Thun

My baby's 25 now congrats and enjoy. In the blink of an eye they grow so fast.

Congrats! That 5000 piece Lego set is a great way to get even.

There's been too much deceit by these so called scientists to take them seriously for my satisfaction. Mann refusing to release his data for peer review, the Climategate emails revealing man made adjustments to the temperature data, hide the decline but what really sealed it for me was when they tried to tell me that this cooling we're experiencing is caused by global warming. This all started with a man the New York Times once called The Custodian of the Planet, Maurice Strong, an oil tycoon.

Cisco will engrave the name of your boat on their tracks for a fee, which I think I'm going to take advantage of.

Great article, thanks for sharing. It appears that the alewives are good for kings, bad for everything else. How do you manage that?

Perhaps you could improvise something like this? Maybe promote catch and release by awarding prize replica's for winning fish released? Just a thought

http://store.igfa.org/IGFA-World-Record-Tool-s/1830.htm

What an amazing woman! I think my favorite picture is of her driving the boat with that beautiful smile. You are blessed to have had this Matriarch in your life and you're right, she'll be right there at your side wherever you are. May God Bless her and your wonderful family.

Now that's a beautiful sled steelie! Some venison sausage, homemade wine, maybe even a sunburn with all that sun reflecting off that snow and ice and maybe a fish or two. I love ice fishing!

Love the headlights in your sled Les! I once built a sled that needed a clydesdale to pull across the ice. I put a car stereo and battery in it and the American Flag pole doubled as an antenna. My wife also made a nice shamrock windbreak for it. It was so big that it had to sit outside in the weather which eventually ruined it but it was fun while it lasted.

Does anyone have a ProLine? Years ago at a show I stepped on a 25' walk around with a 10'6" beam (IIRC). I'm 6' tall and could stand upright in the cabin which had a full shower and toilet in the head. A beautiful boat!

Merry Christmas all

Hasn't happened to me yet but I am concerned about the ball bouncing when the rigger stops. On another thread, someone suggested these downrigger snubbers from Amish Outfitters and I'm going to try them. Maybe they'll help the cable stay in the pulley too?

https://amishoutfitters.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=52&zenid=79f84e204ce37f7ab57adc973302093f

I like a mono backing to leadcore to leader set-up using the willis knot. Clip the mono backing in the release.

http://webpages.charter.net/sixshooter6/WillisKnot.html

First a disclaimer, I know nothing about fisheries management. This article from On The Water came to mind and discusses the vitamin B deficiency in Atlantics and how the Round Goby has perhaps helped to restore their spawning abilities.

http://www.onthewater.com/lake-ontarios-native-salmon-return-oswego-county/

Very nice! We target pike exclusively and to keep big bait from tripping our flags, clothespins are screwed and taped to our tilts. This is my sons tilt, mine have been commandeered by my other son. I prefer the clothespin opposite the spool side to keep the line from tangling in the clothespin but he'll have to learn the hard way!

Prayers on the way

Merry Christmas Larry, I hope Santa brings you many 5 1/2" jtd Wiley's! I enjoyed your reports.

I love the Sport Angler, lot of fishing room in that boat.

I like the idea of getting multiple lines out, traffic permitting, in 15-20' of water. If you keep everything the same, leadcore line and leader wise on each side, the angle of the tow rope will put the line closest to the planer board, farther back than the line inside it and so on, allowing them to fall back behind the boat tangle free. Then slide everything down and rotate the lines when reeled in. I got a late start last year but that's my game plan for this spring.

My B-i-L fell through the ice walking to his favorite spot. He was lucky and credits his one piece snowmobile suit for bobbing him right back out and onto the ice. No picks! He lost everything including a big Jiffy. He's lucky he's alive, don't take any chances out there. As a side note, a friend dove down and found the Jiffy in 15' of water the following summer. The rope was rotted but when replaced, the thing started up on the second pull.

Great tips Les. We used to screw and tape clothes-pins to our tilts so they protruded down below the tilt and pinch the line between the pinchers of the clothes-pins to allow us to fish huge bait for pike. Also black absorbs light and helps keep the holes a bit clearer.

Awesome Larry, when do you break out those big Legend Plows?

It looks like this one has depth contours but it's not free. On second thought, maybe it doesn't?

http://www.gpsnauticalcharts.com/main/us_bm_pa_01211965-cowanesque-lake-nautical-chart.html

This one is detailed but no contours

http://fishandboat.com/water/habitat/mgmt_plans/lake/cowanesque.pdf

I do love those reels. This is a pretty good movie about the history of Abu Garcia reels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpzh3faJkXk

My son drilled 16 holes through 4 plates using a 3/8" cobalt drill bit. You can actually harden the steel and make it more difficult to drill through if using a high speed while drilling. Slow is better with lots of oil and a big strong guy to put some arm on the drill. My gunnels are 11" wide so the 6x6 plates fit nicely under them.