skipper19

I have always used the clinch knot and never really had bad experience with it. However I have been fishing streams where I seldom get a trout bigger than 3-4 pounds. Tippet size is also critical to landing the size fish you are targeting. Not sure what leader type you are using, tapered, straight, or florocarbon. If you are wrapping the line more than 4 or 5 turns for the clinch it is too many. Lube the knot before tightening it and be sure the knot windings don't pile up. Another way to tie the clinch is to double the line, pass the loop through the eye and tie it the same as the clinch. Known as the double improved clinch knot (not to be confused with the "improved" clinch). That way you have twice the line wrapping the eye of the hook. I have landed salmon on the double improved and never experience a break off. Another good knot is the perfection loop. Tie the loop in the leader and pass it throught the eye of the fly and pass the loop over the back of the fly. This is the best knot for flourocarbon. It lets the loop lay straight in plane with the main part off the leader http://www.animatedknots.com/indexfishi ... dknots.com This will help Mark

In the cab of my truck, pickin $ off the mileposts of any interstate in the country. Under my truck, planting $ in it's operation. In my trailer, turning good stuff that trucks bring, into $ for me to fish with. When that is all done then I'm home in Lyndonville, where I'm happy to be in my lazy boy, chattin with you guys here, visiting friends and relatives, and re-acquainting with the ones that own the house. The cats! Gee it sure is nice to be home and ......sleep in a bed that doesn't bounce, jiggle, and vibrate, and quiet..except for me snoring. Mark

Hah!...looks like the same fish that came to our boat yesterday..good job Mark ...and half buffy style. Great way to get extra vitamin D....How does it feeeeeel. Never mind......I saw your face...with a smile Mark

Mick is fishing the Pro Bass series and doing well with this fine bronzback What the heck? It took a yeck.....Or is that just a green spoon, bass catchin, sum beach Ate a 4 inch goby jitter fly, 15 FOW run naked with a 5/8 oz keel sinker, 200 feet back off the outrigger. That was the day, not much to report but was fun anyway, thanks for the help Mick. Morning went down east from port, trolled along the flats down to the ladders, and a bit farther, caught a bass on a slider rigged with spoon on the rigger. Then turned back west in skinnier water where we hooked up this laker, on a 4 inch goby jitter fly, 15 FOW off the outrigger. Water temp was mid forties out east. ran speeds from 1.9 to 2.6 tried sticks and spoons of different color and size. Afternoon went down west of port, found warmer water there...up to 50.5 in some places off Johnson creek. Marked a lot of fish but no takers. The wind died out nice in the mid afternoon but came on strong late out of the east and shot the rest of the day for good temps. Most boats were farther east of port than we went in the morning, and sounded like they were doing well down near bald eagle. Mark

That's more like it ....west winds are coming Mark

Way to go Captain Bob A huge THANK YOU a very nice gesture and super dedication to the progression of a fine fishery. Mark

Godspeed to you and your family's healing. My sincere condolences. Mark

judging from some of the more weird things going down the thruway, probably not. tie it in good though. Flat bottom? throw something in the cab end to keep it from tippin out. Rubber mats under the hull would be good too.

POTS AWAY!!!!! Awwww man that's too funny Pete. Felt like the bering sea out there

was out there too Carl, 6 lines nada for 6 hours and two knocks as well but no one home... Mark

Jitter flies occupy most of my flybox for one reason....They work...they catch fish...and brought home some $ last season in the LOC....Fish of the day. Fall LOC was the first I ran them last Fall. 18 to 20 in. leader, Tie a perfection loop in the flouro leader that comes on it. troll at 2.4 to 2.8 behind a spin doctor or pro troll flasher/downrig, dipsey, copper (they all collect fish). 4 inch streaker, pretty jane is my favorite. after about 10 steelhead all in one day it was a bit tattered but still there. They are still in business and just put goby patterns in the box yesterday, bought at Narby"s....now what? Mark

for launch and load,... by myself...i prefer the bunks, the boat will stay on the trailer while loading if the trailer is at the right depth, something to experiment with. If you drive on and the engine can push you to the bow post, the friction of the hull and bunks will keep the boat in position while you move to the bow and hook the eye. If you can reach it over the bow, you never have to walk the plank or do the balancing act on the trailer tongue. Now I can get out off the boat after raising the motor and pull the boat out without worrying about the boat slipping off on the ramp. Same true with launching, it will not slip off on the ramp even if you unhook the eye, but I always leave the winch cable hooked and the safety chain off, just in case I need to bring the boat back up on the trailer if the engine won't fire for some reason. Granted there is some amount of pressure placed on the cable and eye while pulling it the last couple of inches to the bow post, but while it is wet it slides up ok. My boat is approx. 4500 lbs loaded with gas and the equipment it uses on board. Mark

April 10th, 8 am, Mick and I go to Golden Hills to try some trolling. Try was the operative word as we encountered the Big "O" locked in ice . We trolled around in little pockets of open water like a pond untill the ice was gone later in the day. Think we shoulda brought the ice shanty and some tip ups, Mick Mark

Pete, I've got a laptop, actually two, one a sony vaio and the other a toshiba. both are carried in the truck but the sony is more of a rugged unit. I thought about the laptop on the boat but being an open cockpit and not enough room for a 15 inch unit on the console keeps me from taking it on the boat. But I have considered getting one of the small screen jobs as long as I can keep it dry. I have spint broadband ($59) unlimited data up and down, and it is very good with picking signal anywhere even in the deserts. True the sirius plan is another expense but I think I like the ability to get real time lightning strikes from sirius. However I can't say much about the sirius weather service, since I don't know anything about using it. The idea of being able to get internet info from weather sites is good though. The ability of sending pics and video from the boat is cool too and very possible. I do that all the time from the truck. A cool plus to the laptop would be one that has the camera utility built into the screen so that you can record video direct to the hard drive without having a video camcorder. The camera utility can do a real time video conference style of communication as well with someone who is logged on with your computer via live chat and video exchange. Just aim the screen camera towards the action or whatever. I know you have a cabin, so I would be one to definitely do it. I'll be waitin to see those action shots Mark

I see gals , not see gulls

Went out of Golden Hills Park this morning at about 8 Am. Mick joined me for a shakedown run and hope for some Browns in close. Well first off, we were up against some skim ice that was all over the lake. Ice breakin our way west we found a couple of spots that was open water and trolled in circles, like in a pond. then went along shore further west to Keg creek. Nice colored water, but cold 34 degrees up to 36 is all we could find anywhere. Past Keg creek to about 2.5 miles from Olcott and the wind blew out of the northeast and ruined the rest of hopes for warmer water. Highlight of the day....Mick hollers WHOA, WHOA WHOA....and lunges for a rod springing wildly off the back of the boat with a long line. Awe shucks, he forgot he wasn't ice fishin anymore and managed to hook a monster ice sheet . Well at least we could fillet it and put in our cocktails later. Hope the wind stops or blows outta west southwest or this may be a long cold spell for the near shore waters No hits no runs no errors, at best we found out the boat and it's equipment are working as normal. Mark

It caught me and I won the fight..wanna hear about the fight?....Hey,... what kinda fish is that anyway and wudjakechiton, huh......well that there's a dorkfish and I got him on a corndawg. Now that's I might of got in trouble on some other site fer givin out that much, but here....never happen....I'm not even considered a window licker on here if I just come on to snoop around and git free info on the hot bite, then leave without sayin nutin at all.....it's a big lake out there....and I can't remember the GPS numbers that good anyway...but I'll try and point to the direction where abouts I was and how long it took fer me to git there at the rate of velocity of my conveyance. sort of a time/space continum formula and E=MC2 (thrust of prop X RPM) - (resistence of H2o at ambient temperature X cross current angle X flow rate) + (wind speed / by angle of deflection) - Degree of magnetic inclination vs true course......In other words I give my best SWAG estimate of when where and how the dorkfish got on the corndawg. SWAG= scientific wild a$$ guess. There ya go....

CC, I probably would of been speechless....cut the last fillet in five sorta even pieces and quietly handed each their share...You guys really do have to have the skin of a rhino sometimes playing PR man. If I was a captain with that going on, I'd be at the Black North spending all my profit on their bar stock. Which probably wouldn't be enough to kill the pain or even get a buzz Mark

Stainless should not react with aluminum, but plain steel bolts will, I know from experience on the big truck with the aluminum wheels and the steel lugs. Road salt adds that extra chemical to really make the reaction cook.

1 3/16 oz. for the attractor, actually the spoon is a casting model. They make a thin doctor as well for trolling like a flutter spoon Mark

Oh ok..., thought I was gonna get dupped now

FREE FISHING CHIP!...FREE? which one was that?....not the nav chip?

ahhh, don't worry about the caps thing...I've done that when someone (not me) starts the vacuum cleaner, and I can't hear myself type. Mark

I don't use them either Stan, except when fishing familiar bite (fresh herring strips) then my hands smell fishy too . Put the strips in a bait head holder..throw it on behind a flasher/ spin doctor/ whatever and haven't caught nearly as many salmon as a plain old spoon or plastic fly wid nuttin...go figure Mark

For steelies I have used a big Doctor spoon in silver above an NK28 of green or blue hues, or above another Doctor spoon in chartreuse five of diamonds. Have had them strike the big silver Doctor often on the top. Doctor In Firetiger One of the best spoons for a wide speed range. If you are unsure of what speed to troll, these are the best all round spoons for speed experimentation. Wide sweeping action, lots of flash. I used them casting for Northern pike for years and decided to try one for an attractor on a mupp rig and discovered a new secret weapon for Lake "O"...Well not so secret now...TRY it...you'll LIKE it Mark