Sk8man

What about a stainless steel "I" brace on the outside underneath the mounting plate to better support it? maybe an aluminum plate inside the gunwale to make it sturdier for the brace as well?

After working for the state for much of my adult life I know that the pressure has to come from the outside and above (Area legislative representatives and DEC Directors and Commissioner) because the folks at the "implementation" point in the hierarchy have no control over any of it. An additional factor at present is that King Cuomo has been holding on to the conservation funds....probably thinking he can divert them toward paying for the bridge renovations on the Hudson.

NIce going.....have to give ya credit also for being out there in the not so fair weather .....that's what I call dedication

The lampreys are certainly a very serious problem on Cayuga that needs attention and soon. With that said the DEC folks are very dedicated people working under a very difficult staffing situation (gutted in recent years and with King Cuomo holding up funding) and they have faced strenuous opposition from well intentioned but "emotional" and active environmentalists" (especially at the Ithaca end of the lake) so they have been very conservative and cautious in their recent attention to the lake so these nasty parasites have gained the upper hand in recent years with the intermittent flooding of barriers to their spawning habitat.

Joe, I have a special place in my heart for the bullheads.....look who they are up against....(muskies pike ,walleyes, bass) kinda like the Bill's this year

Now that is a very useful post "you can take to the bank" (no pun intended) You sure had a season to remember Justin.....talk about "dialin em in"

That is one sweet eye Zack. Nice going! The increased trolling speed is an interesting case of why it is necessary to think "out of the box" while fishing regardless of species. Walleyes may require it even more than other fish as they often do things out of the ordinary....just watch them while ice fishing sometime My hunch is that most of the time they operate well within their comfort zone in terms of expending energy ...finding and attacking the easiest or most "vulnerable" target but when hungry they are capable of good speed and can be pretty aggressive when provoked to respond as when "triggered" by the unusual or something that either appeals to them as potential food or maybe even irritates them in some way. Sometimes it is wise to throw out our "assumptions" about what we think (e.g. troll slow as possible and with worm harnesses etc.) they may (or should) be doing and experiment with lure type, size, speed, and the various types of presentations when the fish are being marked and not hitting especially...often we just troll along through and come back around without modifying anything because it maybe too much "work" rather than really "messing" with them I used to catch nice bows on Seneca in December trolling near 3 mph despite the cold water...fish will do things not necessarily "in the textbook".

Yes Kev I think they were probably hoping you and your dad had put the boat away early or something.....figured they were safe until Spring You have a PM

Thanks Marty and Justin

Chris you are absolutely right about the rainbows on the grill. I don't know whose house that is but it is unreal....along with Danny's and the one next to his especially. I wouldn't want to pay their taxes even...mine are bad enough but I'd even settle for the one guys boathouse (must be at least $300 grand). Like you I did everything even rocked the boat while putting in neutral and then accelerating Nothing did it today...didn't mark much out deep as I have been though...not sure what that means....yet. I'm going to keep the boat in until I have to pull it probably in November sometime. Just have to remember to drain all the water out each time I use it. Les

The trout fishing sucked. I worked the north end this afternoon back and forth and around and round by myself. It was overcast and decent conditions and the fish were there but uninterested. I ran 2 downriggers with sliders and a mag dipsey on mono with spoons and sticks and fished from 1:20 PM to 5 PM. Results: one15 inch rainbow,one 18 inch laker,and one 15 inch smallie. Two trout came on downriggers at 50 ft. and the smallie hit a large daredevil type spoon behind the dipsey....That was it... no other hits. I did however take some shots of the foliage that is about at it's peak if not past it. So it wasn't a total loss. There were large concentrations of fish in the 50-78 ft. area on the west side but they wouldn't hit. I've included a screen example and I ran the downriggers right through them repeatedly (maybe they were bass). Oh well....always another day.

Dick, Those smallies sure are aggressive and a lot of folks are fooled into thinking they are only shallow water fish. I've caught them on Seth green rigs 80 or 90 ft down over 300 ft of water as well as huge ones jerking copper at the north end with both pfleugers and twin minnows in the Spring while after lakers. Hope you got the motor thing straightened out OK. Les

Just outside Branchport (east off of 54A) Sign for Keuka State Park follow the road past the beach area a few hundred yards. Lot of great wineries on/near Keuka too

Nice going Trouthunter....wish I could have joined you out there Saturday but the lawn had my total attention

Sweet! I can taste those eyes from here....breaded with Panko and baked even....

Go get em Justin! You deserve them fishing in this weather bud. Les