floatfisher

Thanks guys! Yeah jigging for the lakers is pretty easy, just on Saturday the wind was too much for us. I did not bring a drill and the shanty was like a kite out there so we didnt give it much of a try. Not too interested in tent city out of the state park, my access points have produced just a few lakers already this season.... What I posted was a general statement for our fishing this ice season. Every where we have gone in the past and produced has not produced for us this year. Not too worried about the lakers as they are easy enough, just our perch spots are not getting us the fish like they usually do. We redeemed our selves on sunday with a good catch of crappies. Thanks again!!

Yeah thats it panfisher. Saw some guys out of there on Saturday, thinking I should have gone there with the wind out of the south like it was. Fished off a cottage about half way up the branchport side on Saturday and the wind was brutal!! We fished for a few hours and didnt even get a flag. I forgot the drill so I could not anchor my shanty and just kept it set up in next to shore for a spot for the kids to get out of the wind. Then my flasher died and I could not use it out in deeper water to jig for lakers. Needless to say we got the big skunk. Ice was a good 5-7 inches in all of the holes we drilled. Getting kind of worried that the kids are going to loose interest with the bad fishing we have been having this year... LOL!!

Drove around Keuka last weekend and found about a mile up from Hamondsport at my access site, open water for about 4 cottages at my cousins place. I told her to turn her bubbler down.... So my son and I drove over to the east side and saw that the pump house is posted and wondered why? Because they are doing work, and will they un-post it when it is completed? Drove further north to another spot I have permission to access and the ice was 1.5 to 3 inches thick. Not thick enough for me to go out on with my son!!! Should be safe now. Some one I know sent me a report that just north of my access had 4.5 on Tuesday. I just got word that I have another spot on the west side of the Branchport arm about half way up the finger. Anyone have ice report form this area. Just trying to figure out my plan of attack for me my buddy adn our kids. Has anyone ever tried to access the lake from the park at the end of the lake in Hamondsport? I cant remember the name of the park but looked like decent access, also wondered how the fishing was down there if people fish it? Stay safe and dry!! I will post our results on Monday. Thanks!

Any new updates? I wanted to get out on Sunday but was not feeling too good (self induced). Thinking about trying my cousins place 1 mile north of hamondsport on the west side. Any reports from down that way? I am thinking about going tomorrow after work. I also have a spot on the Penn Yan branch at just north of the 900. Any info would be appreciated as I am going out solo. I will check often and walk slow!!! Thanks!

The boat is a Spectrum 1706. I like the way it is set up but it needs work, just cosmetic except for the engine.... I saw an older Yamaha 115 for sale some where and I was interested in teh 9.9 Yamaha that was for sale on here. Thought about getting both but the kicker was sold and I dont remember where I saw the 115? Probably Craigslist. I would also love a new 4 stroke to put on my boat, but with 3 kids and a wife that is not back to work yet it is not going to happen any time soon.....

Here is a pic of the laker, not the best pic of the fish but the kids were happy! Sent from my XT1060 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Yes hermit you are right. If you have seen my posts most of the more recent posts have been in "this old boat" forum. It seems like since I got the boat I have been having one problem or another with the motor. Nothing major, just one annoying thing after another. I may have found someone I work with that may be willing to work on the motor for me, it is a 90hp Force. Maybe we can work on it this winter and it will be ready for the spring, if not and it still wants to keep giving me fits then that will be it. Put it out there for sale and get something newer. Thanks for all of the comments!!

Made it out to Keuka finally. Got to Hamondsport at about 7:15 and started the motor right up and as soon as I put it into gear is stalled and would not re start. So I dropped the trolling motor down and motored out a ways. There was quite a wind coming out of the south which I did not expect. Fished the shore line with the boys with crayfish and lures looking for some bass, or what ever they could catch. Nothing so I tried the motor and it fired right up again but stalled again, but got it going and motored around a bit. So we switched to jigging for lakers and I got 1 about 4.5# and lost another but that was it. Was not the best time of day to start jigging! The wind was making it difficult to stay vertical even with the trolling motor. About 10:30 the wind died down and it started to get hot and with not much going on jigging we moved back in to the shallower water and tried to catch other fish around the docks. My son picked up a couple nice sized perch and rock bass on crayfish and worms and his buddy lost 2 smallmouths on crayfish. I had a great time with my son and our guests, but it was a little stressfull with the boat yet again!! I told my son that I was a little stressed when we were launching and a guy at the launch looked at me and said "stressed? You are fishing why would you be stressed?" I thought to myself, exactly why am I stressed? I think I am done with this boat!! I think I am going to put it up for sale in the spring?!?! It is a decent boat, the motor starts right up but will not stay running. I think it needs a tinkerer type person to tinker with it and I am not a tinkerer, but this motor is teaching me to be one and I am learning alot. Never been much of a motor guy? Anyway, maybe I will get out again if the weather stays this nice and try jigging one more time....

Was also goig to post, but then I thought that maybe the named trib became a bigger trib over the summer and the rules changed?!?!?

When I bought the boat last year and saw the "rings" I thought that they were just weathered o-rings. My bad for replacing the washers with o-rings! I will look on line to see if I can get replacements and when I check the lube again I will replace them. Maybe there was air coming in from them when I used it last week with the o-rings and making the white little bubbles in the lube. Thanks for the heads up rolmops!! Hope to get the boat out this weekend to see how its running, and keep an eye on things..

Thanks again for all of the replies! I am going to look in to it more starting tonight. ontherise - thanks for the comment, puts me at ease. Chas - South Corning huh? Where can I get parts to fix the seal in our area? If I cant get it fixed before the trip I will definitely take some extra oil to swap it out with. Already replaced the o-rings. Hopefully that is where the water came from... Man I miss my old boat, sold it when the twins came. That little 25 hp Merc. tiller, never had to do anything to it and it ran like a top for years!!!

A couple of things here, I found that one of my o-rings on one of the screws (I cant remember which one it was right now) fill, vent, or drain) was falling apart. I replaced the o-rings on all of them. I hope that this is where the water was getting in if there was in fact water getting in to turn the lube milky. I will top the lube off and go from there. As for a prop seal, if that had gone bad, would the oily substance be the color of the lube (blue) or oil (black)? I am leaning towards the un-burned oil as it is almost black in color, and hopefully not the seal. Thanks for al of your help, I kind of paniced when I first noticed it and have calmed down now thinking that my mix is too rich. I will go a little lighter on the oil next time I fill up. I will hopefully be out on the boat again this weekend and see what happens. I will see how she runs and hopefully I wont have the slowing down issue I had last week. If I do I will have to look into that next.