Capt Vince Pierleoni

Great news. Prayers continue for your friends complete recovery.

The observer thing is taking shape like I hoped it would too. People getting involved for THE LOVE OF THE GAME, no more begging or recruiting indifferent chaps who have no desire to hold a rod and sleep all day. We need a camera sponsor now to step up and provide their cameras to the observers for action shots.

Thank you for the kind words guys, and for appreciating simple sportsmanship. I know what it takes, to have everything come together, so I appreciate the game even when we don't do well. I love the camraderie during and after a FAIRLY played event. Thanks to players like you, Tom and Pete, and to too many others to mention, this Tourny thing is starting to shape up like I always hoped it would. As you guys know, I feel Great Lakes Salmon and Trout take a back seat to no other fish when all things are considered.

Andy, you know--"the grass is always greener". The way people drive on 104 and the thruway, I'm not sure what is less stressful! Anyways, you take the sand dunes and bluffs for granted, as well as the the shoreline from the Oak west to Willie. That shoreline west of your port to Ginna is beautiful, but I know, you've seen it a thousand times! I know one thing, it sure is tough to run home after a mindblowing tourny on a Sunday evening, pushing hard so not much of it is in the dark! Oh yeah, and then have to run a trip on a Monday morning! I know you've been there! See you soon.

The right rod for downrigging and flatlining will not make a good diver rod. Check out Okuma's Blue Diamond, Convector, and Classic Pro lines of rods. They have several in the 8'6" lengths, which I prefer also.

I used size 30 Okuma convector reels for several seasons for wire with good results. Have run size 30 Okuma Catalinas for a couple seasons now and absolutely love the drag and counters.

They are great. Tremendous drag, and the high speed retrieve is easy to get used to. I used several of the 55's last year and will find more applications for the 45's this year. They are in the process of introducing a high capacity copper reel for the extreme stuff.

We do it every year and don't push too hard. Cruising we figure on 5hrs from Olcott to Oswego. I have done it solo and with a crew. The slight loss of fuel economy/ speed is well worth the trade for extra eyes and to spell you on watch. It is not an auto pilot type trip, monstrous logs will appear out of nowhere. This being said, it is a wonderful way to experience Lake O and see the varying shoreline beauty. You will want to have enough fuel capacity to make it to the Oak at least, as any other fuel stop will take you way off course. Good Luck!

If you are looking for a fish raiser with fresh engines, this is the real deal. Last derby the boat fished (May 2010), produced 1st place LOC King Salmon. Last tournament fished, cashed a check at the Niagara Pro-Am(June 2010). Proven, Proven, Proven. Never been in saltwater, completely protected shafts and props with full tunnels, drafting only 30inches.

I call it "T.O.ing". Remember when T.O. told Deon Sanders to "getcha popcorn ready" before the big playoff game with the Giants? What he proceeded to do was go out and lay an egg of monstrous proportions. 1 catch, 7yds. The Giants? Kept their mouths shut and went on to win the Super Bowl, despite Dallas being the heavy favorite to do so all season. "T.O.ing" is absolutely prohibited on Team THRILLSEEKER, and there are heavy ramifications for doing so. Dave, very well put, respect any player that puts up 800 smackers. Every team is capable of a big day. I can see with all the new posts, and a new category for Tournaments here on LOU, that IT'S ON!!!!! Kev, great to see that you finally finalized with OKUMA. They are committed to ever improving products and are taking notice to our special needs here on the Great Lakes. They have a sharp eye for value in marketing so Kudos to you for landing them.

Happy B-day Jeremy!

I have used Fish Hawk products for many years. The new x-4 is an improvement over what I felt was a great product before. Solid and trouble free. The new probes battery life is incredible.

Absolutely Jimski. The challenge is greater fishing for Chinooks in Lake Ontario than the other Great Lakes. In many locations around the lake the density of alewives is so great that you have to clean off your hooks. A recent phenomenon is being experienced at times in recent years where the Chinooks feed on the deeper smelt, even though it is colder down there and large numbers of alewives are present in their so called "preferred" temps. They have choices, and their movements are not always dictated by bait presence.

Welcome Toad. Thanks for bringing him onboard, Glen. Oh, and it never hurts that we see "eye to eye" on this issue.

Very true. The Lake is stilll very under populated with Chinooks. The total bio mass is still a mystery. Only a couple of years ago they said the smelt population was in danger of eradication. Now, they are back. Still enough alewives to canabiliize the next year class heavily. The Lake would be even healthier with more Kings even if slightly smaller. What they cannot evaluate is the current efficiency of Chinook angler on both the North and south shores, and predation by all the new increased populations of warm water species--which Chinook are directly responsible for helping to come back. It was refreshing and comforting to meet the new Ontario province Lake Ontario manager, he loves Chinook and "Gets it". Now if we can just keep him and some of his U.S. counterparts from being bullied by either governments agendas, we will be ok. Many of us are watching closely that this study doesn't lead to stocking cuts of Salmon and trout, especially Chinook.

We have enough oil here to take care of the WORLDS needs for 40 years, time to take care of ourselves and go and get it. Nothing else will matter "green" wise if we run our economy into the ground. Seems all too much like there are people in power here that want to see that as well.

His number for electronics sales and installations is 716--863--1001, so should do the job.

Oswego tonight, Lockport tomorrow night. Show the importance of this fishery to the DEC by your attendance.

Thanks guys! I will be attending the Lockport mtg Thurs March 3rd(TMW). Hope all that can do make the effort to attend. While we surely understand their economic woes and constraints, the Salmon and trout programs are part of the solution. Despite what you may or may not hear, the pressure on Kings is at an all-time high around the Lake from both countries. The smelt are back and there were immense numbers of over-sized Alewives in several locations. We could stand a shot in the arm regarding Chinooks however possible, whether it's increased numbers or a higher percentage in pens.

If you are talking inline boards for surface fishing, then any rigger rod with a decent butt section will do the job. For "junk" such as core or copper, I find rods specifically made for this or dipsey type actions work best. Okuma makes many different rods in all price ranges for core/copper and dipsey divers. Many of the diver rods will do double duty as excellent inline board rods.

Just feel a need to clarify a couple of the above posts. I have never, and will never, take part in a network of communication in any Tournament. Was completely disheartened when it happened. I can remember standing next to you, primetime pete when it was announced at a Niagara event. I'm sure the look on our faces would say it all. I was outspoken and ended up not invited to anymore committee meetings. I did continue to fish them and support them. We and many of our clients are hopelessly addicted to ALL the different formats of Tournys on Lake O and quite frankly it became an extreme challenge to try to win the Cup going against open comm. From day one, I knew the open format would end up with skewed outcomes, ended friendships and not the tremendous camraderie that we have all grown to appreciate. We have from time to time, attempted to work with a couple of amateur boats, feeling like we were up against different armies out there on the water during the events. Even this didn't sit well with us. Damned if you do, damned if you don't and not what it was ever intended to be. Many of you will attest that I have always been more excited to fish the closed comm events. Now lets hope the players behave themselves and the field proves it can be this way.

The very first versions of this came from the Oak in the 80's. I believe that original pattern was first tried on the Pirate spoons by the late Joe Reifer. Today, the pattern is readily available on all the Dreamweaver spoons including the DW, SS, and Mag.

The drag is the best I've ever used on a spinning reel. It does have however, have very fine adjustment. We are landing very large trout(up to 17lbs) on 8lb line routinely. Also, when they "store spool" them the whole thing could be wound on twisted if they didn't do it right. On a right handed reel, the proper way with a spinning reel is to lay the spool on it's side on the floor or a table and have the line come off the opposite rotation as the reel. Your reel should turn clockwise, thus the line should come off the plastic spool counter-clockwise to avoid twist.

Thanks guys for the kind words. See everyone thurs night at the "State of the Lake".

So glad it was so well received and appreciated. Hats off to LOTSA for yet another well run weekend. See everyone at the Lockport State of the Lake on Thurs the 3rd.