Sk8man

Good luck with them.....the smaller ones will work on walleyes too.

I hope you are going to be using a deep v, deep gunwale and wide bottom 14 footer (before considering rigging it)

Good one Mike!

Thanks guys. We are very proud parents indeed. I don't know if it is because it is going to be the 50th derby (I think I have fished about 40 of them at least) but I am as psyched up as I have ever been for this one (could also be because of all the trash talking too ) Now that we've stirred up the south end guys they will be a force to be reckoned with too but I'm just hoping they get "disoriented" or even lost at the north part of the lake on the first day which will give us enough time to smoke em As long as everybody stays safe and has fun I'll be satisfied regardless of results. Hey Kev I know the father and son thing is as important to you as it is to me (although from different angles) and just being able to be out there doing what we love doing with them is what is most important and really what it is all about. Hey Mike with those lines re-rigged you'll be doubly "dangerous" now.... and John I look forward to chatting in person again this year....hope to see you at the ramp etc. again.

Yeah....get in all the "practice" you can south enders.....if conditions are right you'll need it

Pap a lot of the debris on Seneca ends up on the shoreline beaches depending on wind direction but also much goes out the canal system by way of the Seneca Canal at the north east end of the lake. It flows into the Cayuga Lake system (north end and out the Seneca River to parts east....) I believe something could hypothetically reach the ocean by this route (e.g. St Lawrence to Hudson River). As young kids we used to put notes in bottles and send them by the Seneca Canal

Pap. You made one of the top deals of your life on those spoons The guy who made them was named Bernie Klimzak and was one hell of a fisherman back in the 70's and 80's and those spoons rank up there with the Suttons. WTG

You sure put a hurtin on those fish out there WTG!

Thanks Mike....that is better news than I expected (the fish... not the break off) I'm getting pumped up for the derby.I just returned from my daughter's graduation from Ithaca College and Cayuga was total mud at the south end and was happy to see that the north end of Seneca looked a lot better than I expected. A little murkiness might help us out too as long as it isn't real muddy...I'm hoping to test out my motors and equipment early this week here on Canandaigua. I'm always reluctant to fish before the derby on Seneca because several times in the past I've caught bigger fish than those that won the derby before and after it (but not during) and that is pretty depressing

Yes Mike it was up over those floats under the docks a couple weeks ago. Lets hope for little to no rain before derby time....problem now is all the stuff out there floating around and were it might end up....

Wow! May have to put 1/2 inch steel on the hulls before the derby Nick! Not a good omen....Thanks for the heads up

Real good setup....

Nope I was referring to these pictured here along with a normal sized squid. I have also trimmed of a few inches of their tails because I felt they were too long for fresh water use.

I have always kept them as options especially when things are slow I even have the larger size ocean variety I also keep some dodgers handy....new school isn't the only school

Yes the north end of Canandaigua is way up and total mud right now too.

Wow! I'm feeling some of the excitement about the derby leaking out like air out of a balloon Ed..... A good thing the south end guys aren't motoring up from down there this year....it could be really dangerous out there if this stuff doesn't clear by then. The Seneca canal is reportedly a real mud pit now too. This years derby may be known as "back to square one" (for me at least.....)