Sluggo / NY

Mike.. We did the river night trolling a couple of times and caught some hogs flatlining F-18 Rapalas.. but I didn't enjoy the "full contact" fishing, especially at night! We tried daytime trolling in the harbor and picked up a few very early running boards against the breakwalls, but it was real slow and didn't last long. I do much better up around Henderson, Black River Bay and near the mouth of the river. I pretty much just kill time up there waiting for the summer bite on the eastern end of Erie. Now.. if you really want to troll for walleyes.. no crowds.. big walleyes.. warm weather! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

I know this topic is getting old, but I'm going to bring it up again. My buddy wants to put autopilot on his Lund with hydraulic steering. He loves my setup.. Smartpilot on mechanical steering.. plus the price I paid (about a grand). But this obviously won't work on his. Everything he's looked at is at least twice as much. All he want's is something to hold a straight course. He doesn't care about tying into his GPS or plotting courses. Any suggestions? Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Rodney... How ya been? I haven't been able to get on MY river since mid-December. I've been checking it daily.. the launch is open, but there's nowhere to fish! The prime ("secret") spots are still iced in. Hopefully in the next few days she'll start flushing it out! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

A while back I used to post river walleye reports on another board. After some heated exchanges about giving out info.. I quit posting. The board no longer exists! I realize that I don't post reports often.. and being primarily a walleye guy.. most of you probably don't look at them anyway, but I also don't get out as often as many of you do. I do enjoy browsing through.. reading about results and techniques though. I'd really miss this place if it came to a secret handshake society! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Sol.. Not so sure it would be worth the trip. The few guys I know who target musky don't do very well. But they don't use walleyes for bait . Somewhere I have a picture of a 54", 38#er that I got while jigging with a 1/8th oz. bucktail, but my encounters with them are pretty rare. Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Been pounding the local river here with my little boat for the past month and doing great on the walleyes. Last week I was down there hitting my "secret" shallow water spot with three nice walleyes hanging on the stringer when all h___ broke loose next to the boat. I look over and there's a huge musky staring at me with one of my fish in it's mouth! After a short tug of war, he let me have my fish back. Any ideas on what size hook to use as a stinger on a stringer? Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Bob.. As mentioned, downrigging (or trolling) can become addictive! The only time I don't have a rigger down is this time of year.. when I'm jiggin' up walleye on the river. I use them for walleye on Erie.. as well as Ontario and Cayuga for trout and salmon. You've already gotten plenty of good advice, but from my experience.. here's some more. For finger lakes downrigging.. I like Ugly Sticks for rods (I use 7-1/2'ers) and spinning reels. The reels I use are Bait Sensors that have a dual drag. When dropping the ball I just flip to the light drag and the line feeds out under slight tension. Once down, I flip to the normal drag setting. I started by using conventional spinning reels and feeding the line with my finger on the edge of the spool.. talk about line twist! Now that they've come out with smaller level wind reels (like Daiwa's 17's) there's more options.. plus they're perfect for Erie walleyes! As for releases.. I like the Canon pinch-pads behind the ball.. and the Roemmer's up the cable if running two rods per rigger (which I seldom do). Anyway.. there's some more BS to digest. If you want to try a couple of bait sensor setups this spring.. let me know. I think I have 8 of them and rarely use any! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Mike.. Nice fish.. and pics! If your arms get tired or you want some "eater" size eyes.. it's starting to get decent here on the river. Four limits in the past four days. Good luck in the tourney! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Just spoke with a buddy last night who charters out of Barcelona. He said things have really slowed down there. He's moved most of his remaining charters to Conneaut, OH. They have to run out about ten miles there, but they're getting consistant limits of good fish. That will probably be our next trip! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Spent six days plying the waters out of Barcelona Harbor.. as usual, we had a blast! Wed. was the only bad weather we encountered.. but we had our golfclubs along! The lake and launch were both quite busy with the Con Club tourney going on, but there were plenty of fish to go around! We did best in deeper water.. 110 to 125.. and dipsies seemed to perform best for us. Watermellon harnesses back 170 - 200 on #3 setting or riggers down 60 - 65 did the trick. Had 2 fish over 10#, but many were in the 4 - 5 pound range. Be back out there soon I hope! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Gill-T... I've found that once we get into 70+ feet of water the number of trash fish drops way down. Last trip out we caught one or two lambchops in three days of fishing. Personally.. I don't care about lakers, but I know that they do well by dropping down deep or bouncing bottom in our area. Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris) ps.. I do equally well both east and west of the harbor, but usually head west for a more comfortable ride back if it blows up!

We also seem to do better running deeper than most.. and it seems that most of out larger fish come deeper. As for the downriggers.. they just don't work well for us! I've tried running long leads (100 ft.) and diving stickbaits, but the dipsies always outperform them by far. Snap weights off the boards work well for us also. We've got several leadcore rigs but they seldom get used.. just hate the feel of the stuff! Walleyes fight poor enough as it is. With leadcore I don't know if it's a fish or a trash bag till it's at the boat! Gotta go tie up some harnesses for next week. We'll be out at Barcelona from Wed. thru Sun... anyone else from LOU going to be out there? Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

I'll be hitting Erie next week for five days.. fishing out of Barcelona. Did decent last trip out late last month.. hope to get better numbers this time. I'll post a report when I get back. Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

John.. I look forward to and appreciate your reports! Be back out there soon! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Fishing wasn't great? Most guys not familiar with Erie would consider that the trip of a lifetime! Nice fish and nice pics. I'll be back out there in three weeks.. can't wait! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Finally made it back out to Erie for some walleye trolling. Launched out of Barcelona and tried both east and west. Lake was flat both Friday and Saturday.. so was the fishing! We did manage four good fish each day, but spent 9 or 10 hours working for them! Sunday was looking better! A little breeze giving about 1 footers or so. We ran to the PA line and started trolling back towards the harbor. Had a 10#er before the second rod was rigged! Picked up another just a few minutes later! Grabbed five more before we had to head home early.. hated to leave! Almost everything came on harnesses behind dipsies.. a couple came on Renowski's off the riggers. Down about 45ft over 75 seemed best for us. Be back out in a few weeks! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Mike.. I didn't know that.. so sorry to hear. He was a good guy!

The 17th Annual AMARA-CAN Walleye Classic will take place July 10-11. For information, call Dayton Kane at (716) 875-8872 or Robert Zoeller at 875-8148.

Finally got the big boat out! Launched at Treman Sunday about 9am and trolled the southeast shoreline to Meyers. Picked up four landlocks.. all off boards.. all little guys. Moved out and dropped the riggers down deeper.. about 80 ft. Picked up a couple of lakers.. one decent (about 6 lbs.). Not a real banner day, but the boat ran perfect and the weather was great. No complaints here! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Welcome aboard Bill.. I'm just a stone's throw away from you here in Endwell! Spend a bit of time drifting the Susky down your way. Stick around.. some good stuff here! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Mike.. I'm not sure where yet, but I may just park near your driveway and follow you! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Mike.. The few times we've spoken gave me the impression that you were fairly intelligent Seriously.. Congrats.. and best of luck! We just celebrated our 36th! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Welcome aboard Al.. Great to have another Erie troller here! I mostly troll the eastern basin for walleye, but sometimes venture as far west as Port Clinton when the urge gets too bad! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

I shouldn't complain as I ended the season quite well. They finally cleared the local river launch on Wed. the 3rd. My wife told me that I fished the next eight days in a row.. didn't seem like that much to me! Anyway.. I did get limits on all but one of the days, and released five females over 25". At one point I counted 16 boats in the small area that we fish.. I didn't realize that fishing is a "full contact" sport till then! Unfortunately, by the end of last week, the warmth and wetness got the river muddy and high.. pretty much ending the season early for us. That's OK.. we'll let those big girls go have their babies now. Almost time to start trolling for those shoreline browns.. no? Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Welcome aboard neighbor.. I'm just down the road in Endwell. I also fish primarily for walleye (I'd be out now if the river wasn't so ugly). Once in a while I'll fish for trout or salmon so they let me stick around here Lots of good guys and info here. Stick around! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)