Sk8man

Between that and the condition some of the state park roads and marinas our state is in large part an embarrassment and that is our tax dollars at (not) work

That is one of the things that didn't work for me on my TX44's. I went back to the standard setup on them

Paul

And he has the Popeye arms to prove it (from reeling it in)

Another great example of generosity and the thoughtfulness of the fishing community to provide vets with appreciation for their service to our country. A hearty "thanks" to all involved on behalf of fellow vets everywhere.

Great report Mark Glad you finally had a chance to get off the road and out there after them

I rest my case Mark

Nice going on that eye Mike

and "He's the most intereting man in the world"

Cool Kevin...I used to fish the smallies that way on Seneca and Canandaigua Outlet heck of a lot of fun. The green frog popper with black spots was irresistible to them

Good luck to you and Theresa this season Nick. Man I've never seen Arney's that flooded in all these years.

It would seem that if you leave the skin on and the fish is considerably over the minimum length when you fillet it leaving the fillet to be larger than the minimum length you shouldbe OK. You can't dispose of the rest of the carcass or entrails anywhere near or on shoreline though. I think the main concern is to be able to identify the species and that it meets the minimum length requirement.

Regardless of the actual number of entrants and the poor fishing for many entrants the new committee is to be commended for paying out the money and honoring their commitment to the derby. It was the toughest derby I have ever fished in terms of results out of the more than 40 of the Seneca derbies I have fished. Seneca is in a questionable state right now and I'm sure that the increasingly difficult fishing over the past few years was a large component of the decrease in entrants. I also think that the committee may need to look at the advertising component to see what else can be done to entice people to fish the derby from this point on. Those of us that fish the Finger Lakes would be well advised to become more involved in doing whatever we can to support the derby as well (e.g. notifying anyone we know that might be interested or on our email address lists etc. The derby is a wonderful family bonding experience (e.g. many families and friends camp at Sampson etc.) and has a number of positives attached to it aside from just catching the fish or the prize money. I certainly hope the derby continues into the future and the lake recovers and returns to more productive fishing....but in both regards patience and understanding will be required. One of the revelations I had this time was that possibly the playing field may have been leveled a bit and lady luck may have a bigger role now in the derby because despite all the fancy gear, very knowledgeable fishermen using the latest techniques, you still had to somehow run across an interested fish and when thing are thin out there everyone may be a little more dependent on luck being the deciding factor so the person in the little rented boat or kid fishing with his Zebco may have an increased chance of pulling it off

Look where 58 degree water intersects with the bottom especially where a dropoff occurs.

18 -24 inches from end of loop to hooks depending on what I target