Billy V

I have several good memories...leading the Wilson Scotty after day 1,(landing in 4th after day 2), winning the Capt. Jack's tournament in Sodus, placing 3rd in the Summer LOC Derby, some crazy good days King fishing in Wilson this May, and so on. But I also had a great time watching my 4 and 6 year old sons catch lake trout, perch, and bass by the bucket full on Cayuga Lake this summer. The bad...breaking more gear than I ever thought possible on Day 1 in the Sodus Pro-Am. 9 Kings broke off paddles, flys, etc. that day, not to mention the other 8 or 10 fish that just came unbuttoned. Funny how we had it dialed the day before and then got spanked so hard the very next day. That day still hurts, and I'm not sure I'll ever know what really happened to us. But the hardest thing by far for me was missing Lake Ontario after we moved to Cayuga for the summer. While I really did enjoy my time on Cayuga with my family, I missed Lake Ontario far more than I thought I would. Sure I was able to get out with Jerry and Rick a few times over the summer but it just wasn't the same. We've decided to come back to Lake Ontario again next year, but I'm going to have to find a way to replace that time with my kids on Cayuga Lake. They truly loved coming trolling with their Dad, and I loved sharing it with them. I'm really torn between time with my kids here and time on the big Lake, so that'll be an on-going struggle for me in the coming years. Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and buy a smaller boat for down here too. In any event, it was an interesting year for us and one that will definitely stand out in my memories.

It looks like it's been pulled from their website. Must be technical difficulties. Hopefully it'll be back up again soon, because it's a great video!

The guys from Angling the Great Lakes put together a really cool episode that focused on the Lake Ontario Pro-Am in Niagara County. Very cool video and well worth the 22 minutes it takes to watch it. There's lots of familiar faces & boats in the video. Enjoy! http://www.divshare.com/download/8810668-ba8

Adding a waypoint couldn't be any easier than on a Humminbird. Just push the waypoint button once. As I recall you have to push it twice on a Lowrance. I've owned Lowrance, Eagle, Raymarine, and Humminbird plotters and in my opinion the the Humminbird has the most user-friendly menus by a wide margin. I own a Humminbird 955C that came pre-bundled with every single Navionics Gold+ and Fishing HotSpots charts that they make and I couldn't be happier.

Happy Birthday Rod!

I didn't know that Bob, thanks!

Jim Maloney moved mine from Wilson to Ithaca and took great care of it for me. Another place to check out is Lockview Marina: http://www.lockviewmarina.com/

We scraped and sanded it. It was LOTS of work and very hard on my back. Jay was a huge help, otherwise I'd still be trying to finish it up myself.

Thanks guys. I think I'm retiring from the bottom paint business though!

Wow, that is bad news. I've been a long-time fan of Dave's Lures. I certainly will miss their KA-BOOM Shiners.

Here's the before, during, and after shots of my bottom paint project: Before: During: After:

John, The boat had 19 years of bottom paint accumulation on it. From what I can tell it looked like the previous owner painted the entire bottom every year, so it was pretty thick in the places where it hadn't come off. At its best, the paint was a lumpy, uneven mess. At its worst it would peel off in sheets. It was just time.

Beautiful work Paul. Someday I hope to have one of your works of art on my wall at home.

Not a lot of fun this weekend, that's for sure, but at least we're making progress: One more coat of paint to go. I'll post pictures when we're done for those who are interested in seeing the finished product. And I'll get rid of that tree sap over the fall & winter Ray!

....and its a dirty job. Man am I tired. Fresh paint tomorrow.

My Dad & I spent Oct. 1st fishing the DSR with Tom Burke from Cold Steel and had a heck of a day. We were in fish all day long and really enjoyed our time with Tom. If any of you guys are looking for a real good river guide, I'd definitely recommend him. Here's a couple of pics from the day:

I figured that Hank had probably retired. He used to head up that Department years ago.

Is Hank Roenke still involved with the electroshocking?

I'm open to offers on this thing guys. I really want it out of my garage.

Jay and I met our Krenzer Marine tournament teammates Tim & Dan at the boat for one last troll on the lake before we pulled the boat for the season. We headed over to the West side and set up and found lots of bait and tons of hooks on the screen. We primarily worked the Taughannock area in anywhere from 80-350 FOW, but we did slide as far North as the Boy Scout camp at one point and then we even slid over to the East side for a bit later in the day. It was a slow pick all day, but we still managed to boat a few Lakers although none of them were very big. Our Wonderbread Spin Dr./Sigg's Wonderbread Superglow fly fished off of a diver out 210' on a #1 setting took fish for us today, as did a Green Spin Dr./Sigg's Green Apple and a White Spin Dr./Sigg's White Crinkle fly. Divers took most of the fish today, but we did take on laker off of a rigger too. While the fishing wasn't fast & furious, we still had a beautiful day on the water with some good company, so it was a really nice way to end our season.

ttt

My boat is beginning to get a lot of brown/orange sap spots on it from the Cottonwood tree that sits next to it in the marina. Spray 9 seems to break it down, but it works really really really slowly. Is there anything else that I can use to get the nasty little spots off of my gel coat without damaging it? Thanks!!

ttt

I took my buddy Kevin out for a couple of hours tonight for his first try at trolling Cayuga Lake. We found fish & bait in 260-340FOW South of Taughannock. We boated a few small Lakers and several small Atlantics. A DW Super Slim Tranny spoon fished off a rigger down 65' took several fish, and a Green Spinny/Sigg's Green Apple and a White Spnny/Sigg's Glow Ghost fished off of wires out 240 and 275 ft on a #2 setting took the rest of the fish. The wind was blowing pretty hard out of the NW all day, but by the time we got out there it had backed off quite a bit and it ended up being a pretty nice night.

Mark, Yes, we'll be back on Lake O again next year. Oh, and the Shark is sold pending receipt of payment. But I have you on the list if it falls through.