Has Been

I take a Romer w/ the steel hoop & attach an Offshore to it. Slides up & down easily on the retrive & I lke the ease of th pinch pad. Can't imagin what would be better.

After transition time which comes soon , you will need to get down to depths of 35-80 ft. Save up & get some riggers. They are the easiest,, cheapest, most effective way to get down to the fish for novice anglers. They take the guesswork out of what depth you are at. Dipsey,leadcore, copper, snapweights are all good , but the mainstay day in & day out is the downrigger for a deepwater program for me.

To slow down cheap- Drywall buckets w/ 3/4 holes in bottom , on each side of boat.Boards are good w/ 100 - 150 ' leads.Flat lines up to 250' back w/ rodholders flat to water Lighter line8-10 lb . Once everthing is out, Drive in lazy s curves so lures are over undistubed water . To get deeper to say 25'-Deepdivers work well. Spoonbill Rebels , Lindy Shadlings, long A bombers, to name a few. I have done very well at times on them.

5-7 Mph is fast as heck. Check the idle setting on it ,especly if it's a 2 stroke. Riggers & equip cheap on craigslist & on here somtimes.I have a 21' Tropy I/O hardtop & love it. A kicker would be a good investment.Good luck .This site will quicken the learning process.

The Hooks on Daredevels are Mustads coated w/ cadmium I belive. Not very sharp out of the Box & kind of hard to sharpen well . I use spinnerbaits w / Oshaugnessy hooks & had a lot of misses. I I now sharpen all hooks , lazer or not. & open the hookbend a tad so it is a few degrees up .Some are bent down a bit which causes misses IMO. This drives the hook into the roof of their mouth better & helped out w/ hookups conssiderably. I do it with a lot of my hooks now. I also change to better ones if I can.

I worked my butt off since I was 18. Never really had a 40 hr/ wk job. When I went into buissness for myself I worked a ton of hrs a week & kind of still do . Got some investment property & saved my money. Sacrificed a lot to do so . Kind of "gave up" fishing a few times to take care of buissness so I and my family could live well & more importantly , not be dependent on anyone. My BIGGEST fear is that after all I sacrificed to save , somthing happens so it's all gone & I would have been better off spending it. You & your bride should be proud of yourselfs, Ray.You done good. Enjoy it while in good health.

Kiss her on the cheek & congatulate her on a job well done. Nothing should change . If she dosn't know you by now ,she never will. Each should want the other to do the things they want that make them happy, cause life is to short. A big party in her honor organized by YOU should be in the works.

My Tropy does the same thing. I think dirt & leaves create a dam of sorts & backs the water up somewhat , but that's not fact. Goes into my in floor Battery hold also .

If you are fairly new at this use th KISS program. 2 riggers w/ one rod/ one lure on each min 7' depth apart w/ same shorter ( 10-30') leads.Watch depth finder carefully & fish the bait.Zig Zag & turn around & thru. Try to hone in on speed.When you hookup, turn boat to go w/ waves to help you steer & take out of gear if there is a breeze & enjoy the fight.If you are setting up the boat, make sure you do it to set lines safely.Try to keep back of boat open. Landed many fall kings alone on my 16'er. Have the net handy. Good luck w/a big one.

It's not about more, it's about making what you have work.

Never went at night ,but after work or first thing.

We use to troll the canal for walleyes. We flatlined using diving crankbaits. Faves being an orange /gold mid size Rapala Fat Rap or a mid size Perch Shad Rap, or J-9 same colors. Inside guy j-9, outside diver. Trolling into the current about 15 ' from shore where it drops off or transitions to mud. We fished west of Brockport to Hulberton. any change of shoreline was productive.Good days we would land a few up to 8 lbs was a big one. Cruise past the high walls. Lot's of Smallies also.Remember, the begining of the canal is the Niagara river in Tonowanda.

Take it from a guy who knows, you are blessed to still be able to count to 10 on your fingers. It'll heal. Consider your self, how do I put this............ Lucky? Could have been much worse.

Being the cheapskate I am , I use it a lot for both trolling & casting rods for bass pike. Not good on spinning cause its stiff, but good for rigging & casting. Stiff=low stretch generally. Used 10# for derby w/ no probs.Be carefull tying knots& spit on before tightening.Might cut back a little more often after a few fish. I use big game also & don't see a lot of diff. Used pink Ande also & liked it. Reg Stren for finnese spin.

Fishing Report

Your Name / Boat Name:

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TRIP OVERVIEW

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Date(s): 4/1/2 days derby

Time on Water:

Weather/Temp:

Wind Speed/Direction:

Waves:

Surface Temp: 43-52

Location:

LAT/LONG (GPS Cords):

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FISHING RESULTS

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Total Hits: 50 aprox

Total Boated:35 aprox Species Breakdown:Mixed & 2 big smallmouths

Hot Lure: sticks,sticks & more sticks

Trolling Speed: 2-1 / 2-8

Down Speed:

Boat Depth: 7-25'

Lure Depth:

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SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS

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Nice to be out on water for derby. Fished out of Johnsons ,never went past Pump house to Greenharbor. Nice looking water with mixed bag of fish.Jointed3 1/2 & 4 1/2 Rebels took most fish . Blk Silv & My fav green top, org belly Chart side rebel was hot. J- 13 raps in clown& perch took some & best fish,12 lb Atlantic. Likeing the stained water. Was a mine field of debris today.Boards mostly w/ some rigger action. No kings.

We have some very brave heros in in this GREAT country . Let this be the begining of the American comeback.Great job Seal team 6 !!!

If you guys are actually entertaining the idea of paying more for somthing you are already paying more than enough for , God help us all. This is partly how all this financial madness we are in now gets started. The net profit would more than likly be a loss the way gov runs things. I can see it now w/ an xtra rod stamp. DEC boat drives by 2 guys fishing w/ 6 rods , pulls you over to check & see if you have a stamp or not.They will be driving around 12 miles offshore , as I saw them this last year, looking for Xtra rod guys, w/ gas at 5 bucks a gallon.When this thing passes ,It should be at no cost to NYS licence holders. Don't be a chump and fall for any addl "FEES".This cost's the state nothing. In fact they benifit from addl tax rev from fishing tackle sales, so I'm suprised it's taking so long. But it seems that our elected officials have the buisness sence of a downrigger weight so I should not be surprized.

Did you see the Ford informertial a few weeks back about their new Eco -boost engine ? After seeing that , I think I would seriously consider one & I am not a Ford guy. See if you can find the infomertial on line. I was amazed. 22 mpg & power to spare. Not to mention they beat the crap out of it.

Water Clarity dictates what to use & means everything. Lot of rain & tribs are choclate milk today so I would suspect near shore is dirty. Big , Bright, Loud, sticks( J 13 or 5 1/2 jointed rebel) or my fav rattletrap in dirty water. Also when water is very dirty,Midday when sun is high to pennetrate dirty water& warm it a few degrees I have found can be good.It can be Feast or Famine on the piers.

Off Johnsons I have caught a few browns & a few northerns. My best the last few years has been A Krockdile in 3/8 or 1/2 . Slv lazer tape w/ green sharpie on on side & blue down the other.

I have absolutly no problem spending the money for my licence. What about the part Time guy? We want more participation , so raise the price ? Huge cuts in stocking ? So less guys come up. Less folks used the NYS Thruway and rev was down, so what do they do? Raise the tolls.So even less use it.State needed more money to waste , raise taxes on buissnesses & residence , so the buisnesses left the state, with jobs, the people that did them & their tax dollars. As a private buissness owner , thats not smart buisness sence. Using all availlable law enforcement agencys IS smart buisseness.I really wonder how much NET profit the state saw from the increase taking all factors into consideration.My guess not as much as you would think.

Not all that fish are hardcores like we are & drown a worm only a few times a year. In tough times, families cut where they can. The Bar analogy is kind of insulting.

Why is the Increase long overdue? All it really did in a bad economy was cut out more partime & once in a while fisherman & make outlaws out of some . " Hey Dad , lets go fishin today " said the 8 year old son. " Sorry son, a licence costs 30 bucks &, we only go once in a while, lets play catch instead" . More lack of participation for the sake of the general fund& future fisherman.Took my broke college son on opening day trout & payed for his licence cause if I didn't , he would not have gone. No reg book means you won't know the new rules & when you get caught, more fine revenue for the state!!

I like to use a dab of Pliobond glue , let dry & then the shrink tube. If you don't use the tube or whip the end w fly tying thread , it will fray over time. Some super glues are water soluble so watch that. Some lines are very slick & it will slip off so you have to rough it up some. I have a Cortland line that happened to twice. If you super glue the whole thing it will become stiff ,so don't do that.I heat it over a candle very carefully turning , but have messed up a few times over the years , overheated , & had to start again . Will try the boiling water trick!

I have my 4 riggers . 2 short on back corners & 2 outdowns(6' booms) 2' forward of them , my rodholders on sides between them. I wanted the entire tramsom clear of any obsticals so I could fight & land fish. I like what I did very much. I have a board system I made.

If you see a small creek that empties into the lake, it could be great. Fish in the plume on the windward side that pockets the warm water. If you see a color line, all the better. Cruise the shore, stop at any parking spot that you can leagaly fish & take a few casts,even witout a creek. . This time of year till mid April , you could be surprized .Adjust lure size & color to clarity. Cleos or sticks. I've had a rattletrap work well in dirty water. Longer spin rod( 7'min) 8 lb max.

On ice immediatly. After filleting I put in a bowl & flush w/ cold water & some salt . lay on wax paper over paper towel ,cover & set in fridge for a while or overnite. Firms them up & I like to grill them w/ lemon butter & dill. Trim anything that is not pink.

My 15 year olds ESPN bracket was in the top 98 % nationwide last year.