Gator

I agree 100% with both posts...I fish out of a Mustang suit and it's my life insurance...my wife didn't even cringe when I bought it. But the Mustang is for me and the rope is for other people. I'd hate to make a bad situation worse by falling through myself. Stay back, toss them a line and go that everybody's safe. Cheers to you for helping the old guy out, Bloodshot. I can't believe folks would drive by and ignore it.

Patrick McManus told a story about how every time that he wanted to go ice fishing he'd first have his wife shovel a bucketful of snow down the back of his shirt. That was usually enough to keep him at home, where he could sit in front of the fire and enjoy a cup of hot cocoa. If he still wanted to go, he'd drink whiskey instead of cocoa until the feeling subsided. Best way to figure out if you like the sport is to go fishing with someone who's been at it for years. If you want to spend $$$, then put it toward good cold weather gear. If you get cold, you won't enjoy yourself, and with the stuff available these days there's just no reason to ever get cold. Once you figure out what you like, the put your money toward that aspect of the sport. It doesn't take much to get started. A good grill and some sausage will make you a lot of friends on the ice...

Yup, the X4 is for measuring temp and depth at the ball versus the surface. Bunch of other tools do the same, Cannon and Moor both make 'em. For a trolling motor, you can't go wrong with a MinnKota Terrova, either the 80-lb or 101-lb flavor (24 and 36 volts, respectively). Make sure that you don't end up underpowered, and get the longest shaft (66 inches??), you'll need it for the Baron. The integrated transducer is convenient, but I don't think as sensitive as the one that comes out of the sonar box. And the iPilot feature is the bomb. Just check it out...you'll want it. As for sonar/GPS, we've run multiple Lowrance units over the years without issues. The latest high def units look great, but our lcx series do the job. It is nice to have separate units for GPS and sonar for both ease of viewing and in case one goes down, but worth the extra money? I am intrigued by the sidescan and downscan technologies that produce a virtual representation of what's underwater, but I would think that it would be overkill for trolling L. Ontario. Probably useful technology when trying to locate or visualize structure for targeting warmwater species, though. My advice to folks trying to equip a boat is to purchase toys based on what you currently do the most, not on what you hope to do in the future. You can always jury-rig what you have in the short term to try something new. I guess this applies to most everything. I've seen too much wasted money spent on stuff that sits unused because people (myself included) think that they'd like to start doing something on a regular basis. Do first, buy later.

Glad to have you on board.

Interesting technique...I'd noticed that after a few fish, the waxie started to produce better, but I hadn't made the leap to fabricating a "pre-gnawed" look. I'll give it a shot.

Navionics Premium Northeast.

Nicely done!

Happy Birthday, Jason! Doesn't that mean it's time for a new boat

John, Nicely done! We were there this weekend as well, fishing near Hay Bay, but we didn't have nearly the success that you did. How was the ice near the bridge? We'd heard that there was only 2 1/2 inches from a couple guys staying at our motel, which is why we avoided the area, but it seems to have been hot fishing. Gator

I've fished out of a Shamrock years ago. It was very different from what we consider to be a conventional Lake O. boat. The engine sat in the middle of the hull, it was narrow, and it rode the waves very differently from anything else I've been in. I think I remember that it drafted quite a bit, too?

Everybody wonders why we chase lakers on the Bar during the Spring derby. Kinda funny, a 24' Wellcraft drifting along with the river guys. But our arms at the end of the day tell the tale. I just wish that there was better ice access to those big L. Ontario slobs. There seems to be very few places where you have a legit shot at them. That's a killer way to end a great weekend, Mike. Congrats! Gator

Alright boys, kiss and make up. I know Lund, and he's a good duck hunter and a good guy; similarly, I get what SeaSquirrel and Lam are saying. Sometimes we let our fingers do our thinking when we're at the computer. Hard to remember that the whole world could be reading. Let's practice some discretion and let this thing die. BTW, fantastic photos. PM me where the article's going to be published, cause I definitely want to read it. Reminds me of days back on Keuka in my youth when we kept having to build additions onto our collapsible plywood blind to accommodate more and more hunters.

Conesus=small bluegills and infrequent but large pike, occasional bass or perch. Fish the North end to start, couple hundred yards off Vitale park Honeoye=evening bite for bluegill in shallow (<15fow) wherever you find good weeds. All day bite for bluegill and perch out deep, if you can figure them out and set up on the right spot (needle in a haystack sometimes, cause Honeoye is a big bowl). Bass can be had on tipups off the weededges, but the size isn't really there. Access if from the boat launch at the South end or from the park on the North end. Trident Marina, as well, has some parking. 6" of ice at either place. Slippery, with maybe 4-5" of snow. My own (short) report: I've chosen to fish the deep water on Honeoye over the past two weeks and have done well. Small Marmish jigs and a sinker to get it down. Watching fish on the Vex has been invaluable in deciphering their mood and determining how to best feed it to them. The camera tells me the same thing, but I hate tangling bluegill in the camera line. I've stayed away from the crowds, but I'd assume from the # of people that there are some fish being caught.

Okay, that's one hint. How 'bout another

Something about Gambell's bait must be magically delicious...

Yeah, some of it is program length advertising, but they don't try to hide it at least. Decent shows, overall. I'm amazed at the price of a "k-drill"...$499...which is simply a composite bit for an electric drill that supposedly excels at reopening old holes (ice house applications).

Hmmm.... I'd originally made an offer for these reels when they were first posted. However, I finally decided that I wasn't comfortable with a certified bank check and wanted to use PayPal instead. The seller pressed me to decide, saying he had a couple of other buyers in the wings, and I backed out. I know that he was new to the board and his only posts were for several items that showed up simultaneously in the Classifieds. Truly sorry if there's a reasonable explanation for this, but if it flies like a duck and quacks like a duck... Anybody else try to purchase the other items? Did they show up?

I think what Steve meant by "hardcore" was that most people don't realize the amount of effort and preparation it takes to brave Seneca on a routine basis in the winter, AND at the same time to be prepared for the worst contingencies. I don't want folks to think that we're a bunch of yahoos taking risks because our balls are bigger than our brains. Though that's true to some extent... Obviously, the gentleman in question with the 21' boat was not prepared, nor was the guy in the 10 foot jonboat with a lawn mower engine on Sunday who we helped out. Big boats don't mean squat if you don't know how to handle them or aren't prepared. In fact, we purchased Mustang suits this year specifically for perch fishing Seneca just to be safe. Unfortunately, we aren't lucky enough to know anyone who has a dock we could hunt from at Seneca...unless there are a few members of this board who might be willing to let a couple of "hardcore" hunters hunker down one morning. PovertyStricken? Anyone?

I will add that mixing divers and copper can be an interesting experience. Most of us here have had the joy of having to untangle our sets, perhaps losing a bunch of copper due to twisting. It seems to depend upon how the down currents are running and how quickly you deploy your rigs. If you are only running four rods and you want to mix in a copper, you might want to think about inline planer boards. The Church boards handle a 300-400' copper easily. It's a bit different presentation compared to one down the chute, but two coppers off the boards and two riggers in combination is a decent default spring option. Running all copper in stealth mode is a powerful presentation, as well, using the big boards and clips. Last year, the problem with the coppers is that they were getting hit by skippy so much, and these smaller fish didn't survive the journey to the boat really well. Like Vince says, trial and error are the best teacher. Half the fun is in learning how to figure it out!

I remember a movie where there's a cop, asserting "Everything is under control" as a mob runs him down. Sometimes the sky does fall down. It's silly to operate with blinders on all the time. I agree that there's lots of doomsayers out there, but there's also lots of open-minded folks who just want to figure out what's really going on and make sure that we've got something to leave to our kids. You want to know what my major issue is? Not global warming, not oil dependency...cause I think that we'll solve these issues...but urban sprawl. Once accessible land disappears, the entire hunting culture will disappear as well. And cultural changes are almost impossible to retract. Once it's gone, it's gone. As for the sky falling, remember DTT, strip mining in PA, etc? Controversial issues at the time. History now. I wish everyone would have some of what Tom is smoking. He may not agree with everything that I do, but he knows the issues and he thinks, (sorry for the cliche) "outside the box". Is this one of those threads that is going to turn into a "lively discussion"? Cheers!

Ooh, a non-believer. I love a skeptic! Unfortunately, that argument contains at it's core the idea that man can't alter his environment. There's no doubt that ice-ages came and went...over the course of thousands of years. It's possible that the documented dramatic fluctuations we've seen over the past fifty years represent the acceleration of a natural process. The only problem with that is: if you're wrong and we keep it up, we're all screwed. If Mr. Gore is wrong, the consequences aren't so dramatic. Given that this is a controversial issue, if I were a betting man, I know where I'd put my money. Wasn't there a philosopher who made a similar argument with respect to belief in God: if God doesn't exist, then when you die there's nothing left of you. So whether you believe or not is immaterial. But if God does exist and you don't believe, then when you die you go to Hades. Given the potential consequences, he choose to believe. I'm not comparing Mr. Gore to God. Please. I drive an F150 and I'm the ultimate consumer in a petroleum based economy. I'm just saying...I understand why folks are concerned.

Okay, I'll bite...what the heck is "an excisive separation"? It looks great to me, Paul. Nice work on an uncommon species for this locale.

Happy Birthday, Scott!

You mean those standing four footers that would set up when the wind was right? Yeah, I remember (sigh). Good times. As for geothermal, that sounds fantastic. I'm going to have to do a bunch of homework, because I don't know anything about the technology yet, but I've heard mainly good things. "Look what Santa left me...an XF2000 personal core piercing unit! Now we can run our X-mas lights!"

The best part of those nuke plants used to be the winter fishing in the discharge! I remember breaking ice in past Februarys, pre 9/11, and sitting in the effluent knocking browns, steelies, and landlocks absolutely silly. Just ridiculous #s of fish. Long gone now. If we set up a zillion mini-nukes all around the country, maybe the terrorists wouldn't be able to concentrate on the existing ones and there'd be some left over for us winter fishermen. Lakeshore communities need power, too. Of course, I guess you've got to wonder how safe having decentralized power sources that involve uranium would be...not from a meltdown standpoint, which is a non-issue from what I understand, but from a national security standpoint. There's issues with every approach, I suppose. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good, ole' American ingenuity.