walteye

John-I ran the big and small 'stix last year along with the regular Renoskys. The smaller chatterstix outfished the larger ones (and the blue/silver outfished the blk/silver) and the larger Renoskys outfished the smaller ones! Nothing like the fish telling you what they like! Thank you for the reports-I will be up there in 2 weeks. Walteye

John-are you running the big or small chatterstix? Any word west of you-Barcelona area? Thanks- Walteye

Iceman-some sort of rod...... Nice to see you are alive and around! Walteye

Chris-the lake was just getting you ready for Erie !!!! Hey at least you got a couple of tugs! Walteye

As with a previous post-the easiest way to catch walleye is to target major walleye water-for me it is either Oneida Lake anytime or late spring and summer on Lake Erie's eastern basin. Fish where you see marks on your sonar-trolling cranks just above them works. Renosky's/Smithwick Rogues and Dave's Kaboom shiners all produce-jointed shad raps have their days at Oneida. Walteye

Bill-it's all because of you. Thanks for the memories and thanks for the future. What a great time you gave to me and my friends. I look forward to your reports and look forward to fishing with you again. Smiles and happiness. Walteye

mrpike-how were you doing @ Oneida? I just did a combo Oneida/Ontario trip and did well at both ports. A 9 and 12 day @ Oneida and a 5 for 5 King day @Ontario. Majority at Oneida was from Dave;'s Kaboom in blk/silver prism and purple prism-one day off Shackleton and one day in the n/e corner. I went out of Fair Haven on Sunday and pulled a 15 and a 17 king, both off spoons. Hopefully you hook up on both ends..... Walteye

I took a charter trip with Bill and his crew last fall for kings out of Fair Haven (his old home port). He brainwashed me into thinking that I should try fishing for kings on my boat-since it is already set up with riggers, dipseys and leadcore for walleye fishing-just no spin drs-flies -flashers and the assortment of enticing salmon spoons. Well I spent the money on everything except the spoons this winter and finally tried my luck on Sunday 5/24-launching out of Fair Haven. Well-I went 5 for 5 alone on my boat-not one spinny/fly combo worked either on a rigger or on a dipsey. Not a 10 color core with a flasher/fly. One no name/ old spoon orange/green off a plain ball down 70 over 90-120 caught all 5 ! Now I need to buy spoons-Thanks Billy for getting me started--I am hooked !!!! 2 little 16/18" shaker salmon-a 6lb/a 15.3 lb and a 17 lb King all were landed. It was great trying to net the larger salmon by yourself and not tangle up with the other rigger! Billy-thanks again !!! Walteye

Hit Oneida Friday and Saturday for eyes and whatever would be enticed to the end of my line. After jigging in the Susky in the spring-I wanted to try my luck at Oneida with the jigging poles. Headed to the Shackleton Shoal and Shackleton Point and jigged almost 5 hours with a smallie and a perch to my credit. I figured that trolling couldn't be much worse-so I started a troll pattern between the point and the shoals in 30-40'-3 color lead with shad raps and 2 oz snap weights with Dave's Kaboom lures. Ended the day with 9 eyes caught from 15-23 inches plus 5 perch. Saturday went back to the same area with the same program- by noon only had one eye in the boat. Left for greener pastures-the N/E section of the lake ! Pulled only Dave's Kabooms in silver/black and purple prism-limited out in 1 1/2 hours and continued to C&R up til 4 pm-totalling 12 eyes-same sizes as Friday. Went to Ontario for kings on Sunday.

Brian-thanks for the info. After jigging on the Susky with a friend for eyes at the end of the season-I would love to be jigging again. Last year a friend of mine, Todd Frank, said that he has been doing a lot of jigging on Oneida and it has been great-rather than just trolling. Hey-if I do well at Oneida-I may just stay there and hit the big O later this summer for kings. Looking forward to wetting a line again. Walteye

Heading up to Oneida next Friday for a couple of days then to the big pond for a couple more. Any good eye reports from Oneida or from the Chaumont Bay area of Ontario? The last few years Chaumont has been lousy for me-Black River Bay even worse. With riggers/dipseys/jets and lead in my arsenel- I was almost thinking about missing the Henderson Harbor/Chaumont area for eyes and going for Kings down by Mexico/Oswego area-unless the reports are good! Thanks for any updates... Walteye

Phil-I was at a PA boating license course this morning and they had hardhats with a white light that was moulded into the top-like a flashlight coming off the top of your head straight up-but with a 360 degree light on it. They had a couple of kids wearing them for a demonstration. Sounds like you! Walteye

Stan-with the 9.9 and the bowmount w/ autopilot-I am good to go hands free. I have read too many reports about problems with pins in the trolling plate to reduced speed-so I stay away. Plus I run a 2003 Evinrude 150 Ficht and don't want to run it at about idle for hours at a time. With the SS 4 blade prop I run-I can only get down to 3.3 mph-and even though I have drift sox on the boat-I prefer to use them only when not under power (if I want to go slow-thats what the 9.9 or the electric trolling motor is for). Thanks for the input. Good fishing!!! Walteye

Rusty Rat- That's what I run-19' CrestLiner. I find it is more of a challenge running the rougher water rather than flat calm! I will be putting in Saturday in Fair Haven-if anyone sees a tan/black Crestliner SuperHawk walk-thru with a big white Evinrude-the radio will be on 68. Walteye

Yankee- as usual-you answered the question. The next question is-will the BT move out to deeper "colored" water-or the temps will determine that? Will the warmer inshore water be pushed further offshore? Like the eyes of spring-which are up high in the water column looking for warmer water-and most of the time you can't read them on the sonar (cause the cone is so small)-and we target the warmer water-not necessarily the marks. Like I said-all new to me...but thanks a million! Walteye

Joe-thank you for the weather update. Great !! The question I have still remains for the future-do the browns/salmon turn off in rougher water. I have caught eyes on Erie and Ontario in MWC tourneys and prefishing in 4-6 footers-sometimes a better bite than in calm water. Any thoughts/experience? Thank you again. Walteye

I am very new to the browns/steelie /salmon fishing-but very experienced in walleye fishing. PLEASE don't take this the wrong way-but it seems a lot of posts shy away from rough water fishing (2-4's-etc) but I fish that water more often than not on Erie and Ontario for eyes. Does the fishing turn bad in rougher water? When I read that guys aren't going out for browns that are in 20' of water and the water is rough-I don't want to waste my time this weekend if I see that it is going to blow. I am coming up 265 miles to fish out of Fair Haven for the first time on my boat for browns. I am sorry if I ruffled some feathers-like I said-I am a big time newbie for trout/salmon.I will be glad to help anyone with walleye fishing. I have fished tourneys on Erie/Ontario/Saginaw Bay and cashed checks in 3 out of 7 tourneys I have been in. Thank you. Walteye

A question regarding slide divers-mine are about 5 years old and I troll with fireline. The divers slide on the fireline down to the swivel that I have my leader attached-I do not see any way to adjust the pinch that holds the fireline. Any suggestions? Walteye

Having mono or fireline around the prop is bad enough-my son and I were on Erie trolling with dipseys and downriggers for eyes in 4 footers- we hooked up and I was netting my son's fish-the boat got turned around (no one steering) and the downrigger cable wrapped the 9.9 prop-stopped that engine cold! In rough water I now use my electric bowmount with the autopilot on in conjunction with the 9.9 and never had the problem again. BTW-had to pull the prop to get the cable off-and that did not happen until we got to the trailer! Walteye

We were fishing down by the island with the cable car that crosses the river. we fished the eddy and the sunken island, plus alongside the island in the slack water. Jig,twister tail and tipped with a minnow. Red and oranges. dead stick dragging the jig or actually jigging all produced that day.I have jigged for eyes before, but it was my first time on the river-maybe beginners luck?? Walteye

I didn't mean culling-I meant releasing. Sorry-fd69. Walteye

As Sluggo says-gotta love the river! Although a little high and dirty-I went out with Dan Hodak on Saturday for one of the last river trips before the season closed. We went to his favorite eddy/drop off and within 1 1/2 hours we were culling eyes !!! We ended up jigging up 18 legal eyes and about another 10 shorts. The area became a parking lot by mid afternoon but we were still able to connect by moving around with the electric motor. I hadn't been jigging eyes for a few years and it was great! Walteye

Chris-truly sorry for your's and your family's loss. Some memories may be good and some memories may be sad-but the memories of father in law seem to be the good kind. A better place is waiting for most of us and my prayers are with him, you and yours. Walteye

Hey make room for my Crestliner there too. With any luck we can get the count up to fitty..... Gotta love it and gotta get a limit for me and everyone I can fit in the boat. Walteye

I have to agree with the prior post of the thought that NOT taking fish will hurt the fishery as much as those who over fish. There are people who are out there with far more knowledge then those who post who regulate the fisheries that feel that C and R is good to a certain point and that catch and keep are good to a certain point and that is why the laws are in effect. Do what you have to do within the laws and we should be OK. If you know better-GET INVOLVED in the law making, otherwise-keep within the law and don't bother those who are keeping within the law. I keep my limit when I can ( and that is not all the time-just like most anglers). Walteye