Finders Keepers

After pulling an all-nighter getting all the gear back on the Jimmy Rigger (after being totally stripped for the wrap), we splashed down around 6:30 in Wilson. We headed west out of the chute and set-down about halfway to the Red Can. Before we could get a wire line in the water we were hooked into our first king of the year! Tipped the scales to 17 lbs. We would go on to have a steady bite, but nothing hot and heavy for us. We were running a mix of spin docs/flies, echips/flies, stinger spoons, and new Savage Gear stickbaits. Our spread consisted of two riggers, two wires, a short copper, and a 5-color leadcore. We worked from 80 to 160 fow with our spread from the surface down to 100'. Took fish at most depths with 50-60 ft being best. Only boards to take fish were echips, no spin doc hits. Lures that produced included: white/green dot echip with hypnotist fly blue dolphin echip with aqua hammer fly nuclear green echip with crazy b*%ch fly wonderbread echip with blue glow hammer fly UV tuxedo Stinger spoons (all sizes) UV Dolphin Stinger spoon UV Gator Stinger spoon Savage Gear Jointed Prey stickbaits Sunday we started east of Wilson for the first hour from 60 fow out to 220 fow with a very poor screen, so we picked up and headed back to just west of the Red Can and set-down outside of the pack of boats over 220 fow. There were a few slicks out there where we could see schools of fish feeding on huge schools of minnows as they broke the surface. So, no sooner had we put out the Savage Gear stickbaits, they got nailed over and over again! Mostly steelhead with a few kings mixed in. We tied into a large steelhead on the 350 ft wire but the hook pulled free about halfway back! That was our LOC fish for the weekend, but that's the way fishing goes sometimes! After a couple hours of playing with the steelhead, a huge freighter came through and scattered everything, so we decided to go in closer and target the bar with the pack to see if the king bite was on yet. We marked a ton, but only got one king and one laker to go before we had to call it quits and head back. Pretty much the same lures produced, with the Savage Gear stickbaits and Stinger UV Tuxedos doing most the damage with the steelhead. With one more round of installs this week (rest of the sound system and new Humminbird FF), our ride will finally be complete and ready for the season. Good luck to everyone fishing the LOC this week - what a great week to be on the water!! See everyone fishing the WHI this weekend!!

Looking good! Now you just need that first forktail!!

Nice start to the season Rick - Congrats!

We also have acquired a couple Cold Water reels to try this season. We'll put them through the vigor of our tournament schedule and see how they stack up against the Convectors. Our intitial thought after receiving them is that they appear to be build well, and we look forward to trying them out when we hit the water in a couple weeks. We'll also report on our experience with them.

Looking great fellas and looking forward to it!!

Yeah, getting pretty sketchy out there! We've put our ice gear away and now it's time to start getting the boats ready!

The NYS IPA Sodus Bay Event is this weekend and yesterday we received over $8,000 in Plano tackle boxes and the brand new 2013 Polaris Sportsman 500 to complete our $21,000+ giveaway extravaganza this weekend!! All prize packages are now confirmed and in our possession listed on our website at: http://www.nysiceproam.com/SBConfirmedPrizes2013.html If you're thinking about fishing this weekend, or don't have anything to do, head on down to Sodus Bay and be a part of the largest ice fishing event to ever occur on Sodus Bay!! Then two weeks later we'll do it all again and hold the largest event ever to hit Big Tupper Lake with even more prizes!!

You would think, but Brendon at Screwy Louie's suggested we try one when we described what we were seeing with the blue diamond rods and all I can say is that the Classic PRO rods are fantastic! Maybe the regular guide blue diamonds are better than the roller rods (being not as stiff), but for $35 the Classic PRO rods are great AND not expensive. I think it is like most things, ya gotta try them out and see what works best for you and your style of fishing in your boat. Some people troll slow, some fast, etc. which makes a difference on the equipment that will perform best. At faster speeds the blue diamond roller rods were better because since they are more stiff, they kept the wire lines out further from the boat, whereas the Classic Pro's being less stiff bend more and the wire lines come closer to the rest of the spread. Just some food for thought...

We used them for dipsy rods for several years but found them to be a little too stiff - seemed to miss a lot of hits. We also had the eyelet come out. Now we use Okuma Classic Pro rods as we have found them to be better at handling the hard hits of the kings with a much higher hook-up rate, and handling the way cohos and steelhead fight.

Due to unsafe and unstable ice conditions, the Chautauqua Lake Event has been cancelled. Registered anglers will be notified of registration options via email. The Sodus Bay Event scheduled for Feb. 23rd and 24th is still on and will be monitored into next week, however everything looks good for decent ice at this point.

Just announced this weekend, Plano has now sponsored the IPA Series with a HUGE sponsorship of products!! We'll have 2 of the new 4849 and 4845 Elite Hydro Flo systems to give out at each event, plus a load of their new Guide Series Angled Tackle Systems and Chill bag Systems!! Now we just have to find a place to put them all!!

Heard there were some guys out by Eagle Island and off of Grassy Pt yesterday, but have not heard how the ice is yet...

We've had a few more register in the Pro/Am divisions and and I will be updating the site tonight. There are not a ton of teams I think because many teams are in the "wait and see" mode. We just need all those teams to pull the trigger and these events will take off! We have upwards of 60 Open division entries and have heard of many more that will be registering when they get into town just before the tournament.

Everything is coming together nicely for the Chautauqua Event!! We have posted new hotels offering discounted rates for our anglers as many of the hotels have booked up at this point! If you are planning on attending this event, it is highly recommended that you book your hotel soon!!

Looking forward to all the east end events this coming year!! Keep up the great work Tom!!

"you could run the "main event" Fri/Sat with 2 divisions and mixed species with an appropriate awards ceremony Sat nite. Then, as a bonus, a more casual 1 day single or mixed species shootout w/ one division and a 5/6 fish box could be run on Sunday" I like this idea! With everything set-up for the main event (Fri-Sat) I don't think it would take too much more to run the Sun event.

They are a remake/offshoot of the original Automatic Fisherman. The concept is the same, but the main difference is that they are more compact with the moving arms. We use the Automatic Fishermen and they are built like tanks withstanding the harshest of conditions. Not sure if the Jaw Jackers will hold up the same with smaller pieces, hinges, etc., as we have never tried or seen the Jaw Jackers in person. Either way, we have found this type of unit out-fishes a standard tip-up 10 to 1 when going for pike/walleye/etc. especially in shallow, weedy, or obstucted waterways, as the fish doesn't have time to run and get caught up on debris or feel any tension on the line from weeds and drop the bait - it's hooked right away and then it's GAME ON!! We originally thought the hook-set would pull the hook out of the bait and the hook-up rate would be low, but we have found justthe opposite: about a 95% hook-up rate!! The only times these units are not ideal is in deep snow conditions where you wouldn't be able to see the rod release or if you have a very large spread where they would be set too far away to see the rod release, otherwise these are dynamite!!

Here is the site: http://Unapproved LOU Sponsorcircuit.com/ I have heard it is a tight tournament (equipment checks, etc.), although we have never been able to fish them. And quite honestly, two lines within 3 ft of each other is not our style of fishing. We typically target pike and perch, and use a spread of tip-ups and automtic fishermen.

Not sure if this will apply or not, as there is (and probably always will be) the debate on what classifies someone as a "pro". For the NYS Ice Pro-Am Tournamen Series, we specified that if you (or any team member) has a sponsorship from any fishing related company or entity, or if you or a team member hold a captains license or act as a guide, you must fish the Professional Division. Just some thoughts on defining the "Pro" qualifications.

The Tupper Lake Event has been postponed until March 8-10 due to a high probability of little to no fishable safe ice. Shoot me a PM with any questions or follow the latest at: www.NYSiceproam.com

I'm sure Tom will pipe-in here, and that he will take this into consideration!

Thanks for the heads up Matt! Yeah, we're currently working on ads in various regions, but our coverage is somewhat limited as our funds are limited this year (being our first year out). We are looking for help distributing fliers to tackle shops anywhere and everywhere - if you'd like to help us distribute some down that way, we'd be greatly appreciative of it and could send you a pack of them. Let me know if you'd like to help us out and how many tackle shops you could bring fliers to and I can ship you a pack of them!

Thanks Jim!!

I've had Frabill shelters for 4 seasons now and they're doing great still. Do you like black, blue, or gray better? I think you will be happy either way you go. There are some slight differences in the styles (door placement and the way it opens, framing, etc.), so I would suggest trying them out and see which you like better and if one works better for your fishing style while your smoking the fish in your hut!!