times two

We stayed at the French River Lodge. Bounced back and forth between a couple other areas, but have been going to the French every year since 1995.

To be honest, we really don't fish for them. Where we were located, it was about 10 minutes to some fast water where walleye were being caught, and a couple of our more eager novice guys tried it a couple of mornings. I get to fish for a lot of walleye all summer here on erie, so its nice to be able to fish for pike up there or salmon on LO. We did get probably around a dozen or so smallies, biggest was in the 3-4lb range, but again, that was incident. Pike are good if fresh...we did some bacon wrapped on the grill. French River has a slot 21-34" must be kicked back. A 20" pike is just not quite big enough, so y bones can be a challenge. John

Just got back from our annual Memorial Day weekend trip up to the French River in Ontario. Great trip! 6 guys boated 273 pike in 3.5 days of fishing, 28 over 22" long. Biggest was 9lbs, 31". Weather for the most part was good too....a tad buggy the first couple of days when you got out of the wind. John

This boat is still for sale. It would be a perfect boat for someone looking to upgrade a charter boat, or to simply have a very plush fishing/family boat. Price reduced from $32,000 to $28,000! Call Dan at 716-672-5868 or 716-672-9188 Pics available via email upon request.

hookedup: There is a captain here in Dunkirk that got a 25' 2 years ago. Uses it in FLA in the winter, here in the summer. Walkaround. Loves it. Got it towards NYC...I think the place was called port of egypt. Anyway, I looked for one as part of my search over the winter. Couldn't afford new, and couldn't find a good used freshwater. Lots of saltwater used if you search the net. John

Selling this for a friend of mine. Fishhawk 840 with probe, transducer,etc. All in working order. Unit is about 10 years old, but has not been used in 6-7 years. Guy had sold his boat, but never bothered to sell the hawk in case he got back in to it. Asking $325.00. Call Gary at 716-785-5580.

Running core, you already have the knot at the snap, the knot where the leader meets the core, and the knot where the core meets the backing. Even though there are great knots out there, I'm always afan of keeping them to as few as possible. Also, in my experience with core for walleye, I have not noticed a big differnce in depth by letting out more backing. I have used snap weights to add depth, though. John

JD...the site you gave looks pretty good. You may also wish to check northeastmarineelectronics.com, they seem pretty good on pricing too. John

I just ordered some decals for the boat....registration numbers and name for the side of the cabin. Got them thru www.namemyboat.com which was cheaper than I could do it locally. Got them in about 3 days too! If any of you are in the market for decals, I'd definitely take a look at that site. I am not affiliated...just pleased. John

I agree, been around a couple anyway. You should add a couple of the ultra glow NBK's. They were smoking last fall for us at the Oak. John

I've got a deal going that is supposed to be finalized soon, for a different radio, so I will have a Uniden Solara DSC available. I bought it last summer, works great. I think it was $99 in cabela's. I'm thinking $80, since you would need to get a mike holder. I apparently left the other one on the old boat. White. John

Hank... Thank you for the suggestion and the help along the way. I appreciate it. John

Thanks for those that tried to help. Tonight, disconnected the VHF power from the electronic box fuse panel, and ran a line across the floor to the batteries. No static. Then reconnected to the panel but at the farthest tabs away from where the stereo is connected. No static. Moved it back to the original spot, static....hmmm. So moved it back away, fingers crossed, hopefully good to go! John

Ray...might just take up on that....once I get back from northern ontario, I'm going to have about 3 weeks to finish the break in, get all of the tackle on board and fish it a few times before we go "live' at the end of June!

Thanks Hank. I'll try a direct line tonight. That's one of the differences in this set up....last boat was direct to the battery. Ray, I know one thing, I'm chomping at the bit!! Missed out on getting up to Wilson, cept for 1 day between rigging and work. I'm ready!! John

Hoping I don't have to move the antennas....just drilled through the hardtop! Ray...got a new boat..hence all the questions. Took a ride with my son yesterday to shake her down. Really good baitfish in 40 fow, but no real hooks.... Little early yet... Gotta get my Canada trip in first! DieselHp..thanks.....hoping I can filter it somehow...more annoying than anything.

Set up my electronics box like many others I have seen. Stereo on the left, VHF on the right. Both are wire to the fuse panel in the box. VHF antenna is on the port side, just inside the hand rail. Stereo antenna is on the port side too, but only about 6-8 inches from the mast light. Stereo works, sounds good. VHF seems to be ok getting weather, etc. Was playing around tonight and discovered that when you key the mike, the stereo goes to static. As soon as you release the mike, stereo resumes as it was. VHF is a 1 yr old Uniden, Stereo is a Sony that I just bought. Any idea what I have going on here? Solutions? John

Ray...nothing firing yet that I know of. Probably mid-June..... Generally, I don't go in the slip until the first weekend in June. First charter is the 22nd..... John

To finish out the bilge pump story..... Back pump worked fine when taken out and direcly wired to a battery. Put it back in, with the dash switch on, and it also worked. Turn the switch off, then back on and the only way it would fire up is if you tapped it pretty hard. Couldn't trust that so I replaced it, and it now works. Front one also worked when directly wired. Turns out that this was not on the switch as the factory rep and dealer both said, which makes sense since it could potentially run dry every time the rear one activated. Long story short, the black wire must have a crack or whatever in it, a as that was definitely not working. Also found out that the auto float was not working. SO I get that all going, put it back in the boat last night and wire it exactly where the factory had it. NOTHING! So I took the red wire and moved it from where they had it on the fuse panel to a spot marked bilge pump (imagine that!!) and it works! Whew! The dealership is going to cover the parts but unfortunately I can't bill them for pain and suffering John

I use power pro on my slides, run a 40-50 foot piece of 30lb flourocarbon, on which we run the slides. Don't have to worry about the braid. John

I went on a friends boat out of Wilson. It was nasty, no temp and we only got 1 coho. I'm still cold.

Capt Bill: Pm sent John

Thanks Billy. I don't see how it could be anything else. Dealership said I could bring it back or they would just send me the pumps. Fairly easy access to both, just a pain. John

Got the new boat home last Thursday. Noticed that the bilge pump switch was on. Turned it off but the light stayed on. No matter what way I did it (battery on or off) the light would stay on, and neither pump would work. Turns out that the light was on due to water in the bilge, and when you drain the bilge, light goes out. But neither pump works. The dealership "prepped" the boat for the ride home, so it is likely that the pumps were on for 6 hrs. Dealership will make it good, one way or the other, but its over 4 hrs each way for me, and with gas $ I'm trying to avoid it if possible. I'm thinking one or the other of the pumps is fried since I know that if you put water in the bilge, the float is activating the switch. THoughts?

I've gotten several sets made by amish craftsmen. But if you don't have a way to get to them, check out Amish Outfitters on the net.....