GAMBLER

The Wegmans or Tops smelt are not legal. They have to be packaged and perserved in means other than freezing (ie salted) by a COMMERCIAL bait dealer. It sucks. VHS has come and gone and we are still left with these laws. Like Cheers says, Mitchels has some good dead bait. I still have 15 dozen left to get me through winter.

I don't worry about contamination in perch. Big pike are older so I would worry about it a little. Just keep smaller pike.

I will be fishing it. See you guys at the weigh in (you will not find me fishing around here).

Happy Birthday Jason.

Happy Birthday Time Out. Hope it's a good one.

I am very satisfied with my camera. I keep it horizontal. It is amazing what you learn from the camera.

Most cameras are not day time viewable. You need to be in a tent to see the screen good. If you buy a camera, make sure it is daytime viewable. I own a Marcum black and white camera and it is great inside the tent. It is an older model that is not daytime viewable. A lot of the newer ones are daytime viewable.

Marcum, Vexilar, Hummingbird, Lowrance, and the Showdown are all good units. Some have more bells and whistles than others. It is like the Fishhawk, Depth Raider, Subtroll, and Cannon speed and temp units debate or the Ford, Chevy, or Dodge debate. It is all about personal preference. I have a Vexilar FL8 SE ultra pack and it's fine for me. I only use it in dirty water or laketrout jigging. All other applications I use the camera. My reccommendation is to find people with each brand and watch them or ask if you can try theirs before buying. That way you can decide which unit best fits your needs.

The water was up to within a few inches of the edge of the road near Cresent Beach Hotel. On windy days small waves would wash over the road. Old Edgemere, farther West, had a foot of water over it for a while in '72. I can remember spearing carp on the road and filling sandbags. And the people that live on Edgemere Drive complain about the water levels now. My wifes boss would be out of his mind if the water was that high.

In the 80's and 90's it was awesome for pike, perch and crappies. If the channel stayed open to the lake more, we would get more fish off the lake throughout the winter. We used to see browns and steeleis once and a while too.

Mike, Those lakers fight awesome in the winter becuase they do not get beat up from warm water.

Most of the derbies I fish all winter, not many pike come to the scales. Last years Avon Anglers derby on Conesus had 140 participants and only 9 pike were weighed in. The Mitchells derby had 100+ and only 7 pike came to the scales. Catch and release derbies will not work. In a perfect world, they would but people are not honest when money is involved.

Nope. It will still pick it up. Mine is about the same distance and still works fine.

I was on Conesus last week and did really good. Iced some pike 31-37". Ice is good on the North end out to 10' of water. Gills are running even bigger than last year and plenty of them. Hoenoye has been a deep water fishery so far this winter. Long walks are producing good fish. Like always with Honeoye, you have to work for them. I will be on Honeoye on Saturday. The ice is good all over Honeoye except creekmouths. Good luck.

I shot one a couple years ago in Braddocks and kick myself for not mounting it. Like Matt said, they are not that smart. Nice job Paul

Happy B-day Larry.

Little do these mental midgets know, the pike keep their panfish populations in check. If all the pike were gone, all they would be left with are dink panfish. If you see this practice, call the DEC TIP line or even better the local CO direct. Their phone numbers are listed on the website. I'm all for keeping a pike for a meal once and a while but killing them and leaving them in no good for the species and the sport.

Chad, It is no different going out on Lake O in a GOOD chop chasing trout and salmon.

You will not bump into me on Bradocks until next year. I'm all done with that place for the season. Conesus, Honeoye and Canadice are the only places you will find me now until March 15th. If there is still ice after that, I may be found on I-bay or Sodus.

Mike, I got one out of there with the same soars on it. Gross looking but the fish seemed healthy.

Funny you say that. Last winter i was wearing that hat when I caught the biggest pike, walleye and largemouth of the winter.

Thanks for taking that video and posting it. It was a good day on the ice. It was a ball to watch that pike slam my jig on the camera.

I was wondering the same thing.

I got 2 of the Okuma Blue Diamond rods last summer and love them. A lot less drag on the wire when it is going through the guides.

Still 5" on Braddocks. Water will be muddy because of the run off.