Mike M

Gonna be a slow start for good Salmon fishing between Niagara river and Wilson IMHO. At least in early May when Spring LOC is going on. All that ice on Erie will probably make ice boom removal very late this year. Water temps on L.Ontario will likely be colder then what were used to in early to mid May. That means most of bait and Salmon will stay west of the river until all ice is gone and water temp gets above 40. Could be great fishing in Canadian waters west of the river, maybe quite late into May. Welland canal area is 7 miles west of river. I've seen the temp go up 8 degrees on a boat ride from the river to the Welland. Port Dalussi and Jordan Harbor are alittle further west. Canadian waters are where I'm expecting we'll start our Salmon fishing this spring. Of course I could be wrong. Mother Nature is the real boss. 

Very interested in buying your meat rigs. Please contact Mike Mongan at 716.523.4998 or [email protected] . Thanks

I have 3 Scotty 2116s have had zero problems for 12 years. Previous I had Cannon mag 10s for almost 20 years. Used to run 4 Cannons on my old boat but I owned 5 cause one of the Cannons was always in shop for repair. Sold old boat with 5 Cannon riggers. Put new Scottys on"new to me boat" 12 years ago. No problems no regrets.

I Tried Bloodrun sea flee line. It did not work Trolling L. Ontario off Niagara county. We used bump up to 30lb at mid summer,now we run 40lb. The 40lb does the job doesn't seem to hurt our catch. Big game preferred.

Beautiful day to be on lake today but the floating grass made near impossible to fish this area. We were trying to work 80-150 fow. Horrible. Trolled out to 300 fow still bad. No way a fish was gonna hit our baits with grass on cables lines etc. Had one good one on diver out 180 with FF dropped  after a 500 ft run. Gave it a couple hours and called it quits. Do you think the grass is still out in Steelhead country, say beyond 400 fow ??? 

Is that the average wieght for the winning box ?? My guess was it would be 7 to 8 lbs. Where can I look at the results of todays shootout?? Been all over internet found nothing. Thanks

20 minutes ago, Gill-T said:

A friend went out today off Buffalo near red can and caught a bunch. 

Whats the Red can ? do you mean the Seneca shoal buoy? 

what

Yeah GI means Grand Island. Were gonna hit it again  on Monday probably goin to Catt NW to Center Rd. area 65-75 fow. History says they should be there. We'll see.

We drove to Barcelona last Sunday walleye fishing was great. Had 24 in boat by 10:30am. Its just such a long drive from GI. We did clean our fish at Hanover. Busy at the cleaning station some  were coming from Barcelona others from Catt creek area. Question is when will the Eyes really start turning on in  Catt creek area ?? Or have they already and no one talking. Usually Center Rd area in 65-75 fow is great this time of year. We're just out for fun and trying to fill the freezer.  Not in any derby.

Once you locate walleye your time is better spent trolling IMHO.  Once lake temp hits about 65 alot  of eyes start suspending in 40-65 fow.  You'll see them on your graph 20-50 ft down. A 4,5 or 7 color leadcore with a stickbait is a winning combination. Troll at 2.0-2.4 and you'll get em. Good luck.

Well I've had some issues with Fish Hawk over past few years. I've lost count of how many probes they've given me all covered under warranty. I know for a fact I'm on probe #3 in a 1 year period. I know someone else thats had a similar experience. His thery is they out source the manufacture of Probes to some 3rd world country. During the Pandemic there were quality issues with the manufacture of these probes. They know this and are being very generous in giving people new probes. On the positive side the FH is a great tool and I love it when it works they way it should. They really stand behind there product. Warranty and customer and are great. My latest new probe worked great this past Sunday. Hopefully thats the end of this nightmare.

I use the 16 lb torpedo rigger wieghts. Traxtech makes a nice cradle/holder for these wieghts . It  slides right into there track. I've got 3 of them on my boat. They have been great for 10 years +.

Another great report Gill-T ! You finding them east or west of 18 mile? How many FOW?  I'm still a month away from 1st trip. Jealous.

Cograts on a great 1st day !! Looking at your pics kinda looks like your boat is an I/O with a dog house in back floor area. Mine is too. Now that water is in your block (not antifreeze) are you worried about below freezing temps that will still probably see in days ahead ? Or maybe you have heated storage or do you drain your block ? I'm also assuming your a trailer guy like me. Just curious

Great post! Worry about you being solo this time of year but i take my hat off to ya!

There is no dropping of lead weights on lake bottom in (Russell G. Salmon Candy) pump handle method. I did find it on Youtube. He explains it in detail.

I probably watch to many Youtube videos this time of year waiting for spring salmon fishing to start. Salmon Candy (Russell G.) talks a lot about Pump Handles for Trout & Salmon. Looks like he's running Heavy lead balls attached to main line using OR-16 clip. Lead balls could be 10oz on a dropper line of about 12 inches. His bait is usually a Flasher Fly looks like 20-30 feet behind the OR-16. Sends it back 90-110 feet and attaches to Inline Board. If anyone could give me anymore info on this technique I'd appreciate it. Thanks, Mike

Yes its a 3 blade. Also a mistake in previous post motor is 4.3 liter. Good luck.

Bad Habit- Went to visit my 225 Outrage in barn today. Prop on it is 14.5 x 19P. Bought from Pier Prop in Tonawanda NY 716-875-1777 back in 2013.  Been very happy with hole shot and WOT is in that 4400-4800rpm range. I believe its a Michigan Wheel prop and its aluminun. Like i said i don't like SS props had bad experience years ago. Hope this helps.

I also have a 97 Pen Yan 225 Outrage. Bought it from a guy in Sanduski back in 2012. He had the wrong prop on it and didn't know it. I was suspicious it was wrong prop even though i'm no expert. It was a S.S. prop with wrong pitch. I hate SS props. Anyhow we have a prop shop in Buffalo area called Pier Prop. They let me try a couple aluminun props they thought would improve performance. They were right. My boat is in storage right now at friends barn. I'll get over there and get prop specs and get back to you. BTW someone said WOT should be 4400 to 4800 rpm for that 4.6 motor. Without looking it up that does sound right.

What mapping chip do i buy if i want to upgrade my chart plotting on my HDS carbon unit. Right now I'm running on what came with uniit when I bought couple years ago. I fish western Lake Ontario and Eastern Lake Erie. Want more detail. Thanks

A 2nd Shout Out to Fish Hawk Electronics !

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Gator- I had the same experience this spring with Fish Hawk. My prope was 5 months beyond the 2 year warranty. Would show speed but no down temp. Called them on a Monday morning had new prope in my mail box on Thursday. Did't even have to pay shipping. They are a very customer friendly company. Thankyou Fish Hawk !!

Agree with almost all said here. Bottom line is direction  of the troll is hugh.  Don't be in such a hurry to turn the boat around cause you had a flurry of action, It could be good for a couple of miles. Trolling direction good be the key to that good action. We try and use the Trails feature on my Lowrence carbon.  We're saving less waypoints and more trails to stay on fish. Good Luck.

We troll with em probably 90% of the time. Boat and speed control just seem better. Auto pilot works better and we seem to catch alot of fish going with em. If its getting rough but were catching fish we won't even attempt to troll back to a good waypoint. We'll yank all rods and run back against the waves set down and troll back thru productive area with waves at our back.

I have a Lowrence Carbon FF/GPS mounted under my Penn Yan Outrage hard top. No problem with GPS signal strength.