Gator

Hey Tank, A real buddy would have let you leave the riggers down while he towed you in It's good to have folks like Jay and Jerry around. Gator

This is a great idea and it should be a blast, particularly the picnic! I hear that you tried hard to keep chicken off the menu, but with little success

You might want to check out the Sanders website for threads on this topic or look at some of my past posts for tips. Jigging lake trout in the Finger Lakes has been popularized recently by John Gaulke, a guide out of Ithaca, and you could try a half day with him to get some pointers. Jigging in L. Ontario is a different beast, though. In the Finger Lakes it's not unusual to jig at depths of 150' using a PowerPro/flourocarbon combo and a 1oz plastic or diamond-type spoon. In L. Ontario, on the other hand, the currents kill you. Even when there's no wind or if you use an electric to maintain position, you still have to deal with currents that make maintaining contact with bottom and feeling hits a real bear. Not saying it can't be done, just that the native conditions make it less amenable to the technique. Except of course the Bar in the Spring... and that's a whole 'nother story. Good luck! If you give it a try, post results. Gator

Good to hear you guys are still putting the whack on them. After two days, I'm pretty certain that most of my fish here on L. George are going to consist of 10-14" smallmouth. I can't get a decent shallow water bite going (water temps are in the mid-80s) and the 15-20 fow rock piles off the points are producing generally small fish. There was a big tournament the day we got here and it didn't sound like many guys were finding big fish...in fact, there were lots of 2lb fish floating yesterday at the North end, presumably because the weigh-in site is at the shallowest, hence hottest, portion of the lake. For all the dead fish, there wasn't a 4-lber to be seen. Still, it beats...well, you know. Good luck on L.O.; keep them worked up for when I get back. Gator

Post the pricing here, if you would. Thanks. Gator

It's an unfortunate situation, but the reality is that once the clock hits 3pm it's all over. I think that the rule about being "in line before 3pm" is rightly construed as "in line by 3pm--with your fish"...otherwise, one guy could race over and get in line while his teammates take care of the boat, the fish and whatever else needs to be done. Not saying that there was any intention to break the rules, but I'd personally be ticked off if someone bumped me out of the money in a situation like yours. Particularly if I'd quit half and hour earlier on a hot bite to get to the weigh in with time to spare. I guess this proves that time IS money. Keep chasing the big ones! Gator

Cool! This means I can take the 100s of green taped silver NKs with the good finish that I have from the '80s and hit them with an airbrush....voila, Gator! Everybody knows that those "old" colors won't work anymore

We saw the debris field this weekend...any idea where it came from? Keith and I were throwing around the idea that some sort of upwelling had raised detritus from the bottom, since there were so many small sticks and such floating around, but not many "weeds". Pine needles, too. Gator

It was great fishing out there this weekend! We came in by you on Monday morning and immediately popped ~5 small kings, so when Brian called and said he had some quality fish we made the run over by him. We set down in 220' and again we were into fish immediately...a better class of skippy, that is. Not the quality I'm hearing about from West of here, but fun nonetheless. We must have had over 100 releases the four times we fished but only two fish over 15 lbs all weekend. Still, rods a poppin'. I'm at L. George for the next two weekends but I'm sure Keith H. will be out there putting the smackdown on skippy. Gator

Yup, special sauce or no, the 20 lb Flea Flicker line we used this past weekend was clean even when the wire lines were collecting a foot of fleas after being in the water for <30 minutes. Good stuff. I wouldn't have believed it myself until switching just this year...the remainder of the 3000 yard spool is being strung up this week. Gator

Ray, you are one strange dude. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Great fish your brother caught, Steve...hope you get him out again before he returns home. Gator

Glad to hear you got the new boat in the water...how was the maiden voyage? We'll be at them again tomorrow morning.

Snappin' early today on the Gator SS down 100'...five rips in about ten minutes. The bite was great til 7am, then decent. We found our fish from 130-230' and there were lots of guys out deeper who didn't seem to feel compelled to venture shallow. My guess is that everybody ended up happy today. The current is still wicked (3.6 on the GPS to get 2.1 downspeed at one point heading East) and the fish are still deep (51-56F@100' down, 14 lb ball, 2.5mph). We took one nice steelhead @ 200' on the wire spoon (42nd), but the paddles were pretty quiet today. Most of the rips were >275' on the wire and >100' on the riggers. Maybe 10/16 this morning with one major and a couple teenagers. Out again tomorrow. Gator

Hey Tom, Rule of thumb so far as I know is always run the same weights in tight quarters. The smaller weight is going to swing more and if you run it deeper can easily cross the larger weight on turns. With twin 14 lb weights off the corners of Nothin' But Net we can scream them down in almost any conditions, and those Marlins put the Mag10a to shame for speed. Now, puttin' out the dipseys is another thing... I guess Gambell is the latest to end up in copper/wire h@ll. Keith is opening a business to untangle copper line...$20 a rig. Brian says he'll buy it at scrap prices Gator

I'm with Gary: "neutral". Unfortunately, I think that the main type of crossbow user is unlikely to be a disabled or elderly person but instead your average joe who doesn't want to put the time or practice in to learn to bowhunt. For me, it's a lot like the proposed muzzleloader season in the middle of archery season--I'm kinda protective of my time in the woods. I don't want a bunch of yahoos running around shooting at whatever moves while I'm sitting quietly in my stand passing up on smaller deer looking for that big guy. Is this a selfish attitude? Yup. I guess I'm somewhat perplexed too as to why crossbows are that much better for disabled people. I know a guy down in Bath who's missing a hand and shoots great. If it's a matter of draw...45 lbs will kill a deer and 85% let-off is easy to hold. I'd think that other considerations such as getting into the woods or a treestand would be more problematic than the choice of weapon. I'm not saying that there aren't valid reasons why people might need crossbows, I'm just saying that it seems the use of a bow might be lower on the list than other concerns. Yeah, it might be harder to use a bow but that's true for EVERYONE, disabled or not. You've got to practice and you've got to know your weapon. I'd also think that special provisions could be made on a case-by-case basis. After all, we want to be inclusive: if you're willing to put the time in you should be able to bowhunt. In fact, I don't know many bowhunters who wouldn't go out of their way to help someone who is disabled or elderly get into the woods. How many families take special care to make sure that "gramps" gets to his spot safely? Happens all the time. My opposition is to the class of "instant bowhunters" that crossbows would undoubtedly create. Again, selfish? Yup. I just hope that this bill isn't the start of legalizing crossbows through all seasons. You get out of bowhunting what you put into it. Making it easier should only be an option when it's impossible under the current laws. And that's just not that often. Gator

Doesn't matter how you set it up, on occassion you're going to have a copper nightmare, especially in rough water. In fact, it happened to us last weekend on a flat lake. Letting stuff out slow can minimize chances of a tangle, for sure. We've found that putting the copper out first off the boards, then letting out the dipseys works well...it just seems easier to control the dipsey, plus if it tangles you'll know immediately. The copper can fool you, you'd think it's okay, but there's a big loop and it's spinning into a ball of knotty goodness. Keith's project this week was to untangle about 150' of copper and get it back on the reel. Still, it's an effective spread and probably worth taking the risk under most conditions. Fish hard or go home! Gator

I both respect and admire the success that you guys have had keeping the stocking programs up and running during these tough fiscal times. Keep up the good work! I think I speak for the LOU community when I say that we appreciate your efforts (especially when they seem to be paying dividends on this side of the Big O!) and, speaking solely for myself and the Nothin' But Net...C&R Atlantics, all the way. Gator

So Brian, what you're saying is that you want Steve and I to drop our wives off at your house? So you can feed them wine? And coax them into the pool? I'd think, "that's just wrong" if I didn't know you were just looking for free babysitters...daddy See you out there, hopefully sooner rather than later: friday is looking pretty good.

Ray, I'm changing your slogan to "Always Causing Trouble or Never Having Fun !!!" I like it. Hijack over...but I still think one-foot contours are overkill. Gator

I'll be shooting the ones you gave me for X-mas come this fall...no more long, painful tracking into darkness or overnite waits, I hope. If it's not a direct vitals hit or it's a single lung shot those big boys can travel forever before "getting sleepy".

Oh, the bravado! After fishing Friday, Saturday and Sunday, you'll need a get out of jail free card from the missus first Me, too. I suggest that we drop them off at the beach with a couple bottles of wine. Gator

I'm not even going to post an independent thread, since we're all saying the same thing, but I will second (or third, or fourth, or whatever) the notion that the fishing is pretty good out there right now. We're not seeing the big fish on Nothing But Net, but there's lots of those 8-12 lb silvers and a ton of shakers. We were well over two dozen on Sunday alone. The gorgeous weather all weekend didn't help either (getting off the lake, that is). It's too bad that I know Lake O better than to think that this is going to translate into an unbelievable year. I'm hopeful, but I remember a couple seasons ago where we had a few days of multiple triples on kings, then the East wind blew and there were no fish to be found the entire rest of August. So, get out and enjoy the bounty while it's here! See you on the water. Gator

Maybe East Fork was closed June 26th and 27th? TripleS had a king to weigh in yesterday and nobody was there. It would be nice not to have to run all the way to Mitchell's, or all the way to Bayside since that appears to be the only place that's open past 7 pm.

I've never dealt with him personally, but I hear Hank is pretty good.

See, sometimes it's just easier to figure things out yourself rather than put a question up on the board and have a bunch of guys with nothing better to do than stare at a computer screen debate the merits of something that you didn't ask about in the first place Happens all the time. Glad you figured it out and thanks for sharing. Gator