Put in at Sandy Creek and fished out by the mouth and headed west, Surface temp. was 54.7 at the mouth and dropped to 49 as we went farther east. Also went out toward Drown Island. A slow morning with 2 lakers and 2 browns. All were caught on spoons in 12-25 fow. When activity slowed we pulled the boat and ran to Sackets and trolled for walleyes but came up empty. We did have one fish on but dropped it before we could determine what it was. Trolled sticks off the rigger and cranks on the boards.
Fished just down River dom Ogdensburg. I caught five nice walleyes. My partner and I each released one around 8.5 lbs. and I kept an 8, 6, and two 3.5 pounders. Beautiful day on the water.
Had a bearded hen in the field today that ignored my calling and decoys. Later I had a hen come in to 5 yards and I believe I have good video on my Go Pro. She hung around for about five minutes.
After passing on a couple shots that were just a bit to long on the first two mornings I finally had it happen today. I set up where I had seen birds yesterday but they gobbled about a quarter mile away so I moved to a pop-up I had across the field from them. They answered my calls but flew down and were on the other side of a creek. Even though they answered my call they worked away from me so I decided to head to a different blind I had set up yesterday, right where I had an encounter with birds opening day.. I set up two hen decoys and a strrutting Tom and sat and called for about an hour and a half, Around 9:00 I was talking on my cell when I saw a struuting Tom step through a hedgerow into the field about 200 yards out. He was alone and gobbling at my calls so I thought things were looking good. Then I saw a hen a few hundred yards away crossing the field He seemed to loose interest and looked toward the hen but fortunately she passed through the hedgerow and he refocused on my decoys. After about a 15 minute standoff I decided to let the decoys do their job and I shutup. Good discision! He started working his way in and never stopped till I pulled the trigger at 22 yards. He was about 6 yards from my strutting Tom when I shot and the Winchester Longbeards certainly did the job.
After roosting some bird lasat night it happened again.this morning. Had a hen at 25 yards but 4 Toms struttung stayed at 55 yards. At leasty I'm seeing a great show. They moved off and actually passed 15 yards the chair I was sitting in wheb I first heard them gobble this morning. Gotta love it.
Salmonchop,
I completely agree with you, even thought they claim 10% greater penetration with this load. I do my homework and prefer to get them inside 30 yards. That said I do feel these loads outperform previous Winchesters and are probably ethical to use to 50 yards. As you stated, if there is ever any question let them walk. I roosted a nice flock tonight so we'll see what takes place in the morning. I never seem to get them when I think I have them figured out.
I use 1 medium split shot when shallower than 10 feet and a couple larger ones when deeper than 10 feet. Make sure not to let spoons out to fast or make sharp turns when using weight or they will hang up. I'm going to set up a couple leadcores and see if they make a difference.
I tried patterning 3 1/2 inch #6 shot Winchester Longbeards through an HS Strut Undertaker turkey chock tube. If needed I am very confident on them at 50 yards and they likely could reach out a bit further..
Spent a frustrating morning fishing and only caught 3 browns. Two 13" and one barely a keeper. Tried different depths from 5-25 fow and numerous sticks and spoons but couldn't find them. Water temp was 41-44 degrees. Very clear by Selkirk and muddy from the Salmon River to Sandy Pond. Didn't see anyone else catch any but boats were spread out and appeared to be looking.
Not sure how much longer it will last.95% of females are spawned out. I'm hitting the lake for browns this morning and with turkey and walleye season opening latter in the week I will be switching gears soon. Also will probably try to hit some crappies.