times two

My brother and brother in law are in visiting, so we headed out Sunday to try to get a few walleye for a fish fry. Another nice start before she blew like crazy. Seems like the last 3 Sunday's we've come in on some pretty big waves! Had a bunch of fish on, but had trouble keeping them stuck. Ended up boating 3 nices ones, and easily lost 7-8 more. My brother in law insisted about reeling real slow and with the tip down! Zero on the 10 color surprisingly, best set up was an orange/copper harness 75 back on a 55 rigger.....kept popping the rods and the fish would hit.... 60-65 fow, west of the harbor was loaded with fish on the graph, but you also will get your share of silver bass, white perch, etc....... John

Been spending a fair amount of time on the water and at work, so I figured I owed the wife and son....so we took a short break and headed up to Moon River, Ontario (www.moonbasinmarina.com). Nice cabins, great weather, river was warm to swim, etc. Spent the quality time with my son fishing for bass, sunnies, perch etc....did manage a few minutes of pike time, and we landed a 22" pike. Definitely worth the break!! John

Headed back out today in building seas. Worked our way back to the waypoint from yesterday. Did 3 walleye pretty quick, but the lake was rolling pretty good by then, so we called it quits. 150 slide diver with a harness, 55 rigger with an orange harness and the 47 foot rigger with a fishlander "nuke" wing. John

Real good day today out of Dunkirk. We boxed 18 fish by 1 pm, and easily lost another 10-12, including several right at the back of the boat. No hogs, just good 4 lbers! 10 color with a big hatchet was good early down the chute. 150 and 155 slide divers on 3. DW chicken wing, and a homemade "confusion" harness. 45 and 55 ft riggers, one with an orange/copper harness 75 back, the other 40 back with a fishlander nuke wing. Took 2 fish off the boards on a little slide 175 back, and a couple on 40 jets, also 175 back. 1.7-1.9 at the ball. 55-65 fow. John

It depends on the boat speed too, but as a general rule, it seems as though dividing the distance back by the set gives you the appx. depth. So 180 back on 3 is about 60 ft. John

As some of you may know, in the middle of June Fishlander closed its doors. That had come as a surprise to me, since I've been on their pro-staff for a bit, and had just done a seminar with their manager. In any event, I spoke to him yesterday, and he said that there are a couple of "very interested" parties looking a possibly purchasing them. They are in the process of taking inventory (Todd said there are "thousands" of blades to be counted), and once that's done, they hope on of the interested parties moves forward and gets them back in business. Todd suggested that they may concentrate a bit more on walleye stuff too! So he said to sit tight, and see what happens. John

For sale: Uniden Solara DSC gimbel mount radio. Unit was purchased new in July 2007 from Cabela's. Works great. Selling as I have purchased a different radio with sidebands. White. Do not have the mike bracket. Either left it on the old boat or misplaced it moving all my stuff over to this one this spring. New in Cabela's, $99 plus shipping. Asking $75 including shipping. John

Fished the Ameracan Walleye Derby this weekend out of Dunkirk. Saturday, got a 7+ lb fish right off the bat at the numbers we had from Tuesday...figured alright! Here we go.... Well, over the next 2 hrs we only put in three more small ones, and the screen wasn't good, so my team opted to make a major move and run to the border. Water out there was a lot warmer, blank screen. So we pointed her right at the stacks and just started trolling back. Added 3 more walleye, and boxed out for 5 fish at just over 23lbs. One more big one would have helped for sure. 10 color with a big hatchet was good. 160 wire diver with DW chicken wing, and a small slide off the boards at 210 back with a small watermelon fishlander was out best. Very hot, and the flies were the worst I can ever remember. They even were biting thru the socks! Sunday was blowing and raining early, so we opted to head west just past Van Buren Point. Had a friend take 20 fish in there on Sat. SO we go 2 right off the bat, 1 on the 10 color/hatchet combo, and 1 on 1 165 slide diver with a "confusion" harness. Could not find any big guys, so with a deadline of 2 pm, and looking at 11:30 already, we opted to move into see if we could at least get a few more for the freezer. And of course popped an 8lb clearing lines to move! Did 3 more fish inside, 1 on a 40 jet, and a couple more on the 10 color. Lost 2 on the rigs, and several others off the boards. Watermelon harnesses were the best, as well as an orange willowleaf, and of course a big hatchet blade off the core. It seemed like the fish in the side water were a different year class. All 4-5 lbs. Down speed 1.9-2.1 on a DR. Came in yesterday on solid 5 footers! Unofficially ended up in 26th place out of over 100 boats. Really could have been helped by at least 1 more big guy each day. John

Slow start to the morning, but ended up good after 9 am. We did 9 for 9 on walleye, including a couple in the 8-9lb range. Little bit of everything....took 2 on a wire slide diver, 160 back on 3 with a DW chicken wing, 1 on a little slide diver of the boards, 195 back on a harness, 3 off the 10 color down the chute with a big watermelon mix hatchet blade, a 3 off the rigs at 55 and 65, orange/chartreuse fishlander (size 0). All in all, a pretty good morning..... John

Generally, I'm running about 8 feet of leader behind the jet. Gotta still be able to net the fish! I normally use harnesses on those, but have run smaller spoons and sticks. Doesn't seem to make a difference in the depth. 20 jets pretty much go about 20ft; 30 jets 30 ft and so on.

I run 7 strand all year on Erie. With client especially, it is not unusual for me to have to cut off a few feet, some times a couple times a day. It pigtails, or gets twisted. That would be my guess. John

Had only a couple of hours to fish today, so I went out with a friend to give it a shot. Lots of fish high early, so i put out 1 rigger, 1 big slide and 2 20 jets off the boards. Did 4 walleye and dropped a nice steelie. Talking to the guys later at the marina, seemed as though it was a tough bite today, and many guys only had a couple. Likely a result of the NE wind. 3 on 20 jets, black, 175 back off the big boards, watermelon harnesses. 1 off the big slide, no rig, on 3, 160 back on a DW chicken wing. Dropped steelie was on a DW glow frog, 45 down. 4 out of 5 came going into the waves, 2.1 at the ball. Back out in the a.m. John

Didn't fish the 4th, but got a report.... Friend took 13 in 75-85 just east of the harbor. Fish deep. Another friend got 3 out by Van Buren Pt> Fishing in the am...will post.....

DB Fishing has been pretty good for the most part. Had a lot of wind the last week and that has moved the fish around. Yesterday a friend of mine went in the morning and got 6, but came in on solid 3's. Went over to NE wind this evening, so hopefully that won't blow too. I running several days between now and tuesday, so weather permitting I should be able to get a couple of posts on. 65-75 fow has been the best. Mostly off the jets. John

YT....you are correct about Fishlander, at least for the moment. I saw the post on another board last Friday, and was very surprised since I had dinner with Todd and worked the Southtowns Walleye Association meetin with him in the middle of June, and he was really upbeat. So I called and talked to him. I asked if it would be ok if I posted to any discussions like this and he said ok. Basically, there were 2 investors, one who left in winter, and the second who just left now. Seems the cost of production has risen due to fuel, etc and they saw a drop in sales once they had to go over $4. Also apparently were affected negatively by the cold spring. Todd is working on a couple of options to possible re-open relatively soon. That apparently will be known one way or the other in the next few weeks. In the meantime, they were trying to fill any orders that they have outstanding, take inventory, etc. He told me to check back in a couple of weeks. Going back to the post about the holders, I've been with them for 5 years now, and have been very pleased with the product. Its a shame they may be done. John

Plexus...available at West Marine...'bout $14.00 a can. Works great. John

I'll throw in my 2 cents for Fishlanders. Mutiple adjustments front to back and up and down (19 ways if I remember correctly). Ran duals for 4 seasons...just changed to triples. www.fishlander.com If you call, ask for Todd. John

Ray..didn't see the post until today, but it looks like you didn't need help. From what I've heard, its been pretty good in Barcelona, Dunkirk and the Catt. 55-65 fow seems to be the best, lots of harnesses. John

Check with Todd at Fishlander.com I believe he told me he can custom paint. John

Whew! After a long May and early June due to weather, riggin issues, and work...finally all came together today and we ran the new boat!! DId pretty good on the walleye, all above 21". Rigs and wire were dead. All walleye came off the big boards, 20 jets 150 back. Mostly watermelon hatchet blades. 55-65 fow. Also did 1 7-8lb brown trout..45 rigger DW Frog...... John

Ray...yes...eyes out of Dunkirk. Its been blowing for 3 days, so hopeful the wind will rest starting tomorrow! John

Guys....not sure how many of you know Capt. Bud of Alibi Charters.... Fishes the spring at Wilson, summer at Dunkirk and late August at the Oak.... Anyway, he lost his mother over the weekend to cancer, and I know that you all would join me in wishing the family the best in their time of need.... John

With the heat of last week, things popped nicely... New ride issues have limited me, but the "alibi" boat did really good fri-sun. 50-60 fow, divers at 150; 3-4 color lead. I'm moving hopefully on Friday, and trip on Sunday, so I should be able to give you some good data! FYI.....Capt. Bud's mom (ALIBI) passed away late Saturday night (cancer)...so keep Bud and his family in mind..... John

Ray.... Due to work and a couple of kinks with the new ride...haven't fished yet....this weekend.... but..."alibi" did really well this past weekend..... John

Ray...hope everything works out with your dad. John