Ronix 51

i've witnessed this work several times in my boat (all from Chad as well haha). I don't even bother with a figure 8 with northerns or tigers as 99% of the times i've gone into an 8 they've either stopped dead in their tracks or do the "flash and disappear" move....from what i've experienced (and i may be the only one) they just aren't as likely to respond like pures do. Small twitches and dead sticking work the best techniques that ive seen to convert the picky followers

I tried Conesus again last night and only ended up with more bass....some pretty big ones too if I we're targeting bass I would've been pretty happy haha. North end was 60 degrees, I worked the NE side from 3 fow following it out along the east side break with 3 largemouth coming on my 8" big game twitcher. Some areas like McPherson had a lot of vegetation but it looked more like the stuff that over-wintered so im not sure how effective working that would be but I put my time in with no results. Before I called it I moved out to some deeper water structure...found some nice points with sharp drops and fished the 15-20 fow adjacent to 30-40+ fow with no results but thats where I was marking the big hooks sitting down about 10-12 ft under bait schools. If I we're able to go back again i'd bring a bondy or two with me and put more time into spots like that again

the lady and I will be there all weekend as well, see you at the launch Larry! black lund green lettering

salmon boat caught a 57" last summer on the O and a bass angler got a 54"...they're in there. Gotta think about it this way too the amount of effort by anglers specifically targeting muskie and lake O proper is next to none so who knows what the possibilities are...but I imagine the odds aren't too favorable as everyone has said! Guys run down riggers a lot on the st. lawrence and troll over water as deep as 100' or more (Bob and Brad would know more about that) for them but they're suspended off shoals and such.

Larry and I are going to be working to revamp the tiger stocking in that lake, right now current hatchery methods are "inefficient" to say it politely. There is no reason that with better rearing/stocking methods that lake shouldn't be pumping out trophy class tigers like Utah, New Mexico, and Washington state lakes do. I imagine pures would do just as well however I imagine that would be a nightmare to enforce during ice fishing season with northerns and hybrids sharing the same water...

Larry from what Kevin has told me and what some literature says is that they were became pretty popular in the baitfish trade starting in the 80s. They were used everywhere before baitfish regs. were passed

I use the du-bro nail-knotter tool...you can find it for like 14 bucks or so, I use it to tie 150 lbs. fluoro leaders and it works very well. With pike 80 lbs fluoro works well. Ive tied direct to 65lbs suffix on my pike setups...I tie a tight overhand knot in the fluoro leader, add a dab of superglue and pull tight with pliers. I then i tie my mainline to leader with an uni knot.

that does make sense...the water levels are at all time lows and will be for the next year possibly....we need a few good rainy seasons to restore levels.

sorry to hear that larry, i know how much you've been doing to get the word out...did they say why?

I was down there yesterday, saw a decent amount of pike up towards the top (id say 20 or so) including a very nice female maybe low-mid 40s. Polarized glasses are key if you're going a lot of people couldn't see fish that were right below their feet. If you go make sure to walk across the street to the other side of the bridge. There is a dug out flooded marsh area that connects to main stream and it was LOADED with pike...it was pretty much a pike orgy we saw about 5-7 males on one big female and that was going on all over that place. Unfortunately we also saw a good number of rudd as well so if you're going make sure to pack your spear-gun to take a few of those bastards out!

they're starting to head up there now...over a dozen on sunday when my brother went and he said there were some big girls up by the dam

Joe, Im not too familiar with that area but the mouth of salmon river could definitely have some pigs swimming around the area, its not too far from the mouth of the larry and many of those giants migrate out into lake O after spawning so who knows...i would imagine density is very low but you won't know until you try.

As Joe and Larry stated, Northern Pike season is closed."C and R" season is for bass only on specified waters... it doesn't work that way with any of the other warm water species, it is illegal to target them

Im not sure if its a good thing or not either, im pretty unbiased on the matter. If it opens earlier im ok with it and if it doesn't im ok with it, I still enjoy pike and tigers as well. They may be more vulnerable as far as location but they tend to be much less active during these times due to all the energy they are putting forth to spawn, so maybe handling of fish wouldn't be as much as we think? It's hard to tell. The allegheney and susquehenna are different since they both have PA waters that are open year-round as far as I know...I think they keep those seasons as is to avoid any potential confusion? Maybe its because NYS doesn't want to spend the extra cash to re-write and print the regulations more clearly (it is that kind of state unfortunately) I know regarding the chemung/susqi they havent changed them just because the fishery hasn't appeared to have suffered from it.

BP, its not a typo. They're considering a change in the inland opener because there is next to zero natural reproduction occurring in inland waters. There may be spawning activities occurring but VERY little if any at all recruitment to the fishery. They're the same strain of fish in ohio and PA which have year round seasons.

Do you mean both inland and great lakes waterways? There is no way that they'd open the season earlier in the great lakes waterways where there is natural reproduction occuring.

id also estimate that it's an upper 40s fish taking into account your buddy's height/weight. Im trying to compare it to the one in my pic for reference, im just about 6'0 and 200 lbs. that fish measured out at 51" so i'd say possibly 47-49"? very nice fish