jonboat

Sounds like everything is working. That's good news since we're headed over there tomorrow morning. Gonna launch at DEC ramp off 31. Wind supposed to be SSE. Should be able to drift from LP Shoal to Shackleton. Maybe we'll get someof the fish we missed in the OLTWT tourney. [ Post made via BlackBerry ]

It was a blast. We only boated 4, but I finally caught a walleye when actually targeting them. OLTWT put on a first rate event. 53 teams participated, lots of prize money with the first place finishing team taking home $3100. Looking forward to next year!!!!

there might still be some browns left in shallow (20-40 FOW) we got a few quality fish last weekend in 19' on sticks off the planers. I heard there wasn't much going on out deeper. to keep skunks out, bring along a couple spinning rods and some bass tubes and see about a smallie or two if nothing else works. I know there were also some boats after walleye in the bay last week (near the chute)

... bump... It's this weekend, registrations open until the rules meeting starts Saturday at 6:00PM at Gander Mountain. See ya at the launch!

Yep, camped with family and friends at the state park, had a great time on and off the water. Took my grandson and his friend (5 year olds) after some panfish in the bay. Went on a couple family boat rides around the bay, camp fires and adult beverages in the evenings, and got out trolling early Saturday and Sunday mornings. Couldn't have asked for better weather for a Memorial Day weekend camping trip. As a bonus, the Monday thunderstorms actually held off until AFTER we got the tents packed up!

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: The Bubman ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): 5/26 Time on Water: 5:30 - 9:30 Weather/Temp: sunny, hot Wind Speed/Direction: nearly calm Waves: <1 foot Surface Temp: 61 - 63 Location: Fair Haven LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 7 Total Boated: 6 Species Breakdown: 4 browns, 2 smallies Hot Lure: Thunderstick jr (black/silver) Trolling Speed: 2.8 - 3.2 Down Speed: N/A Boat Depth: 10 - 40 Lure Depth: flatline off boards ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Everyone else was out deep, so we decided to be different and gave shallow browns one last try for the year - turned out to be the right thing... First brown came in 10 FOW - smaller than a lot of perch that come from the lake, then we took three big browns with a couple football sized smallies mixed in, in 19 - 21 FOW. Fish weights: 11.5, 13, and 17 lbs. Definitely quality over quantity this time out. Went back out Sunday morning and saved ourselves from a skunk with a cookie-cutter in 10 FOW in front of Moon Beach.

it was till closed last weekend... I'm camping at the State Park this weekend and will check while we're out there

Copper or lead core off the big boards - need the double-keel ones to handle it. I sometimes will run deep diver sticks with 6-8 oz snap-on weights about 50' ahead of the leader.

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: The Bubman ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s):5/20 Time on Water: 5:30 - 11:45 AM Weather/Temp:HOT Wind Speed/Direction: ESE light breze, down to dead calm Waves: flat Surface Temp: 56.5 - 61 Location: LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 1 Total Boated: 0 Species Breakdown: Brown Hot Lure: Blue/Silver thunderstick jr Trolling Speed: 2.0 - 3.0 Down Speed: no probe Boat Depth: 10 - 140 Lure Depth: flatline boards when shallow, 40 to 70 on the balls (stackers) ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Had one brown on early (sun still behind the bluffs) in 10 FOW, it managed to get into another line in our spread and threw the hook right after jumping for us. Then nothing, nothing, nothing. We stayed shallow to W Nine Mile Point then worked back on a zig-zag from 40 to 10 FOW. No hits, not a single hook on the graph. Moved out to the 120 FOW area where most of the other boats were, ran stacked spoons to cover 70, 60, 50, & 40 depths, put a dipsy with F/F out 180, marked no fish, had no hits, and saw nobody else grabbing their nets. Tolled West past Blind Sodus, staying in the 120-140 depth range, then headed in for one last try in the 20 FOW range with sticks on boards with snap-on weights and spoons on riggers 10 feet down. The hot weather must have chased them out really deep. On the birght side, it was a beautiful day for a boat ride.

I throw a flat line down the chute then work outside-in. Keeps everything away from everything else.

if you do some searching (google, bing, etc.) there are plans for a three board planer out there someplace. I've seen them, but have no recollection of where or how I got to them. Me, I would paint or seal them. If you're using good hardwood, they'll weigh enough and you won't have to worry about them rotting.

Last couple times out, I noticed the bright yellow Big Jon planer line on my masts was starting to show it's age. No "real" wear, but it was a little faded and had gotten a little fuzzy - the fuzzy kept my releases from sliding down easily, making me have to bounce the line a bunch to get my release to slide out near the boards I got to thinking, to make braided fishing line on my warmwater spinning rods last longer, I run it off the reel and swap out ends so that what was once the terminal end now ties to my backing and visa-versa. Since generally, no more than 1/4 of the braid is ever off the spool, this works great for prolonging the useful life I get from a spool of braid. I got thinking about that, and realized that I dont generally run my boards more than 50' out on each side and the spools have about 3X what I run out. I swapped out arbor and terminal ends last night - what I found is that I now have about 100' of nice, shiny, slick, board line on each reel, with another 50' of fuzzy line underneath it. After this outer 50' starts to wear, I can cut off 50' and be good to go for another couple seasons. I don't want to start cutting too soon, as I like the idea that I've got some extra line in reserve. Just thought I'd share. With the way the ecomnomy and money is these days, if I can save some $$ and help others to do so too, I can feel good about it.

I've run similar (size & color) thundersticks and ralala's at the same time for spring browns, took all of our fish onthe less expensive thundersticks. Ralala floaters may work for people, but my experience gives me more confidence in the thunderstick jrs. I havent put a ralala in the water this year.

Oneida Lake Team Walleye Trail is holding it's first tournament on June 3, out of Oneida Shores park. If interested, check it out by clicking their logo below:: Minimum payout of $2000 for first place finish All anglers are automatically entered in the $750 Big Fish pot at no additional charge. For more details, rules, and registration, see the OLTWT website (click their logo above)

Oneida Lake Team Walleye Trail is holding it's first tournament on June 3, out of Oneida Shores park. If interested, check it out by clicking their logo below:: I'm in with my neighbor, and my son-in-law is in with his buddy too. Are YOU in?

Geeze! Here I was thinking "SCHWING!" when I saw the photo and read the description, then I read the rest of the thread and Bob beat me to it!!!!!! Now I have to settle for a more refined "Sweet ride!!!!" coupled with wishes for many, may successful seasons aboard her! Man, that's a nice looking boat!

Our first three hits Sunday out of Fair Haven were kings on flatlines in 30 FOW (Blue/silver LOCO spoons). There were guys getting them out in the deep water that morning too. The general statement that "they're all over the place" is accurate for the first time in my memory. it's an unusual spring - I just wish I could get out on the water more! Good luck, have fun!

I think leaving it like it is (registered members) is the way to go... I think if it was pay-to view, we'd lose members, and more importantly, we'd lose the reports from those members. a lot of the guys who read the report, also post reports (even though they aren't pro members). I also think that in NO WAY should the reports be opened up to non members. If you want to read the reports, then you should participate in the LOU community. NO LURKERS ALLOWED.

We went 6 for 9 Sunday (kings and browns) out of Fair Haven, and none had lamprey, or even scars on them. Could be a localized thing. Maybe where you were fishing was near an untreated lamprey spawning bed. Might be worthwhile to ping the DEC and let them know the area you were fishing. Could be a small trib in the area that is playing nursury for those nasty little buggers.

small waters, like the one where I fish for crappie (250 acres) - I try to keep that away from open discussion on the internet. Word got out once, the place turned into a circus for a couple years and the fishery has declined rapidly. The fishing there stunk last year, but seems all the opportunists have given up on it and are looking elsewhere. No more Saturdays with 25 boats. Now there aren't more than 3 or 4 any time I've headed out. Big water - definitely share!!!! The salmonid fishery is a huge economic engine for the whole south shore and east end. Shout it from the mountaintops and get those folks from outside the area to come up here and spend their $$$ in our neighborhood!!!! It's an inland sea. There is more water to cover than there will ever be boats to cover it and more fish than will ever be taken, along with fresh replenishment with each year's stocking program. Yes, folks should have to do a little "work" to be successful, but as far as I'm concerned, spending hours on a board like LOU, asking good questions, reading reports and looking for trends - is all homework for before putting the boat in. Once onthe lake, you have to take all you've learned and apply it correctly. Nobody is down there putting fish on the hooks for us. We have to learn to do it right in order to be successful. Me, I've only been fishing the big O for about 4 years now (I'm a Southern Tier/Finger Lakes boy). I've been learning everything I can, most of it from members here and a couple charters I went on. I've finally got a solid program together for spring browns, but still don't have my act together for summer kings. I have tons of info from LOU members to go on, but have lots more work ahead of me before I get to a point where I can consider myself as having put together a good program. So, you see, even with all of the detailed information I read here, it's not as simple as going out to the depth from the report, using the bait in the color from the report and going the speed from the report. Here's a prime example from last Friday evening of how you can copy someone else's pattern to the letter and still not be successful: I went crappie fishing on a little lake with my wife in my boat and my daughter, her husband and two kids in their boat. I was reeling in fish non-stop on three rods. Nobody else was catching anything. I went ahead and set up everybody with a bobber-jig rig, identical to the one I was using on one of my rods. I continued to catch fish, while everyone else continued to get skunked. I even moved the boat and had everyone fish where I was getting into them - no dice. I have absolutely no clue what was different (no I wasn't spitting on my bait or anything like that), but for some reason it worked for me and nobody else. the same thing goes for salmon fishing. What is working for the guy who posted the report about whacking & stacking for 3 hours straight, might, for some reason known only to the fishing gods, not work for anybody else. Life is strange that way. Now, with all that out of the way, I feel a need to get back to the OP.... my answer is I hope it keeps up. I wouldn't figure the kings would go back to the west, just to turn around and go east to their spawning streams, but who know about the 2 &3 year olds. They don't need to head east, so they may simply move out deeper and wander around wherever the food goes. As for right now, we get these overcast days with cold fronts to cool the near-shore temps back down, and we could keep seeing great action on everything in <40 FOW. I know that our first 3 fish sunday were kings, and they all hit on flatlines in 30 FOW. Talk about fun while putting out your boards for browns!!!

The one we got Sunday was not clipped. I never really looked for it before, but plan to from now on - just out of curiosity as to if each fish is hatchery born or wild born.

Nice outing... gotta love those doubles & triples!!!

How much do they clip on a hatchery fish? do they take the whole fin, or just a portion of it? I'm just curious. The one we got this week had it intact, but I never really looked for it before. Just curious so I can tell wild vs hatchery fish in the future.

I've got some Alpena diamonds too... haven't tried them for spring browns, but now you reminded me I have them, I'm gonna have to see if they produce.

I don't ask, but accept when offered. I try to bring a friend or family member (or 2) with me when I troll the big O. Two on board makes putting a spread out easier, not to mention doubles the number of rods in use, and three people aboard, to me, is ideal. That way, unless we hit a double or triple, there is someone to take their turn fighting the fish, someone to do the netting, and someone to drive/steer the boat. So If I am not offered, I don't get too upset - having an extra one or two people aboard makes my fishing experience better for me. Then again, I only have an 18 gallon tank for a 90HP Merc. and can troll for 4 hours on a 1/4 tank of regular gasoline. (4.5 gal), including running to and from the launch. That, and it's only a 15 minute drive to trailer my boat to the launch from home. Figure gas and oil for the boat, and gas for the truck comes to around $25 for me - and the extra set(s) of hands makes it easier, therefore, more enjoyable for me.