muskiedreams

Was the lost one and the follow also small?

There is no tournament on Waneta in July. Chapter 69 is going to have an informal outing on July 12th. It is just a get together and fish. Maybe we will raft up for lunch. Are you a member?

Tigerhunter, I did see a boat at the north end in about 20" of water in the evening with 4 guys casting. If that was you, I was the boat that trolled a few circles around you

Fished with Jim in my boat. Used Jim's truck to tow it, the Grumman with kicker motor. Didn't get started till about 10:30 and fished till dusk.. Seems like everyone was having a hard time getting the fish to cooperate.

Jim got one 35"r trolling a spoon. Didn't get a picture because it wouldn't hold still for the pose, it bit JIm's finger and he had to dump it overboard to to keep it from droping on the floor.

brent fingar, I think we talked to you yesterday but I'm not sure I know your real name.

old man, I know who you are but if we talked to you yesterday, I didn't recognize you.

Tigerhunter, I might have met you but I'm not sure who you are or if we talked to you yesterday. I might have met you at the Otisco tiger tourney.

I have a hard enough time connecting names and faces, and then adding LOU name to the mix makes it even worse. Eventually I figure it out.   Even when I cross paths with someone on the water, I might not recognize them except by their boat or voice (my eyes are not the greatest these days and glare from glasses makes it worse). Rain gear and winter gear or wierd hats    makes it tougher or sometimes easier (Clint at Otisco).

Steve

From what I have heard, there is always a bass tournament on opening day that starts at 7am and therigs are parked all the way up and down the road. So you might want to get there at least an hour earlier than that. I have a friend that will let us park at his house on the lake so we just have to do a pick up at the dock.

Nice    

Dshart, You must live close to me. From here, the  Upper Niagara River and Waneta lake are about the same distance and driving time. About 1.5 hours to launch. So if you want to fish for purebred muskies those are your best bets unless you want to go further to Chautauqua.

Conesus is close and good for pike but tigers are far and few between.

Otisco is better for Tigers but it is a slightly longer distance than Waneta or the Niagara.

For each location there are different tactics, baits etc. that will put fish in your net.

Also, please be prepared to release them carefully to minimize trauma to them. See the catch and release discussion at the top of this forum catagory.

I am only going to have a little less than $6k to work with. Just doing some checking on Ford F150s and Chevy 1500s on the Kelley Blue Book site, they are valued about $1500 to $2000 more than that. So it might be tough to go that way with the amount I have to work with.

rbonnell,

How big or heavy is your boat? What is the drive train in the truck and does it have a towing package? How has the reliabilty and repair costs been.

I talked to someone who lives on Waneta on Sat and he said the water level is high, about 1.5 to 2 ft. I don't know about clarity but Waneta is usally a bit cloudy anyway. It is hard to say what it will be like this weekend with the rain going through tonight, but at least there won't be any more rain until possibly Saturday. That might give it a chance to settle down a little.

Justin you said: "Just when i thought we'd limit the bite just stopped. Minutes later paul hooks up with a huge tiger!"

I wonder if the tigers scared the walleyes off.

I had a GMC Safari before the Trailblazer EXT and it lost oil pressure and blew the engine shortly after I had head gasget replaced. They probably dropped some crap in the enging that siezed the oil pump. Had an Astro before that, that got totaled. They weren't as good for towing. Were barely adequate clinbing hills and the brakes were scary going downhill. Service was expensive because of the tight engine compartment. I did like being able to walk through to the back to launch.

The front hubs on the Trailblazer had to be replaced aroung 50k and at a little over 100k, I had to replace one again recently and the other was starting to get noisy. Also had to replace the transfer case. transmission cooler, water pump, transmission lines and exhaust manifold. The thermostat was a bear to replace because it is mounted in a tough place to get to.

Does anyone know of any other forums that talk about tow vehicles?

My 2003 Extended Trailblazer just got destroyed last night in an accident. I'm ok but my neck is a little sore. It was someone else's fault so I hope to get resolution and find a replacement soon. I will not be able to spend any more than what I get from insurance.

The trailblaze performed well for towing except the parking brake (even with new parts did not hold very well at the ramp). Had to rely mostly on the parking gear. It got about 12 to 13 mph while towing boat (about 2000 lb). Best mileage I ever recorded was about 17 on highway trip not towing. The 4 wheel disk brakes worked very well on hills (no trailer brakes) and there was plenty of power for hill climbing as well with the inline 6 cylinder engine.

I did have quite a few major mechanical repairs. By the way, the air bag did not deploy with hard frontend hit at 40 to 45 mph.

Any recomendations or experiences on various tow vehicles that might fall into the price range I will be looking for, will be apreciated. I am looking to weigh various pros, cons and tradeoffs in regard to towing perforance, reliability, mileage, SUV vs Pickup, etc.

It sucks that this happened just before the opener. But I am greatful that I escaped any major injury and the people in the other two vehicles did as well.

They sure are fat there!!

My guess is that more of us have done that than would like to admit. They say you learn from your mistakes but this is one of those things you can have a lapse of memory with. The first time is usually not the last.

Pike or Tigers?

UPDATES

1) Second registration location has been added.

2) Friday night Muskies Inc. Chapter 69 meeting will be at Mike Sperry's "Chautauqua Reel Outdoors" bait and tackle shop.

Click HERE for details.

I would guess there are fuses under the drivers console behind the dash. There is a good chance there are inline fuses on the wires at the battery or there might be a fuse block near the battery. If it is an older boat, there could also be issues with corrosion at any of the electrical connections, including the fuse holders. Wiggling the wiring while watching for lights to come back on might reveal that. I just had to go through and clean connections for all my fuses and some other connections with scotch brite pad and sandpaper.  I clean up battery connections every year.

I have heard that it's good up there for eyes but I wouldn't want to eat them.

I'm sure the night trollers aren't too happy about the launch fee machine.

Started yesterday about 6:15pm. Cast east side points and NE corner til dark for pike and tigers. Just got one LMB.Then  trolled S of launch E side with sticks for eyes. There was a lot of alwives on surface. Even snagged a few on sticks. No eyes. quit around 2:30. Surface temp was 66.

Muskies Inc. NY Chapter 69 will be hosting

Captain John Oravec

Musky Fishing on the St. Lawrence River

At our June 16, 2014 membership meeting

Location: The Moose Lodge 5375 West Henrietta Rd., Henrietta, NY

Meeting starts at 7:00 PM

Captain Oravec will begin Approx 8:00 PM

Our guest speaker will be the legendary Captain John Oravec. He will be giving a presentation on fishing for muskies on the St. Lawrence River. Captain Oravec is one of the most experienced Great Lakes fishing guides in New York State with over thirty years experience and fifteen years experience guiding for muskies in the St. Lawrence River. He will be presenting detailed  information on a variety of tactics, techniques and locations for targeting muskies on the Larry based on his many years of experience and success in the area. He has previously given presentations for the Three Rivers Chapter of Muskies Inc. and The Niagara Musky Association and I have heard that puts on an excellent program.

This is free and open to the public. If you have any interest at all in fishing the St. Lawrence for muskies you don’t want to miss Captain Oravec’s presentation. Even if you don’t ever fish the St Lawrence you can learn some things that you can apply elsewhere. I suggest that you take notes.

As Muskies Inc NY Chapter 69 has assumed full responsibility for managing the Chautauqua baitfish fund and tournament, we are evaluating ways to ensure that our efforts to manage future tournaments and suppliment the Chautauqua Lake musky stocking program will achieve the desired results in the future. As part of this process, we will be suspending the annual tournament in its traditional fundraiser format for this year.  In its place, we will be holding an open catch and release tournament, following the OPEN TOURNAMENT RULES. Click HERE for details. We hope to bring back the Baitfish Fund Tournament in 2015.

I was planning on fishing Conesus on Friday evening for tiges and then into the night for Eyes. Would appreciate any reports or tips. Also I was wondering about lake level, debris, and if there is still a 5mph speed limit on the lake.

The oil is coming out of the exhaust port.

If the kicker is a 4 stroke, it may have leaked some crankcase oil into the cylinders. I have an Evenrude 4 stroke and I remember reading in the instructions, not to lay it on a particular side. It will cause oil to leak into cylinders. You might have to check to see if oil is in cylinders. Turn it over a few times and then pull a plug and see it there is oil on it. If there is oil in the cylinders, the motor won't start until you get it cleared out and cleaned off the plugs. Also, check the crankcase oil level to see if it is low. You should do an oil and filter change anyway. I am not sure how to go about removing oil that has leaked into cylinders but if that has happened , it will not start until you get it cleared out.

If you plan to trailer the boat ant distance with the kicker on the bracket, it is a good idea to cinch it in tight with a ratchet strap to keep it from bouncing around, which will put stress on the bracket, motor and transom.

It is always saddening to hear about something like this. This makes me think twice about going out alone, even on a small lake. It is very possible to fall overboard when trolling and watching as your boat pulls away. I guss the best thing to do is to take every precaution when out alone to prevent a mishap from becoming a tragety.

My heart goes out to this man and his family.