chowder

The changing ecology of the lake w/ respect to declines in smelt and the growth of the alewife population must have something to do w/ changes in the way browns do business on Cayuga. Maybe someone can expand on this? All I know is that Cayuga Browns during the summer seem to flaunt indifference to the conventional wisdom used to locate & take these fish on other bodies of water(i.e. where the thermocline hits structured bottom). In the spring on Cayuga it also seems to depend on some elusive variables whether you get into some good Browns or not (Ontario is much more predictable). I like to run super stealthy long flat lines off planers and slide divers and long leads off shallow riggers w/ a mix of spoons / stix. After the early fishing (April/May) I get most of mine by running high stuff over deep water. It will help if you follow Rusty Rat's Islander around! Best time to get these guys is in the winter, but again weather/ temps are a fickle mistress. Also shore fishing in the S.end in the spring can be as productive or more productive than any other technique b/c no boat=maximum stealth, plus you fish the really shallow water they are in early, I like week days for the planer bite b/c after a few boats have trolled the shallows the fish get spooked. Greg, the planer rods I use for flatlining are inexpensive Eagle Claw Starfire 8' Light Action (rated for 6-8lb), but I run 10lb. You can get them for $29 on the net. I like the Daiwa 17 or 27 Accudepth reels. Check your line after landing a fish for nicks by pulling aggresively on the bait and up about 16"- don't just feel the line, especially if you pop a pickerel or god forbid a pike - these guys like stick baits too!

Skipper 19, I hear you! I drove truck for 3 years when I was younger and I got lot more deer w/ my 9676 International than I got w/ my 870 Remington.

Hey Jerry, do you fish Cayuga or any of the other FLX? Check out the Finger Lakes Forum! Welcome aboard!

Well the last fall trip has come and gone. Time to hunt. I really enjoyed meeting more of you this summer & hope to see a few of you out on the water after X-Mass. During the winter I will be out in my white 16.5 Alumacraft/ grey bimini.

I am getting used to a new Matthews Drenalin that I won in April. My old Alpine needed 3 pins to get to 30 yds, this thing has one pin to 30 yds! I take a bunch of does w/ the bow and good buck every other year or so. Although I prefer bow season, I do use a rifle and a muzzle loader to pare down doe numbers on our cropland.

The picture is worth a thousand words- good for you!

I'm w/ Janz, heading up just seems easier.

Yeah man!

Had a good time out on that nice Lund Ken, and thank you for letting me borrow the cooler. The kids started calling that laker in the pic the "zombie fish", so it didn't break my heart when my neighbor wanted it for a "boil up". I grilled a couple others and they were awesome! Great to meet you and looking forward to some more adventures on the FLX. -Andy

My kids thought that was "AWESOME!!"

Super nice browns! Welcome to the site!

Looks a little less congested than the S.R. was yesterday. Really nice Scott! Thanks for the story in pictures.

Greg, the small inline boards clip right to the backing on copper and lead core setups. You do not need a mast w/ planer reels and big boards to get into this kind of fishing. You just spool out the lure behind the boat, when you get to the backing you clip on the board and spool it out to the side-done. I leave the drag set light to alert me to a fish. A 200' and a 300' copper would target fish at roughly 40-45' and 60-65' down respectively. When reeling in an inline you just remove the board when you get to it and then continue fighting the fish. To run more than 300' copper it's best to tool up w/ the big board setup but that can wait, it's a much bigger investment in $ and time. Kings can dive an inline and make things difficult but on the FLX you will not have much trouble and you get a great hook set from the inlines as well. In the spring I have caught a lot of browns using a flat line w/ 100+ leads running stix behind these type boards.

Stan, I have had poor results w/ the shallower fish out here, unless I am jigging- and I am not sure what that means. Trolling for them, I run deeper even if I am not marking much bait.

I have a 12R in my little Islander. I do not have power steering.The Simrad helm definitely makes steering stiffer than the original setup.

Stan, prespawn/spawn lakers can be touchy for sure. Although I am not a expert on these fish I do think that usually you can find some percentage of them, usually at a certain depth range, that are more actively feeding than others. The other thing I think that I see is that even these "active" fish do not seem to feed for a long time. Pre to spawn these fish seem to congregate and disperse in areas w/ in much shorter periods of time than they would have May-August. "See um on the sonar but can't get em" is a common refrain on the radio and at the launch the last few weeks. Copper w/ flasher/fly, wire slide diver w/ much longer than normal dipsy leads, and a 2 color SWR w/ a diving type crank bait have all kept us on fish at one point or another.

Hank is "The Man" for quality work. As a business owner who deals with a lot of repair issues I know a good value when I see one.

I have a 12R in my Islander which is set up w/ a dual battery switch so the "electronics" battery stays charged along w/ the "main" & I have had no problems w/ electrical draw after adding the AP. Good Luck w/ the install!

Just noticed in the directions they send w/ the flasher to attach the fly leader to the middle hole on the flasher. I've been using them w/ the leader attached to the fin hole, the way they come from the company, what gives?

Way to go Greg-it looks like you got this thing down!

Blockhead, 10-4 on the "sketchy drive" program,from what I've seen around here it's the running deer that causes people (who can't hit it anyway) to crank off numerous shots without proper regard to what's behind it. I also agree wholeheartedly w/ you on the rich vs. blue collar thing. The best and safest land to hunt around me has long been locked up by persons w/ means who live outside the area. Although it is possible for the average local person to become a wise, seasoned hunter it is far more likely for them to become a casual participant in "sketchy drive" hunting (which is safer w/ a standard slug gun than a high powered rifle).

Chris, see pm

The central issue around rifles that creates problems for me as a farmland owner and a hunter revolves around the fact that there are not a lot of people hunting around me who have the time to be truly experienced in the pursuit of game animals. Most of the trespassing and poor judgment shots that affect me and my family are the result of persons who are solely focused on "getting a deer" and because they typically have one long weekend per year to do this and have spent a considerable amount of $ (especially if they are from out of state,N.J. plates out number NY plates around me 2:1) I find that judgement suffers in many ways. Up until our MU went rifle, there were just not a lot of long range firearms being used. It was relatively rare to encounter an hunter w/ an inline muzzle loader or a guy w/ a rifled shotgun, if you did they were generally quite dedicated and trustworthy. When our MU went rifle you would see guys picking up a .270, ready mounted with a dawn to dusk Bushnell, at Walmart like they were grabbing a T-Shirt off the rack. I can tell you that this does represent a new challenge for many of us who live, work, and hunt in rural areas which have recently introduced rifles to the MU. I am speaking as someone who has heard "ZING" far too closely for comfort.

As a farmer who feels compelled to manage doe numbers on cropland w/ lower hunting pressure every year, I like using a rifle. As an archer who would rather bow hunt than almost anything else, I can't understand why you guy's can't get close enough to kill your deer with a slug gun. The point I'm trying to make is that there are a number of different ways to look at this picture.Bottom line; I will admit that I am not convinced that there are enough experienced individuals out there anymore to allow anybody who has "passed" a hunter safety course to handle a high powered rifle, just because it's allowed in a particular unit.

Yeah, my buddy had to put you on hold there when you were coming in good b/c Elliot & I were both into fish and a boat was coming right at us in that thick fog, after that I could see you but couldn't get you on the radio. After we dealt w/ the double we turned out to avoid a bunch of boats coming down from the North and we just kept going across over to the plant, which was a bad move -very little on the screen over there & the high lines kept picking up little skippers as soon as we got em out. Spent the rest of the day pretty much around where we started. The bite picked right up late and I was surprised that all the trollers were gone, duh, later I realized the weigh in was at 4:00 not 5:00, oh well... I'm gonna try to get back over to Cayuga one more time but if I don't see you, catch up w/ me here & we will hit Skinny in the 16' when things get going over there.