zach

i am dying to fish them. anyone here plan on using the newer swimbaits for muskies this year. i am eyeing the shadillacs and sebiles. look like they could be a killer casted or trolled and they have a totally differant look than lipped crankbaits from what i have seen, just not cheap, especially when you already have wayyyy to many lures.

heat the house huh? i could probally make some chairs or coffee tables but not heat the house. funny. these are two black perch tuff shads i have started for gustofson. the clear coat cracked on both of his lures when they were new from hamerick and this let water into it and made the crack open up ruining the paint and the rest of the clear coat. it even discolored some of the wood but i used wood hardener over the body to stop any more problems. i stripped them down to bare wood, sealed them so hopefully they are water resistant now if my clear ever gets punctured. i need to finish painting the top, bottom, add so gills and eyes. then its the clear and back to gustofson with the problem fixed.

this last one is a blend of a wiley lip/ head, the body of a thinned out loch ness and a flat bottom tail like a loke. these are the eyes that will go on gustofsons tuff shad when they are done and a clear coat on his like this one. i have made some other lures that blend a few styles together and think its a fun little hobby.

gold and brown huh ole man? may have to tie one of those up just for waneta. ole man- do u usually cast bucktails or spinnerbaits? i think this year i will spend more time casting spinnerbaits than bucktails just b/c of the weeds. ole man- that bay did well for not only myself but i know solgrande did a few there also. great info and pay attention guppy35 b/c u could make a nice trip with the info old man and i gave u. good luck.

early season u can usually do okay running the top 1/2 of the water column. later on u should go deeper. u can use riggers, the people that do run riggers on waneta only set them 6-8 feet deep. last year i did multiple fish in the top 5 feet of water no matter how deep the bottom was. best day was when a mayfly hatch happened and all the panfish came up to eat them and guess who came w/ the panfish? the rapalas it seems that most newer people run are the large shad raps but feel free to try anything. some last year were caught on large spoons also. i would recommend looking through rollie and helens and grabing one or two shallow divers (2-, the same for mid depth (8-15) and some deep. i know larry jones has a bunch of tuff shads to get rid of cheaper than u can get them from anywhere else. u cant go wrong w/ a perch color but dont be afraid to try something bright as i have done them one those also. speeds to troll? anywhere from 2.0 mph all the way to over 5mph and anywhere in between. there is no need to run real far back when trolling as the fish will hit a short line also. any other questions i may not have answered feel free to ask? last summer smaller (<7") lures worked for myself for #'s but got my largest last year on a big 10" bait so pick your poison. small lures to at least catch one or a bigger lure for a bigger fish? i highly recommed wiley crankbaits, tuff shads and legend perchbaits. i think u could use those 3 lures all year and do as good as anyone else. best luck and leave the muskies in the lake so my kid can catch them in future also.

most people troll rapalas open water that are new to waneta. they can be caught casting as well. if you dont see them in the weeds, go to the open water. some people troll at night also. good luck and if you get cut off by a guy running 8 lines and huge planer boards don't get too mad cause we all have been cut off by the "king of waneta". if you kill your muskies no more info will be given.

well thanks for the encouragement. have gotten somewhat better only by doing alot more. i am a big fan of the woodies and hopefully one day i will be up to your level. u can paint wonderful and make great plugs which i do own 5 of!

i have had 2 repaired at jay-ve some years ago and still seem fine. wasn't a curado though

cave run is a cool lake. really a neat place b/c of all the timber in the creeks. spent alot of time on zilpo flats and only saw one other fish caught over 3 days other than a 30"er i got on a kentucky rattler. lost one other small one and got some bass. this was predicted to be the week to be down there but the water temp went up almost 10 degrees in a week (was over 90 degrees down there) and i guess this pushed the spawners out of the shallows and made for a really tough bite. i spoke with tony grant, crash, gina and justin mullins and everyone had a rough week. tony grant said he fished all his spots with all his baits and didn't know what else to do since he didn't do a fish all week. the mullins family was super nice by the way. i fished really hard and never even had a follow for 3 days of hard fishing. caught some nice bass but that really doesn't count towards making the trip a success. colton and lex enjoyed getting out of rochester and said that they would go back. at the very least i have a place to go in the spring next year but i think i may go in march instead of april. crash said the same thing happened 6 years ago. the water warmed up and the fish shut off for almost 2 weeks after they spawned. trolled and casted until i was done and then the dnr comes through scott creek and shock like 20 right where i and 4 other boats had been fishing for some time. none of the boats including myself even saw one before the got shocked. the fish were there but wouldn't hit for a da*n. tried every bait and technique i have ever heard of from casting rattlebaits, trolling short, trolling the shad schools i found suspended, casting the shallows and casting the shallows some more. tough bite, neat lake. bty kentucky seemed like turkey central compared to NY. maybe next weekend with nitro and bob i will do better chasing muskies in Pa, who knows?

its not a musky, pike or waldo but it niagria is LOADED with those tasty smelters. an ole timer told me it was the best he has ever seen it. get on em boys!

new tires on the truck. new trailer bearing and tires. getting excited.

does the season every close down there? reminds me of the salmon river during salmon season.

they do em like that also. i have heard white jigs during the day casting and stickbaits at night.

yeah, dont use it as lube.

they start at midnight on the opener in may and troll mostly at night w/ large stickbaits (j-11 raps and bigger). its no secret to most and you are right, hop in line and dont stop or u may get rear-ended. lasts until late may-june from what i hear.

toothy addicts brad? now that i have been labeled, the first step to getting better is admitting i have a problem.

sounds lke it could be fun fishing in 80 degrees after living through another NY winter. lex and colton are coming with but will be staying about an hour away with one of her friends that moved down there. that gives me a free pass for 3-4 days. mr. grande- the epoxy that u want is called DEVCON 2-ton epoxy. they used to sell it @ walmart but now i have to go to ace hardware b/c it is the only place local now since wally world stopped carrying it. if you go to their website (DECVON) you may find a retailer closer to you in williamson. spread it on with cheap little acid brushes and need to rotate it for 30 minutes after spreading onto lure. recrimp the handle on those acid brushes because i have had bristles come out while speading epoxy on the lure and that can make a person mad to say the least. it is alot (like 10x) easier to use than envitotex. a heat gun will get rid of any smaller bubbles that may form but is really isn't necessary if you spread on 2-3 thinner coats with light sanding inbetween. you have to get the SLOW epoxy b/c the 5 minute stuff does not make a good clear coat. u cant get it to 'flow' before it sets up and will leave it with ridges and looks horrible plus the 5 min stuff is somewhat yellow. bob- i can only think of 2-3 baits i could troll with in 4fow but that has been good lately down their. i guess gregg thomas has done over a dozen doing that this spring alone. i will ask questions to the locals, believe me. sounds like slinging rattletraps shallow, jerkbaits (mantas and sledges) out alittle deeper and some twitch baits in between. seems that i can leave the monster cranks and rubber at home. i dont know if i could really leave for a fishing trip and leave 90% of my lures home but i think thats all i will use. bob-call me if you have even one question about the epoxy as i have all the trial and error anyone ever needs.. how funny is it that i will most likely run into larry down there. its gonna be on. gonna try to get a jar of "shine" while i am down there also. bob you said to try shallow divers? dont you think a perchbait 100 foot back at 5 mph will work in 4 feet of water in a shallow flooded forest- come on....

off to the cave on saturday/ sunday for the week. wanna go brad or bob? planning on a 1/2 day with justin mullins to get me started on the right foot!

earlier in the year i said it was too far. now i have to use my vacation time or lose it before 4/16 and it doesn't sound that far now. planning on leaving most likely saturday/ sunday to go take the ride down to kentucky for the week. sounds like after the bad weather that the temps are headed into the 80's and after talking to people down there it sounds like it could be a great time w/ bigger fish moving into 1-4 feet of water soon with the warm up. what i am looking for is other patterns than rattle baits and jerkbaits unless thats what u should be doing. water isn't too high, water isn't too dark. anyone ever fish it this time of year. anyone ever troll in 4fow? larry, any help?

i think he is a fisherman back home in texas and cetainly seems interested in the mighty muskie.

talked to newman from wbee 92.5 fm and sent him all the links to the opening day tourney. i thought this could give us a huge buzz if he decides to fish with us and talk about it on the radio. this could make it more well known in this area. when speaking to him he said he has time to learn before the tourney date. sounded like he wanted to do it and he liked that $ went towards the fishery. it could also get more hits on this page as i told him about this site and how people talk about all sorts of fishing. hopefully i can get off chads bad side after this

i will be happy to pass on anything i have learned so far.

i love him also, as does my father. what a life he has and he does think outside the box which is awesome. now that we are on that topic did u see where they noticed that a single 10 blade makes more noise than a dub 10? i plan on tying up a few of the single 10's after watching that episode, it was gonna be one of my secret weapons at the first tourney but don't tell anyone okay, but now its out so only u and i know right? on the top waters he also said that an un-balanced topwater like a tail prop bait makes a differant sound than a balanced prop bait like a globe. he said that through his experience the unbalanced version of a surface lure is superior most of the time at triggering a predatory response? the creepers also sounded awesome under water, but creepers don't catch any fish (lol). i could never believe how loud a twitched jake could be. made me never want to twitch a rattling bait ever again even though they are a staple for most people. makes me want a silent version. larry is the man b/c he thinks and doesn't just follow.

on the molds i have learned as i went. i have made a one piece mold out of wood and red high temp rtv silicone. i have also made a 2piece mold w/ a split pvc tube and it was tough for me to get that to line up perfect. what sucks is you have to destroy a bait if you dont carve one yourself. i mean u have to pull the lip out of say a tuff shad to get a real mold that u can then add a lip to. i ran outta resin before i really got the hang of it but will get more when my responsibilites as a father lessen. for me on prop baits, when it lands i rip it once or twice pretty hard and then reel pretty steady all the way back with maybe one or two speed ups of the reel not the rod to make it sputter more. good luck on that, my biggest came on chaut opening day like 5 years ago at 2:30am on a topraider (i have wrote about that in the past) and i was half sh*t faced. i have a bunch of baits i have made this winter but am not too sure if i am gonna post pics as i am somewhat self concious of them and dont want any thing negative to affect my new found hobbey but have made a few that seem very worthy to throw. the finishes on them seem tougher than just about any lure i have bought. i tell lex i just want to catch one decent musky on a lure i made. i have always tied flies for flyfishing, made bass jigs, put together fishing rods, tied alot of bucktails and do most of my own archery stuff so i find it only natural to try making musky lures. i got bit by the musky bug when i was 13 (now an ole man at 30) and fished chaut at least 2-3 weekends a month growing up w/ my dad and have made multiple trips to the french river (his pb 52.5"), nippising and one to lac seul. i stopped musky fishing for about 4 years and am now back into it when its not hunting season. so maybe that explains alittle about me and why i do it the hard way some times.

it has the tail of an old mudpuppy from the looks of it. it is made from alumilite products and they sell a kit at dan crafts and things except for the microballons which make it float and u have to order them from the company. legend baits (plows and perchbaits) are resin as are a few others (alley cats). i have some stuff at home and have made a silicone mold of a tuff shad and am doing a perchbait when i have time. neat stuff, if your gonna do this you might as well start pouring plastisol also. on the ohio fishing website, guys have been using these products since late 2008. tigger is the most famous on that site and kicks out amazing lures. what you can so is make a wood body and make a mold of it and pour baits in 25% of the time it takes to make one wood body. the alumnilite is not cheap after u get all the stuff though. best luck and i have seen not only the whopper plopper video but there are a few others on their website.

MIDNIGHT TO 4pm !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats what i am talking about! its on! most amazing tourney times i have ever heard of! thanks larry!