GAMBLER

Sponge, Hopefully you have better luck with Raymarine than I did. My autopilot has been back twice and both times they told me there is nothing wrong with it.

Thanks Ray. The misses actually told me at the beginning of this year that I need a new boat! I almost fell out of my chair. I already pushed the wedding back a couple of years so I don't think I will be fishing Saturday. P.S. Don't forget to ask Tom about storing bananas on his boat!

I have Friday morning off but I can not fish. I'm getting married Saturday and have my rehersal dinner on Friday. I have to do some last minute things for the big day. It was nice meeting you in person also. The brownie bite stopped once the push of warm water came in. You showed the kid how tough fishing can be on Lake Ontario. Hopefully, he will want to go with you again.

Tom, A couple more outings like that and you will will think twice about not fishing lakers.

We were inside fishing browns and all the sudden the bait and fish were gone and the temp. started rising. It was really interesting. The wind was about 5 mph out of the West. Hopefully it will bring the kings back from the boarder.

Rechargeable batteries solve the battery problem in the Fish Hawk. Have 3 or 4 and bring the used one home to charge them at the end of the trip.

In the Flea season, I run 30 Lb. Ande pink with 15 or 20 lb. leaders. For browns, I like the 15 lb. In the spring, I run 15lb. Maxima to 12 lb. Seagar leaders. Get enough reels so you don't have to switch up line throughout the season.

That all changed today. The temp started out down 30 and by 9am it was down 62' the lake is changing like crazy. There was some fish and bait off the creek in 150. We also marked some fish in 70' down 55 - 60. Good luck.

Watch it Tom. He may slip some bananas in your boat if you keep talking like that.

I talked Jax into doing the brown thing tomorrow. I have a few tricks to show him!

There are some walleyes in Hemlock. When you get them they are slobs. I have a picture of a 14lb. 1 oz. walleye that was caught out of Hemlock. The picture was taken at the Taxidermist when I was there picking up my fish. I don't know who caught it but he is one lucky guy. The taxidermist said he caught it trolling for trout. What a nice bonus.

Times Two, Next time you go up there, fish the back side of Ox island on the drop off with riggers. I troll through there very day I'm up there and murder the big eyes. The big open bay behind Ox island is great for rigger fishing also. The eyes are suspended on bait 25 - 30' down over 35 - 120 FOW. I have caught multiple 8 lbers. on the back side of that island.

If you do not mind dealing with coated cable, the others are good. I have the Fish Hawk and love it because I don't have to worry about replacing coated cables or being careful not to take the coating off. Once you loose coating, you will loose signal as you get deeper. The Fish Hawk does jump around a little but you make adjustments so it does not do that. My Fish Hawk interfers with my fish finder. I just deal with it.

That will be tomorrow. I will be on his boat in the AM. Get your cowbells ready!

Try the French River Lodge. It is West of Nipissing on the French River. I have stayed there for years. They rent out 16' Lunds w/ 25 Mercs. If you do go up there at the time you are talking, hit Crombie Bay. many 58 - 60" muskies are taken in this area each fall. Last time I was up there, a guy braught in a 59" musky. The thing was huge. The northerns and walleyes are all over the place up there. September is the best time to find slob walleyes up there. Good luck.

I had one do that the other day. That does wonders for your leader and wire on you cowbells and peanut!

I will convert you one of these days Tom!

PLEASURE UNIT, pick up the June/July issue of In-Fisherman. There is a good article on Upwelling in the Great Lakes titled the stability zone. It gives you a good idea of what you should do when the lake upwells.

Seagar 50 Lb. It is super tough and reliable. It is a little price but worth every penny.

Hijinks, Head to 95 FOW from the Creek to the nose. Troll VERY slow (.07 - 1.7). 1.3 seems to be the best speed. I run 2 cowbell and peanut rigs 1' off the bottom. If you do not have speed and temp, you can guage your speed by cable angle. I like an angle a little less than 45 degrees. I highly reccomned not horsing the lakers to the boat and using a rubber net. I found the rubber net gets them back in the water a lot quicker. They always tend to twist up in the other style nets. If the laker is full of air, you will need to burb them to get the air out. This needs to be done gently so the laker is not hurt in the process. I also keep 2 riggers high in the water column for kings, steelies and browns. The other day I caught 1 brown and had 2 other knock offs on these rods while trolling lakers. Good luck and let me know how you make out.

I use the Owner 2x and 3x hooks. They are razor sharp and never bend!

They all look the same! I did notice a lot of lamprey marks on those Atlantics. It goes to show we are not the only ones with a big lamprey problem.

Jay lost an impellor on the ride in. He still made it in under 1 engine.

I mist them with the washdown pump until the king is breathing fast and flipping all over. Make sure the water is cool (my engine warms up the water in the line and make kings go in the cooler). Dump them in head first and they will go.

You will need to run off shore most of the time to find fish (200' +). I was going to run offshore today but decided to stay inside to avoid getting snuck up on by a thunderstorm. We decided to fish lakers. The inside waters were dead! We were 0 for 2 for kings. Another suggestion is to look shallow for browns (today off of Sandy they were loaded in 40 - 55 F.O.W.).