Pete Collin

Love that shot of the fat brown in the net!

Seanymph, I actually sympathize with the folks at the pier. They want to fish Sandy, but NYS didn't provide the shorebound any access. I'm polite and friendly to them, launch and take out efficiently, and the process goes smoothly without too many ruffled feathers. Thanks for the planer board tips. Pete

I was out at first light and did well for the first 2 hours. Many lost fish and those that I did land were hooked on the hind hook on the tip of their lips. Hooked at least 3 chinooks, only landed one that was 32 inches. I find that walleye boards don't do well with big fish. They pop loose, slide down the line, and knock the fish off or make it very hard to reel them in with the added drag. Will probably fabricate some boards and a mast in my shop eventually to be rid of that problem. The lead core down the chute did pretty well. That was my lightest rod and it was exciting playing the fish on it. Used sticks on the toplines and a Mooslook taped orange on the lead core. Action got very slow by the time it started raining. Little flurry at the creek mouth as I was pondering coming in for the day. Got a laker and missed another nice fish on the lead core before i quit at noon. Ended with 9 netted, another half dozen missed, mixture of browns up to 27 inches, small coho, one 28 inch laker, and the 32 inch chinook. Really enjoyable day on the water. Not even that crowded despite the derby. I was the 3rd or fourth boat to lauch, didn't have to wait at all. Pete Collin

If that is a coho, that is one of the biggest I ever got! May have to go in the woods to examine the carcass. Here's a closeup of the tail. I read somewhere that a coho's tail will collapse when gripped, while a chinook has a more defined "wrist" that makes it easier to grab. This tail looks like it will collapse. Anyone with a verdict?

Mortigan, you did a fine job with the camera! Thanks again!

Jeremy, did your fish show up on the sonar? I didn't spend a great deal of time searching. It was so calm that jigging would have been perfect had I found them. You were probably further east than I was.

One of these days I want to get a nice atlantic like that!

Let me get this straight for the last time.....black mouth means which?

Hello All, I finally got into a real springtime LO brown trout jamboree like I have read about in these boards for years! I arrived at the launch at sunrise, and a good sized gang had already launched by then. It looked like most guys were circling the creek mouth. Being one to avoid crowds, I trolled eastward in 8-10 foot water. Good color to the water - never less than 3 feet of visibility or so. The bite was steady on stickbaits and never let up. Was getting juvenile salmon mixed with the browns. Lots of little ones, but got a couple gooe 5-6 pounders that fought well. Hooked a nice 8-10 pound chrome fish that jumped and jumped, fought real hard. it came off just behind the boat, so i couldn't see if it was a silvery brown or a salmon. Couldn't get over how placid the whole lake was. I have fished many sunny calm days where you get an hour of action at first light then nothing. I went several miles down the coast, catching fish along the way, then turned around and trolled right across the creek mouth, discovering why there is such a congregation there. Every pass across the creek mouth yeilded at least one bite. It wasn't too hard avoiding everyone's planer boards, just had to pay attention. The floating logs were a little tougher to avoid. Well they bit all day, and were still biting when I quit at 1:00. I went out to 60-80 foot depths to try and find the lakers that somebody else mentioned recently, but could find none. Got to see and hear loons, mergansers, oldsquaw ducks and other waterfowl while out there. When I came back in, I made one more good pass along the shore and got a big whallop. Took me a while to get him in on light tackle, a nice shiny 31 inch chinook salmon. I've caught many twice as heavy, but it was a thrill, having caught only a few chinooks out of my own boat. Different animal than what you get in the streams in the fall. It seemed like everybody else was catching fish out there. What a great day after a long winter. I finished with 16 landed and several drop-offs. Even had a small steelhead in the mix. Will have to tie me over for a couple of weeks. Pete Collin www.pcforestry.com

There is a Pat McManus short story called "The Claw of the Sea Puss". In it, it mentions bananas being bad luck. I wonder if that is what started the superstition? At the time I first read the story (some 30 years ago), that was the first I heard of it.

Nice fish Mike.

Nice job releasing him!

A friend of mine foul-hooked a walleye that was blue in the Oak Orchard years ago while steelhead fishing. It was so blue that I called the DEC and spoke to a fisheries guy. He flatly said that all the blue pike are dead, and it was just a variation in color. He was so uninterested in my question that he must have gotten calls like that all the time. Years later, I was up in Canada and caught many walleye that were just as blue as a windex bottle. i should look for the old print pictures, since you may find them interesting.

Mike, That would be great if we could get out this fall. I'll bring the bananas!

Hello All, My game plan was to slow-troll for lake trout until I found a jiggable population of them, then go after them with the light tackle. Well it took me a while to find their depth, and I burbled my way downwind in 90 FOW until I reached the Devil's Nose. It's funny how the Nose is such a slight bump, it wouldn't deserve a name in the Southern Tier where I live. But on the vast featureless LO shoreline, it looks like the Matterhorn out there, visible for miles. It was right in front of it that I got a massive strike. Lakers have a signature style of battle, with big, slow headshakes and boring down to the bottom. Well my Seth Green rod had a big deep bend in it, but the tip was quivering fast. By the time I got the rod in my hands, I saw a big crashing leap out behind the boat, cartwheeling and swapping ends. i couldn't even finish saying "HOLY S-" before it broke me off. Reel in, and discovered that the line didn't break. The actual spoon broke. My leader was still firmly tied onto the brazed O-ring of a Sutton spoon. That thin metal can't withstand the twist and tug of a 10 pound steelhead! So lakers like a slow troll, steelhead like it fast. When they hit while you are doing it "wrong", that means they are hungry! I backed up and made another pass. Next fish was another steelie. i played it so carefully, lightening the drag for the inevitable rips. He gave me more of the dazzling jumps that you go to bed dreaming about. I din't lose him - 27 inches long. Another pass and I got a 4 or 5 pound steelhead and laker, both which shook off at the boat. (the steelhead did so with another stylish jump) After that, the bite died and I couldn't get any of the many bottom blips to strike. Sunday I went back and trolled the same stretch. 3 lakers and one steelhead, all in the first hour and a half. Then the bite died and no amount of goading could get them to play. Seth Green rigs aren't ideal for a fish that wants to run around, jump and charge the boat. But when you set out for lakers and get screeched instead, that's a nice suprise! Pete Collin www.pcforestry.com