BSmaster

There are a few places in the river areas I fish where there are too many bottom snags to jig live bait. This is where the walleyes are and so I use another presentation where similar to what i would use fishing for trout in the tribs where I have a float that tracks very easily and I weight it to submerge easily. Lots of times a walleye will spit out bait when he fills that line. Also why I never carolina rig when bottom bouncing. Reaction bite works better (jerk baits and swim baits) than live bait sometimes too. I usually start with that and see what happens. Different times of the years reaction bite seems to work much better for me. So to try a new presentation. It is one that I don't hear much about anymore is to drop shot with a floating jig head on loose line leader instead of tied directly to the main. This works for me when I am in the boat and it is too deep for a non slip bobber rig. Some of the techniques transcend different bodies of water but I am amazed at some of the water specific ways to target them. Kinda cool.

This is a great thread... There can be no wrong answer - total personal opinion based answers... (Anybody?) Remember when they use to throw out spare ribs and chicken wings. Now the ribs cost more per lb than the boneless loin and the chicken wingettes more per lb than the boneless skinless breasts. Proof that you can make garbage taste good enough to be profitable. It has happened before with fish. Chilean sea bass (not a real bass of any kind - Pantagonian tooth fish) use to be a nuisance fish. Change the name, get some chefs to promote it and boom. It went from nuisance garbage fish to $25/lb to endangered. They have people (Yups) who drink coffee (Kopi Luwak) which consists of deficated coffee beans of some sort. They have people (Yups) who eat cheese where they purposefully put maggots in it (Casu Marzu). There are many people (Non Yups) that eat rodents of all sorts (a squirrel is a rodent). Think about the ethnic group of people that snag a salmon out of the stream and proceed to take out some crackers and squirt some fresh roe on them and then endulge. I haven't had the opportunity to eat all of the salmonids but of the ones I have had, I place lakers as the worst and atlantics as the best. We all have different tastes and some of us eat things that make others of us cringe. I love turtle and I bet some of you can not fathom the idea of ever even trying it. I guess my point is that lake trout is edible - but preferred? Not in my house. As far as being a lousy chef - I do know how to make the stink go away but I am not naive. I could always learn more, however, I buy the premade pie crust and I prefer to cook a fish that already tastes good (without precautions). I don't prefer shrimp either but I will eat crab and lobster all day. AND... There is always someone who will want a lake trout. I never had to throw one in the garden. Catch em up!

Any fish is prey after it hatches. I think it is a fore gone conlusion that the Goby will be part of Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca lake and canal. What that means as far as outlook is hard to say. "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome"

I like to gut them then, put them on ice, give them away and pan fry some perch. To each their own. I'd rather fillet 4 dozen 7 inch blue gills than 1 nice eatin size laker. I'd rather drive 7 hrs to western Ohio to get walleyes than less then an hour to a fingerlake to get lake trout. I'd rather eat Mcdonalds - and I hate MckeeDees... I am not puttin anyone down - My Mom likes them (makes chowder). I know several people at work that like them. This thread seems to be trying to convince oneself of its pallatability. I don't hear many people asking how to make perch taste good. If you happen to be one those that likes them - good for you. Catch em up. I didn't salivate when I read these recipes posted on this thread... I did, however, salivate, drool, etc.. when I read this post... http://www.lakeontariounited.com/fishing-hunting/topic/58827-take-that-scallops/ Good fishing people - like I said, to each their own... Catch em up good...

Italian dressing (filets Covered) bake (covered) in the oven while (fish) fresh - never frozen ---- other wise better off eating road pizza. I would love to catch one of those 30# slobs for the wall.

Nice fish...

If you have forage fish in the pond already, help them be successful, if You do not do what Gambler said. I know in the southern tier they get surplus in the summers and the price is pretty good. I haven't messed with a pond in over 30 years but yes crayfish and minnows are a great way to supplement feeding. Some people worry about crayfish undermining the embankment but I would think other critters are a bigger issue for that specific concern. The reason small fish structure is important is that without it the bass will eat all of the fish in a short period of time and then start starving afterwards. Dicking around a farm pond was one the most fun things I did growing up. I learned a lot about balance and nature.

Jim, now that you have an avatar, I must say that what you talk about makes more sense to me now.

I got a pelican 10 day cooler and i don't have a yetti but I looked at both of them in a store setting and I think with the lid features the pelican was better. (This is assuming that the insulating properties was the same) The price was $150 less.

bass (mostly tournament) fishermen refer to it as cheating. I catch all of my largemouth on artificial bait and almost all of my smallmouths on live bait (because of where I fish for them). I have been outfished by the guy next to me who has been using artificials while I painstakingly wait for something to eat a minnow and vice versa. It is called fishing. I have yet to see a magic bait - live or imitation that is infallible. When the bite is hott, I prefer to go with artifical so I can catch quicker and get back into the strike zone. Whether you set the rules to be competitive or fair they are still rules. Sounds like sour grapes and another good reason why I do not fish tournies. I hear numerous stories of guys saying how much fun they had fishing "a" tourny and then I hear these kinds of stories. It is kinda depressing. The only unfair advantage any of us have is the experience we have on the water. Can't legislate that.

My cousin and I went out yesterday in a remote area near the PA line. Nothin doin so after a few hours we decide to check out a farm I have permission to hunt in Bath. On the way there over the rolling hills I noticed some birds in a freshly planted corn field. I turned the truck around and we glassed them for 40 minutes or so. We have all seen Tom's strutting so that isn't what was interesting. There were 3 hens all not interested in Tommy boy and all of a sudden a 4th hen popped up on the road we were on and just stayed there. She was there for over 20 minutes until a car finally came - he had to slow down because she wouldn't get out of the way right away. The interesting part is that this was a paved road - not a dirt road. The other thing we saw was one of the 3 hens in the field was hell bent on chasing a killdeer. After a while we tried to shock gobble the Tom and he didn't pay any attention to us and I guess that is kinda what is going on with hunting in a nut shell. I thought I would have had a better year this year but it is what it is. I am just glad I took time to go fishing instead of chasing birds non stop. Something I need to start doing in November and December when deer hunting is rough.

No more than two days' legal take of nonsalable fish may be transported unless a permit is obtained from a DEC Regional Office, or the fish are frozen, processed and packaged for storage. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/31416.html I think the calendar day gets mucked up by the (stream) trout fishing regs. The fact that we fish Saturday morning at 12:01am for the opening of walleye pretty well explains the legal difference in the day to day separation. I get the perception. Nobody wants to get caught and a lot of us don't want to take the chance either. But I still think it is ok to do what Jimski suggested (if you have the energy).

I only have done it once but I do believe a calendar day is still a calendar day. However, I was worried about perception and had a 2 sets of stringers and 2 separate coolers and I made sure one was put away in the truck before I went back to fish and waited til midnight to do so. I really don't have the energy to fish that hard anymore. But it was fun. I actually went home slept for two hours and went to another state to fish some more. (I think) You can have 2 days (limit) worth in your possession ???