jimski2

Chautauqua Lake is hot for small perch now. Minnows on a dead stick, marmooskas with 3 mousies, pimples with a perch eye are good bets. 10 inches or better ice but the snow is sinking the ice causing slush under the snow. High property taxes cause many homeowners to be unfriendly to non taxpayers so park at the public state parks like Long Point, Midway, Prendergast Hatchery Ramp or Mayville. Fish are within a couple hundred yards off shore. Snowmobiles work and ATV's are struggling now in the snow and slush. Keep the perch over 9 inches, scale them as they have soft scales and you will have nice filets for dinner. Take your kids, they will not be bored. The TV shows schools of perch at times of up to a dozen together. At dark the shrimp are dancing on the screen and the perch eyes glow from LED lamp on the camera. The walleyes are available at dawn and dusk with a #7 jigging rapala and half a minnow on the treble. You can not take too many perch as the rest will get bigger with the culling going on. More information is available on http://WWW.iceshanty.com Look under New York fishing reports

There are 25,000 boats for sale on thr internet. It is a buyers market today.

Wintertime boat operation can best be observed at the Lewiston Boat Ramp on the lower Niagara River. You will see boats up to 21 footers with 225 HP outboards running in below freezing temperatures all winter long when the river water is clear. When hauled out, outboards are trimmed down and kicked over to drain them and the next day they are back out on the river. I have never seen I/O's there in the winter. It really is amazing to watch the aluminum boats bouncing off the icebergs. What you really see is a lot of rainbows, browns and lake trout being brought in by some "die hard" types of fishermen.

Above the prop there is a small fin that can be adjusted to help compensate for the side thrust.

Commercial fishermen have been the objects of hatred by many involved in the sport fishing industry. The Discovery Channel shows they work harder than most people we know and are exposed to dangers none of which we would consider having part of. Captain Phil Harris is what the real world is all about and we should remember him for this.

Welding a gas tank is usually not good.

A very simple check on bait conditions is to look at thr Terns [seagulls] flying at Lewiston over the Niagara River. A few years ago the biologists listed them as an endangered species. Now that the bait, mainly emerald shiners are back, the Terns are back. I think that all the natural reproduction in the streams of Lake Ontario results in good forage for the larger hatchery produced salmonids.

A full gasoline tank can cause a leak at the fill hose when the boat is raised to drain the bilge through the transom plug. This happens with a "full tank" as you have noted. If the hose is old [1985, 25 years] and hardened you need to replace this hose. Our E10 gasoline also dissolves older rubber hoses and they should be replaced. You might get by with just tightening the two clamps on the hose you should have there. Remember a cup of gasoline has the explosive power of a stick of dynamite. Be careful, no sparks, pull your plug and ventilate well. Newer boats have the fill hose in the front of the boat to cover up this potential danger. Raise the front of the boat up high and see if more gasoline leaks out.

Whatever yo do, vent the can overboard or close the vent when you are not runnung. The ethanol E10 fumes they have in our gasoline will flow out into the low points of your hull and dissolve the carpet glue and plastics in your downrigger case and spinner beads. I do not know if it affects the plastic in your wiring, but I expect to find out this spring.

I run a 10HP Honda on my 18' Crestliner. It has remote controls, power trim and a long shaft. The fuel line is Teed off my main engine line. The steering is with a solid Cabela's steel rod bent to fit and it is ok to raise and lower the small engine with the big engine running. I have had expensive problems using an EZ Steer rods that come apart in rough weather. It trolls down to 1 MPH to faster. You need both engines in the water for steering control. Twice I used the small engine to bring me home when I had problems with the main engine. The boat travels at 6.5 MPH at full throttle on the small engine.The four stroke engines does not blow oil fumes into the boat on a downwind troll, is very quiet and better on fuel consumption. I feel it is a good investment in my boat, especially since it is safer return home deal.

For deck lights and prologed battery time, try the IED bulbs. They have a low amperage draw.

I have lost two EZ Steer connecting rods over the side when reaching to hook them up. It is an expensive lesson. They came apart from rough water pounding in the lake. Finally I hooked a bungy cord around the rod to keep it together. That seemed to work. Any way tie a piece of Mono on each end them to keep from losing the rod parts.

With the forage problems there in Lake Michigan, this fellow found some good feed, probably salmon and trout stocked smolts.

Fishing the Kenai River system is a matter of timing. The red salmon have to load up the Russian River before the Sanctuary Area is opened to sport fishing. This is your best area. The reds are taken by catching the swimming salmon with a heavy 3X hook streamer that catches the salmon in the mouth when the line gets sliding through the mouths teeth. The Kings come in at a couple times of the year and the guides take you out trolling large Quikfish plugs with Jet Divers. You can also cast deep diving plugs like Wiggle Warts, Hot and Tots, etc. that hook up a fish every thousand casts. Large spinners, spoons sometimes work. Egg sacks are outlawed in a lot of areas. Your chances of hooking up a sixty pound King are tough. I watched a guy bank fishing catch a 72 pound King, that was as close as I came. We caught several 25 to 35 pounders and I left feeling we have better King Salmon fishing here on Lake Ontario.

Ohio outlawed surge brakes on trailers, you may need to spend your money on electric brakes. North Carolina is shaking down Yankees passing through for trailer brakes. SC, GA and FL do not care if you have brakes.

Motor Home trip to Fort Meyers, FL ended up with rust in the fuel filter, ten wheeler wrecker tow job, thanks to AAA RV PLUS for towing and hotel charges. Thanks to the Washington politicians for shoving this stuff down our throats.

I have taken trout in the spring with as little as three foot of line off my sideplaners in shallow water. The warm shore waters attract the bait and the fish. A surface temperature gauge and the depth finder are reallly needed when you are on the beach.

You need to net your own when you go out. The river has them usually in the slack water area. Better yet, go to Ontario, they have plenty, without the DEC hassle.

Any one want to buy two Loran Units.

The paychecks in Washington are starting to bounce is the reason.

February 8, 2010.

Our problem today is that we do not "overstock" salmon. There is only so much forage to grow large healthy populations of salmon in Lake Ontario. Lake Huron has "crashed" due to low forage numbers where last year they were catching skinny 10 pound kings there. Our hatchery provides more than enough salmon. It is the wild reproduction we can not control. The wild salmon smolts are smaller than our spring water raised salmon and they may contribute to the forage base though.

On my old X16, I could vary the pulse length and normal was about 400 microseconds and it would show fish in Lake Ontario to about 120 feet down. When I changed it to 600 microseconds fish would appear up to 200 feet down.In Lake Erie, looking for perch, when I lowered the pulse setting to 50 microseconds, clouds of "bait appearing" fish would become separate fish to indicate perch. It really was amazing to see all the salmon and trout that were really deep in Lake Ontario.

West marine has a 14 foot cable for 99.99 dollars.