times two

Little bit of topic with this one, but...... Some of you may recall that I have a friend, Sean Patrick McGraw, who has been busting his butt trying to make it in country music. The last year has been really good for him, including a stint on tour with Toby Keith last year. Anyway, Sean's second video, titled "My So Called Life" has just been released this week on CMT! This song was actually used as background music on Fox Netwook's NASCAR coverage. The way that I understand it, the more plays it gets online, the more it will be used in the regular CMT rotation. So, if you have a sec, head on over to CMT.com; click on Sean Patrick McGraw on the artist's page and enjoy! You'll get to hear some great music, plus you'll be helping out Sean! Also, this song is also currently slated for radio release around October 22nd. How cool is that?? John http://community.cmt.com/profile/Jessewcty

Wasn't any better to the west. We did 1 'eye and 4 big sheep. Ended up about 8 miles west of Dunkirk when the winds came up. First time for my group on Lake Erie, so it made it an interesting ride back to port for them! So much for 10 knots or less. John

Do you know of a web link for the show?

Thanks! We'll be up at the LOTSA show for sure Jerry! John

Thanks Ray! Just a regular day today and went out to dinner with my wife and son. Actually have the last two for this season this sat/sun. Haven't had anything to post in some time....Mother Nature is really mad about something....Since Sept 1 , we've only had 2-3 days that were calm enough to fish, and it definitely has tailed off from what it was in June/July. But if the winds stay down...Saturday looks to be a great chance to try again. I'm going to try to hold out for a couple more weeks before we put "Times Two" to bed...but then we've got a weekend at Chautauqua with my brother and 9 of us are heading to Raystown Lake (PA) later in Oct to try for some stripers....... John

One of the rods my son uses panfishing has a busted bail spring. Daiwa Cygnus 2500b. Anyone know of a place to get parts? John

Walteye: From all the reports I've been getting, and from first hand experience yesterday, your report is very good. Things have been really tough of late. John

For about the last 10 days, Dunkirk has slowed down, and as Capt. Larry said 6,7, 8 is about the average of late. Still a good screen, but not as many takers as a couple weeks ago. Most fish have empty stomachs. I hooked up with 5 in a2.5 hrs with my son Wed, but that really was the first calm day since last Friday..... We've been working a north - south troll, 70-95 fow just west..... John

Nice job! We were 6 of 9...dropped 2 at the back of the boat.....90-105 was the best. Few and far between the last few days.... John

Guys....don't beat your self up! Last Sunday we did 13, and dropped another 7-8; and several other capts that I know were in the same ballpark. This week...Tues, Wed and today, most were around 7. Not exactly sure where they went, but I took my son and went looking last night and the places that the screen has been loaded were blank! Hard NE blow this afternoon, so we'll have to see what that did......out in the a.m. to try out luck......I'll post tomorrow night..... John

Landshark: We've had an awesome year! Loads of fish on the graph every day; sometimes more cooperative then others. Finally moved off the inshore structure and are fishing the suspended fish. Seems like it takes a day or two to settle after a blow, but its been steady. Majority of fish inside seem to be 3-5lbs; bigger fish farther out, but not as many. Last 3 times out we've had 3-4 fish in the box before we get the rods all in; but the trade off has been a lull about 9 am...... John

The way the wind was howling last night at 11 pm. there is no way I would have believed we would have gone today....BUT....wind backed off and once the remaining roll settled out, it was almost too calm this afternoon. Fished 85-100 fow, just west of the harbor. Boxed 13 eyes, and probably honestly lost another 6 or 7; plus 2 lakers and the usual assortment of sheepshead, perch, etc. All rods went today.... rigs at 55-60 on WD mojo and purple sunrise, and a watermelon harness; big slides at 155-165 with a blue/silver harness and a blue/silver Zman chatterstick; 10 color with a Kaboom diver and a green 5" chatterstick and the boards at 220 wiith little slides and harnesses.

We did the tournament too.... Had a double boat charter to get out of the way Friday first, so off course we did good on that, and then tanked in the pm trying to get our 3.....had us in a deep hole to start.... Saturday, moved offshore looking to get out of the little fish ....did 8 total and our best 3 were just over 20lbs. Yesterday...boxed 15 in just under 4 hrs, but only got mid-teens. 85 fow is loaded with 3-4 lb fish; and I don't recall seeing such a good consistent screen in a long time. Be sure to check out my blog...bit more info on that.... Out again in the a.m.... John

Thanks guys... G-daddy....that is the service we are looking at using.... BW, thanks....I shoot him a pm.... I've down striper similar to what you described a couple of years ago on Kerr Lake in VA. My brother is setting this all up, but we're trying to set it up to include my son (9) and a friends daughter (11) too, so we figured it might be cool to hang out the day before and stay over somewhere..... John

Looking at a possible trip for stripers in the fall....anyone ever been there? If so, how was it and where did you stay? John

When the lake allows, fishing has been good to very good. We've been running8-10 miles west, and honestly about 95% of my fish are coming on small spoons or chattersticks. Took a few days off with the family up north, but weather permitting will be on sat-sun this weekend, and fri-sun next weekend. John

You can view and order the chatters on zmanfishing.com John

We have an awesome laker fishery...but honestly, I try not to target it. If we get a few along the way, fine..... but I remember back in the 1980's as part of the then active Lake Erie Salmon and Trout Association....we supported the 1 fish limit to improve the fishery, and I hate to target them knowing we can land 20+ fish on a good day, but likely have great mortality.

Mark, I absolutely think the migration is early. We pretty much agreed last year that the ohio fish never quite got to Dunkirk, as the water for most of the summer last year was 7-8 degrees colder. That quick warm up this May certainly helped. Between Fri, Sat and Sun, we boated 51 walleye, and I'll bet 40 were in that 3-4 lb range. Great eaters, quick to clean. From what I heard last night, the guys that stayed offshore a bit more had a lot less fish, but the ones they did get were big. As long as the weather holds up, I can see this being good right into later September, just like it was 3 years ago. Ray, have you considered a job in Marketing? How'd you make out that day you called me last week? John

Day 2 of the New York Walleye Association Derby. We did 12 fish today; 11 could have been identical twins in 4lb range. We were first group today, which meant 7-2 pm fishing. At 1 pm, we pretty much figured we'd be weighing 5 fish for 17 lbs.....but we managed to hook a 7lber clearing rods off the downrigger....bumped us up to 22lbs, not good enough. Finished in the middle of the pack with 52lbs for 10 fish.....Top boat was 79lbs. 10 color went dead on us today....we figured 10 fish on it yesterday, but only 1 today. We had cold water move in on the western end of our loop from yesteray...8 degree break between 50 and 55 feet.... Chattersticks were again good and we actually had better luck with the 5" today. Mojo WD stayed hot off the riggers. I think it might have been too calm today..... Fish fry to end the night....bacon wrapped walleye, deep fried walleye, and we did a pan fried with a crushed jalapeno pretzel crust that was awesome! John

Another great day on the lake.....wasn't sure we were even going to make it looking at the radar at 5:30 am; but the storms held out for us.... Day 1 of the New York Walleye Association Derby. We did 23 fish; again most in the 4-5 lb range. We were second group today, which meant 8-5pm fishing. At 2 pm, we pretty much figured we'd be weighing 5 fish for 20lbs.....not to good....but things changed for us big time in the last hour and a half, as we upgraded with several fish. Ended up at 30.08lbs for 5 walleye...sitting in 29th out of 79 boats, but we're bunched up with quite a few others. Capt. Bud (Alibi Charters) is sitting in 3rd after today...great job! Pretty much a little bit of everything again, but the 10 color rig with a 5" green Zman Chatterstick was our best. Also took some on the slide divers, jet divers and the riggers and even 1 on a small slide diver off the boards. I'm tired......need a big Day 2..... John _________________ Capt. John Forbes Times Two Charters

Another great day on the lake.....wasn't sure we were even going to make it looking at the radar at 5:30 am; but the storms held out for us.... We did 16 fish by 12:30; again most in the 4-5 lb range. Great eaters....only had 1 over 6 lbs; and we kicked one that was too small. Pretty much a little bit of everything with some on 10 color, slide divers, jet divers and the riggers. Zman chattersticks were good again...3" in red or green; 5" in green and off the rigs the WD's (Dreamweavers) were good in mojo, and purple sunrise. Also took a smallmouth that went just over 5lbs. John

Lineman...the GPS speed will vary, but I try to stay at 1.6 -1.8 at the ball; using a depth raider. Haven't run the lite bites yet...but I've heard they work really well. John

I agree on the boards, they can be a pain, but it gets us more lines in the water. As far as dipseys/slides, both can be great. The real difference is the line goes thru the slides, so you can set long leads behind them. John

I was hoping to get a bunch more reports out, but Mother Nature killed that last week with 4 days of blow. Hopefully out this Fri-Sat-Sun..... Wooleye, you can run the chattersticks behind anything your run your harnesses on. Check them alongside the boat before you run them to make sure they look good. I was running them off the 40 jets, big slide divers (3 inch) and I like a big 5" off the 10 color. I've also run them from time to time off the riggers. Support your local tackle stores, but if you can't get them, www.zmanfishing.com. John