mergman

As a fellow taxidermist of 38 years, I have to agree with Tim on this one. Paul at Tristate is the way to go. He's right up there with the best in the world and is local. Worth every penny. Don't skimp on fish taxidermy. No other form of taxidermy exposes poor work like fish taxidermy. JMHO

thanks to everyone for all the encouragement. I did take plenty of pictures and would love to post them. Unfortunately, I lost the camera somewhere between the Lighthouse Motel, the marina, and Lockport. I am sick to think of all those captured memories lost. I plan to run an ad in a local paper's lost/found and have called numerous places that we stopped at but no luck so far. In additionto losing the camera, I skinned out the steelhead and the big king to mount (I am a taxidermist) and we left the skins in the lighthouse motel's freezer. Fortunately, I think I have someone who will be bringing them back to Ohio for me.

Just came back from my first trip to Olcott in 20 years. My past trips were with Mad Hatter Charters and I decided to try it on my own this time with my brother in law with each of us bringing 2 of our boys with us. Keep in mind that I have NEVER trolled before on my own and have been buying used gear for the past few months getting set up. Thanks to sites like this, I was able to figure out the basics of how to do do this salmon trolling thing. A HUGE thanks goes out to Tim Bromund who was very generous of his time and gave me plenty of advice down to the size and brand of swivels. In our 2 1/2 days we put 12, 14 & 8 fish in the boat. Most were steelhead (including a 14 pounder that my 13 year old nephew got). Caught 2-3 kings every day including a 24 pounder, a pair of 20s, and a pair of 15s. These were the biggest fish they have ever caught in their lives and the smiles on the kids faces made it all worthwhile. We taught the boys conservation by releasing the smaller ones. I myself did manage to reel in 1 fish which happened to be the last one of the trip (a very little one that was on a dipsy that we didn't even know was on). This was an unbelievable trip that the kids will never forget (nor will I). As Tim Bromund told me, "You'll have a ball with those steelhead" and "You'll be back". I'm pretty sure he is right. Thanks again everyone for the info on here and once again, a special thanks to Tim Bromund for putting up with all my dumb questions.