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Not to change the main course of this topic, but why did the western end of the lake fisherfolk say they had a great year from start to finish yet the easterners seemed to struggle. With this year looking like a repeat of last years ice coverage what's in store for us guys fishing the eastern basin? Just curious. The Browns and eyes seemed to be better for the east, but the king guys seemed to struggle all year? We must be on the same page the above post wasn't there, I pushed the send button only to have the same concerns posted, sorry for the Pete and repeat posts

I can tell you I'm crossing my fingers and toes also, maybe something positive could be a possibility and what a great specie to be getting stronger

Well I sprayed all my spoons with a UV spray then I sprayed them with a cover scent that a local bait and tackle store talked me into, now I'm in the process of making spoon holders out of a swim noodle. I cut the noodles at 12"s and I'm going to cut 1/2" dowel rod at 14"s and put the dowel rod through the center of the noodles so a inch of dowel sticks out on each side and put hooks on the engine cover so I can hang my spoons on, I found out if I put the two trebles into the noodle so only 1 hook sticks outward I can load spoons on opposite sides of the noodle it seems like it's a good idea? I guess time will tell if the one hook sticking out will be a pants catchers?LOL. My next project is to turn my Lowrance Elite 7 HDI into a Elite Chirp unit, I contacted Lowrance and they claim it's doable buy downloading off their site onto a chip, need to purchase a card reader, then load the info into the unit. Lowrance was very informative and if I have trouble I should call them and they would walk me through the process. I'm excited to tackle this, I was at first disappointed as only 4 months after I bought the HDI they came out with the chirp and a little later the Elite 9 chirp. In between my little projects I'm snow blowing my driveway, I have already gone through 20 gallons of fuel with my John Deere 318 with a 46" blower, and my walk behind blowing a path to the chicken coop and the bird feeder and the trash cans and of course a area out back for my daughters spoiled rotten beagle so he can go outback and do his business!!! He won't go off the porch if the snow is up to his ding-ding.!!! LOL Counting down the days till the snow melts so I can fire the old girl up to see what for gremlins found a home fix them up and head north for the early Browns then eyes the first Sat. of May.!!!!! Come on SPRING!!!!!

Well it does suck that the paint on a $5-6 dollar spoon doesn't last a week of fishing, before you know it your pulling a all silver spoon. We used to fish the western basin of Erie, I thought at first it was my bad luck to pick bogus spoons. The hot spoons for us were chicken wing and mass confusion after 3 days of catching eyes they all were silver and copper colored. I took them back to The Happy Hooker bait shop and he replaced them no questions asked, naturally the paint stayed on for a day but now I have a bunch that are silver on silver or silver on copper. I got some powder paint in purple, orange, chartreuse,yellow and did the best I could with them, they don't work as well as the air brush colors from the factory, but I'm not fishing Erie with them. I did catch a few eyes with my paint job and they look as good or bad as the day I painted them, I won't be buying any stinger spoons till they do something with their paint program. I buy from I think the guy is R&R tackle his walleye spoons are awesome, and he is doing the super slim spoon again!!! I think they are second to none for eyes and trout. Well at least I'm not the only guy who got poorly painted stinger spoons. I think they do it purposely, they know it's a issue but do nothing to fix it, just buy more??!!!

Now that's what I'm talking about!!!! Congrats Orange Belly on the stellar Catch & Release!!!

LOL, I used bank of father-in-law!!! Flex pay plan!!!

I went to the site to purchase a swim platform bracket and to my surprise they have the dimensions of the brackets, so I drew up a plan from the site and had my buddy who is a welder fabricator and he made one for me out of aluminum which is what they are made of from the factory. I am very pleased with it and it as very sturdy. I was able to come up with a simple steering rod to connect kicker to the I/O so I can steer from the helm.

That's awsome guys!! Congrats on your hunt!!!

Nice catch of eyes!!! May the 2015 season be a good one as well!!!

Excellent, nice catch. What area of Erie did you fish?

Nice size perch, those 12"+ make the best tasting fillets, don't get me wrong I'm a hard core walleye guy when it comes to good eating, but I have to say "I" think perch are at better. But hey what do I know, anyway congrats on your banner day. I bet that pike gave ya run for your money!!! Great job Pike!!