jimski2

http://www.tipdown.com these are the best.

The five color, three color , etc. rigs need line to run them off inline planer boards. the shorter lead core lines have to be sent out from the side of the boat to be more effective. A cheaper method is just rubber band an in line sinker to your lines. Rip it off when it reaches your pole tip.

Wrap a bungee cord around the EZ Steer arms to keep them from coming apart in heavy weather. Hanging out over the stern in rough water causes arms to fall to the deep six and a $120 replacement part to be obtained. Tie a piece of line to the arm for safety also. Been there and have had to buy new arms twice.

The Ontario Government is considering offers from "Green" companies to put wind farms in Lake Erie from Port Colborne to Port Dover. Apparently the plans are made, just need to get some sort of approval from the beaurocrats. http://www.boatnerd.com Click on today's news channel. They may be just "leasing rights" but the studies and engineering must have been completed by the "Green Guys".

My upper steering is installed with the ball connectors vertical and the arm connectors bent down and connected to the balls so they swivel easier.

I use only black colored dipseys, a leader the length of the rod to help net the fish.

Another good point for the ciscoes is they are a better food for Lake Trout that does not have tha thiamine troubles that cause reproduction problems like alewives.

Back in the early 1950's, we would leave Buffalo and head out to deep waters off Crystal Beach and fish for blue pike in May and June. A dip of minnows was brought to start fishing with our handline and spreader hooks. We only had one fishing pole, my father's, at the time. Coleman White Gas lanterns were set out at dusk and the emerald shiners would school up in their light. A long handled dip net would be used to replenish the minnow supply with more emeralds. Occasionaly a different bait appeared in the lanterns light. They were ciscoes which had a short life in the bucket but were eagerly sought by the blue pike. One year the small blue pike disappeared and following years yielded only larger and older fish. Commercial fishing was blamed for the demise of the blue pike. But the whitefish, ciscoes, lake trout and other coldwwater species also disappeared. The culprit in this case was the huge masses of smelt that devoured everything small enough to swallow. In the mid 1960's, the Canadians started trawling for the smelt and by getting their numbers down, the "dead Lake Erie" started to return to life. With the smelt numbers now controlled by salmon and trout now, whitefish are returning to Lake Erie. Ciscoes could possibly return with a little help from us. They are a herring smaller than a whitefish that subsists on the little plankton type critters. They are an excellent fine boned type of forage for all the predators ought there.

The generally prevailing winds on Lake Erie stack all the ice up down here at the eastern end of the Lake before it disappears. The colder water flowing from it forces the salmon to seek warmer waters near the beach some days or west of Port Dahlousie until Lake Erie warms up in the east end. The reasons for travelling west are the Welland Canal flows ten percent of the flow from Lake Erie out of Port Weller and the original mouth of the canal at Port Dahlousie. The canal water warms up faster as the ice field gets past Port Colborne. When the ice is gone, Lake Erie water is like instantly warmer than Lake Ontario and also richer in nutrients to feed the little critters that bait fish seek. Then the salmon and trout games begin on the Bar.

There is an area of Lake Erie near Long Point that does not freeze over. It is 210 feet deep there and like the Finger Lakes it never freezes over.

I am not against wind turbines when they are on property that pays taxes to the community, rent to the property owner and helps the neighbors. I am against a government beaurocracy that uses our peoperty to make a justification for furthering its existence and does not compensate those neighbors who have to live with it.

For whitefish, your best bet would be to go to Lake Simcoe in Ontario. There are plenty of hut operators there that can set you up for whitefish if that is what you want. They will take you out to their huts and really make your trip worthwhile. Use the internet to check them out.

The fishing was good for those traveling several miles out on the lake. But the blow we had over the past few days with the high east winds opened things up out there. The high west winds should tighten the ice field back up but as for now, the Evans Police are warning "stay off the ice". A seventy year old fellow went into a hole opened up at a shove by ATV's passing over it. He was pulled out and taken in to an ambulance. Too much beer was noted. DEC and all the agencies were out checking everything so have your act together. The trails were three miles of walking to get out a mile plus. The first half mile was really rough. Travel light, bundle everything up, the trail is littered with lost gear bouncing out of sleds. Bring a compass as visibility is nothing in the falling snow and you do not want to come ashore in Canada. Ice Shanty site has reports continuously at Erie/Erie.

I use the Scotty's and Fish On Rod holders mounted on the gunwales. No track is needed or in the way. Scotty's are my choice. They come off the mounts and are easy to store.

Early spring shoreline fishing is planer boards with floating plugs in the warmest waters you can find. Creek, ditches, swamps that enter the lake are better, on shore winds are better.

This is a good fishing buddy of mine. He caught it on ten pound test line and he registered it and it is a line class record. It is mounted and hangs in his home. He is a good man and only fishes for food for the table, some walleye but mostly perch. No contests either for him.

Three rods should be illegal for those catch and release guys.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/ ... ets_d.html

Outboard engines with high pressure injection systems are really getting screwed up by the alcohol. New fuel pumps being installed run aroud $600, change your filters.

At the Nascar races I run a 1,000 watt Honda for my motorhome TV, laptop and lites. A lot less fuel used than the 5,000 watt built in plant and a lot quieter for me and my neighbors. As far as USCG approval on your boat, it would probably be banned on a charter boat.

My EZ Steer has come apart bouncing around in the lake a couple times. Results were I dropped parts of it into the lake. For over $100 they will send you a new part. I put a bungee cords on it and that helped for a while. Cabela's sent me a solid threaded rod that you bend to make it fit. It works until at some time it bends itself. I now disconnect the Rod when I am not trolling and am getting by OK till the gremlins figure out another way to screw up my day. My 9.9 Honda kicker is a good investment as my old Evinrude smoker does not fill the boat with oil fumes anymore trolling downwind. Twice my kicker brought me home when I had a problem with old Evinrude. Another problem with my old Evinrude is it will not die, it just keeps on running.

I am back from South Carolina where I observed an eighteen foot john boat with twenty four rods and holders used for catfish on the Santee-Cooper Lakes system. Also there is no limit on deer, but a proposal is underway to limit your buck take to five annually.

It takes ten gallons of ethanol to get the same energy [mpg] as you receive from six gallons of gasoline without ethanol. Now do your figuring. We are now not very business and family friendly here.

I have free barn cats and they are mean ones. PM me. Even this cold weather will not get rid of them.

Your kicker motor can be started easily with its rope pull start and your batterys will charge up then.