Sweet Caroline

Hopefully this year’s hatch is good as well to start taking some pressure off last year’s good hatch. Anybody have a preliminary info on that or is it too early?

I plan on fishing in my newly rigged boat, Sweet Caroline. It's a 29 Amberjack at southpoint marina. One of the few fishing boats there. Not looking forward to the ride to and from the lake but excited to fish my first tourney with her. To gain some time at the end of the day will their be any slips at Shumway to park the boat for a couple hours during weigh in?

Does anybody know if they are enforcing no wake on irondequoit bay?

So what they found is normal then for Spring samples?

Gill-T You mentioned that stomach content was low, i.e. some Mysis, spiney water flea. Isn’t that a flag or am I interpreting this wrong? In the past alewives fitness was never much of an issue as I recall? My reservations are as I think of the conversations about what happened in Michigan and especially Huron, the predator population was high keeping alewives in check but at the end of the day there still wasn’t enough productivity in the lower part of the web to keep the alewives population healthy. If we are seeing poor plumpness that is not good. Stocking more salmon could be a short term fix but this will all come to a head eventually if the lake keeps getting cleaner. Also are there similar reports of bait abundance out of other ports? I would expect if bait was going to be high anywhere it would be in the west end. If it was still high as you head north and/or east that is probably a better indication of the overall health. I got to think with still having a large breeding population of bait combined with a warm winter/spring and high water that things are setting up nice to have a good hatch. So if I interpreted the plumpness factor incorrect we should be in good shape. I honestly don’t see the productivity of the lake getting much worse (or better I should say) with the new administration i.e phosphorus load, waste and sewage management, ect My 2 cents

Would muddy waters now kill Chinooks that were hatched in the Fall? Seems most years the rivers and streams will blow out at some point throughout the winter/spring. Is it a factor of them getting stranded when the waters recede? Also, I could be wrong but I thought the muddy near shore waters would help hide the young direct and pen stocked salmon from predators and actually be a benefit for survival?

Glad I docked my boat at South Point on Iron Bay this year. NOT!! Probably take me 45min just to get to the lake now!!

Hi Defiance, I'm also looking to install an autopilot on my 2001 290 Amberjack. Did you end up going with the EV200 with the octopus? I'm in the process of installing and there is some concern that the octopus is too large to fit under the dash. Anybody have experience with installing the EV200 and Octopus on a 290 Amberjack?

Fishhook, Thank you for your honesty and being a standup guy. To keep you in the loop, I offered your friend the opportunity to have a mechanic actually come assess the situation in person instead of diagnosing it over the phone. Instead he went with the worst case scenario quoted by the mechanic over the phone ($2000-$3000) and tried negotiating with me on that. Having worked with this mechanic, I know his policy is to set the proper expectations over the phone on what total damages could potentially be and then when he actually sees the job it is significantly less. Had a mechanic actually looked at the boat I would have been much more willing to work with him on a fair price. Again, I’m not doing this for the money, only to make sure my father is not getting taken advantage of. As I have said, you are correct in that I told my mechanic there could potentially be a leak. I had him look in to it and he could not find the issue and chalked it up to an external source. It was not until I did the sea trial with you that we actually found the source and verified there was indeed a leak. I do appreciate you being “upfront and honest†and pointing out this discrepancy with what I said and what my mechanic recalled. Originally I thought that you were trying to slam me for not selling the boat to your buddy, but I see now that clearly is not the case. Leaking a gallon or so over the course of 8 hours was what was estimated to me directly from your buddy so you may also want to do some fact checking with him on the extent of the leak. I just want to make sure everything I’ve said is proper by your standards. Thanks again for digging in to this matter.

Sammy Dog, that wasn't directed towards you. You make great points, thanks.

Hey Sammy Dog, The boat was kept in a pole barn all year and the plug was pulled after each use so any water that would have sat in there would not of had enough time to do any damage. The leak that ole Fishhook found when he was out there was a drip (about a drip every 15 sec) coming from around the seal where the lower unit connects to the transom. Over the course of an 8 hr day it may have amounted to a gallon or so of water. I would recommend resealing it before it gets worse. Again, anybody that is interested is welcome to fully inspect the transom. Although the power steering works fine it was out of fluid the last time I Sea Trialed it so there probably is a small leak there too. To your point, the boat is an 88, and I believe I’m offering the boat at a fair enough price to accommodate for any of these issues.

Hey Fishhook, I’m going to give you the benefit of doubt that you are not calling me a liar since you seemed like a nice guy when I met you. To clarify, we do not dock the boat often. Last year we docked the boat for a few days and I noticed some water pouring out when I pulled the plug and it had not rained. I told our mechanic to check it out and he could not find anything. He also checked the bellows and transom and they looked fine. If this was what the mechanic was referring to then I guess you are correct. To further clarify, I’m selling this boat for my father who has Alzheimer’s and I’m not making a dime off the sale. I have no special interest in selling the boat other than trying to get what I thought was fair market value for him. I also have allowed all interested parties the opportunity for a Sea Trial, survey, speak with the mechanic or whatever else they need to do to feel comfortable with their purchase. If you are insinuating that I’m using some unsurely sales tactics then you are sorely mistaken.