zach

she knows i would marry her tomarrow but she says why rush it. as long as she remains committed i don't push it too much. she likeS going fishing for events like just driving to a lake that isn't near home, she loves the time spent together, she loves some of the talks we get into when the fish just aren't jumping on the hooks, she loves the vineyards and all the grapevines on the drive down. for me, all i think about is fishing, fishing, fishing, muskies, muskies, muskies and she goes for the whole experience and fish are just a bonus. she reminds me to do that when i get all frustrated between hits and g*d forbid i see someone else catch a musky, i get all goofy. i start b*tching and complaining, saying what are they doing differant than me? how come i'm not getting any??? and she reminds me to just enjoy the lake and the company of each other and enjoy just even being out. its funny b/c she has only caught muskies in her limited fishing career. if you asked her how to catch a bass, walleye, crappie or anything else she would be lost but when we go out she wants certain lures in certains colors out. i narrow down the colors and lures some and let her pick and choose 3 of them to run. i run one of my choices but the rest are here choices. thinking 95% south basin chautauqua to take her. her and i do well down there and have done some good #'s in that south end. i guarantee you guys $5.00 she picks a white lightning color tuff shad to run first .

she won't be disappointed if we skip waneta and head to the big lake. she loves hearing that bell tower ring.

hey sweet-lips, i dont know where lexie and i are going but we are leaving thursday night and are gonna be out until saturday. i know she likes chautauqua better than waneta so i will leave it up to her on where we go. her and i need some time together b/c with a 2 year old it is very limited. i am just her driver and net man when we go out and i love it that way. i learned my lesson last year. after she got 3 fish in a couple hours i took the next hit and it ended up being a 44" and all of hers were 31's and 32's. i got to here about that all year. she sits there and reads and does work until a clicker goes off, shes not much of a caster as of yet. so if i get down to waneta i will call u sweet-lips. breakfeast sounds awesome if we are down there, thanks! perch colored bucktail. i use the best materials i can get my hands on. i think marabou has no equal in the water, 3/0 up front and heat shrunk 5/0 in back, every series of wraps is glued in and the final wraps are epoxied (these don't come apart!) and i try hard to make the smallest "head" as i can w/ the final wraps. newer holographic blades look neat imo, been tying bucktails since i was 14 years old.

thanks guys, keep them coming- joe- i like black and orange tails also. nitro- seems almost like a emerald shiner pattern u are talking about. what do you guys think about a 4 oz bucktail just for trolling?

inside edge was where i got 2 blow-ups on topwater in 10 casts last time out. right where the lily pads end and the weeds begin in like 4fow. bob- i have a starter solinoid go on me last year and it took 15 minutes to change if that is your problem.

nitro- look shallow as that is where i saw most of my fish last time in addition to the normal spots. good luck and i have done well at night this year. i throw topwaters at dusk and cranks after dark imo. lex and i are going thursday night and all day friday to test my new cranks, she needs to get out. she hasn't gone since the opening day tourney and needs to hear that reel rip zzz, zzzz, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, fish-on baby!!! wish her luck b/c she needs a fish as bad as nitro does . nitro- i think u need one of my bucktails, i did this one for solgrande as a sucker color- this is a bluegill color crank i gave him to try out also- its looks like a waneta killer for sure.

if you guys could please take a quick moment to let me know what is your favorite crankbait and bucktail colors. the only reason i am asking is b/c i am making 150 musky crankbaits and some musky/pike bucktails and want to make sure i have some good colors. for me, my favorites are- crankbait- perch/ black perch color. bucktails- gold blades and brown & yellow tail. thanks for your time. zachary baker.

those bogagrips and vertical holds aren't the best but nice one. you hooked yet? i have to people that the easiest way to get a musky sometimes is to go bass fishing. pretty neat huh? was that the north end? nitro asked if you guys could be his fishing guide next time down you go to waneta. he is very jealous of your fish.

i am thinking pressure and the fish are starting to get back into the weeds with the temp drop. every year this happens to me, real hot june/ july and then maybe one or two rips a trip after that for august.

bring a screw driver and some glue with you on the boat for those lips on those hi-fins bob. have heard they loosen up at the worst times.

that was a quick trip larry.

what did i fly by you? i will be happy to explain. the terminators were mostly trolled behind in-line weights out west of here. flat lined they will be silimar to a wiley. maybe around 6 feet down w/ 60 feet of line at 5mph? they should handle speeds well and are good trollers. one those terminators he left the belly screw eyes long and keep them that way if you are interested in keeping them for collectables. this keeps hook rash to a minimum. compared to a 90% of other musky lures, terminators are way better. is that clear enough? don't be afraid to put a chunk of lead in front of those skinny trolling lures also. alot of times i put a 4oz weight off the swivel on my long trolling leader. the fish don't mind and you can run shorter lines and follow weedlines and breaks way better. have always thought about painting those in-line weights but have yet to do it. last weekend at chaut the only 2 hits i had were on 4oz and 40 back on 7" jointed slashers.

terminators came out about the same time as the wiley's in the 1980's and were hot on st clair. imo rocketman copied the wileys but shhhhh. the terminators are made from silver birch and it is heavier than cedar. about 1 in 5 have that wandering action that comes standard on wileys, lokes, slashers etc. very nice paint jobs and tough lures but alot of people say his wood is on the heavy side. since they aren't made anymore they go for big $ as a collectors item like lokes. the terminators have more of a snakey motion instead of a hard thump imo. i personally wouldn't use it, but then again i have been using mahogany 8" tuff shads this year which i should have saved, but oh well. they are nice lures but they have some quarks like any other lure. i most likely am the only person around other than maybe larry that has any experience w/ them. now if you were getting some bk lure les chubbies (not made anymore, very nasty plug) i would fish it everyday. anyone got a chubbie for sale anywhere? nope, everyone is fishing those until they self destruct. chubbies were the nastiest baits. did i help at all? now if we compare that to a baker "lil sweetie". lmao. bob- i second you on the plows.

pickles aren't picky, pike aren't to picky, muskies are so picky it isn't even funny so not every esox will hit the first thing that goes by them. it could be the right bait but wrong color or whatever for muskies. pickerel could go extinct today and i wouldn't care.

stockin' em deep and selling em cheap.

do you want to buy any of mine? not really using them and have some good colors if you want some of them? i think i have 10 of them and 6 rigs. baby musky both sizes, green goblin both sizes and pumpkin both sizes are up for sale if you want them, most are already rigged. have twisted heads, casting heads, and the 2 and 3oz vertical heads. i will sell you mine cheaper than gander would. doesn't look like i am gonna do much fishing this month and just work on lures and fixing up the boat.

larry jones mentioned one time that if you could get a original tuff shad in a round lip it out performs a coffin lip 3:1. got me thinking. bob- i foiled a newman trolling plug just to have my son drop it on the floor breaking the lip off. it must have been plexiglass b/c lexan wont break like that. lappers also have very brittle lips. lexan all the way here. i also talked to dale wiley who was also trolling the south end saturday and i asked him about why such a light clear coat on his lures. he explained the thicker the clear coat the more action you take away from the plug. i plan on doing an e-tex clear coat on these and it could be made tougher w/ devcon but etex is 1/2 the weight. i always thought the tuffs were good but over weighted and maybe this along w/ a round lip will get them bouncing and throbbing. just built a new turner just for the etex. i am thinking waneta and south basin chautauqua would be the best areas for these lures. bob- think jim reynolds would let me come over and let him watch work alittle? i am sure there are tons of tricks to learn.

good luck old man- this year i switched from power pro to suffix braid and am really happy with the stuff. fished all day saturday in the south end trolling and it was really slow for me- only 2 hits and lost one of them- only one 32" for 11 hours trolling. boring- hot, lots of floating weeds and not much action, i knew i hated fishing in august. didn't see any other fish caught either but tons and tons of bait just south of the 86 bridge. now i want to make lures for the rest of august. anyone need any tuff shad copies? will have around 100 of them and plan on trying this whole lure thing out. thats right 100, spent all day sunday cutting blanks and cut 98 in one day. lots of sanding, sealing and priming to come. should have some ready in about 2-3 weeks. i want to give one away to each local musky fisherman to tell me what is good and what needs improvement. pm me if interested and let me know your favorite color. solgrande and muskylips- i know what color i will do for you guys already. nitro and gustofson let me know. old man- want to cast a crank? i would be happy to send you one also.

anyone going this weekend? gonna do my best to get there saturday am. south end is my destination.

thanks larry, have a long way to go before you and i could ever compare #'s though , you have helped me become a better fisherman and you are the reason i give info so freely.

i am no master but by far the hottest plug i own is the 7" jointed foiled perch w/o rattles. second is the custom painted sucker that if you ask him he will do for you. between those two baits i have had 22 have hit the net this year for me from semi-local pressured waters out of 9 times out so far this year. i know some of you guys in pa like bigger baits so he is also sending some 10" rockets to try that aren't on his website yet. I have never been a fan of rattles or firetiger patterns but that is just me. it has probally cost me some fish at times but i like non- ratteling lures in semi-clear to clear water. if you have an idea for a paint job feel free to ask him, he will do almost anything for you which is awesome since most companies don't give a darn about your ideas, they just want to mass market lures instead of making each plug one by one for their customers. is jointed is better than straight? depends on the day. i think you could take that foiled perch and sucker pattern to almost any lake that muskies swim and do well. just remember i am no master and this is only what has worked for me. you might find the oppisite is true in your own tryings. start w/ 1 or 2 and see if they are worth your hard earned money. all i know is i have alot of other $25 baits that have never caught a fish. these rockets do for me. i might have been a little excited in that last post but thats 'cause i was, i am sure most people would be if it was for the first time in their life they got the hook up. i wasn't looking for this and i didn't whore myself to get those lures. he said he needed someone in this area to try his lures and give feedback. since then we have worked out a deal. please don't take my excitement for cockiness since thats not me, i give my info to attempt to shorten the learning curve of musky fishing since i never had anyone really help me in the past, i had lots of trial and error and lots of wasted $ on inferior products. this was before everyone got so free w/ info on the internet, today with some research you can go almost anywhere and do fish, years ago it was toughter imo b/c of very limited info. i just am trying to let people know about the very first musky lure i have been happy with after trying tons of them from all over and i felt that way before all this snowballed into what it is. once again, i am "no master", so please don't refer to me as that. you can call me zach. i compare these to a wiley on steroids that will last. rodney who makes these plugs has had some over 10 years that he still runs and they still hold together just fine. "ray j" aren't you the one who posts on larry's website also? i think so, if you want i will be more than happy to talk to you in person at the next tournament if you want.

that article is funny but thats nothing- i have been doing that for years. i even have an elastic measuring tape that starts at 30". ha, ha, ha... and to think i have got you guys on this long. lol. ever see my fake plastic midget hand i put next to the fish in the water pics? makes them look billy fucillo "HUGE".

waneta has smaller fish no doubt on average. waneta also has fewer fish imo. so if i would guess the average of 10 from each water. waneta somewhere around 34"-35", chaut- 38"-39" but there are always exceptions. only a guess from my experiences on both waters. bty, if anyone (semi-locally) wants to borrow a lure or two this year feel free to contact me and i will let you try any rocket/ hey cisco( coming out w/ a 6" in addition to his 9" ciscoes) you want for the day or a weekend just don't lose 'em. i will also have some of his prototype deepdivers ($80-$90 each, ouch) and a new bait like a super nice tuff shad w/ a round lip. i got so many lures b/c i have to go around to the shops and show them and try to get them to carry his lures. some are to fish w/ and some are for just for show. everywhere from baits shops in pa to the 1000 island baitshop on the larry i have to stop by and try to promote his baits and get them to carry them. i am also most likely (98.497% sure) doing the winter shows (4) in this area for muskymaniacs. after talking about his rockets on muskiefirst, mike king who makes the slashers says he has a so called "better bait" and wants me to compare his new prototypes to the rockets, so thats how i got those free. i guess mike king has a new lure that is alot more like a les chubbie than his thinner slashers. fished waneta last night,just myself and the red lowe boat guy were out there. everything was in shallow for me, 12fow was my deepest hit last night. all trolling and all on the lucky foiled perch muskyrocket that has been so good to me all year (14 now on that one). horrible cell pics so i won't put any more that are even more blurry. all fish at sunset and after. fished 7pm until 1am. the bait has moved around alot from where i was finding them earlier. the water temp is dropping finally and i had 75 degrees water temps last night w/ alot more surface activity (splashing) than i have seen lately.

yes, after all these years of boycotting firetiger i finally jumped on the band wagon w/ a couple of those ugly lures- i just have always thought that firetiger was the most common color thrown in just about any body of water so i always stayed away from it thinking everyone else was throwing it and the fish have already seen it. bob 5.5mph ain't WARP speed imo its everyday summer trolling speed, at that speed they don't have to be hungry imo, they just get turned on by the speed of a lure wizzing past them. i am surprised that depthraider went that fast and tracked okay. i hear all the chrome falls off those baits too in only a few times out also so i have stayed away from them. last time out i got one running over 6mph and it hit the outside rod on a turn. the lure was traveling even faster than 6mph most likely closer to 7mph. good to see you finally sped up and i fully believe there is a time to go fast and also slow. low light i go slower than i do at 10 am. when they aren't feeding is when i go fast and when i feel they are gonna hit and feed i go slower. bob, bob, bob- you are making this too difficult. imo there is no need for leadcore, wire, or riggers at waneta. just choose differant baits for those depths. i can only think of 2 times i would want to run a rigger for muskies. 1 would be in the 1000 islands and the other would be to troll bucktails. i can fully hit bottom w/o any help in any spot in waneta w/ the right lure trolling. there you go bob13 thats some info. just remember it takes a special lure that is "super tuned" to go warp speed. i have some that hold true over 7.2mph. can't wait until i get all my new lures in. i am getting a ton of musky rockets/ hey ciscos soon and even am having some 8" jointed slashers being sent to me for free from mike king. i am getting almost every color and style rocket and hey cisco made and even some custom deep divers that look like bigger perchbaits but should be even better (mr. jones who makes the musky rockets is sending me close to $3,000 in free lures) wow! mike king and rodney jones want them run in NY and both want feed back from me about how they work around here and i have to post my results after giving them some time by the end of the year. cool i think. i am getting the hook up from 2 companies now! but don't think i am trying to be some hot shot b/c that is as far from the truth as possible. i just talk to these people and they have offered this to me and i am rolling with it. talk about pressure to produce fish but the rockets haven't failed me yet with them getting at least 2 fish for me every single time out for me this year w/ two differant 5 fish days on them. i fully believe these rockets are by far the best made plugs. p.s. ever see how lamoka is loaded w/ pickeral and waneta has very, very few? am i the only one that has noticed this? i do have a pickeral colored lure coming just for this idea.

count me in larry- will send $$ when i can. zach +1.