the tribs! Wife had gotten me a pair of new waders that need breakin time!! John

Thanks In the Box (and others)....already carry pretty heavy insurance due to the charters... John

Ray... Glad you got on some. Screen was loaded early 'till it got hot. Must have been by you once or twice as there were only a couple of boats around. Had the radio on 07...must have missed you calling, but it was just me and 1 other and I was in the back a lot. On the rigs, one of the tricks is to "pop" the rigger when you come through a good bunch of marks and let the spoon float up for a few seconds. Many times just the pop-off is enough to trigger them. I'm running blacks releases, and you can set them pretty light. We did have 1 fish that hit the diver that pretty much decided to swim with it...very hard to detect. Got 4 of us going tomorrow for the last ride of the year, so we'll be able to get 8 rods in.... John

Decided to take a ride this morning for a couple of hours with the father of a friend of mine. Tough on the rods today.... Went 1/2 on steelhead...nice 1 around 8lbs. and 1/3 on walleye. LOADS of nice hooks about fish in 70-77 fow, just couldn't get them to go, or keep them on when we did have them go... Watermelon copper yeck, and a copper yeck taped with pink/purple glow tape. 60 foot rigger and 175 big slide. 1.7-1.8 at the ball. BEAUTIFUL LAKE....I hope all of October is like this! Probably 1 more shot on Sunday before we call it a year....

All I have is that it is a volvo GTX 5.0; 2003.

Hey Bill. My CU has some limitations, and there rate was actually higher that what I have seen in limited searches on the net so far. I was really leaning towards doing something next year, but you know how it goes...once you start looking you get the bug. I'm only looking at moving up slightly in part because I still like to roam between LO and LE. Targeting a 23 Seaswirl, with the hardtop. One o/b in Ohio that I think I missed and now an i/o. Little more cockpit room, larger cabin and it will let me take a group of 4 which I can't comfortably do now. Hoping to look at the i/o in the next few days....then there is the matter of selling my current boat....

Looking at moving up slightly in length, and 13 years in age.... so consequently a loan is in my future. WHo have you used? John

Anyone have experiene with a volvo 5.0 i/o?

Daker: Sunday we ran 5 rods...2 riggers, 2 slide divers and 1 10 color down the chute. That's my base program. Time before we did get a couple of board lines out. We dropped in around 70 foot... not a whole lot on the graph until we got out to the upper 70's. Lots of fish on the bottom ....in the 80's there were fish moving around above that, and once outside of 95 it got pretty blank. Last couple times out its been 60/40 harnesses to spoons. Honestly haven't been running sticks nor did I try high. Have gotten a few popping the riggers of late. Big mix of sizes...everything from dinks to 10lbs.... Ray....nice to chat on the phone, maybe we'll catch you on the lake.... John

Yecks are a hair shorter than the standard stingers....not scorpian sized. They were factory watermelon, no extra tape....just a little smelly jelly. Hatchet off the 10 color was a large size than off the slides. 4 and 6 I believe. The one on the slide was a hammered copper blade with orange tape, stock D & D bought at Gander Mt. The large one was one I just did myself a few days before. Took a hammered copper blade and did the same markings as a chicken wing spoon using sharpies. Black edge with the "fingers" and then some orange. Used 4 black, 4 orange and 4 yellow Fishlander beads from the hook to the blade and one of each on top of that. John

Still pretty good walleye action in Dunkirk when mother nature permits... Did 5/7 on the walleye today, plus a few big sheepies. Lots of fish straight out of Dunkirk, 80-90 fow water was by far the best picture. Lots of fish stacked on the bottom. Had 4 eaters and 1 over 10lbs. DW chicken wing and an orange hatchet off the big slides 180 back on 3. 1 on a homemade chicken wing harness...just made that!!!...on the 10 color, and 1 on a watermelon yeck, 70 down on the rig. Great day to end September...hopefully get a few more nice ones before we pull next week! John