GAMBLER

I say . Make it a trophy fishery. They are sterile but who cares. They still deserve to reach 50". That would be awesome.

Happy Birthday Jason.

Me too. Days when the riggers slow and wires slow, one rod keeps going. The copper rod. Stealth can be key on those days and copper is one of the most effective stealth rigs.

If Erie does not freeze, the king fishing should pick up a little earlier and we may get lucky. If not, it is going to be a long derby.

Jack, The 300 (most productive) and 400 (second most productive) and 500 copper have been most productive for me over the past 3 seasons. I keep the drag a little on the lighter side and then adjust it once you get the rod out of the holder.

Wire - Diawa SG47lca 200 copper - Penn 330 GTI 300 copper - Penn 340 GTI 400 copper - Penn 345 GTI

What did you think he was going to say? Over fishing due to a 3 rod rule . Sorry I could not resist.

We do not catch many Atlantics because the numbers stocked are low (in NY waters). The Canadians are dumping a lot of Atlantics on their side of the pond. All of the Atlantics I have caught are in really rough shape (ie deformed fins). I'm not sure how good the survival rate is of these fish. The Canadians are not showing much of a return of the stocked fish. If you read the Spoonpullers site about Atlantics, you will see the MNR is stocking thousands (600,000+) since May of 06 and had very very low returns (some years single digit number in returns).

Nice job Scott. Keep up the good work.

Tom, It would not suprise me if NY did this. They are known for doing things to make money that ended up losing money.

I use the perfection loop. I also add a heavy swivel to any of my flashers that do not have them.

Has Been, How does running 3 rods per person make a mockery of the sport? Please explain this one? Like someone said before, Lake Michigan has the 3 rod rule and there fishing is not hurting at all. If you don't want 3 rods, don't run 3. Reduce the creel in the lake? Do you know what kind of effects this would have on the bait population? In the lake, atleast the fish have a choice to eat. They are spread over thousands of acres of water. In the streams, 1000's of fish are stuffed into shallow creeks and easy picking for snaggers, lifters and legit fisherman. This is why creels in the tribs should be less than the lake.

What pound weights are you running? If there is a lot of blow back with light weights, your lure will be a lot higher in the water column than you think. Do you run speed or temp? Speed and temp can help drastically when there is a lot of current. If you are trolling too slow, your lure might not have any action. If you are trolling too fast, the fish might not want to chase it. Give us a little more details of your exact spread and equipment and we can help you further with this issue.

I also voted yes. I would do more short afternoon trips after work if I could run 6 rods with 2 guys. If you could catch a couple more fish (in theory) it would make short trips with 2 guys in the boat worth it. Lets face it, most guys don't have boats big enough to run more than 8 rods without massive tangles. Most would only use this rule when it was 2 or 3 guys in the boat.

Congrats Tom! Sounds a lot better than Big Weenie Challenge anyways

I think you see a lot of guys mad about his opinion because we are trying to get something FOR the sport. The state keeps taking away and making things harder on us sportsmen. For once it would be nice to get something in our favor. He is entitled to his opinion. When you voice your opinion on these forums, be prepared to get roasted by someone no matter what the topic. If you don't want to get roasted, keep you mouths shut. I think Has Been has big enough shoulders to take the heat (seeing that he voices his honest opinion without hesistation).

Looks familiar to me. Great boat. Lots of TLC given to this boat when it was at Sandy. If I had 15K, I would buy it.

Nice job guys. I will be there next weekend.

Done. #2388

Ahab, They don't have to be certified if they are COMMERCIALLY packaged and perserved in other means other than just frozen (ie salted). Check the DEC website and you will find it. Mitchells in Rochester was selling them back at the begining of the ice season. They are out of the big stuff. I purchased the last 7 dozen. They did have real small stuff last I knew.

I run the Gander Mountain 8' leadcore rods and they are perfect for copper. They run about $50.00 and have a 2 year warranty.

Looks like this guys kept these 2 musky on Waneta. Not cool. http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/in ... c=13693.40

Do what I did. Take it out and take it to the store with you.

As an outsider looking in (since I do not fish these events), I believe to make it more competitive, and fair, there should be no communication. Why should one team be able to contact buddies NOT fishing the tourney to find out where the fish are? Local teams to that port have even more of an advantage over the out of town teams.

Like Rob, I favor the Clam products. The flip style are the easiest to set up and get out there. I have the Yukon. It is a little bigger than the guide but a lot heavier. If you buy the one of the bigger flips, find a pair of skis and it will make the drag a lot easier. On another note, my father and brother have frabils and they are ok. The fabric, and the seats are no wheres near the quality of the clam but they are much cheaper. The tub (sled) is not as deep on the Frabils either.