iiwhistlerii

Been a good fall.  Haven't done a ton of sets but have had action on nearly 90%.  Goal with the new gear was 20 yotes for the season and so far I have 10 down.  Been letting foxes slide for the most part but have 5 fox furs fron a few who came in on the wrong day.  Here is best footage from season so far.

https://youtu.be/c0nHfamUmco

 

https://youtu.be/Zga9kt0I9uY

 

https://youtu.be/GuVxmLhLvxc

Guess we need to start a 2017-2018 thread. First legit set of this season was the most exciting I've ever had. What started as a double with my hand calls turned into a quad once I hit the pup distress on the fox pro. Thermal is a game changer. I stopped recording after the initial double and the rest happened to fast to remember to hit record again, but check out the double vid.

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I'd guess you were dealing with a school of longnose gar.  The small taps sounds like what u feel when they attack a bait with those hard narrow mouths and they are almost impossible to get hooks into.  Had this exact same scenario happen on lake amistad in Tx a few years back.  Had a giant school of big longnose gar attacking deep diving cranks and got hooks into about 1 of every 20 bites.  They are known for biting the line and cutting it above the bait with those needle teeth.  The one that didn't float back up probably got tangled/wrapped in the fishes mouth.  If you were dealing with a pike I doubt your strike would be described as a light tap but more of a violent slam followed by dissapointment as the fish stole ur bait.

Had progressive the last 7 years and the 1 time I totaled a trailer in an accident up in canada they were great.  They gave me 2/3 replacement value for a 2005 shorlandr trailer after I bought a brand new 2017 trailer last september before they ever seen the damage.  That being said I switched everything to Geico just last month.  I'm getting way more coverage and I now have towing for both trailering and while on the water in both the US and Canada for about the same price I was paying through progressive.

Black boat is usually canadian RCMP.  They are usually pretty cool to deal with if your stopped.  Any boat can fly both flags now with the new international co-op operations.  I've had us coast guard flying both flags, boarder patrol with both flags, rcmp with both flags.  They either pick one of our guys up from the coast guard or boarder patrol station or we go pick up thiers.  They are all nice enough if you are respectful.    It is 100% fact that you no longer call to report in to canadian waters.  Those days are behind us.

Check out this giant from lake Amistad in tx from a few years back.  We were trolling small musky baits for stripers and we found this guy.  Little did we know it was a Texas state record.  Lol

On Sunday, June 04, 2017 at 6:30 PM, whaler1 said:

May be a loop hole but in my opinion there is no better caliber for yotes. 4000+ feet per second, flat to 200 yards and very measurable drop past that. With the right ammo very little pelt damage and it crushes them if hit right.
Have had many where only the guy I give them to can tell you where they were hit.
Sweet gun for sure.


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I can't disagree.  I've done very well with my savage model 25 lightweight .204 the last 2 seasons, but honestly I would have been happy building a lightweight .223 ar15 for my thermal setup.  At 4000 fps nobody builds a lightweight 204 barrell because its such a hot round and this thing is a tank with the 20" bull barrell.  Won't be an issue with the tripod but it's a few more pounds to lug around each set.  Heres a couple pics of my .204 with wicked light setup and some pelt friendly 204 kills from last season.

Yes in shotgun only zones in nys no rifles over .22 cal. During deer season    .204 is a loophole centerfire round

Best part about this ar is it is chambered in .204 so there will be no waiting for deer season to end so I can start going to work on them.

I'll take these.  Message sent

Best part about this ar is it is chambered in .204 so there will be no waiting for deer season to end so I can start going to work on them.

Ty.  I'm looking foward to going all thermal this year.  Although I did put a small dent in the population last season with lights, the few times I was able to use a buddies thermal gear in some of my spots the hunts went perfect and I was sold.  It's a beautiful thing when they have no clue what's coming.  Both my monocular and scope have built in dvrs so hopefully we can look foward to some sweet vids.   Oh and I just saw another yote across the street from the house tonight.  My neighbor called me up to see if I would shoot it.  Lol.  Looked like he was carrying part of an old deer leg or something across the field.

Definitely moving like crazy here along the lake in Niagara county too.  Seen 5 in this last week.  I can't wait until october.  I have some new toys for them this year.

On Wednesday, February 22, 2017 at 11:22 AM, Gill-T said:

It tells me there is not much suspended activity in a river. All bottom oriented. 

It tells you on this day that was the case.  You'd be amazed how the graph changes when these fish get active or the river gets some color.  

How can any of you target muskies with line that you know is no where near bite proof? 30lb fluoro? Is that a joke? Your a guide? The only reason u haven't been bitten off is a tooth hasn't hit your line yet. If u can cut it then so can they. When a big fish finally does show up you'll never even know because she'll have swallowed your bait and cut u off before your rod even bends. Bass guys I can understand and I appreciate you atleast trying but you esox guys should know better. If your really looking for something light for small jerkbaits for esox infested waters try cortland toothy critter tieable steel. I understand there is more than 1 was to skin a cat but 30lb fluoro offers zero protection against razor blade filled mouths. I've been bitten off with 150 lb fluoro twice. I was warned by and doubted those who had more knowledge than I. I'm not saying fluoro doesn't have a place in the game but 30lb certainly doesn't. Anybody targeting muskies should always be looking for that true giant. It's not worth risking losing or even worse, killing that fish when you get bitten off due to sub par equipment.

Is a 30.30 a good yote gun?

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If your goal is just to kill them dead it's a great gun as long as you've got it dialed in. If your looking to minimize pelt damage its definitely not the best choice. If it's your only option and u want to try and save pelts maybe u could look for a fmj type round to minimize expansion. I used a 30.06 when I first got started years ago. It certainly got the job done. Lol

2 more down with the fox pro. Could have been an epic night if all opportunities were taken advantage of. Should be a pile of yotes laying next to those foxes. New .204 did it's job but why on earth would anyone make a trigger guard out of plastic. 1 bump against my sticks and it shattered into 4 pieces.

This guy came to the pile at about 11:30 last night. Switched to the red led for the light. I know a couple people criticized the cyclops but this light shoots a better beam than my million candle power hand held. This is my first with .17 WSM. Pretty good knock down power and didn't even wake my daughter!

It's not that the cyclops pred kit sold at cabelas is useless it's just that u can get so much better for the same money. U can actually get that exact same light under another name on amazon for $20 then get needed scope mounts for maybe another 20 and batteries and chargers for 15. Or u can just buy a wicked light pred kit for the same price as that cyclops and have something with 5x the quality with better everything that comes with it.

4 sets tonight with action on the 1st, 2nd and last set. 3 fox came in and 2 went down. 1st 1 of the night got a pass as I hesitated on the trigger long enough to let him find something he didn't like. All 3 came in about the 10 min mark to nutty nut hatch on the fox pro fusion.

"Big" hooks start at 7/0s and go as large as 10/0s in my boat. Mustad 3551s are dull from the box but once you prep them quick with a flat file and a couple chainsaw files taped together the things get scary sharp quick. Size 7 bucher split rings are an amazing option for those not wanting to spring for spros, not going to bend them out, outside of the net anyway. Every musky angler should be proficient with a hook file and no bait should hit the drink without being checked over for razor sharp hooks. Also anybody fishing trophy waters should really consider upping your hook size to the biggest the bait can handle withoutbimpacting lure action negatively. I starting upping all my mag dawgs to at least 8/0s with pounders getting outfitted with 9s or even 10s. Same with bucktails, twin 10s get a 9/0 out back and a 7 or 8 up front anytime the fishery deserves the respect.

Whaler, Please allow me to pic your brain for a second. This thread really got me going on this at the end of last year. I have a bait pile, motion sensor and everything in place. I had a handheld spotlight that I have used in the past for calling but I just put a cyclops light on my rifle. The other night my motion sensor goes off and I look out at the pile and a giant yote is there I can easily see without the (green) light. I then flip the light on and as soon as I hit the yote he bolts. Should I switch to the red? I haven't had any problems with the green on foxes. Also thinking about switching to the ATN night vision scope.

Thanks, Paul

Switch to the red. Foxes are dumb as bricks but the yotes seem to spook way more often with the green. Biggest thing is to Make sure once they are lit keep them lit and not allow thier pupils to adjust over and over. Seems that makes them spook more than anything that I've noticed. If you haven't owned it long take back that junk cyclops and order a wicked from allpredatorcalls.com far better quality and infinite adjustability. Obviously night vision is the ultimate and I'm hoping to make the transition within the next few seasons with both a monocular for scanning and scope.

This is just some very basic stuff. I don't understand what you disagree with. There are some NMA members who are very successful using jigs. I have had some success with them. Also, about 5 years ago I netted a 50"r caught on a tube and took the picture of another 50"r a couple weeks later that was caught on a Swim Shad. If you look at the NMA catch and release logs for the last 8 to 10 years, ROB tubes have been one of the top baits, and for at least 2 or 3 of those years, the top bait.

with all due respect. some of those years my boat has been responsible for 25% or more of those total release reports and probably even more of the percentage of jigging fish from the river. Not to mention the fish we catch jigging from both the detroit and the larry. Your advice is a bit off. You might want to stick with what you know. Just seems like that advice came from someone who doesn't actually jig much.

Jigging can be very productive. They can be jigged or dragged in river current 12' to 25'. You must be prepared to loose a few to snags and have a heavy baitcaster with min. 50 lb braid. They can also be cast and jerked around cover or shallow flats. There are various ways to rig them for each task. You can use your imagination. Keep in mind that you will loose more fish while jigging than casting or trolling but the potential to hook more fish is there. Red October Tubes, Storm Swim Shads and Bondy Baits are all good choices. There are variations on all these in rigging techniques and presentation, depending on applications, that will help increase catch rates. You will need to do your homework on that.

A lot of jigging advice here. Is this first hand knowledge or just things you've heard from others? I'd disagree with a lot of this information.

Favs for casting

Pounder

Mag dawg

10"tube (ripping)

7.5" tube (jigging)

blades (10s)

Mag/reg shadzilla

Musky candies shallow sniper

Look at the map. Should be able to break that place down in a glance. Not much to it.