chowder

Something to remember is that the longer the fishing rod the more leverage you give to the fish and the harder it is to weave the rod thru other rigs that might get enmeshed with it. A 7' rod will work fine even with mag size dipsy divers and so will a 10' rod. The important part of a wire diver combo is that entire setup has enough flex,elasticity, and overall give to accommodate the savage hit and instantaneous shock associated with a diver strike without allowing the fish to either gain slack line and shake the hooks or tear them out. You need a rod/reel/drag combo that will allow you to hook up,fight and finally control and lift that diver fish into the net's range. Needless to say some trial and error with your own specific equipment and boat situation will ultimately produce a happy outcome- just keep the whole package in mind.-Andy

Very sad tale! It's amazing to watch the large risks taken by people every day this time of year for sure. On Sunday we were perch fishing on Port Bay and watched a little light weight flat bottom almost capsize cuz it had 3 big dudes in it w/ about 3" of freeboard. Nobody in the boat had a PFD and about every 20 minutes you could see somebody baling out the boat! -Andy

Have a great Birthday Pete! -Andy

More or less tagged myself out of Bow Season Sat am so made arrangements with Chris (Traveling Man) to go up to Port Bay on Sunday to pick up my little boat at Hank's (L&M Marine Repair) on Sunday to do some perch fishing. Had a beautiful fall day perch fishing on the bay yesterday and wound up with a nice pile of perch too! Thanks to Coup and Hank for the pointers and an extra round of thanks to Hank for a really nice job getting my little boat set up with a 2cd battery, switch,rigger plugs and removable bilge pump for winter fishing on the FLX. Special thanks also go out to John Mann at Sodus Bay Canvas for a truly awesome job putting together a full height enclosure and covers for the boat. -Andy

I agree w/ Glen. I much prefer my Talora roller rods over my old Okuma roller rods but on the FLX the Talora rollers are kind of overkill so I run my fast action 7' Talora med rigger rods w/ the twili-tips as my wire diver rigs on the FLX unless I'm running 4 riggers- then I run my 9' Eagle Claw med w/ the twili-tips to get a bit more line separation. The 8' Talora roller rod is an awesome tool for handling tackle busting 30+lb Kings but I think these rods are really a bit stiff for FLX lakers & LLs. -Andy

Happy Birthday Clarke! -Andy

Lakers tend to be negative to neutral thru spawn & post spawn.LLs & BTs will have more days when they are active in spawn and typically much more active post spawn. Bows are the most consistently active fall species since repro is not a factor for them now. As the water continues to cool & mix these fish will be increasingly spread throughout the water column. The most consistent fishing will resume in late Dec /Jan but there should be some excellent bite days here & there in Nov, especially for the Atlantics. -Andy

I need a bigger bucket for my bucket list! Looks like a great time-thanx for the post.-Andy

Sounds like a heck of a good time, nice going! -Andy

My condolences to you and your family Jerry. -Andy

Damn, those are some expensive boards! I would hope they would hold up. Not sure how the regular originals are priced now but I paid about $250 for mine 3 years ago. I use them pretty much every time I fish out of my Islander except when things get crowded on the staging Kings. Like all things in life it's the value you get for the money you spend that counts. The Auroralites have been completely issue free boards for both multiple flat lines as well as copper & core. They stay much further ahead and in line with the boat than my Otters which enables me to get flat lines redeployed quickly and when a fish hits a junk line the hook up is solid and the release is crisp and they stow very easy folded up. -Andy

2 does down w/ one arrow and the same Slick Trick broadhead (no, it was not a twofer). One Fri pm, then put on a heck of a goose hunt this morning and took another doe this afternoon. Jeez I'm whipped-it's tough getting old! -Andy

There's nothing wrong with Otters, I have a pair I use for winter fishing in my 165 Alumacraft but if you want a really awesome pair of boards check out the Auroralites regular size boards. For pulling copper ,core and multiple flat lines for browns these boards cannot be beat. They make the Otters look sick in comparison. http://www.auroralitestackle.com/planerboards.html Make sure you go down the page and look at the "regular original size boards".

Good to hear Captain Fletcher! I love my 16 but I did open my squeaky wallet and put some canvas on her this fall. Are you gonna trailer her around to Treman/TFalls or Watkins or is there some way to get her in from your place after the deep freeze sets in? -Andy

Scott, what are you cooking up in the 16' department? Looking forward to seeing you out with the rest of the 'ice patrol'. -Andy

Congrats to all! Surely an amazing day on the water. -Andy

7 does & a 4pt Sat am - skipped sat pm. Sun am 4 does. Sat pm 7 does and the 4 pt again.I did not carry- training junior. Had him draw & back off on 2 does at 35 yds to get the wobblies out of him. I want his first arrow at a deer to be 15-20 tops and that did not come together but he is totally pumped! -Andy

I'm up for a Hudson striper run next season & so is my boat. -Andy

You can run spoons just fine w/ a high quality swivel. When you retrieve to change out just make sure you apply some decent pressure to the line by running it thru your pressed together index and thumb starting as soon as you start sensing that there isn't much resistance on the line. If you get a kink then just untwist the kink right then and smooth out the kinked section by rubbing the copper section with the kink on something curved (I like to use a Bert's rod holder). If you follow this procedure and run your copper out on the big boards you should have relatively few problems with running copper. -Andy

I set up my son's arrows with the red Nockturnals. Make sure you get the correct ones for your arrows!

Most 2 1/2 yr old bucks that live within active ag settings will be thin to med diameter 8s w/ spreads of 12-16+ and they will have very significant body size & muscling. If this is a farm land buck I would bet it's only 2 1/2. -Andy

Kind of a slow day for us up in Earlville yesterday . Dropped a few Mallards and a few Wood Ducks on what was unfortunately a very warm morning.My buddy's 1st season retriever was pretty hilarious to watch getting her first duck so that was cool. Probably had a 1,000 geese or better all over us, so we're hoping for a strong 2cd season on them starting in a couple weeks! I saw 'Irish Knot's' pickup pulling out of D&D's while we were having breakfast. Do you live around here? -Andy

Now I'm wishing my little boat wasn't up getting her winter canvas job done. I could use a few buck$ towards the AP!

Thank you for delving into such detail in your report on the ichthyology field work & good for you for getting involved. Sturgeon sure are pretty cool! -Andy