zach

nothing trolling- got a 39" (not the same one as bobs) northern casting a softtailed phantom up shallow in the north end. moved alot of fish w/ that jerkbait and almost got a small tiger on the 8. that fish was hot but i scared it away being so ugly, he looked up at me and said c-ya (i forget to shave this week). the northern earned alot of respect w/ me. i was thinking that it was bigger than almost 1/2 of my muskies last year i made a mistake and tried to hand land it even though i had the net right there. got all cut up as it shook lifting it outta the water and decided to get going as my hand was bleeding pretty good. i think i am getting back to my roots as a caster and hope to cast most of this year. so... only 2 northerns (one good one though) and saw 4-5 tigers that followed the jerkbait and lost one fish before i saw it. you know when they hit after only one or two twitches at the end of a cast. the only thing i saw fish on was that phantom. used everything, but the phantom ruled for the 3 hours i was there. those weeds in 7 fow were hot. only fished them for one drift and had all those follows before i packed up w/ a shredded hand. i will use my net next time, i just HATE unraveling the net from the hooks. did i mention i hate untangling hooks from nets! bob when i fish alone the net is always extended for those same reasons u found out (chinese fire drill). happy to get out! bty never use phantoms, they are a complete waste of time but don't ask for any of mine.

cut small pieces of pencil lead. smash one end w/ pliers and put a hole through it (small drill bit) for the snap to attach. 10x easier and 10x cheaper than slinkeys. your slinkies would be 10" long to fish that current compaired to a much smaller piece of lead. i bet that slinky would creat drag by itself making u go even heavier than needed. i have used both and prefer the lead. carry cutters w/ you and cut off lead if its too heavy.

anyone getting excited?

from my early season fishing, i by far enjoy casting with a leader that has no swivel on it but instead a uni-knot that joins the line and leader together. when casting i was able to feel the knot tip the tip top instead of banging into the swivel when you reel a tad too far up. as long as the bait doesn't spin i couldn't imagine going back when i am casting but think that changing leaders every time out makes sense. i am sure my tip tops will thank me in the long run. i also found when twitching the raps and small slammers that the action was better. i may be crazy but i think it makes a differance on the small lures. will still troll w/ a swivel on my leader just to help catch weeds.

bob- if those turkeys work out like i think they should, i will be down there fishing tigers by mid-morning. will call if i head out. last four turkey seasons i have left the woods on opening day with a turkey by 8am. hope this year my luck doesn't run out. looking for that early season slam. turkeys and tigers.

gonna go turkey hunting in the morning and then tigers south of rochester if the morning works out.

great job guys! little colton is gonna be rewarded w/ great fishing in the future b/c of you guys!

i sucked it up and ordered a shadillac, 2 small madussas( they now have 4 colors in the small ones), 2 hellpuppies, 3 softtailed phantoms, a warlock and enough stuff to tie up tons of spinnerbaits and bucktails of all sizes, shapes and colors if anyone wants one tied up a certain color/ size/ blade combo let me know. rollie and helens just got all my $ but its on now!

i know where i am going for the opener after turkey hunting in the morning. was fishing last night and accidentally caught this 29.25" waldo. accidentally caught a few more "smacker" walleye, a smallmouth, one catfish and a big pike. this is my 3rd largest waldo from this body of water. yeah i am holding it out but it is a slob either way about it. just posting this picture to get all the walleye fisherman excited. taken w/ a cell phone so crappy pic. last year i got a 32.5" and a 31" trolling at night at this spot on the largest rapalas they make and worm harness' w/ big blades (#5 and #6 colorado). i think the rapalas are size f13. i can only guess that both of these fish in the pics were easily over 10lbs, i am guessing the big one was around 12-13lbs since it was as fat as they can get. anyways it is still out there for you to catch. i only eat walleye from onieda so all of these are safe but i bet u could make two hamburgers with the cheek meat on this one. best luck and catch one for me. only 2 months until musky season opens in NY and all these other fish are safe from me! bty, yes i do know waldo's are not in season so no need to beat me up. this one was 28" my buddy kevin caught and released. i am sure some of u guys know where that bridge is and how come his looks bigger than mine? no fair!

lately i uni-knot 50-60 lb flourocarbon to my braided mainline if not using a spinning lure.

june 19th at midnight

the sebile magic swimmer 228 or the 190. most likely the 228 but once again $30 is the starting point it seems for the swimbaits. i like the 3 hooks one the 228.

buy the .99 cent tails from rollie and helens to get differant colors and cut to fit or u can get 3 tails from phantom for 2.99 outta rollie and helens but all tails will be same color.

gustofson- soft tailed phantoms is all i can say about glide baits! i do have a small hell puppy coming anyday and will let u know if its any good.

well from the lack of responses, i need to get some swimbaits just b/c no one else is planning on using them!

the bid is increasing quickly. outta my reach now.

nice- now nitro has to bid at least $49.99! he's rich- come on nitro, its an amma bamma. no excuses nitro! the family can go w/o groceries for a week can't they? i am sure they will understand if you want to bid even more.

got another bucket last night. was alittle slower than last time but only took 10 mins. artpark.

i just started our bidding at $19.99. this should let people know we are serious.

old man- in your opinion why do the rabbid squirrels hook up better than other spinnerbaits? just b/c i tie them up also and am always looking to improve them. are they not durable b/c the hair falls out or what?

plan on going down friday night camping/ fishing saturday. ny needs to step up and change this season we have before i spend all my $ on gas- i will have fished kentucky and pa both 2 months before "our" season starts. nitro? bob? when are you guys leaving? come on nitro- i see u have private info. gonna share it or do i have to just follow u around all day to find out whats going on? i will if i have to nitro- and bob what are u gonna fish with? didn't u sell all your lures on ebay?

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.